The Bachelor Bargain (Secrets, Scandals, and Spies) by Michaels, Maddison (short books to read TXT) 📕

minutes Livie explained all that had transpired in her conversation with the maid. “So, you see,” she continued, “we need to find Mary and get Alice’s journal from her. The journal may be the key to obtaining proof of this man’s perfidy and using it to prosecute him. Do you know anything of Lord Daverell, as it does sound like he may be the scoundrel I am after?”

“He’s ambitious, pretentious, and hides it all behind a smooth veneer of wealth, and when I say veneer, I do mean veneer. The man’s on the verge of bankruptcy, though he’s hidden it well.”

“Is he?” There was keen speculation in her eyes.

“I will have my men dig further, as he’s a regular patron at Club Tartus, so I daresay his closet will indeed be full of further skeletons.” Just then the carriage was reined to a halt as they had obviously reached the back of Olivia’s residence. “I’ll have my men find the maid, too.”

“Thank you, Sebastian,” Livie said. “Oh, I nearly forgot. You said I was to meet your sister tomorrow before I take her to my godmother’s for an introduction on Monday.”

“Yes. I’ll have my carriage brought around here to the back lane in the morning at nine to collect you. I’ll then meet you at Charlotte’s residence and introduce you to her. And until we work out if this threat is against you or Lady Chilton, I don’t want you going anywhere alone, unless my men are accompanying you. Is that acceptable to you?”

Seb wasn’t used to asking people for their permission to do anything. But for some reason he didn’t want to be ordering and demanding Olivia about. She treasured the little independence she had, and he didn’t want to take that away from her.

“Yes, that sounds fine.” A slow smile spread across her face and he felt his own smile growing in reply. “But you won’t be in the carriage, collecting me?”

“No. I have business in the morning to attend to near Cheapside, so it will be easier to just meet you there.”

She nodded. “Very well.”

An odd, awkward silence then gripped the carriage as they waited for the door to be opened. When it swung wide, for a moment neither of them moved, their eyes locking with each other’s.

“My lady?” Gregson’s voice interrupted the silence.

And without further word, in a flurry of skirts and petticoats, Lady Olivia left the carriage, her cane in hand, as she made her way through the back gate to her town house. His eyes hungrily followed before the door to the carriage was closed and cut short his view.

On the ride back to his own town house, the yawning emptiness of his life was suddenly acutely stretched out before him. His residence with over twenty bedrooms, crystal chandeliers, the best furniture money could buy, and countless servants to run it all, had once been his sanctuary and a place he’d been able to happily retreat to after a day of running his empire.

But now the prospect of walking down the empty marble halls, and even emptier rooms, was depressing, making him realize just how alone he truly was. Especially since whenever he’d been in Livie’s company he’d felt alive and invigorated as he hadn’t in a long time. She was fast becoming a fixture in his thoughts and had been since he’d received her first letter about her business proposal all those weeks ago.

Lady Olivia was a woman who was doing as none had been able to do before—she was getting under his skin. He had to do something to stop it. He just had no idea what, and a part of him feared it was already too late.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Livie finished scraping some butter on her toast, finally able to have a bite to eat for breakfast after having just finished accounting in detail to Etta what occurred the night before. Perhaps not in full detail; she hadn’t mentioned kissing Sebastian again.

A kiss Livie had not been able to stop thinking about all night long.

Even now, she felt like sighing as she remembered how it had felt to have his lips devouring her own, their tongues intertwining in such an intimate dance. And as wanton as the thought was, she was already thinking of kissing him again.

“Are you quite all right, Livie?” Etta asked, picking up her cup of tea and peering at her over the rim. “You’re looking a bit flushed. Perhaps you’re in shock from the night’s events.”

“I’m perfectly fine.” And she would be as long as she could get her wayward thoughts of Sebastian and his kiss out of her head. “In any event, I’m hoping Sebastian’s men will be able to find Mary and retrieve Alice’s journal.”

“Do you think Lord Daverell is the man responsible?”

“I’m not certain,” Livie conceded. “He is the only lord recorded on Lady Chilton’s list. Did you find out anything about him last night?”

“I couldn’t have missed it if I tried.” Etta frowned. “He announced his engagement last night at the ball. He is to marry Lady Claire Crawford, the Duke of Bremmley’s daughter.”

“The Duke of Bremmley?” An interesting development, as the duke was a treasured friend and advisor to the prime minister. “It does seem like Lord Daverell has political ambitions.”

“Yes, it would seem so.”

Livie’s head was spinning. “An engagement to a duke’s daughter would have taken months to organize. If Daverell was the man who seduced Alice, he did so knowing perfectly well he had no intention of marrying her, as he would have already commenced negotiations with the Duke of Bremmley for his engagement to the man’s daughter.”

“He would have,” Etta agreed, her eyes appearing troubled. “Poor Alice. Truly men can be absolute pigs at times. We must make him pay for ruining her and then callously discarding her like a used rag.”

“I doubt the Duke of Bremmley knows of Daverell’s financial issues.” The man would never have agreed to the engagement if he had.

“We can ensure he