“It doesn’t matter what youdesire. You desire the lady, of that I am certain.” The Duke of Blackwood said it with such conviction it sounded like a declaration of truth.
He could not argue the desiring of the lady point. Hediddesire Lady Elizabeth. He desired her more than any other person he had in his entire existence, and he had desired a great many people.
The way he felt in her presence… it was terrifying. Because now that he had found her… now that he’d met someone who could evoke such feelings? The fear of losing that… it was daunting.
He let out a slow breath.
Half the room was staring at him…
And now he knew why. He’d simply assumed it was because he didn’t really belong. And of course, because he was standing beside the Duke of Blackwood.
“Everyone knows, don’t they?” Tom sighed. How had he remained in the dark until this moment?
“Oh, indeed they do. Thomas Courtney, Earl of Glenbroch. I’ve seen your estate. The river is full of salmon. I expect to be invited.”
“Scotland.” Tom tensed and shuddered. “It’s cold enough in London. I don’t think I can face—”
The duke tsked. “Do not speak such a thing until you have seen the vast beauties of the Western Highlands. Then we shall talk about what is cold and what is not cold.”
“Fine,” Tom allowed, folding his arms over his chest. “I should take you out and strangle you now for going behind my back so artfully.”
The Duke of Blackwood laughed. “You could try.”
Tom arched a brow. “I could do it in an alley and then no one would notice.”
Blackwood laughed, throwing his head back in a show of joviality long since absent from his person. “Yes, Tom, I know that you excel in your stratagem in the shadows. However, you gave all of that up long ago and are a man of peace.”
“I am not a man of peace anymore. I have several men to kill. Well,” Tom corrected, “if not kill, at least ensure they walk with a limp for a good many years.”
“Yes.” Blackwood soured at that, “It will not be as easy as we might hope to bring them to justice. Lords have far more privilege than I’d like.”
There was significant truth to that.
“If we know the name of one, the others are likely to be his drinking cronies and those type usually stick together. And if you can make me an earl, we can strategize their undoing.”
Blackwood stared at him, “A good point.”
“After all, Your Grace,” Tom reminded “it is what I have specialized in for so long. You know that’s how I raised most of my money, secrets and lies.”
“Tom,” the duke said softly. “I am aware of your capabilities, but… you’ve left those dark days behind you. Your interest has long been in lifting people up, not tearing them apart.”
“I suppose so,” Tom agreed.
But he wondered. The darkness had been growing inside him since Lady Elizabeth visited him and told him of the harrowing events that befell her in the hall.
Oh, he’d seen far worse.
He had seen the ravages of humanity.
But the idea of her being abused thus, it had nearly destroyed him inside because he had had the opportunity to keep all those four men isolated.
Or at least so he told himself.
He could have locked them up in a room in his club and made good use of each and every one till none of them were capable of harming anyone.
But he had not. He peered over the gilded crowd and wondered how so many born to such privilege and such wealth could cause such cruelty.
He knew that the ton often created cruel people. Sometimes, having too much wealth meant that one did not know how to love. They loved their gold, their position, their titles. But the actual love between a mother and a son, a father and his daughter, or a family in general, did not exist. For only the title mattered, only the great family, only the passing down of importance through the line.