His Wicked Secret

Chapter 2-1

2

Audrey Sheridan was facing the worst night of her life.

Her mad dash from the seductive arms of Jonathan St. Laurent at the Midnight Garden earlier that afternoon had sent her on a reckless crusade this evening. And that mission was now crumbling around her.

It was all Jonathan’s fault. He had the audacity to waltz into her life at the worst possible moment. When she had decided to marry him after they first met, he’d simply ignored her at every turn. Then when she decided she no longer wanted to marry him because he continued with his cold, aloof manner, he’d ruined that as well by kissing her senseless, showing her a glorious world of pleasure she’d never known existed. And of course, he’d had to rush into the middle of her espionage training like a raging bull, insisting she was the daft one, pulling her into his arms and…

Well. That had been that. She’d dashed away from everything those lips of his promised and straight into this perilous situation. She’d been so desperate to forget her heartbreak that she’d decided to infiltrate a silly hellfire club to uncover the identities of the men involved. She’d heard too many stories of the injustices done to women by these fools, and she intended to expose them in her Lady Society column.

Now she was facing the consequences of her distracted focus. Both she and her lady’s maid, Gillian, were now trapped and at the mercy of the gentlemen of the hellfire club. She would never forgive herself if she couldn’t save them both from these ridiculous fools, the so-called Unholy Sinners of Hell. Did they not appreciate the absurdity of their name? Unholy. Sinners. Of Hell. It was a nonsense attempt at sounding perversely self-important. Audrey would roll her eyes, but the fact was that even with all that pretentiousness and pompousness, Gerald Langley and his inebriated friends were terrifying. Even this deep into their cups, they managed to make her feel utterly boxed in.

You’ve stepped in it now, girl. Audrey chastised herself and shot a glance at Gillian, who sat behind her. She’d intended to leave her friend behind, but Gillian insisted that they had worked together to form the identity of Lady Society, and she wasn’t about to let her mistress go into this danger alone.

And that was how she and Gillian now faced the revenge of the atrocious man she’d shamed in her column. The man’s crimes were many, but she had exposed him for an awful wager he’d made to ruin a lovely young woman’s innocence for sport. Audrey couldn’t stand for that. She’d made it her mission to ensure that Gerald Langley was no longer fit company for any public circles and her attempt at heroism had led her right into his trap.

She’d thought she’d been clever about it, bribing two ladies not to show up tonight, and she and Gillian had planned to take their place. But somehow Langley had discovered the switch. In fact, he had counted on it.

Damn Jonathan’s mouth and his kisses. If she hadn’t been so distracted by him, she might not have fallen for Langley’s tricks. She shivered at the leer she saw behind Langley’s mask as he prowled toward her and Gillian.

“Well, tonight I set the perfect trap and lured Lady Society herself to my door. I let it slip at a ball the other evening that we would be meeting tonight and that she wouldn’t want to miss our entertainment. But which is Lady Society, I wonder?” He paused dramatically. Maybe if she announced herself to be Lady Society, the men would lose interest in Gillian.

“I suppose it doesn’t matter. We will have the pleasure of having both of you.” Langley snapped his fingers. The man on Audrey’s right and the man on Gillian’s left grabbed their arms, jerking them both behind the chair and binding them with rope. The rope cut into Audrey’s bare skin, but she let the pain fuel her rage.

“How dare you, Mr. Langley! I’ll do more than write a bloody article destroying you. I’ll have your bollocks on a silver platter!” She finished with a low growl. She meant it. Langley’s face darkened with rage where the mask showed his mouth and chin. A few men around the table tittered behind their goblets like schoolboys.

Oh dear…

“How dare I? My dear lady,” Langley snarled, “you came here of your own free will. No one forced you here. I daresay there are few who would have any sympathy for a woman who willingly went to a hellfire club. Your reputation will be worthless and your words unfit for print. And that’s only the beginning of what I have planned for you tonight. You wrecked my family, my name—everything! And I will destroy you for it!”

“You got only what you deserved, you bastard!” she snapped.

Langley’s eyes blazed like hot coals before he regained control of himself. Then he looked her way again and smirked.

“And you have the mouth of a w***e. I plan to treat you like one.”

She gasped, and her stomach knotted with dread. He could do anything he liked to her and Gillian. She had no way to stop him, and she had just provoked him.

Lord, Jonathan was right—I am trouble.

“Gag them. I wish for silence while we enjoy our feast.” Langley snapped his fingers, and the men on either side of Audrey and Gillian suddenly shoved handkerchiefs in their mouths. Audrey sparked with rage, and she shouted at him despite the gag. The men around her laughed, as though being silenced had also made her unimportant. She glanced around, taking in her surroundings. Twelve men, at least seven servants, a butler, three footmen, a cook and maid, two large windows facing the street. She committed it all to memory, her mind flashing from plan to plan as she tried to think of a way for her and Gillian to escape.

Langley chuckled. “Now I’m famished.” He retrieved a bell by the end of the table near his seat and shook it. The dining room door opened and the footmen entered, bringing the trays with the first course.

“My lord, what about…?” A man close to Audrey pointed at a single empty chair.

“Oh, right.” Langley rolled his eyes and caught the attention of one of the footmen by waving a hand. “Bring in His Unholiness.”

Audrey cringed. His Unholiness? Surely they didn’t claim to have an actual devil, or even the devil to worship?

The footman brought a black cat into the room and placed it gingerly on the table, sliding it a plate of roasted chicken bits. The cat was exceedingly handsome, with a shiny black coat and yellow eyes that glowed in the room’s light. He surveyed every person in the room before he lowered his head, sniffed at the chicken, and began to eat.

Langley must have noticed her staring at the feline.

“Pleased to meet our guest, Lady Society? He’s the oldest member, you see.” Langley’s tone turned falsely solemn. “Ancient, you might say.”

Ancient? Surely he couldn’t believe the cat was the devil himself? Langley was clearly mad. All these men were mad! Gillian tensed beside her, testing her bonds, and Audrey did the same.

Thank heavens Gillian keeps her head in a crisis. Audrey knew she was not as composed as her friend in such dire situations. It was one of the many reasons she loved Gillian like a sister. While most ladies kept a polite, emotional distance from their staff, she and Gilly had been fast friends ever since they met when they were sixteen.

And I put her life at risk.

She caught Gillian’s eye and tried to give a reassuring look, then focused on a plan to get them out of there. If they could find a way to get their wrists freed and the men chose to remove them from the dining room, they could perhaps escape. The front door wasn’t far from the dining room, and if they could reach the street they could call for help or find someplace to hide.

Yes, that could work. It had to.

By the time the feast—if one could call the small portions such a thing—had ended, Langley rose from his chair and held up a pair of black dice. The room hushed.

“Each man shall toss the sacred dice to determine who gets the joy of bedding the one in the purple gown. Then we will cast the die for Lady Society. But rest assured, we have all night, and every man gets a chance with both ladies.”

He held up the dice as though displaying a prized jewel, chuckling darkly as he looked over every face in the room. He waved the dice in the air, acting like a street performer, grinning at a few men closest to him.

Audrey shouted a stream of curses at Langley despite the gag. If any of the men could have heard her words, they would’ve been blushing to the roots of their hair. Her muffled expletives only heightened their laughter, and the dice were passed around until they reached the last gentleman next to Langley. She continued to glare as he accepted the dice and stared at them, his hesitance drawing Audrey’s sharp focus. Why was the man hesitating?

Then he cast the dice. They rattled down the length of the dining room table and came to a stop.

“Twelve!” the man beside him shouted. “By God, you’re a lucky bastard!” He slapped the victor on the arm. Audrey stared hard the man, trying to assess him. He didn’t seem as sinister or dreadful as the rest, but given the circumstances, there was no reason to feel any comfort in that at all.

Gillian glanced her way, terror sparking like lightning in her eyes.

I’m so sorry, Gilly. I’ll find a way to save you. I swear it.

“It seems we have our winner,” Langley announced and turned to the man beside him. “Take your pretty prize to any of the upstairs rooms. I’ll give you half an hour, and then we shall roll to see who is next.”

The winner came forward, and the man next to Gillian loosened her wrists from the rope and jerked her to her feet. He slapped her bottom hard, and Gillian let out a cry of pain. Audrey saw red, but there was no way she could break free to help her friend. The victor gripped Gillian’s arm and pulled her out of reach of the man who had slapped her backside.

“This way, my dear,” the victor said.

Audrey worked frantically at the handkerchief wedged in her mouth. She finally spat it out as Gillian and the man walked past her.

“You touch her and I will kill you!” she vowed. The man’s lips opened as though to speak, but another man beat him to it.

“Hold your tongue, or I will put that mouth of yours to better use,” another man fired back at her.

Audrey stilled. She knew that voice, knew it intimately. She knew what it sounded like as it curled her toes and murmured in her ear and knew it as it was now, threatening and cold. She even knew that voice when it turned strained and paternal, as it reminded her how young, naïve, and careless she was. That voice could raise her hackles like no other, yet she trusted the keeper of that voice with her life.

She turned her head and met Jonathan St. Laurent’s gaze.

The man she adored, the man she despised, the man who had broken her heart. She could see his lovely green eyes watching her. He gave her the barest shake of his head before she could speak. All thoughts of Gillian shifted to the background. If Jonathan was here, he wouldn’t allow Gillian to walk off into danger, which must mean the other man could be trusted. She hoped.

I will put my faith in you, just this once.

She only hoped Jonathan could read that in her expression.

“Well, one lovely dove dealt with. Now to the next!” Langley retrieved the dice and stood, tossing them into the air.

Jonathan rose and reached out over the table close to Langley and caught the dice a second before they would have landed and closed his fingers around them.

“Actually, that won’t be necessary. The lady is coming with me.”

Langley sputtered. “What the devil do you mean?”

Jonathan pulled a pistol out of his coat and aimed it at Langley.