In Bed With The Devil | Herophine

Chapter Eighteen - The Fire

"Do you feel guilty about last night?" he asked.

"Strangely, no. Do you?"

"I know I should, but I don't. I suspect because Mabel doesn't really consider me hers, yet. I'm beginning to realize that I'm simply one of Feagan's lads, and that you had the right of it. I need to spend more time with her. Our feelings, I fear, are based on our childhood, not our adulthood."

Oh, yes, the hole she'd dug was monstrously large now, large enough to bury her. She wished she'd kept her thoughts to herself.

"If I ask about your childhood will you tell me that it isn't proper picnic conversation?"

He grinned. She did so love it when he looked as though he hadn't a care in the world. She imagined that he had so few moments like that and she relished each one he shared with her. He stretched out on his side, raised up on his elbow, and studied her for a moment, before asking, "What do you want to know?"

She was almost giddy and...Drat it! She couldn't think of a single question, or at least a single question that she didn't think would ruin his good humor. But she wanted to know so much.

"You killed Geoffrey Tiffin."

He swirled the wine in the glass, took a sip, nodded.

"How?"

"I stabbed him."

"How did they know it was you?"

"There was a witness."

"Are you going to make me ask all the questions? Why can't you just tell me the story?"

He finished off his glass of wine and poured himself another one. "It's not pretty, Josephine."

Reaching out, she skimmed her finger over his scar. "There is nothing you can tell me that will make me think less of you."

"But it is not only my tale."

"Please. I know you killed him for Mabel, so I know something awful happened to her. I can imagine what it was."

"But I doubt you can imagine how brutal it was." He took another sip of the wine as though he needed it to shore up his courage. "Some men prefer virgins. Less chance of catching the pox that way. Young girls are usually virginal. Sometimes a young girl on the streets is taken, against her will, to a brothel, where she is tied to a bed so that it's easier to take her virginity."

Josephine was horrified. "And that's what happened to Mabel?"

He shook his head. "Geoffrey Tiffin untied her because he favored girls who fought, and Mabel, bless her, fought. We knew where she was, Hunter, Jim, and I, but we got there too late. She was hurt and bleeding. I carried her all the way back to Feagan's. She never wept. It always seemed to me that she should have wept. But she didn't."

She wished she hadn't asked for the details, and yet knowing them helped her to understand him so much better, and not only him but his relationship with the others. The strong bond they shared. "How did you learn who the man was?"

"When Mabel was stronger, Hunter and I took her back to the brothel. We hid on the street and watched who came and went. Hunter knew what I was going to do, but Mabel thought we were just going to beat him up. When she pointed him out, I did what I'd planned to do. Walked across the street and put a knife into him before he could open the door. Unfortunately, he'd knocked on it and the madam opened it. She saw me. Screamed. And as fate would have it, a damned bobby was right around the corner.

"I didn't even try to run. Jim found out later that Tiffin visited the brothel every Wednesday night for a virgin. But his sins weren't as grave as mine. He was the heir apparent, so my offense was much worse."