Never Land the First Fish

Chapter Eighteen: Part 1

Dawn was just brightening the sky when Maddox left Emily's bed. She was deeply asleep, snuggled into the blankets. He stood for a moment, memorizing her face in repose. Even without the focused energy that compelled him to accommodate her wishes against his gentlemanly upbringing and his instincts for self-preservation, she drew him. Almost, he ignored the risk of early newspaper men catching him in the act of leaving the building, and climbed back in beside her.

The thought of facing her parents after his nighttime visit was plastered over the newspapers propelled him back into his trousers and shirt, abandoned five hours ago when he'd arrived. Where were his socks? Ah. There, wadded into a ball and tossed to miss the chair by the dressing table. He would fetch his shoes on his way out the apartment door, where he'd left them at her command. He'd obeyed her instructions to wait an hour past the time she arrived home from their concert-lecture. She'd let him in at the side door, and led him up the stairs.

"Julia is asleep, or at least pretending to be." Emily had smirked at him, her eyes bright. "She doesn't want to know you are here, Maddox. For a scandalous widow, she is very proper."

"I shouldn't be here," Maddox worried. "Your reputation..."

Right there in the hallway outside her door she had kissed him. "Is already outrageous. You have done this before, right? And so have I. Now come on, my lovely man. You have kept me waiting far too long already."

Logically, he knew she was right, and—in any case—his conscience was more than ready to be overwhelmed by his baser urges. He stopped part way through shrugging into his waistcoat to smile at the sleeping form of his lover. His lover!

Memories flooded his mind, and it took all his willpower to continue dressing rather than waking her with a kiss and another—a fourth—intimate encounter. Later. For the moment, he needed to preserve her reputation, whatever she might say about it. Or, at the very least, her dignity. After the strenuous work Gills had put in to restore Julia to favour with the New York public after that ass d'Alvieri left for England, he couldn't allow them to bay after Emily in the same way.

He slipped out of the bedroom and sat by the apartment door to put on his shoes. His tie went into his pocket. He'd need the coat and muffler on the back of the chair against the morning cold, and they would hide any flaws in his dress, such as the missing tie and two shirt buttons torn in their hurry to disrobe last night.

"I will let you out and lock the door behind you."

Maddox started. "Julia. I didn't see you there."

Julia sniffed. "You wouldn't have seen an army march through, trumpets blazing. Come along then, and keep your wits about you."

He followed her meekly. Her back radiated disapproval, but she said nothing more until they reached the bottom of the stairs and the unprepossessing door into the alley between this building and the next.

"Let me check, first." Julia didn't wait for him reply, but unlocked and unbolted the door, leaning out to look both ways before opening the door wider. Before he could leave, though, she stopped him with a hand on his chest. "Don't hurt her," she commanded.

Maddox nodded. "I don't plan to. I admire her enormously, Julia. You must know that."

Julia narrowed her eyes, but she stepped out of his way.

"I will be careful," he reassured her. But as he walked home to his own place, he admitted to himself that it was too late for care, at least for himself. He was already lost, and if anyone was going to be hurt, it would probably be him.

***

Toad Wellbridge's eyebrow was the only part of him to move when Piero came into his study, alone. Sally looked up from the mathematical equations she was solving at a desk in the corner.

"I expected you'd have company on your trip home."

"Your cousin is a harridan, and Gills and Maddox abetted her."

Toad snorted as Sally said, "Oh, dear."

"They all refused to come home directly. They will bring Maddox's ship back about a month from now."

"Not entirely unexpected, given the people in question," Toad observed. "Lady Athol has acted in opposition to us since we were children and has since been disowned; Gills makes a habit of not doing anything he's told; and Maddox will never be subject to my influence again, I fear, since he lost Sal to me."

"I am not a bauble to be won or lost, Wellbridge."

"No, of course not, my sweet," Toad agreed, distracted by his second-in-command making report. "Did Stocke return with you?"

"He stayed so he could see his brother lecture, said to tell you he would personally escort them all home."

With a smirk, Toad said, "I bet you have heard enough of Maddox lecturing, have you not? For he is a master at it. Even Sally must agree."

Sally's indulgent look at Toad was returned with a boyish grin. "He did not lecture me, David, because I was not wont to act like a rebellious schoolboy, though I daresay he found plenty of occasion with you. And he is, after all, a lecturer by trade."

"That is apparent in his every utterance," Piero agreed. "According to him, Lady Julia—she prefers to be known as Mrs Julia Marloghe—'deserves to be left alone'. She has taken work, would you believe it? As companion to a lady violinist."

"No!" Toad punctuated the word with both hands slapped on the table. "Not Julia. I can't see her working, can you, Sally?"

"Why not?" Sally asked. She

put down her pen and pushed aside her paper. "She was left without money or servants, and has had to fend for herself for far longer than any of us realized until we began to look into it. We've done Julia a great harm, Wellbridge. She is not going to forgive or forget easily."

"Your Grace, there is enough blame to go around between you two and Lady Julia, and to be fair, the last duke and duchess." Piero argued. "Julia earned her censure."

"That is true, my love," Toad reminded Sally. "We may not agree with the former duke and duchess's methods, but they did act under provocation."

"As does Julia," Sally said. "It is our fault as much as any that she is running from the law, and she knows it. She should never have been abandoned to a man who would beat her so badly she had to be carried into the inn where they took refuge. Of course, she will not comply when you summon her. No one in our family has shown her for a moment that we would take her side. Sending Piero with a message and a purse means nothing. She is too proud to accept help from us now."

Piero strolled to the row of decanters and poured himself a brandy. "You may be pleased to know she has accepted some help from Gills and Maddox."

"I am pleased she is not too proud to take it," Toad said.

"Too proud to marry Gills, though, it seems."

"Good heavens," Sally said. "There is a match one could never expect."

"He's doing the honourable thing, of course," Toad guessed, "which is easy to do if you know the lady will refuse you. I cannot say I envy him if she changes her mind. I trust her quarterly income made it into her hands?"

"Of course. I should mention... She may need to leave New York a little earlier than planned." Piero smirked.