Chapter 21

Within an hour of Lady Emley's departure from his study at Fallbrook House, Ralph was outside his brother's office at Horse Guards. Even though Alex was no longer a commissioned officer, he still maintained an office. Alex rarely talked about his work, but Ralph suspected that he still worked for Haverstock.

'Ralph,' Alex said jovially, 'you're a sight for sore eyes. From the look of you, I would guess that you have been up half the night celebrating your betrothal. Though why you chose Miss Hepworth is beyond me. However, you have made our mother incredibly happy.'

'I haven't come here for a lecture,' Ralph said, a warning note in his voice. 'And I'd rather you didn't mention our mother.'

'Then why have you come?' Alex said as he sat back on his chair and offered Ralph another one on the opposite side of the desk. 'I take it; this is not a social call.'

'Do you still have any dealings with Haverstock?' Ralph said, looking directly at his brother.

Alex nodded. 'Now and again,' he said noncommittally.

Ralph knew that Alex did not like talking about his work, and he had always respected his brother's privacy regarding his job, but today he was desperate. 'Do you know if he has a Helen Wakefield masquerading as the Countessa de Aquileia working for him?' Ralph's voice was steady and did not betray the myriad of emotions he felt.

After a pause, where Alex sat still in silence, Ralph continued. 'Did you know that she was approached by Haverstock at Belmont Hall when she was a guest under my roof?'

Alex's facial expression still showed no emotion, but he nodded. 'I would have come myself, but I was still in Yorkshire with Octavia. Anyway, she wasn't a guest, she was just a lady's companion.'

Ralph stood up. He was beginning to feel the anger that he had earlier subdued rise to the surface. 'I will have you know, Alex, I love her.'

'I'm sorry, Ralph, I didn't know,' Alex said softly, 'I suppose that is why you have been behaving erratically. Does Haverstock know?

'Of course, he does,' Ralph spat out bitterly, 'he was spying on us a Belmont. You have to get her out,' Ralph said as he paced towards the window, 'she's in danger.'

'I'm afraid, I cannot do that,' Alex said, 'Anyway, the Countessa knows the dangers. She is very competent and has already provided us with some top-class information.'

Ralph swore at his brother. 'Her name is Helen,' he said, trying to control his anger. 'She only agreed to Haverstock's mad suggestion so that she could get guardianship of her son. She is not some whore you can play with for your own ends.'

'I'm sorry if I've offended you, Ralph,' Alex said penitently, 'but there is very little I can do to help. I'm not all that involved in that operation.'

'She thinks Lavorel is on to her,' Ralph said, as he looked out of the window to the street below. 'She thinks her life is in danger.'

'Did she tell you this?' Alex replied.

'No, but...' Ralph began to say, but he was interrupted by Alex.

'Ralph, we cannot run our operations on hearsay and speculation. We need proof that Lavorel knows who she really is. She is giving us excellent intelligence about the men Lavorel is in league with here in London.' Alex leaned back on his chair and looked over at Ralph. 'You do know that she did this for Haverstock in Spain,' he added. 'She was Lavorel's mistress for nearly a year.'

Ralph was beginning to get frustrated with his brother. It felt like he had hit a brick wall. 'She is going to have my child,' he said, turning around and looking directly at his brother.

Alex went silent. Ralph could see the gravely serious look on his face. 'Are you absolutely certain the baby is yours?'

Ralph nodded. 'It was conceived at Belmont. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that the child is mine.'

'I still do not see how I can help her,' Alex said, shaking his head. 'It is not as though you can marry her. You have already tied yourself to Hepworth's daughter. Anyway, if Lavorel suspects that she is with child, he will probably think it's his.'

'Damn it, Alex, you unfeeling bastard,' Ralph said, venting the anger he had kept locked up. 'I love her, and she is carrying my child. Your niece or nephew.'

Alex looked serious. 'I'll see what I can do, but I'm afraid I cannot make any promises. Haverstock is a hard man. He will not take pity on her just because she is carrying a child. She is our only hope of infiltrating Lavorel's set. Believe me, Haverstock would not have chosen her unless he had exhausted all the other avenues open to him.'

Ralph was beginning to feel desperate. He strode over to Alex and placed both his hands on his desk. He leaned over and looked at his brother in the eye.

'You have to try,' he said gravely.

Alex nodded. 'I will do it, but only because you are my brother.'

'I will come with you,' Ralph said firmly.

'Ralph,' Alex said categorically, 'I do not think that coming with me to see Haverstock is a good idea.'

'I don't care,' Ralph said, displaying all the authority of an older sibling. 'I'm coming with you.'

Alex sighed in resignation. 'You may come, but don't say anything unless Haverstock asks you directly. He can get prickly when someone argues with him.'

'Thank you, Alex,' Ralph said, as he sat back down on the chair. He was exhausted. The nights he had denied himself sleep were beginning to catch up with him.

'We will try his office now,' Alex said quietly, 'If we are fortunate, we will catch the end of his weekly meeting with Deveraux.'

'No,' Haverstock said, uncharacteristically showing emotion, 'we have come too far to put this operation into jeopardy.'

'There is something not right about it,' Alex said thoughtfully, 'I've been thinking about all the information the Countessa has given us over the past few weeks, and it is all too good to be true. Lavorel is a shrewd operator. We have been trying to trap him for years, without success.'

Haverstock steepled his fingers together and leaned back in his chair. 'What do you think, Deveraux?' he said casually.

'He is having her followed,' Deveraux said, 'but we all know that Lavorel is known for his jealous temperament when it comes to his women.' Deveraux stopped and looked at the ceiling. 'Remember, when I told you that I thought I was being followed,' he said, sitting up and looking at Haverstock, as though the thought had just struck him. 'That was just before I went to Belmont Hall to keep an eye on the Countessa.'

Haverstock nodded. 'I remember you said something about it, but we dismissed it. After all, at the time, you were not sure.'

'You know, now I come to think of it, I was definitely followed,' Deveraux said, a gleam of excitement in his eyes. 'It's all beginning to fit into place,' he said, standing up and looking about him. 'Why did I not see it before?' he continued, as he put his left hand on his forehead. 'Lavorel and Le Renard have been running circles around us.'

Haverstock leaned forward. 'What do you mean, circles?'

'He's been using the Countessa to feed us false information,' he said excitedly. 'Le Renard knew that we were going to approach her. He must have known all along that she had worked for you in Spain. When we started to become interested in her again, he put his own plan into action.'

'But how could he have found out?' Alex said, playing devil's advocate. 'The meetings where we discussed the Countessa were held in private. I wasn't even there.'

Haverstock chuckled to himself. 'Gentlemen, we have been taken for a bunch of fools, have we not? I think Deveraux is right, they are using the Countessa to misdirect us. I can think of one man who was present at the meetings and at the house-party at Belmont Hall, Lord Hepworth. Even though we never discussed the Countessa's true identity at the meetings, they would have been able to work out who she was without too much difficulty.'

'Hepworth,' Ralph said with incredulity. 'But the man's a fool.' Ralph saw his brother give him a sharp look of warning. He had promised him that he would not speak unless he was spoken to, but he could not contain himself.

'He's a lot cleverer than he looks,' Haverstock said with a wry smile, 'and we have seriously misunderestimated him.'

'But, it's well known the man's in debt,' Alex said dismissively. 'His estates are mortgaged, and he does not have a feather to fly with.'

'Yet he manages to spend nearly every night at one of Lord Melrose's more exclusive brothels, lavishly entertaining society's most influential men.' Haverstock replied coolly, looking directly at Ralph and making him feel uncomfortable. 'Huntingdon,' he said, 'you've been to Melrose's brothel with Hepworth, does the man act as though he's short of cash?'

Ralph was not surprised that Haverstock knew his movements, but he was embarrassed that it was known that he had been to the brothel. Though he had thought it a little strange at the time that Hepworth had been treated with reverence by everyone working there, especially the women. 'He ordered the best of everything,' Ralph said not wanting to elaborate too much, 'I just thought he was trying to impress me as a potential son-in-law.'

'What if Hepworth is in partnership with Le Renard?' Huntingdon mused. 'From the Countessa's description, when she met him in Spain, the similarities are quite striking: English, noble birth, medium height, late-middle-aged. He would be Hepworth's contemporary. No doubt, Melrose is involved in this as well. It would not even surprise me to learn that Hepworth is now Melrose's right-hand man.'

'But why would he want me?' Ralph said with incredulity.

'You are just the sort of man that Melrose and Hepworth need to join their shady organisation. You are rich, powerful, and have a good standing in society. If you become part of Hepworth's family, you will be useful to him. They have already discovered that you are not averse to taking part in the pleasures their organisation can provide. They may even think that you can influence your brother and persuade him to rejoin the fold. As you well know, your brother has a checkered past with Melrose.'

Ralph felt thoroughly ashamed of himself. He had let his jealousy for Helen cloud his judgment, and worse of all, Haverstock was right. When he had been with Hepworth at Melrose's brothel, Hepworth had encouraged him shamelessly. He had given Ralph carte blanche to choose any woman he desired, and he had not had to pay a penny. The moral code that he prided himself on keeping had completely eroded into nothing. He had begun to live a hedonistic lifestyle that would have only deteriorated further if he continued to associate himself with Hepworth.

Ralph also knew the danger that Lord Melrose posed to society. His brother, Alex, had worked for him for several years just before and after Waterloo in an establishment just like the one Ralph had visited with Hepworth. Alex had never told Ralph all that he had done when he had been working for Melrose, but Ralph knew that the guilt of his actions still gnawed away at him. How could he even contemplate joining an organisation that had nearly destroyed his brother?

'What can we do?' Ralph said seriously, looking at the three men in the room.

Haverstock sat back on his chair and steepled his fingers together again. It was a habit that Ralph was becoming increasingly aware of him continually doing. 'Gentlemen,' he said composedly, 'we are going to have to play them at their own game. So far, they have outwitted us at every turn, but I do believe that with careful planning, we can win back the upper hand.' He turned to Deveraux. 'Where is Lavorel taking the Countessa tonight?'

'The masked ball at Torrington Place in Greenwich,' Deveraux answered.

'Good,' Haverstock said with relish, 'that's one of Melrose's properties. If Lavorel has been invited, then it is more than likely that Le Renard will be there. They do like to mix business with pleasure. It is one of the reasons why Melrose has been so successful over the years. But tonight, we are going to tempt our fox out of his hole.'

'What about Helen?' Ralph said, concerned that Helen's safety would have been forgotten in the excitement of unmasking Le Renard.

'Helena,' Haverstock said dangerously, calling her by the name he knew Ralph did not like him using, 'is aware of her duty.'

However, before Ralph could make any more objections, Haverstock continued. 'We need more men, any suggestions?' Haverstock said, looking around the room.

'There's Rachel de Havilland,' Alex said, 'there is no love lost between her and Melrose.'

'Yes, Rachel,' Haverstock said thoughtfully, 'she was one of Melrose's girls for years. She'll know the layout of Torrington Place. She'll be able to keep an eye on the Countessa when we cannot.'

Haverstock then turned to Ralph. 'You've been spending a lot of time with Hepworth. What are his plans tonight?'

'He has invited me to the masked ball at Torrington Place,' he said, 'but I have not yet accepted.'

'You must,' Haverstock said emphatically, 'keep an eye on him and don't let him out of your sight. I need to know where he is at all times.'