That evening, after leaving the offices of Mercer Industries, Liam sat in his study at Warwick Hall, leaning back in his desk chair as he puffed on a lit cigarette. 

On occasion, he tapped the loose ashes into a nearby ashtray, creating a small mound of discarded cinders.

He was waiting for Kitty to arrive, as the two of them had agreed that she'd come by for a visit. The arrangement and timing were ideal, as it happened, because halfway through the afternoon he'd received a telephone call at his office from Rose. Employing an especially jolly tone of voice, she'd pointedly referred to herself as Rose Appelbaum and called Liam ‘cousin Henry.’ He took this to mean Gallagher was within earshot, and played along. Through brief, cryptic verbiage, she relayed that she'd be late returning home tonight, and that ‘he and cousin Mary’ should have dinner without her.

Liam chuckled, recalling the exchange. Such a clever girl. She must have something of value brewing.

And he planned to make the most of her absence.

It had been quite awhile since Kitty had last dropped by. A visit was overdue. That night of rekindled lust in his office seemed like ages ago, and his skin was humming for a reprise.

But as he waited, his thoughts inadvertently returned to Rose. Where was she? What was she getting up to? With whom? Was she safe? These queries had no business intruding on his mind, not at the current moment, but he couldn't seem to help himself. Even as his body craved Kitty's visit, it was Rose he saw every time he closed his eyes.

With the twist of a key, Liam opened the top drawer of his desk. Rose's engagement ring laid in the shadowed confines, immediately adjacent to the gold signet ring of Dmitri Kuragin. He nearly picked up the sizable diamond, but his spoken promise from the previous day stayed his hand. He'd told Rose no one would touch her ring. Not even him.

Instead, he retrieved the golden family heirloom of his deceased gardener, rolling it with care between his thumb and forefinger. Killing Kuragin was an unforgivable aberration Liam would never regret. It had brought Rose into his life.

【♖】

Four drinks in, Jimmy was becoming quite the chatterbox. It didn't help that Rose had managed to dump most of each of her drinks discreetly into his glass. The crowd at the Lion's Den was rowdy and riotous enough that he remained oblivious to her underhanded activity.

“What should we toast to this time?” he asked, his words beginning to slur.

“Your father,” Rose answered. “For my fortuitous job opportunity.”

“My father's a pompous arse,” Jimmy declared. “He's only lookin' to better what others think of him, y'know?”

“Regardless of his personal motives, without this job, I wouldn't have met you,” she countered, sporting a cheeky expression. “And that really would be such a shame.”

Suppressing her inner revulsion, she reached out and caressed his boney knee for a few torturous seconds.

Jimmy grinned like a jester and clinked his glass against hers. “To me da', then! And ain't you a clever little thing, eh?”

Rose gave him a conspiratorial smile. “If he's to be my employer, I should be educated on his antics, don't you think? Tell me more about your father.”

“If we're gonna speak on that uptight sod, I'm gonna need s'more drink! Vinny!” Jimmy summoned the bartender, slapping his hand on the bar top. “But I warn ya, Rose, proper girl like you, the shite me father gets up to will make your toes curl. Not in the good way, neither.”

“I'm sure I've heard worse,” Rose told him. She leaned in, head tilted in interest. This might be the start of some valuable divulgence, but as such, she couldn't reveal her eagerness. “But please, make my toes curl.”

“Well,” Jimmy said as he leaned in close enough for her to smell the liquor on his breath, “before we moved here, to Manchester, he had relations behind me ma's back with some tart of a Can-Can dancer from Paris.”

“No!” Rose exclaimed in hushed tones. Though, in truth, this news didn't surprise her in the least.

“Yeah, oh, yeah,” Jimmy confirmed, preening at the attention. “Her name was...ah, shit... Geneviève! That was it. Real looker, too. An' just a few years older than me. Worked at a cabaret called Le Secret de Monsieur. Da' took me there for me twentieth birthday. Wouldn't let me anywhere near Geneviève, though. That was ‘his girl’.”

Vinny brought each of them another glass of whiskey, and Rose nodded in thanks.

“Your family lived in Paris?” she asked, her interest genuine.

“Nah, nearby. In Beauvais,” Jimmy replied. “Damage from the war was extensive there, so me da' was able to swoop in and buy up a bunch o' properties and businesses for cheap. Always lookin' for an opportunity, that's him. Made a heap o' coin, too, but he went to Paris every chance he got, if ya catch my meaning.”

“To see Geneviève,” Rose deduced. “And your mother never knew? About the affair?”

“Ehh, she turned a blind eye,” Jimmy hedged. “Y'know, like women do when they know their husbands are steppin' out on 'em. All marriages are like that, aren't they? Smoke and mirrors? Portrait-worthy on the outside, but all kinds of filth and rot on the inside.” He pointed knowingly at Rose, as though he were privy to a great universal truth. Snatching the glass beside him, he downed half of his whiskey.

Rose sipped on hers. “You think all husbands are unfaithful to their wives?” she asked.

“I mean, yeah,” Jimmy said with a flippant shrug. “Wives are boring. But necessary. Y'know? Mistresses are fun. Although…” He ogled Rose and rubbed his chin. “If I had a wife that looked like you, I'd have no reason to fuck around. You're different. Gorgeous. The whole package. You'd be the wife and the mistress.”

Disgust rolled through Rose's stomach, a terrible dance partner to the whiskey, but she forced a smile onto her face and said, “You're too kind.”

“Nah. Not kind,” Jimmy differed with a lopsided smirk. “But I am alotta other things ya might like.”

“Oh, I'm sure,” Rose said. The desire to gag grew, but she suppressed it and soldiered on. “So, Geneviève from Paris. Is that the most untoward behavior your father has gotten up to?”

A loud chortle exploded from Jimmy. “Geneviève? Nah, love, his relationship with that slag doesn't even scratch the surface!”

“Is that so?” Rose asked. She gave him her best come-hither stare from over the rim of her glass. “Then by all means, tell me more.”

【♖】

Kitty arrived at Warwick Hall in one of her best dresses, a generous amount of perfume spritzed across her skin.

As Eleanor led her through the foyer and subsequent rooms, Kitty's keen eyes searched for any signs of Liam's female houseguest. There were none.

Wonder if she's here right now? Kitty thought. I hope not. Don't want any interruptions.

Eleanor knocked thrice on the door of the study. “Miss Ross to see you, Mr. Mercer,” she announced.

“Aye,” Liam's voice called from inside the room. “Come in.”

Eleanor opened the door and ushered Kitty through. Liam rose from the chair behind his desk, extinguishing his cigarette butt with a twist against the ashtray. He smoothed his tie then lowered his hands into his pockets, offering Kitty a small smile.

Kitty smiled back.

“Thank you, Eleanor. That'll be all,” Liam said, dismissing the housekeeper.

Eleanor politely excused herself and closed the door on her way out.

“Kitty,” Liam said simply. “Thanks for comin'.”

For reasons she couldn't begin to articulate, the way he said her name always caused a pool of arousal to gather in her belly.

“Liam,” Kitty said, taking in his relaxed demeanor. “Thanks for havin' me.” She shimmied out of her lightweight coat and draped it over a chair. “The house looks lovely. And...empty?” She raised her eyebrows in query, hoping he would take her meaning.

“Don't worry, Rose isn't here. She's out,” he told her.

“It's just us?” Kitty prompted.

“It's just us.”

He motioned to the small, stylish sofa that faced his desk, indicating she should take a seat, and Kitty obediently slid onto the smooth upholstery. She thought he'd join her, but instead, he made his way back to the desk, perching on the foremost edge.

Kitty smiled to herself as she crossed one leg over the other. So, they were to play this game tonight. He must have really missed her if he wasn't in a hurry to get in her knickers. She liked that.

Even more, she liked the fact that his houseguest wasn't home, and that he didn't seem particularly interested in her whereabouts. The flippancy with which he'd mentioned Rose spoke volumes. In Kitty's favor.

Maybe she really is just an errand girl, Kitty thought. The idea made her indecently happy.

“So…” she said, a suggestive quality to her voice. “What's a girl gotta do to get a drink around here?”

【♖】

“One more round, Vinny!” Jimmy announced, making a circular motion in the air with his finger.

He could barely keep his balance on the bar stool. It seemed liquor loosened his body as much as it did his tongue.

“No, no, I don't think that's a good idea,” Rose said, keeping her voice light and playful.

“Eh?” Jimmy challenged, his eyebrows pulling together. “Why the hell not?”

“I'm quite woozy as it is,” came Rose's diplomatic answer. She touched her temple and giggled. “If you find me to be a sloppy drunk, you'll never agree to take me for a drink again, and that would really be a pity. Let's call it a night. For now.”

Jimmy stared at her face in blank silence for several seconds. Then he grinned. “Yeah,” he said, wagging a finger at her. “Yeah! Gotta save some conversation for next time, haven't we? Maybe supper, summat like that? Heh, you're as smart as y'are fetchin', Rose!”

“You flatter me,” Rose said, boasting a very wide, very phony smile. He positively reeked of booze, and she longed to run outside into the open air. She glanced around at all the patrons who were pretending not to watch them. “Perhaps one of your friends can assist you back home..?”

“Oi! You lot!” Jimmy shouted abruptly to the room at large, causing Rose's ears to ring. “One o' youse is drivin' me home!”

Apparently, Jimmy had a great many friends. Or perhaps ‘lackeys’ was a more appropriate term. And apparently, all of them were regulars at the Lion's Den. Within seconds of his obnoxious demand, half a dozen young men of comparable age materialized at Jimmy's side.

“I'm here!” declared a particularly energetic fellow, thrusting his hand into the air. “I know how to drive your car, Jimmy. I'll take ya!”

“Danny,” Jimmy said, poking the young man in the chest. “Yeah. Good lad. Where's your brother?”

“Right here, Jimmy!” answered another young man.

“Sam, there ya are,” Jimmy said. “Good. So, Danny, you take me, and Sam, you drive Miss Appelbaum. No funny business, Sam. She'll tell me if ya get fresh.”

Both young men yipped in dutiful compliance, nearly causing Rose to burst out laughing. Such obedient pups.

After Danny had successfully propped the near-unconscious Jimmy up in the passenger's seat of his car, Sam escorted Rose to his own vehicle.

“So, where to, Miss Appelbaum?” Sam asked as he climbed into the driver's seat. “Jimmy didn't tell me your address.”

Rose laughed. “I don't think he recalls his own address at the moment,” she joked. “And actually, I need to go to Warwick Hall.”

Sam openly gawked at her. “Warwick Hall? Jimmy'll have me hide if I take ya there! That's where William Mercer lives!”

“I know,” Rose drawled, pulling a face. She'd mentally rehearsed her story for just such an occasion. “Ugh, and he's absolutely horrid. But he won't even know of my presence. His maid Clara is a dear friend of mine. I promised her I'd sneak in for a visit tonight, after her shift.”

“That right?” Sam asked, his eyes widening comically.

Rose made a show of looking both ways, then leaning toward him conspiratorially. “Yes. And just between you and I, she's been having trouble with her beau, Chester. Apparently, he's quite the skirt-chaser. I shudder to think how she'll lash out if I don't go there and talk her down. They'll likely both end up sacked by morning.”

The false gossip seemed to nullify any qualms Sam had, as Rose had hoped it would. In his slightly inebriated state, he was conveniently pliable to influence. He bobbed his head, his mouth slightly ajar. “You're a kind lass, Miss Appelbaum, to help your friend like that,” he said. “Shit, kind and brave, sneakin' into William Mercer's house! I can see why Jimmy fancies ya.”

【♜】【♞】【♟】

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