The Telltale Heart (3 page)

“Cam,” Edmund said. “This is Drexel Rayne, the Duke of Severn.”

Cam had no patience with the aristocracy. Her family was as long and wellborn as any and they were broke. What good had her father's title done him? He'd had to join the Army and died as a result, leaving them all destitute. Only her special talents, along with Edmund's, kept them alive. “Pleased to meet you, your grace.” She turned to Edmund. “So, who's the sick one?”

The Duke spoke up. “It is I. I have a very bad heart. The doctors say it will soon fail me and I will perish.”

Cam lifted one eyebrow. “You brought me a duke to experiment upon?”

Edmund shrugged sheepishly. “He needs help.”

Cam walked to the dress form in the corner and lifted her special vest. She held it out to the Duke. “You have to wear this. It will keep your heart beating.” She grinned. “Or at least we think it will. Are you sure you want to try it?”

“Please, call me Drex, all my friends do.”

Cam nodded and held out her vest. It was constructed of tiny metal rings like chain mail and fitted with wires and a small metal box positioned right where a man's heart would be. The Duke ran one long elegantly manicured finger along the vest touching first one brass wire and then the brass box. “How does it work?”

“The vest is fitted with sensors that can detect irregularities in your heartbeat. When it senses one, it gives your heart a tiny jolt of electricity.” Cam smiled ruefully. “At least we think it will.”

The Duke closed his eyes, his skin flushed then went white. Cam touched his hand. “Did you just experience one?”

He nodded.

“Then by all means, let's get you into this.”

Edmund and his friend helped Drex remove his coat, neck cloth and shirt. Cam was surprised. The Duke stripped to advantage. His chest was broad and muscular, his arms bulging with muscles. “Is your illness new?”

He nodded. “I used to hunt and box. Now I do nothing.”

Cam helped the Duke into the vest, attached the leads to his chest directly over his heart, laced it tightly and fastened the large brass buckles on the side.

“Where does it get its power,” Drex asked.

Cam pointed to a huge machine running down one side of the cellar. “I generate electricity with this steam generator. The vest can hold enough charges to last twenty-four hours, then you must plug it in again. If it works as intended. I will manufacture a second vest so you may have access to one at all times. That has continued to be the tricky part of this invention, figuring a way to keep the vest charged, but not attached to the machine. I told Edmund we could not test it until we had solved that problem.” She pointed to the box fitted to the inside of the vest. “Inside this is a container filled with a special mixture of acid, copper and zinc. We feed electricity into it and in turn it is able to hold it and feed it into the leads when the charge is needed.”

Drex nodded. “How does it know I'm experiencing an episode of heart failure?”

“The sensors Cam spoke of inside the vest contain tiny filaments that detect your heartbeat,” Edmund said. “I designed those using bats. The small creatures seem to be able to detect bugs in the dark. No one knows how, but it gave me the idea for those filaments.”

“Now,” Drex said. “All we need is for me to experience an attack, and we will know if it works.”

Cam lifted an eyebrow. “And how do you propose to do that?”

“Like this,” he said as he wrapped his naked arm around her waist. Cam struggled, but his strength was greater than hers. He kissed her ruthlessly, his lips warm and hard. She gave in for one moment as desire filled her. Then she began struggling in earnest. The Duke dropped her and grabbed his chest. “Ow,” he muttered.

“The vest just shocked him,” Edmund said, mildly disturbed by the Duke's grabbing his cousin. “I say, that was a terrible way to test the vest.”

The Duke smiled. “Possibly, but it worked. Your cousin's kiss was a powerful stimulant.” He smiled ruefully. “I felt my heart stutter and the shock brought it back immediately. Your marvelous invention works!”

Drex couldn't believe it. The vest had brought him out of an attack immediately. He had found a cure. He grabbed the luscious Cam around the waist and hugged her. “You've saved me and my lineage. How can I ever thank you?”

“By putting me down,” she snapped. “How dare you assault me like this? Do I look like a woman of the streets?”

Drex grinned. “I'd love to apologize, but I'm not sorry at all. I enjoyed our kiss immensely. And, it was the only thing I could think of to test the vest right this minute.” He cleared his throat. “Any form of intimacy brings on the attacks.”

Edmund stepped forward. “But I found you at the Hellfire Club.”

Drex sighed. “There is an older woman there who can perform the trick without any stress.” Acutely embarrassed, he continued. “I must have some form of release, you understand?”

Edmund nodded. “Of course, you are a man.”

“However, I am unable to do my duty as Duke. I could not marry and breed an heir. Nugent Templecombe will inherit my lands and title if I cannot be cured.”

Edmund's eyes widened. “That court card? Why he actually owns the Hellfire Club if I am not mistaken.”

Drex sighed. “I believe it is true. He does.”

Tommy finally spoke up. “If it's the same bloke who owns the club, I know him.” He winked at Edmund. “I knows him in the biblical way if you gets me drift.”

“This conversation is truly not fit for Cam's ears,” Edmund said.

“I resent that,” she snapped. “I'm not some missish princess forever fainting and having nervous spasms any time a bodily function is mentioned.”

Edmund groaned. “Really Cam, I say, this is totally unsuitable for you to hear.”

She rolled her eyes. “If I'm hearing this correctly, Sir Nugent likes the boys and not the girls.”

Tommy laughed. “You got the right of it, Miss. And he likes to hear women and men screaming. Pain's what gets his juices flowing. Lately though, it's been mine he really likes.”

Edmund frowned. “Then you must not go back there. You can stay with me for a time, at least until we find you another more pleasing position.”

Tommy grabbed Edmund and kissed his lips. Cam gasped. “Here? Really, Edmund, it's not fitting.”

Edmund smiled, his light brown eyes glowing. “You are the best of cousins, dearest Cam, you don't mind if I keep Tommy here, do you?”

She took Tommy's hand. “If Sir Nugent was hurting you, please stay with us. How horrible for you.”

Tommy shrugged. “Mostly, it started with spanking, which was all right by me, but lately he's been getting into whips and chains and even more evil tortures. I don't like that at all.”

“So my heir is a sadistic bastard and a pederast,” Drex says. “Nice to know.” He turned to Cam, took her hand and lightly kissed the tips of her fingers. “You must come to my house and build one of these machines that charges my vest. I will pay you handsomely, and you may even build another laboratory there if you choose.”

* * * *

Three weeks later, Cam stood back and admired her handiwork. She'd been living in the Duke's palatial home on Mount Street, ensconced in a massive bedroom on the third floor. Edmund had chosen to stay in their home in the Nichol with Tommy, but visited every day. He told her it was unseemly for a single woman to be staying with a single gentleman and he was right, but Cam cared nothing for the thoughts and feelings of tonnish people or high society. The servants thought her a boy as she wore men's garments all the time. The only one who knew her as a woman was the Duke and lately, his attentions had been growing very particular. She thought he was in love with her and after examining her feelings, felt she might love him. It complicated everything.

With a sigh, she stoked the fire box with her special fuel, a highly combustible mixture that took up little space and burned hotter than any wood or coal. When she thought the fire was hot enough, she turned on the generator. It clanked, hissed and whirred as the steam-powered mechanisms began operating. The door of her lab opened and the Duke entered.

As usual, he was dressed to perfection in black. His waistcoat was white and he wore a stunningly arranged white cravat. His only ornaments were a gold watch and chain and his signet ring. She thought he was strikingly handsome with his raven's wing hair and soft gray eyes. She mentally chastised herself.
He's never going to make you an offer, girl
.
You are quite beneath his touch.

“This is wonderful,” he told her smiling in such a warm fashion her heart skipped a beat.

She had to look away. “Yes, it works as expected and you may now charge your vest here. I have been working on a spare vest for you so you may never be without one.”

She was facing the machine and away from him. He took her shoulders gently in his hands and turned her toward him. “Cam, I think you must know my feelings. Indeed, I don't know how you couldn't.”

She dropped her head and he lifted her chin so she was forced to look into his eyes. “No, don't look away. I'm trying to make you an offer.”

“What kind?” She whispered her heart pounding so hard she was sure he could hear it.

“Don't demean yourself,” he ordered in a gruff voice. “I love you and want you to be by my side forever. Our children will be geniuses, just like you.”

He took her into his arms. This was a novel feeling for Cam. She'd never been touched this way by any man. She knew very well how to protect herself. When his lips touched hers, electricity raced through her veins and he crushed her to his chest. “Say you'll be my wife.”

“Yes, Drex, I will marry you…happily.”

He kissed her again, this time rougher and with more need. He ran his hands up and down her back and sides. Panting, she pulled away and he grinned. “We must be married immediately, my darling. I fear I cannot wait long to possess your body, mind and spirit. I will post the bans this very day and plan for a wedding next Saturday.”

She did not protest, only lay her head on his chest to listen to his heart. It beat steadily under the vest she had invented to keep him alive.

* * * *

Nugent Templecombe saw the notice in the Manchester Guardian's society section and dropped the paper onto the floor. How could his uncle be getting married? Last time he saw him, he was on his last legs, literally days from death.

“Porson,” he screamed for his manservant. The elegantly clad Porson appeared almost immediately. “Help me dress. I must go to visit my uncle. It seems the Duke has become engaged.”

An hour later, tricked out in a natty yellow waistcoat, blue coat of superfine and trousers of a lighter shade of blue, top hat resting on carefully pomaded locks, Nugent pranced up to his uncle's door and knocked. He was admitted by Grimwhich, the butler serving the family for the last half century.

The butler's eyes were cold and he did not smile. “My Lord Duke is not receiving callers this morning.”

“Well, he'll receive me. I'm his heir.” Angered and in no mood to deal with interfering servants, Nugent pushed passed the older man and stormed up the stairs. He found the Duke in the library bent over an account ledger.

“I say, Drex, read you were about to get leg shackled in the Guardian and couldn't believe my eyes. Last time I saw you, you were about to stick your spoon in the wall.”

Nugent stared at his uncle. It occurred to him the Duke's color was good, his posture upright and his eyes clear. He in no way resembled the sick man he'd seen just over three weeks prior. He was assailed by the horrible thought his uncle had somehow found a cure.

The Duke leaned back in his chair and smiled. It wasn't a friendly smile, not at all. It was a victorious smile, the smile of a winner. “I am much better, Nugent, as you can see.”

Nugent's hands formed into claws and he started toward his uncle. Drex bounded to his feet with all the agility of a healthy young man. When Nugent tried to plant him a facer, Drex stepped aside and flipped Nugent to the floor over one hip. “Put you a trifle out of curl, have I?” Drex said with a sneer on his face and in his voice.

Nugent slowly rose and dusted off his pants. Three weeks ago, that much exertion would have killed the Duke. Now he wasn't even breathing hard. When Nugent had moved in close, he'd felt something hard under Drex's shirt; something like a metal undershirt.

Nugent's temper was flaming. His teeth were clenched so hard, he had trouble spitting out his words. “I don't know what's been done to you, who fixed you up, or why you are suddenly cured, but I'll find out and I'll take care of it or who forever.”

The Duke grabbed Nugent by the front of his coat and drew him close. “If you mess with me or mine, Nugent Templecombe, you will lose your generous allowance, the one I give you every month, and I will dispose of you myself.”

“Tough speech for one who could barely lift a fork to feed himself a month ago.” But the dread of losing that allowance filled Nugent with terror. His creditors would find out and cut him off. He'd be an outcast.

“Grimwhich!” Drex called as he rang the bell.

Grimwhich must have been listening at the door because he appeared immediately. “Yes, my lord?”

“Please escort Mr. Templecombe from the premises and do not allow him back in again.”

Before Nugent could leave, a woman Nugent had never seen before entered the room. Nugent knew her for a woman, even though she was dressed like a boy; he did after all run an unusual club.

The Duke was forced to perform an introduction and he could see by Nugent's glee-filled expression that the dibs were up. “Darling, this is my nephew, Nugent Templecombe. Nugent, this is my fiancé, Camille Torrington. We plan to be married within the week.”