Page 54 of Winter's Waltz
Chapter 10
Max approached the rear door of The Sinner’s Palace and knocked with more confidence it would open for him than he possessed. But he was a man on a mission, determined to seek an audience with Jasper Sutton himself. He had been haunted by his inability to help Gen ever since the day one week ago when he had packed his belongings and left her gaming hell behind.
Tonight, he’d had a sudden, sickening realization which had led him here.
Settling into the rule of dutiful heir had not proven a pleasant task. Partly because Max was not, in fact, dutiful. But mostly because he missed Gen. He missed waking at Lady Fortune and seeking her out. Missed her bright-blue eyes and reluctant smiles. Missed taking her in his arms, missed her scent, her kiss, her touch.
Every damned thing about her.
That was what he missed.
He missed Arthur, too. The loyal hound had been an excellent companion, due, no doubt, to Max’s discovery of his affinity for ear scratches. And the sausages he raided from the kitchens as bribery. But a man was allowed to have his secrets.
A slat in the door opened. A pair of eyes peeked at Max. They weren’t particularly friendly eyes.
“Cove entrance at the front,” the man snapped, then slammed the slat closed.
Max glanced down at his eveningwear. He was fresh from a ball his father had insisted he attend as a condition of being welcomed back into the familial fold. Fawning over marriageable ladies had been the object of the evening. Max had spent the entire night thinking of how he had taught Gen to dance. Wishing his every dancing partner were her. He had left the ball early, seizing upon the idea to seek out Sutton, without a care for how he was dressed or anything else.
His father would be enraged by his premature departure. Max did not give a damn.
He knocked on the portal again, this time with more force.
The entire portal opened, revealing a grim, dangerous-looking fellow. Not the same man who had offered Max and Gen entrance on their previous visit. This one was tall and broad, a hulking monster of a man.
“Told you,” he snarled. “Wrong door.”
“I am here to see Jasper Sutton,” he announced, “and for that, I believe I am at the right door.”
“He’s occupied.” The man moved to close the door.
Max wedged his boot on the threshold, preventing the movement. “Ask if he can spare a few minutes for Sundenbury.”
“More coin to lose?” the man jeered.
So he was familiar after all.
“All the more reason to enter through the rear door,” he said calmly. “No temptation.”
It was true. Aside from the unused tables prepared for gaming in Lady Fortune, Max had deliberately kept his distance from the green baize. He missed the thrill gaming had provided him, and he was not naïve enough to believe he was completely inured to the lure. He had learned a great deal about himself during his time at Lady Fortune.
Unfortunately for him, one of the realizations was that he was in love with Genevieve Winter. A woman who was a law unto her own. A woman who distrusted him. A woman who could never truly be his.
“What d’you want with Jasper?” the man asked, seeming to relent now that he knew Max’s identity. “He’s with Henrietta and Maria, if you take my meaning. Won’t likely emerge for another hour or so.”
Henrietta and Maria? Max knew the names, not because he had been involved with either woman, but because he had seen them on the floor. The Sinner’s Palace boasted some of the most beautiful ladybirds in the East End, and Henrietta and Maria were two of the loveliest. He supposed he should not be surprised Jasper Sutton bedded them himself, but two at once?
“I’ll wait,” he said.
The man shrugged. “If it pleases you.”
“It is imperative that I speak with him tonight,” he said.
Because tomorrow was the night Lady Fortune would open its doors for the first time, and he needed to be certain his suspicions were correct. If what he believed turned out to be true, Gen had a traitor in her trusted ranks.
* * *
“What do you think, Gen?”
