Lord Valorous(34)

She appeared to have lost a considerable amount of weight, and he noted the side of her neck had some kind of skin irritation. Her breathing was shallow and erratic. If he had to guess, Jacob would say that Poppy was correct, and Lady Revel was being poisoned.

He gently touched her cheek, but she did not respond. Not wanting to frighten her awake, he signaled to Leo that they were leaving. Once out on the balcony, he looked down and saw Poppy still stood looking up at them.

"Infernal woman," he whispered. She'd be freezing by now.

Beside him, Leo was unstopping the first bottle and sniffing the contents.

"Arsenic."

"Yes, Lady Revel is exhibiting the symptoms. We need to get her out of here, and soon, Leo. I don't believe she will last much longer if not treated. In fact, I'm not entirely sure she will recover, but as I am not a doctor that is only a guess."

Leo looked grim. "Then we get her out tomorrow morning."

Jacob nodded. "I'll beat her nephew senseless if he tries to stop us."

Throwing a final glare at Poppy, Jacob and Leo made their way back into the house. They managed to get down and back out the window undetected. Once outside they crept around the front and out onto the road. Of Poppy there was no sign, which suggested she had finally done as he told her and gone to his carriage.

"I'll leave you here, I have a matter to attend to."

"What matter?" Jacob questioned his friend.

"A personal one."

Jacob snorted. "A woman then."

"There is no need to scoff simply because the woman you have shown interest in is a trifle difficult, whereas mine is soft and willing."

"I am not interested in Poppy. She is not someone I could even contemplate being interested in either, even if I was."

"Why, Jacob?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Leo. You know very well when I marry, it will be someone who lives in our world."

Leo was silent for a few seconds, his eyes steady on Jacob.

"You mentioned marriage, not I, Jacob. Take her as your mistress, if it is beneath you to have her any other way."

Jacob looked at his friend as if he had sprouted horns. "You, of all people, are speaking to me this way? The man who looks down his nose at women constantly. The man who uses them only for his pleasure and gives no thought to what life they live or person they are? You, who have vowed to wed only when there is no escaping it."

Something flashed across Leo's face. Guilt, regret, Jacob was not entirely sure in this light.

"Perhaps my views are changing."

"Since yesterday? I think not."

"All I'm saying is that if Poppy is special to you then don't walk away from that. I have watched two of my friends find women, different women, and both are happier than I have ever seen them. Perhaps it is not for me, these matters of the heart, but I believe that they may be for you."



       
         
       
        

"Surely you are joking," Jacob scoffed as something uneasy crept over him. "I have no interest in Poppy other than sympathy. I know nothing of the woman, and do not care to," he lied. "She is no one to me but a person who has fallen on hard times."

When he fell silent, Leo sent him a steady look.

"If that is indeed the case, forgive me for speaking my mind."

Jacob raked a hand through his hair.

"Perhaps I was not entirely honest with you... there is lust."

Leo's smile was small. "Make her your mistress then, and that should ease the tension inside you."

He could do nothing to stop the flood of need at the thought of Poppy in his bed.

"I will meet you here in the morning, and suggest you bring both Poppy and a doctor. I bid you goodnight," Leo said, before stalking away.

Watching darkness swallow his friend, Jacob wondered what the hell had just happened. Did Leo believe he could possibly feel anything more than affection for Poppy? On top of that, did he possibly believe a man in his position could wed one such as she? Good Lord, the woman had worked in a brothel!

But Marcus married such a woman.

Thrusting that thought to the back of his head, and the visons of Poppy naked and sprawled across his body along with it, Jacob told Hamley to drive them to Poppy's address and opened the door to his carriage. He found her huddled on the seat waiting for him.

"Is she all right?"

"She is alive," he said, taking the seat across from her. "But needs medical attention, which we will see she gets. Tomorrow we shall arrive here early, with a doctor."

"I shall be here also."

Jacob nodded. "Yes, she will need your support. I will also ask Lady Carver to come. I believe they are quite close and she could take Lady Revel in until she is able to care for herself."