The Viscount's Hidden Treasure

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Nicholas Langston, fifth Viscount Sheffield, gave up trying to find a comfortable position in his unpadded oak chair, rested his elbows on the desk, and contemplated the view in his father’s study. Correct that: his study. Everything that had belonged to his father now belonged to Nick. The other nine straight-backed armless chairs, still set in a circle for a prayer meeting, and the floor-to-ceiling bookcase filled with religious tracts and improving works, all reeked of his father’s sensibility.

Nick wanted to toss it all out to the street.

But as with every other time he’d arrived in London and reluctantly come to the townhouse to deal with his steward’s frantic requests, it was too late in the day to make the servants implement the changes. He wanted to see the stuff carted out in person. He’d stop just short of making a bonfire of it. Let it be grabbed up by beggars.

Nick had inherited everything he was going to by the age of twenty-one, a heady experience … until the full weight of the accompanying responsibility made itself known. The livelihood, not to mention quality of life, of so many people here in London as well as at the properties connected to Langston Hall in Dorset relied on the decisions he made, from this very desk.

His friend Alistair would likely spend most of his adult life waiting to receive the fullness of his inheritance. He was in line to be a marquess and a duke once his father and grandfather popped off. Fortunately, Alistair seemed in no hurry to move beyond being Viscount Moncreiffe, and was currently off enjoying his honeymoon.

Their friend Tony would never be elevated above Mister unless his brother, the Earl of Sinclair, died without issue. As Sinclair had entered into a scandalous love match early this summer, the chances of that happening diminished daily. Tony had married just a couple months ago and was busy setting up a business enterprise with his bride.

Which left Nick at loose ends.

The bank drafts signed and enough other matters dealt with to appease the steward for the day, Nick hurried out of the oppressive room and toward the front door.

“Shall I have your bed chamber prepared for later tonight, my lord?” The butler held the door open. Two carriages rattled past on the dark street beyond, lanterns casting fast-moving shadows.

“No, Alfred. I’ll be returning to the Wind Dancer as usual.”

“Very good, my lord.”

Was that a hint of disappointment in the old retainer’s voice?

No matter the fellow had served the family since Nick was in short coats and had shown a young boy many kindnesses, Nick wouldn’t stay in his father’s house a minute longer than necessary.

He put thoughts of his inherited properties out of mind and headed for Lord and Lady Hartwell’s ball at the Argyle Rooms. To many sticklers in the ton, Sheffield was an upstart, as his title only went back a century and a half, but it still opened plenty of doors for him. Hartwell liked his liquor and only served the best, and Lady Hartwell was open-minded enough to invite an interesting mix of guests.

Within the hour he’d done the niceties and was enjoying a glass of champagne, determinedly ignoring the row of wallflowers and optimistic duennas. His two closest friends may have recently stepped into the parson’s mousetrap, but Nick had no intention of following them. The lovely widows winking at him over the tops of their fans, however, were another story. With which one would he pass the night? Or at least a diverting hour or two.

The lovely Lady Slavin was particularly agile, he recalled, and looking fine as five-pence tonight in a deep blue dress cut so low her ample breasts seemed in imminent danger of tumbling out. She gave him a knowing smile as he slowly raised his gaze from her cleavage to her face. He stepped around this flirtatious couple and that one, making his surreptitious way around the room. With a tilt to her head, Lady Slavin headed toward a handy, dark alcove.

Smiling in anticipation, Nick sidestepped the Marquess of Penrith just before the gent upended the punch bowl over the head of his father, the Duke of Keswick. Orgeat punch drizzled through the duke’s white hair and dampened his elegantly tied cravat.

Matrons nearby gasped in shock, but Keswick remained unfazed. It had likely happened several times now, since Alistair, the family peacemaker, was off on his honeymoon, no longer at hand to cool his relatives’ flaring tempers.

Penrith casually handed the now-empty crystal punch bowl to an open-mouthed footman. Ignoring the pointed stares of disapproving matrons, he slung an arm around Nick’s shoulders as he passed. Nick caught the eye of Lady Slavin, still many feet away. She hunched a shoulder and turned her back. Ah, well. She was not much fun if she was in one of her moods. Nick allowed Penrith to steer him toward the card room.

“So, m’boy,” Penrith began, giving Nick a slight shake. “Seen your uncle lately? I can’t win back my blunt if he doesn’t come to the club.”

Nick glanced over, unsurprised to see Penrith retained not a trace of the anger that had led to the punch bowl incident. “No, sorry, haven’t seen Uncle Zach since I’ve been in Town this trip. Probably found himself a new mistress and doesn’t want anyone to steal her away. Again.”

“All’s fair,” Penrith said with a grin. “Yvette was truly lovely, far too good for a reprobate like Zach.”

They passed a row of giggling husband-hunters, their fans and eyelashes fluttering flirtatiously. Nick quickly averted his gaze lest they mistake him as willing prey.

“You know what you need, boy?” Penrith winked at one of the chaperones, who blushed furiously. “You need to find yourself a girl.” Penrith pointed Nick’s chin toward a heavily rouged woman standing near a potted palm in the corner, her dampened skirts clinging to her generously curved hips and thighs. “That one looks ripe for plucking.”

Nick lifted his chin free, determinedly headed for the card room and its brandy. Whiskey would be good, too. “Thank you, no.”

“You prefer boys? I know this private club that caters to—”

“No, that’s not necessary. What I want is—”

“Time to go,” Penrith abruptly said, and disappeared into the crowd so fast Nick almost thought he’d imagined their bizarre conversation.

“—a glass of brandy,” he said to the now empty space at his side.

Lady Hartwell suddenly stood in his path, a young woman at her heels in the international sign that meant danger to bachelors. Ah. Wonder if Penrith was avoiding the chit, or their hostess?

No doubt Lady Hartwell’s strained smile was from having to perform this introduction as part of her duties as hostess, when her own plain daughter had stirred nary a whiff of interest among eligible men during the Little Season. But Miss Hartwell had little to fear in the form of competition from the little brown wren at Lady Hartwell’s heel.

“Lord Sheffield, may I introduce you to Miss Harriet Chase?”

The name sounded vaguely familiar. Nick narrowed his eyes, fairly certain he’d never bedded the plain sparrow before him.

With the social niceties performed and the string quartet beginning to saw away on another tune, both ladies looked at him expectantly.

Nick cleared his throat. “Would you honor me with this dance, Miss, ah …”

“Chase,” she said with another vapid polite smile.

“Miss Chase.” Nick held out his arm, Miss Chase took it, and Lady Hartwell sailed off in a swirl of skirts, hostess duties done.

“You don’t remember me at all, do you, my lord?” Miss Chase said as soon as they’d taken their places on the dance floor.

A waltz. Nick mentally winced but kept his expression polite. Should he remember the chit?

“That’s all right,” she continued after barely a beat. “You were there to collect my friend Charlotte and take her to her brother. I doubt you had a thought to spare for two schoolgirls in the background.”

“You’re a friend of Charlie’s?”

She nodded, and Nick relaxed a tiny bit.

His relief seemed premature as she lowered her voice and angled closer to him. “I have a proposition for you, my lord.”

Nick leaned away. “I’m very flattered, miss, but I don’t bed wenches fresh out of the schoolroom.”

Twin spots of color bloomed high on her cheeks. “Allow me to rephrase that. I have need of your help to retrieve something that belonged to my father. And to yours.”

Ah, now Nick knew why the chit’s name seemed familiar. His father had served as a naval officer with a Chase. Sitting around the dinner table during the viscount’s leaves at home, the tales of adventure and Royal Navy’s glory at sea always included Giles Chase. The gunner’s mate had saved the viscount’s life early on in their service in His Majesty’s navy, and they’d been inseparable chums ever after. Even died together.

“What is this something to be retrieved, and from where?”

Miss Chase smiled. “Treasure. Something our fathers won in a card game but which was too large to bring back on their ship, so they hid it in Spain and planned to go back for it after the war.” The words tumbled from her lips, faster and faster. “I need your help to get to Spain—we can take your ship—find the treasure, then split it since it belonged equally to both our fathers. And since they’re gone, it now belongs to us. You and me. Jointly. You’ll have to front the expenses until we get the treasure, but I’ll repay you half out of my share as soon as we have the treasure in hand. Do we have an accord?”

Nick stopped in mid-step and c****d his head to one side. “You talk really fast.”

Harriet felt like stamping her foot. “Do we have an agreement, my lord? You help me retrieve what belongs to both of us, and I’ll reimburse you for your expenses in getting the treasure.”

He continued to stare at her with his head tilted to one side, as though she were an interesting bug under a magnifying glass.

“My lord?” Good heavens, had she misjudged how much he’d had to drink? He hadn’t seemed foxed. Just imbibed a glass of something or other to get through the social event bachelors were supposedly loath to attend. Though the pot boy Gabriel had questioned earlier tonight had said the viscount had left for the ball in a pleasant mood, which for many men meant they had been imbibing liberally.

“Balcony,” Lord Sheffield suddenly said, and took her by the hand, striding for the double doors.

Several heads swiveled to watch their progress. “My lord,” Harriet hissed, unable to withdraw her hand from his large grasp. She kept her expression polite but tried to dig her nails through both their gloves and into his palm.

“Ow. What?”

Candlelight glinted off his gold hoop earring as he finally turned and looked down at her. Some of the rumors and stories she’d heard about him—dangerous stories—suddenly seemed much more plausible.

“I can’t rush out onto the balcony with you,” she whispered.

It took him agonizing seconds to reply. “Oh, right.” He glanced to the left, then the right. “Where’s a big potted palm in a dark corner when you need it?”

Harriet glanced around the ballroom, barely noticing the famed décor of the Argyle Rooms as she searched for somewhere they could talk in private.

Lord Sheffield hauled her into his arms and resumed the waltz. Under cover of the movement of the dance, he nuzzled her neck. “Tell me more about this treasure,” he said, his lips brushing her ear.

Harriet barely heard him, what with the humming down her spine from his warm breath stirring the fine hairs on her nape.

Treasure. She cleared her throat. She opened her mouth to speak but became aware of the heat from his hand on her waist, his other hand engulfing hers. He’d reportedly killed at least three men with those hands. Maybe dozens.

“Miss Chase,” he whispered.

She stared into his intense blue gaze, which didn’t seem all that frightening just now. This must be the look he reserved for the scores of women he’d supposedly seduced.

She wasn’t going to be one of them.

“My father sent home a map to the treasure. In his letter he said he’d go back after the war, along with Sheffield, to bring it home. I’m surprised you haven’t gone after the treasure yourself before this.” A frisson of fear raced up her spine. Perhaps he had already found the treasure, and had no intention of giving any of it up?

“But they didn’t come home.” His murmured reply took her by surprise.

The naval officer who’d delivered the news said there hadn’t been enough remains to put in a box after the ship went down with all hands aboard, victim of an explosion in its powder room during a battle.

“Why now, Miss Chase? They’ve been gone for five years, and we’ve been at peace almost two. What makes you want to go find the treasure now?”

He could be playacting, but she doubted it. He hadn’t found the treasure, she was sure. Almost.

She lifted her chin. “Frankly, I am in need of a dowry, and my family’s half of the treasure will provide it.”

Sheffield whirled her around another couple. “Fair enough. Give me your direction, and we’ll discuss this in greater detail tomorrow. In privacy.”

The waltz ended.

Harriet gulped. “I’m afraid our townhouse is still at sixes and sevens, not fit for callers yet. Perhaps we could meet at Gunter’s to continue our conversation? At three?”

“Have you a sweet tooth, Miss Chase? It’s getting a bit late in the year to enjoy an ice.” He flashed her a charming smile that made her knees feel decidedly weak.

“Until tomorrow, my lord.”

* * *

“So you’re saying you don’t trust me, Miss Chase.” Viscount Sheffield seemed to crowd her despite being seated on the far side of their table.

Harriet resisted the urge to push her chair away from the table. No one in Gunter’s seemed to notice that the viscount was so close to her, head bowed toward hers in intimate conversation. Gabriel and her maid Betsy sat at a nearby table, oblivious to her discomfort, caught up in watching the activity on the bustling street outside. “I never said I did not trust you.”

“But you won’t give me the map.”

“It was my father’s. Didn’t your father send a map home to you or your mother, like mine did?”

Sheffield’s expression clouded. “He did not.” Sheffield drained his coffee cup before setting it down with a thud. “If you won’t give me the map, how in blazes do you expect me to be able to find this treasure and bring you back your share?”

“I don’t.”

His brows rose. Thick black brows, as black as his long hair tied back in a queue, which perfectly set off his chilly blue eyes. Light glinted off his gold hoop earring.

Her ice eaten, Harriet clutched her empty bowl with both hands to keep from shivering. “I intend to go with you.”

He didn’t snort or scoff, as she’d expected. Just stared, his blue eyes boring through her as though he could see the graying, frayed chemise beneath her best blue morning frock.

“Have you ever even been aboard a ship, Miss Chase? It will take us a week or more to sail to Corunna—each way—and then the time required to find the iglesia referenced on the map. The Wind Dancer is built for speed and carrying cargoes, not passenger comfort.”

“I was born aboard a ninety-eight-g*n ship of the line, my lord, and spent the first four years of my life at sea. I will not be complaining about life aboard a civilian vessel while we are at peace.”

“But now you are not a child in the care of your parents.”

“You mean I am a young woman who must have a care for her reputation? Or are you more concerned how having an unmarried woman aboard your ship will affect your reputation?” She pushed aside her bowl and folded her hands on the tabletop, the epitome of calm and propriety. “If you are worried that I am trying to spring the parson’s mousetrap on you, my lord, I assure you that is the farthest thing from my mind. I already have an intended groom.”

Just the tiniest of lies, since Sir Percival hadn’t actually proposed. Yet. But he would. Just as soon as she had a dowry. He’d almost as much as said so.

Sheffield still didn’t look convinced. She pressed on. “My brother won’t be able to accompany us, but Betsy, my maid, will be aboard so we will be properly chaperoned at all times.” And Gabriel would make certain Mama thought Harriet was visiting Aunt Elizabeth, and that Aunt Elizabeth thought Harriet was at home with Mama. No one would know she had been gone until after she returned. And she wouldn’t have to wear breeches to carry out her plan.

Gaining her dowry, and Sir Percival, would be worth suffering through two weeks at sea in Sheffield’s company. She fingered the silver pendant on the chain around her neck. The end result would be worth any temporary discomfort.

Sheffield leaned even closer, a twinkle in his eyes, his bare index finger idly stroking a design on the back of her hand. “Admit it, Miss Chase,” he said, his deep voice soft and slow, as much a caress to her auditory senses as his finger on her skin. “You want to go on an adventure before you settle down as a respectable matron.”

Harriet tried not to smile back at his conspiratorial tone, the laughter in his eyes, or shiver from the frisson of pleasure tingling down her spine at his touch. Here was the rogue who’d supposedly seduced dozens of women. She saw why they’d succumbed to his charm.

Forewarned was forearmed. She would not be counted among his conquests. She was saving herself for Sir Percival.

“I want to retrieve my family’s share of the treasure. Nothing more, nothing less. If there were any other way to accomplish this, I would not leave my home in Brixham.”

Sheffield gave a slight harrumph and sat back.

“How soon can you have your ship and crew ready to sail, my lord?”

He shrugged. “A week, maybe less. If we don’t leave soon, winter storms will make the crossing more… "

“Dangerous?”

“Interesting.” He grinned, showing white teeth against tanned skin. They weren’t boring, perfect teeth—a small chip on one side tooth accentuated his canine teeth, lending him a wolfish air.

Harriet suppressed a shudder. “Can you be ready in less than a week?”

“Why the hurry? If we don’t go now, it will still be there come spring. If it’s still there at all. It’s already been five years since our fathers hid the treasure. We’ll be lucky if gypsies haven’t found it and made off with it.”

Harriet shifted in her seat. “There’s something I haven’t told you yet.”

Sheffield narrowed his eyes, banishing all traces of humor. “I’m listening.”

She cleared her throat. “Someone broke into our home a few days ago and rifled through my father’s effects, all his correspondence. Mother thought it was boys from the village hoping to read gory tales of the war. I’m convinced it was someone after the key that’s mentioned in one of Father’s letters. The map was gone and they stole all the keys in Papa’s desk, even the key to my music box, as well as the housekeeper’s spare key ring.”

“We don’t need a key. If it’s a locked chest, a pistol can take care of the lock. But if the thief stole the map, how are we to find the treasure chest in the first place?”

Harriet tapped a finger to her temple. “I spent many hours studying it over the years since Papa sent it home. I have drawn a copy.” She rested her hand on Sheffield’s forearm. “My lord, we need to go get our treasure before the thief claims it and it’s lost to us forever. Whatever this treasure is worth, it might be a paltry sum compared to your family’s fortune, but my family has great need of it.”

He glanced at her hand on his arm. She quickly withdrew it.

“Let me hazard a guess. The dowry for you, and education for your brother.”

Harriet blinked.

Sheffield abruptly straightened. “Give me your direction, and I’ll have one of my men come in two days to collect you, your maid, and your baggage.”

Harriet shook her head. “There’s no need to trouble yourself or your men. Give me direction to your ship’s berth, and Gabriel will escort me.”

Sheffield tilted his head to one side. Could he see how worn her dress had become, how she’d had to mend her gloves? “Need to leave your lodgings and come take your berth on the Wind Dancer right away while we’re provisioning?”

Harriet almost sighed in gratitude. He didn’t need to know she’d been unable to sleep in their hotel room—the only room they’d been able to afford and still have money for food—because of the mice that scurried across the floor as soon as the candles were doused. Never mind the little creatures sharing the mattress with her and Betsy. A canvas hammock on the ship now seemed like a heavenly place to sleep.

“Yes, thank you. That would be most agreeable.” She called Gabriel over, and within minutes they had directions to what would be her new home for the next fortnight.

Other than her room at the Academy, she hadn’t had a new home since she was four years old.

And this home could sink.

The dowry, she reminded herself. A roof over their heads. Just keep thinking of the reward that awaited her and her family for taking these risks.