Read If He's Wild for Free Online Page B

soon after the drink I downed in the gardens.” He nodded when Alethea silently offered to pour him a cup of tea, and then smiled at the identical quizzical looks the other three men wore. “If you heard our entire conversation in the garden, Redgrave, then you will understand why I am cautious in my consumption of drink. It would not do at all for me to lose my, er, reticence.”
    “Because you might begin to speak to the spirits you claim to see, and do so in public?” Hartley asked, inwardly cursing himself for mouthing the question, one formed from his curiosity, doubt, and, worse, a strange urge to be convinced.
    “My lord, I never insist anyone believe as I do, only that they give the leave to do so,” Iago said.
    Hartley nodded in appreciative response to that very polite set-down. It was very similar to the one Alethea had given him. He began to think they had to do it a lot.
    “You truly see the dead?” asked Aldus, blithely ignoring Hartley’s glare. “Even speak to them?”
    “I have since I was a very small child,” replied Iago. “I may have seen them from the moment I was born, but who can say? I would not be confessing such things except that it is quite obvious my secret is out, at least amongst the ones in this room.”
    “Are there any here? In Redgrave’s home?”
    “Yes, but not in this room, and none of them are malevolent.”
    “Can you make them show themselves or reveal themselves in some way?”
    “No.”
    “Curse it, Aldus, we have not brought them here so that you can request parlor tricks,” snapped Hartley. “I have always been curious about such things,” said Aldus, “yet I have never seen any proof.”
    “If you saw proof, you would soon come to regret your curiosity,” Iago said in a quiet, somber voice and then turned his attention to his tea. “In fact, we would not even be having this discussion at all if the conversation between Alethea and me had not been overheard. I was too overset to take the usual precautions. I believe you can understand why we keep such things as secret as possible. History has taught us all the value of secrecy.”
    Hartley frowned at the Vaughns and then at his companions, who did not look as doubtful as he thought they ought to. He would never have suspected the two intelligent, well-schooled men would have a superstitious bone in their bodies. Then again, he mused, perhaps they did not, for they showed no unease at all, not as he did. They both looked simply intrigued. Hartley hated the thought that he might be the only one with a newly discovered superstitious side. He inwardly shook his head and turned his attention back to the Vaughns.
    “For the moment let us say that we all accept your, er, gifts as fact,” Hartley said, irritated by the glint of amusement he could see in the eyes of the Vaughns. “Just tell us how and when you came to know so much about Madame Claudette des Rouches.”
    “I shall begin,” said Alethea, “for it was I who started it all, dragging Iago along with me, m’lord.”
    “One quick suggestion. We will undoubtedly have a long discussion. Shall we set aside the proprieties a little and leave off the titles? There are four m’lords here. I believe using our Christian names will help to make things a little less confusing.”
    “As you wish,” Alethea said after a quick nod of agreement from Iago and the others. “I had a vision four days ago.” She noticed Hartley looked annoyed, but his companions simply looked curious. “In it I saw you step out of a fine house. It had rather poorly carved griffins upon the posts at the base of the front steps. I could smell roses, and you looked, well, smug.” Hartley looked even more irritated, but his friends briefly grinned. “Then you were accosted and dragged into a large black carriage. What followed was somewhat alarming. Swift, intense images and emotions. There was a lot of pain. Torture, I believe. Five men tried to get you to tell them your