“I like Tommy,” Amos said, allowing his gaze to sweep the crowd. “Like me, this isn’t quite his world. I ask you give him a few minutes, and then we’ll all keep dancing the night away.”
The majority of the guests settled in, resigned to their fate. Daniel was trapped in the middle of the press of bodies; there was no way to fight his way out of the entryway without drawing attention to himself. As Tommy began spouting his drivel, Daniel shot a quick look toward Genevieve, unsurprised to find her watching him rather than Tommy. She made a face of concern toward him.
Is everything all right? the look clearly asked.
Damn, he must look angrier than he’d realized. Daniel softened his features and gave a quick headshake.
It’s nothing, his gesture said in return.
Turning his attention toward the stairs, Daniel had the barest of moments to comprehend he had just partaken in an unspoken exchange with someone with whom he ought to be on the utmost guard, when a loud voice cut across Tommy’s practiced political cadences.
Elmira Bradley’s furrow of concern had changed to outright fury. “I think we’ve had enough lies, Mr. Meade. My husband is at least honest about being from Montana. Now why don’t you share with everyone who you really are?”
CHAPTER 10
Tommy paused midsentence as the onlookers froze. He offered a thin smile at his hostess’s query, but Daniel knew him well and could see fury matching Elmira’s lurking behind his eyes.
He was not happy at being interrupted, and if Daniel guessed correctly, even less so about being challenged.
“I wasn’t aware I was being duplicitous, madam. I’m very open about how I immigrated to this great nation from Ireland as a boy. This country has a long tradition of men making themselves from nothing. And while I wasn’t born in a log cabin”—Tommy paused, offering a significant look to the crowd—“I do come from the more impoverished parts of this fair city.”
“No shame in that,” Elmira said, her mouth set in a thin line. “But I thought you should enlighten these good folks about your gang ties.”
A collective gasp arose. Daniel stared at Elmira, thunderstruck, as she placed her hands on her hips and stared down the man known to New York’s underworld as the Terror of the East Side.
God Almighty, what is this woman doing? How on earth would someone like her know about gang life in New York? And why was she publicly exposing Tommy? There were plenty of wealthy people who skimmed the surface of gang activity in the city—those with an addiction to opium, or unscrupulous businessmen hoping to make a quick dollar—but the bulk of the city’s elite hadn’t the faintest idea of the elaborate Byzantine hierarchy and affiliations that ruled the town’s extensive gang network, nor of how so much of that network had a hand in the gears and cogs of industry that made the city run.
If not at the top of that network, Tommy was close. The men in his position almost always had unofficial ties with City Hall, but Tommy was the first to have actually tried to occupy City Hall. Publicly calling out his allegiance to the Oyster Knife gang was a dangerous business. Daniel would bet Elmira Bradley had no idea how dangerous, for if she had known she’d have run screaming from her own staircase.
Daniel felt a nudge at his elbow and found that Rupert had silently joined him, handing him a fresh brandy, which he gulped gratefully. The atmosphere in the entryway was thick with tension as Elmira and the majority of the city’s upper crust waited breathlessly for Tommy to respond.
Tommy assumed a thoughtful expression. “The misdeeds of my youth, madam. Unfortunately, so many young boys from the less fortunate parts of town find themselves embroiled in similar circumstances. It’s all long in my past now. After all, I am not the only one among us who is not from your ranks originally. Why, I remember when Danny McCaffrey there and I used to run barefoot like young heathens through the streets of the Lower East Side.”
Tommy’s sharp teeth glinted in the gaslight as he pretended to be oblivious to the shocked gasps that rose from the well-heeled guests. Elegantly coiffed and distinguished gray heads swung in seeming unison to stare at Daniel.
“There was a whole group of us that ran together right around the Draft Riots, weren’t there, Danny?” Tommy chuckled and swept his arms open wide. “Did you ever think we’d wind up in a place like this? Only in America, right?”
So this was the game, was it? Expose his past, attempt to divert any questions about himself onto Daniel?
Daniel didn’t really care if anyone knew where he originated; hell, his parents had had twice the integrity of most of the people in this room. But he’d promised the memory of his beloved sister Maggie never to tell how he had become heir to the Van Joost fortune, and his past and the inheritance were so intertwined it had been better to keep it quiet. All that had changed when he decided to reveal his origins to Genevieve at Delmonico’s. Since then, he’d been prepared for whatever fallout might occur.
He hadn’t, however, counted on his past being broadcast in this venue rather than in print. Daniel calculated his options.
The real question was, how much did Tommy know?
Two could play at this game.
He forced himself to keep his manner easy and maintain a calm smile, aware that the entire party was now watching him in fascination. Aware of Genevieve’s anxious face turned his way. “Of course I remember running wild as a young boy; didn’t we all?” He allowed a small frown to furrow his brow.
“But I don’t particularly remember you and me associating that much as children. As I recall, your games and pursuits were not to my taste.” He held Tommy’s eyes, sending
