“I live in fear of the day someone rips the beard off yer face and exposes ye,” Cullen said, pointing his cigar at her.
“I’ll kick ’em in the balls before I let it happen.” A quiet cough punctuated her comment. The smoke in the room was overpowering, but these men were on a path fraught with danger, and if they wanted to smoke, she wasn’t about to deprive them of their simple pleasure. “Did I hear David talking about Gordon as I came downstairs? What’s the latest with him?”
David drew on a pipe and blew rings into the air. The new ring struck the remnants of the old ring, and they both disintegrated in a haze. “We’ve played a few games. His losses now tally over five thousand dollars, and tonight I won the family business.”
“Excellent. What kind of business?” Braham asked.
David removed the pipe between his teeth and said, “Lumber. Near Cincinnati.”
Cullen pointed with his cigar held loosely between two fingers. “It should be a very profitable business now the war has ended.”
“How long are you going to keep playing him? He can’t have much left to wager.”
David’s pipe threatened to go out, and he drew on it heavily until the bowl glowed red. “When he left the table tonight, he said he’d be back tomorrow. I believe someone is staking him. Gaylord is following up.”
Charlotte put the edge of her glass to her lips, wondering. “Why would someone stake him? Does Braham have more enemies than we were aware of?”
The men laughed, and Cullen said, “Several new ones, lass.”
Braham bit down on the end of the cigar. “Start with Johnson and work yer way down to the court reporters borrowed from the Senate.”
Charlotte fanned her way through the smoke, heading to the cabinet to refill her drink. “Braham, do you think Gordon knows there’s a connection between you and David?”
“It’s possible.”
She refilled her glass, replaced the stopper on the decanter, and sipped her drink. “If he loses everything, including his backer, he’ll blame you for his gambling losses, too.”
“At this point, lass, he’ll blame me if it rains.”
She moved over to the window and gulped in a few lungfuls of smokeless air. “You need a bodyguard.”
“Cullen and I now have two apiece. David has a dozen.”
Braham patted the cushion next to him, inviting her to come back. She shrugged. As long as she stayed in the room, she wasn’t going to escape the smoke. She sat, tucked her feet beneath her on the sofa, and leaned against him. Being with these three men made her heart ache for Jack. He would have loved this moment—drinking whisky and smoking cigars with the guys. The least she could do was enjoy it for him.
“I wish you had told me about the bodyguards earlier. I’ve been so worried.”
“Cullen and I didn’t know about them until we left for court this morning. Nice lads. Former sergeants. Gaylord arranged it, interviewed a hundred men, and selected sixteen burly ex-soldiers. David trained them. Starting tomorrow, ye’ll also have a guard, twenty-four hours a day.”
“Seriously?”
David turned the pipe over and knocked the dottle out into the ashtray. “Gaylord told them he was starting an agency. Their future employment would depend on how well they performed this assignment. They have no families to return to, and were glad for the work.”
She chuckled under her breath. “So we have our own police force now.”
Braham placed his warm hand over hers. “Something like that. This is a dangerous game we’re playing, but a necessary one. When I subpoena Henly next week, he may become aggressive. We have to protect ourselves.”
“He’ll be a hostile witness, won’t he?”
“Aye, and if he lies,” Braham said, frowning, “I’ll have to call ye to the stand.”
She glanced up at him. His penetrating look of concern cut straight through her. He didn’t want her on the witness stand, and she didn’t want to testify, but for Jack, she would do anything. “Maybe if Gordon knows I’m in town and prepared to testify, he’ll think twice about lying.”
Cullen puffed on his cigar, blowing rings of his own which seemed to entertain him. “We can’t risk exposing ye until the last possible moment.”
She fiddled with the small cameo brooch pinned at her collar. It had belonged to her great-grandmother and Charlotte had accidently left it behind on her previous trip. It reminded her of the lost sapphire. “Did you ask Jack what happened to the brooch?”
Braham blew perfect rings into the air and calmly said, “He tossed it and assumed it went out the window.”
Charlotte sat bolt upright. “He did what?”
Braham put his arm around her shoulder. “The police would have taken it, and he knew Edward went over the grounds twice a day, pulling weeds and picking up trash. He assumed he would find it.”
“What’d Edward say?”
“He hasn’t seen it. He even raked the entire yard. If it was there, it’s gone now. He questioned all the members of my staff. No one has seen it.”
A trickle of sweat ran down the back of her neck. “Damn. Then we have to assume it’s gone for good, which means you’ll have to take the ruby and escort Jack home, and then come back for David and me.”
“Once we prove Jack’s innocence, we’ll solve the logistics problem.”
“I wish we’d never had access to the ruby. You wouldn’t have been able to come back on your own, and I wouldn’t have come chasing after you.”
Cullen cleared his throat. “Let’s leave the ruby brooch out of this. Without it, I never would have met Kit.”
“Then she could have married me,” David said.
Cullen glared at David, jaw muscles rippling
