Protection (20 page)

“Are you sure this is the place?”

Sam nodded, his eyes wide in his freckled face.

“See? Over there by the step.”

Nathaniel followed the line of the boy’s finger, squinting to catch sight of the pearls
the boy swore he had seen Lisa drop before climbing down from the back of the carriage
and retracing his steps to the bookstore.

The lad had made the right decision not travelling the extra distance to Stanton House.
Within moments of hearing Rebecca and Margaret’s report, Nathaniel, Hugh, and Michael
had called for their horses, riding straight to the last place where Lisa and Sam
were seen.

The shopkeeper had repeated his claim to have escorted Lisa and her companion through
to the alleyway where she’d told him there was a little girl in need, the perfect
ruse for ensuring her compliance. If Sam hadn’t trusted his instincts, choosing to
follow his master’s betrothed into the alleyway rather than delivering her instructions
to Ben and the others, they would have had no way of knowing where she’d been taken.
The boy hadn’t been able to identify her captor, his vantage point providing only
a view of the man’s top hat and cloak, but it was enough.

A gentleman.

Nathaniel’s money was on Edgeley, and he cursed himself for provoking the coward.
How the man believed he would achieve anything other than his own brutal demise was
testament to his arrogance.

“The lad is sure this is the place,” Nathaniel said as Hugh edged up beside him, Michael
close behind. They’d left their horses tethered out of sight and were huddled behind
some crates in an alleyway.

“These old buildings are like rabbit warrens, with connecting doors and hidden corridors,”
Hugh whispered. “We’d do best to call for more support, but there’s no time.”

Nathaniel nodded. They needed to get Lisa out of the clutches of whoever had her before . . .
Refusing to complete the thought, he squeezed his eyes shut for a second.

“What do you suggest?”

“Your father will have received word and alerted the authorities. Sam should go back
to the shop and guide them here, or they’ll end up driving around in circles. It’s
a wonder he found his way out or back again.”

“I’ve always had a good sense of direction.” The boy shrugged, and Nathaniel patted
his back.

“Take Sabre,” he said, and Sam nodded before scurrying away.

“I’ll go up on the roof and enter that way.” Hugh pointed. “Michael can go around
the front to create a diversion, and you go in through this door. Use your pistol,
but we should stick with swords once inside, if possible. A stray bullet could just
as easily take out an innocent, so don’t fire your weapons unless absolutely necessary.”

“Remember to keep an eye out for any pearls Lisa may have dropped,” Nathaniel added.
“They might lead us to her.”

Hugh clasped his arm. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her, and we’ll make the bastard pay.”

“Bloody oath, we will,” Michael added before disappearing into the shadows. Hugh soon
followed, and Nathaniel waited the agonising minutes his friend had stipulated before
approaching the door through which Lisa had been taken. The man who answered towered
over him, but he granted Nathaniel entry quickly enough when a pistol was shoved in
his face.

“Hey, there’s no need for that, gov.” The thug raised his hands. “There’re plenty
of girls. If ye ’ead around to the front door, ye can take yer pick.”

“I’m interested in a different sort of girl—a lady who was brought here against her
will. Help me find her, and I’ll let you live.”

Fear filled the man’s eyes before his gaze flitted to the nearby stairs. “I don’t
know nothin’ about no lady.”

Nathaniel cocked the firing mechanism on the pistol, jamming it more tightly under
the man’s chin.

“All right, all right.” Sweat broke out on his brow. “She’s up the stairs, but yer
too late. The master’s wiv ’er, and ’e’s got company. Better to forget ’er, and find
yerself another lass. She won’t be no use to yer once they’re done.”

“Take me to her.” Releasing some of his pent up rage, Nathaniel spun the man around
and shoved him forward. Halfway up the stairs, a glimmer caught his eye.

That’s my brave, resourceful girl,
he reminded himself as he bent down to snatch up the pearl wedged against the wall.
At the top of the stairs, he checked to make sure there was no one waiting for him,
then took note of the hallway that stretched in both directions. Hugh was right, and
the buildings were connected internally.

“Move,” Nathaniel ordered when his unwilling guide hesitated. “And don’t even think
about leading me astray, or I will gut you.” He made sure the man could see his sword
out of the corner of his eye.

“I’m a dead man either way for crossing the master,” he muttered but turned decisively
to the left, leading Nathaniel along a winding path.

Faint noises drifted up from below, growing louder as they neared another stairwell.
Nathaniel paused for a moment, smiling when he heard Michael’s voice.

“There’s a fire, I tell you,” his cousin yelled. “I saw smoke billowing from an upstairs
window. The building must be evacuated immediately.”

The brothel madam argued there was no fire, but Michael’s lies took effect with panicked
shouts echoing up the stairs. The hallway began to fill with scantily clad young women
and half-dressed men, swearing and shoving one another as they ran for the stairs.
Tucking his sword against his side so as not to draw attention, Nathaniel kept a firm
grip on his guide and urged him forward.

Rounding a corner, they came to a room guarded by a hulking brute.

“He’s got a weapon!” His guide shouted, and Nathaniel struck him in the head with
the pistol, knocking him to the ground. The guard pulled a knife, and Nathaniel tossed
the pistol aside—the darned thing was not accurate enough to trust over any distance,
and he was wary of the bullet piercing the wall and hitting Lisa . . . if she was
inside. He didn’t have time for this, but with no other choice, he raised his sword,
intent on dispensing the guard. The brute tossed his knife from hand to hand, like
he knew what he was doing with it. Just when he raised it to throw, an attack against
which Nathaniel wasn’t trained to defend himself, Hugh snuck up from behind and felled
the thug with a brutal blow.

“About time.” Nathaniel crossed to the door only to find it locked. A quick search
of the unconscious guard’s body produced a bunch of keys, and with shaking fingers,
he tried them one by one until the lock turned. Steeling himself for what he would
find, Nathaniel raised his sword. Then with Hugh at his back, he opened the door and
stepped inside. When his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he froze at the sight before
him—a huddle of terrified girls whimpering with fear.

“Good Lord,” Hugh said from the doorway. “They’re just children . . .
infants
.”

A few of the babes began to cry, and Nathaniel crouched down. “Don’t be afraid,” he
said, keeping his tone gentle. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

One of the older girls, a pretty lass with a mass of strawberry blond curls, inched
forward.

“Are ye Lord Marsden?”

“How do you know my name? Was a lady here, one with lovely red hair?”

“Yes. She told us ye’d be comin’ and that she’d take us wiv ’er when ye rescued ’er.
Will ye do that, sir? Will ye ’elp us?”

“Of course we will.” Nathaniel tried to keep his tone nonthreatening despite the rage
roiling within him.

“She gave us these.” The girl opened her hand to reveal a single pearl, the other
girls showing him more of the same. “Do ye want them back?”

“No, you keep them. Do you know where she is now? The pretty lady?”

“The bad man came and took ’er. He said it was time for ’er to see the doctor. Ye
need to go rescue ’er, sir, ’cos ’e’s not a nice doctor.”

Nathaniel’s stomach lurched, and he turned to Hugh. “Did you see anything?”

Hugh shook his head, and Nathaniel’s heart rose to lodge in his throat.

“The doctor looked at us in a room with a big bed,” another girl piped up. “It ’ad
a brown door with a little funny-looking tree in a pot in the hallway outside.”

“Down the hall.” Hugh ran for the door, almost colliding with Michael in the doorway.

“Have you found her?” he asked.

“Not yet, but we think we know where she is. You stay and guard the girls,” Nathaniel
shouted and ran after Hugh, dodging and weaving between panicked patrons of the hell-house,
escaping the imaginary fire. Twice along the way, he spotted loose pearls gleaming
against the faded carpet, but he didn’t stop until he reached the room which was just
as the observant young girl had described. Hugh held back, and Nathaniel burst through
the door first to be confronted with a scene out of a nightmare.

Lisa was lying on the bed wearing only a thin shift, her arms tied to the bedhead
above her. A man leaned over her,
touching her—
the so-called physician, Nathaniel assumed—while both
Copeland and Edgeley held her bare legs. Not hesitating, Nathaniel barrelled straight
into the doctor, sending him crashing against the far wall.

“Nathaniel! Look out!” Lisa cried, and he spun around to see Copeland lunge towards
him, a sword in his hand. Raising his own sword, Nathaniel parried the older man’s
blow just as Hugh knocked Edgeley to the floor. While his friend beat the weasel senseless—a
task Nathaniel would have relished if his hands weren’t full—he focused on Edgeley’s
mentor, determined to end Copeland once and for all.

“I should have guessed you were behind this.” Nathaniel cursed the man responsible
for almost ending Sir George’s life. “Your protégé lacks the courage to attempt something
so audacious.”

“True.” Copeland sneered as the two men slowly circled one another. “But he has other
talents. It’s a pity you didn’t arrive a little later, as you could have watched the
show.”

Nathaniel saw red and lunged wildly, his opponent taking advantage of his lapse in
concentration. With a sudden parry, Copeland’s blade cut close to Nathaniel’s side,
slicing through his jacket and missing his skin by a hairsbreadth.

“You’ll have to do better than that, my boy,” the disgraced baron taunted, his next
swipe coming close to nicking Nathaniel’s cheek.

Lisa cried out, but he dared not spare her more than a quick glance. Relieved to see
that Hugh had subdued Edgeley and was standing guard over the bed, he returned his
focus to Copeland. Parrying a series of rapid-fire blows, Nathaniel recouped. The
baron was strong and possessed of greater experience, but Nathaniel had youth on his
side. He just needed to keep his fury in check.

As they circled one another, he probed, trying to discover Copeland’s weaknesses.
The man was skilled, there was no denying, but he was also arrogant.

“My men will be here soon,” Copeland boasted. “And then you and your friend will be
outnumbered. But don’t worry, I plan to let you live long enough to see me enjoy the
delights your lovely lady has to offer . . . if you haven’t already partaken? Edgeley
swears you’ve behaved in a manner unbecoming of a gentleman. Did you have fun?”

Nathaniel refused to be provoked. The bastard was in for a rude awakening, as his
men were all running for their lives from an imaginary fire. Sweat broke out on both
men’s brows. But while Copeland wasted his breath, taunting Nathaniel with his plans
for Lisa, Nathaniel focused on warding off his blows and getting in a few of his own.

Licentious living had taken its toll on Copeland and, little by little, Nathaniel
gained the upper hand. His strikes came closer to their mark while the older man’s
began to go wide. After Nathaniel delivered a series of punishing blows, his opponent
left himself open, and Nathaniel took instant advantage. A red line appeared on the
baron’s white breeches where Nathaniel’s sword had drawn blood, but he wasted no time
congratulating himself. Striking again and again, he punished the coward, relishing
the opportunity to make Copeland suffer for all the pain and misery he had caused.
He was planning to take his time and make the bastard pay, but Lisa’s whimpers reached
him between the sounds of steel clashing against steel.

A change in priorities saw Nathaniel press forward. His next two strokes sliced deeply—one
the length of Copeland’s arm, the other his side. Storing away the sound of Copeland’s
agonised cry to savour at a later date, Nathaniel knew he would regret the man’s swift
demise. But Lisa needed him.

No longer able to maintain his guard, Copeland lowered his weapon. Nathaniel didn’t
hesitate. Thrusting his sword deep into the man’s chest, he gave it a twist before
pulling it free. The baron dropped to his knees, a look of surprise on his face. Not
bothering to watch him fall, Nathaniel crossed to the bed where Lisa was sitting huddled
in a ball, nursing the sore wrists Hugh had untied. Lifting her into his arms, he
held her close.

“Oh, Nathaniel.” She buried her face against his neck. “Thank God you’re all right.”

“Thank God
I’m
all right?” Sitting on the edge of the bed, he met her tear-filled gaze.

“I was so afraid you’d be hurt.” She glanced warily towards where Hugh was checking
Copeland for a pulse, a quick shake of his head confirming the man was dead. Hugh
then set about tying up both the unconscious doctor and severely beaten Edgeley with
strips torn from the curtain, before dumping their bodies in the corridor.