Red Cloak of Abandon (16 page)

marched forward snatching a wad of her cloak as he raised his hand

holding the belt.

“No whore!
No slut
will live in this house! Do you understand me?”

Redgrift bellowed, and when the belt came down across Affinity’s side,

she did not yell out, she was too stunned. Her uncle swung her around,

tugging harshly on her cloak, until the tie gave and it pulled free. She did

cry out then, wailing in horror, as her uncle again bellowed.

“Slut!” He brought the belt down on her back making her scream in

pain as she tried to cover her naked parts with her hands. “Out of my

house!
You
are disowned!” Redgrift shouted.

Redgrift used the belt striking wickedly against her body to move

her out of the room, down the hall, and down the stairs. Each lash of the

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belt made her scream and her near nakedness in front of him, the

servants, and her Aunt Fuchsia made her die inside with shame, as he

struck her back, buttocks, and legs, until she stumbled into the entryway

falling on her knees. It was then through her pain and tears that she heard

the damning answer to all of this.

“Lord Hartley saw you with half a dozen men set to fornicate at the

boxing match!”

Oh God.
The voice outside the boxing match, Affinity thought, as

her uncle whipped her body curled into a ball on the floor. Sometime

later, her uncle must have stopped beating her and she must have lost

some consciousness, because the next thing she knew she was being

jerked upright by her hair. Her uncle dragged her through the open front

doorway, and then he shoved her, releasing her hair as she fell down the

front steps. She landed in a heap on the bottom, and then her red cloak

plunked on top of her.

Her uncle was spewing so many horrible things that she blanked out

most of them, but one thing she remembered clearly was his snarl,

“Never
come back here, you slut, or I will have you arrested as a whore!”

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. . . I, Affinity Redgrift, do swear before the Lord Almighty that I

freely entered into sexual congress with Lawrence Fabier. I swear that I

am no longer a virgin having taken my maidenhead on my own to prove

my free choice. I do not want, nor do I accept, any monetary or marriage

conditions on our affair and this signed missive can stand as clear

evidence to that, and said missive shall reside as proof in Lawrence

Fabier’s hands . . .

“By god, and she signed a legal paper attesting to it.” Law chuckled

fondly, yet what amazed him the most, was Affinity’s choice to appar-

ently freely breach her own maidenhead. He remembered seeing the

godemiché
on Affinity’s bed that night. By God, she was astounding.

“Your grace, excuse me please.”

Law looked up as he folded Affinity’s note and he saw Nell. She

appeared extremely upset and the hour was quite late. “Yes, Nell,” he

answered, sitting forward in his study chair.

“Mrs. Todd, just came to the backdoor very upset, sir. You remem-

ber her, she says you helped her years ago?”

“Yes, of course,” Law answered expectantly. He knew Mrs. Todd

was the cook for Lord Redgrift. He had received much of his information

about Affinity from Mrs. Todd. And suddenly an uneasy feeling settled

in his gut.

“I just knew you’d want to know that Lord Redgrift beat Lady

Affinity terrible tonight with a belt! Then, he threw her from the house,

never to come back!”

“Oh
my
God,” Law exclaimed, leaping to his feet.

“You see, I saw her tonight, Lady Affinity, sneaking out of the

carriage and Mrs. Todd knew you’d asked after her.”

Law could barely think, he was that upset, but his servants and all

the women and male prostitutes that he had helped in the past kept a close

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network of information alive. It helped him immensely in his work and

also in finding proper and safe placements for the ones that he helped.

“Beat
her?” he asked tightly, he could barely breathe.

“Aye. Terrible like and she was near naked.”

Law nearly bellowed then, but somehow he managed to hold it

inside himself.

“But Mrs. Todd cannot find Lady Affinity now. She snuck out front

to gather the poor girl up and take her to her friends, but Lady Affinity

was gone. Then, Mrs. Todd tried each of her friends, but she’s not there.

She’s so worried about her being hurt and out on the streets.” Nell said.

“We
will
find her,” Law uttered. “Pass the word to all we know to

look out for her, but especially send Bart to Sebastian. Sebastian can

spread the word quickly.” Law strode forward as he issued his orders,

then he entered the hallway and snagged his coat and hat hastily. “I go

now to search, but have someone ask Lady Affinity’s friends if they have

any clues to where she might be.”

“Aye, sir,” Nell replied.

Law grasped Nell’s hand. “Nell, you are so much more help to me

here. Now you see how well.”

“I do feel it, yer grace, like I’m needed,” Nell said.

“And you are never to forget that. Oh and Nell, please check on the

new lady and her child. We don’t want to lose her.”

Law nearly ran out of the townhouse then, as though the devil chased

him. He was devastated, his heart was breaking and his past was trying

to rise up and swallow him. This was too close to Magdalena, if he had

just not dallied with a good woman, if only he had been stronger. He

knew the consequences. Why is it that one always thought it would not

happen to them? All his recriminations could not begin to overshadow

the desperate concerns that tugged at his heart like fire. They had to find

Affinity. They
had
to!

†

Affinity stumbled. She could barely stay upright her body hurt so

badly and one of her heels was torn off. She had to hold onto the clammy

stonewall of the building that she lurched beside. She could smell the

sewage of London’s lower end around her. She could hear the rats

scurrying. But it meant nothing. Her mind was twisted with pain, both

mental and physical.
Was she really a whore?
She certainly had been

acting like one, blindly covering it in farfetched fantasy, when the truth

was, all she was being was sexually promiscuous. Her uncle snarling

“slut” kept ringing in her mind, until she sobbed and fell against the wall,

barely able to hold herself upright.

“Lady Affinity,” Sebastian called gently, but the woman did not

appear to hear him as she leaned crumpled and sobbing against the

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warehouse wall. Sebastian stepped closer, lifting his hand to lightly touch

the woman’s shoulder. Either way, he thought, it was a woman in need.

The woman gasped through her frantic weeping as she tried to turn

away from him, but suddenly she just collapsed. Sebastian barely caught

her before she slumped to the ground and when he lifted her up into his

arms, he saw that it was indeed Lady Affinity. It did not bode well that

he had found her here in the lower end. It spoke of her spirit being broken

more than her body. He knew his intentions immediately and where he

had to take her. Law was his friend, but Lady Affinity needed her friends

more now.

“Senorita, we will go to the beautiful, Brevity. You must hold on to

me,” he murmured. It was interesting that his friend Lawrence Fabier

knew Lady Affinity. It seemed the world moved in mysterious ways.

When Sebastian reached the steps of Lady Brevity’s stylish town-

house carrying Lady Affinity, it was as though the lovely Brevity waited

for him by some intuition, because Brevity threw open the door and

rushed to meet him, before his foot reached the first step.

“Oh, SSebastian you have found her!” Brevity cried, with her en-

dearing lisp. “Bring her inssside quickly.”

†

“I received your message,” Law said to Sebastian as Sebastian

opened the door to Lady Brevity’s townhouse. Law stepped inside, not

waiting for Sebastian to move or invite him in.

Sebastian stepped back, with really no choice, saying, “She is with

the doctor now.”

Law started immediately for the stairs leading up to the top floor of

the townhouse, but Sebastian grasped his arm. “You will
not
keep me

away from her,” Law said tersely. “But I am indebted to you for finding

her.”

Sebastian gripped his arm harder. “Do you know your intentions,

before you go up there?” Sebastian asked.

Law stopped trying to pressure his arm from Sebastian’s grasp.

“No
—yes,” Law uttered, fighting the urge to see Affinity. Sebastian was

right.

“I found her near the docks on the lower end,” Sebastian said. “She

fell unconscious in my arms. I hear that her uncle called her whore, and

a slut, and worse he beat her.”

“Bastard,” Law snarled, slapping his hat against his thigh.

“A lady like she is . . . ,” Sebastian murmured, leaving the sentence

hanging.

“Has been ruined,” Law said, adding one of the many sureties in

Affinity’s life just for being attracted to him and loving him. Law lifted

his head, staring intently at Sebastian. “Not if
this
man, this duke can help

it,” he said fiercely.

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Sebastian nodded, patting Law’s arm. “Then, go see your woman.

But I am not sure my lovely Brevity will let you.”

“Your,
lovely Brevity?” Law questioned him. “How did you know

to bring Affinity here in the first place?”

“That, my friend, is a long story,” Sebastian replied with a humorous

glint in his deep brown eyes. “And, I will only tell if the ladies allow me.”

78

Two weeks later, Affinity knew that she was being courted and she

was not sure how she felt about it. Her body had healed and Brevity had

insisted that she could live with her for as long as she liked. Affinity had

protested that it would taint Brevity’s reputation, however, Brevity

would hear none of it. Not one of her friends would. They visited her

each day and they all said that the motto of the Lady Rogues was through

thick and thin. However, Affinity considered that not one of them real-

ized how thick it could get. And then there was Law . . . In the first days

she had asked not to see him. But . . .

“Another love ssonnet from the duke and another bouquet of fresh

flowers,” Brevity announced brightly, entering the sunroom where Affin-

ity was sitting. Brevity carried a beautiful bouquet of flowers and set

them on the table next to Affinity, then she handed Affinity the poem,

hand written on lambskin paper. “Every ssingle day for two weeks now,

Affinity,” Brevity sighed.

“Do you think he is doing it out of guilt, Brevity?” Affinity asked

suddenly.

Brevity sat down carefully in a chair close to Affinity and took

Affinity’s hand. “That first night, Affinity, you regained consciousness,

but the doctor gave you laudanum to ssleep and the duke ssat beside you

all that day, even though I told him you would not wake, he insisted.”

“He did?” Affinity asked in surprise.

“Yes, I was ssaving it to tell you at the right time.” Brevity patted

Affinity’s hand. “And now, I also wanted to tell you that I must go out

this evening. The trust lawyer of my parents estate always demand to ssee

me regularly and I cannot put it off.”

“Of course, Brevity,” Affinity responded. “You need not worry

about me, you are so kind to me already. I just pray it will not bring you

ill.”

“All thingss have a way of working out,” Brevity said sagely.

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Later that night, Affinity tossed and turned in her bed, then she

finally realized what the problem was.
Music.
She could hear music. How

strange and it sounded quite close. Why in fact, she thought, it sounded

as if it were playing inside the house. Affinity rose slowly from her bed

and tiptoed to her bedroom door, listening as the music became louder,

and then she opened the door. It
was
softly floating music. A waltz?

“What?” Affinity murmured, but before she could take two steps she

encountered a very happy dog at her feet. “Beauty!” Affinity exclaimed,

reaching down to pet the eager setter.

“You call my dog,
Beauty?”
Law’s voice floated up from down-

stairs. “My fierce, brave dog named Warrior and you call him Beauty?”

Affinity could not catch her laugh. She was startled at Law’s pres-

ence, even though she could not see him. But, what he said
was
funny.

Affinity inched toward the bannister and looked down. Her breath caught

at Law’s handsome face looking up at her. He was dressed as though he