Chapter 28

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Oscar gripped Redding’s coat and pulled him closer. “Are you sure this is the place?”

“Hands off my servant, boy,” Staines growled.

Redding escaped Oscar’s grip and grimaced. “Yes, unfortunately. My sources say she was brought here around midday. The two thugs who grabbed her are well known, well enough known to be avoided at all costs. They were paid by the abbess and are currently arse-deep in rum down by the docks. That’s two less. But we have Mrs. Leyton’s footmen to contend with still. She does not employ small men.”

Staines straightened his footman’s coat. “How many inside?”

“Enough to be a problem. Two or three apiece.”

Staines winced. “We could mount a frontal assault.”

“And likely get you shot?” Redding laughed softly. “I don’t think so.”

The duke folded his arms across his chest and pouted. “I am not a magnet for stray bullets, Redding.”

“Despite all evidence to the contrary.” Redding chewed his lip, his eyes glued to the distant bawdy house. Staines couldn’t seem to let his servant get the last word, and continued arguing.

This situation was worse than Oscar had feared. In a bawdy house, Agatha could be made to do many an unspeakable act, and no one would help her. They would turn a blind eye to her distress, or likely cheer some bloody scoundrel on. Oscar clenched his fists, fighting his growing frustration. Outnumbered or not, he was going to get Agatha out of that place. She must be terrified.

He glanced at the duke and considered what his chances were of getting past Redding to gag him. The duke and his footman had been bickering like this all afternoon. Although they were discussing and throwing out ways and means of rescuing Agatha, Oscar could not quite make up his mind how to take them. They behaved like an old married couple, which was ridiculous since the duke was a well-known skirt-chaser. Yet there was an intimacy between them that neither man tried to hide. They seemed genuinely fond of each other, despite the differences in their social positions.

Redding sat back in his seat and met the duke’s gaze. “How amorous are you feeling today, Your Grace?”

An amused grin crossed the duke’s features, interest and more behind his smile. “We’re on a mission to rescue the damsel in distress, Redding. Now is hardly the time for experimentation.”

Oscar gaped. He did not want to leap to conclusions, but this pair made it ridiculously easy to do so. Heaven help them if any member of society noticed this close friendship and listened to their banter. The duke and his servant could get themselves arrested merely on the suspicion of unnatural affection. The duke’s reputation, and his entire family, could be ruined as a result of an unfounded rumor. If it were proved true, they could both lose their lives.

Redding sighed and gestured toward the bawdy house. “I meant there are women in there, Your Grace, and if memory serves, it’s been quite a while since you’ve selected a new one.”

The duke chuckled. “Why, Redding, I had not realized you paid that much attention to my personal life. But you are correct. I do feel a certain yearning even as we speak.”

A resigned expression flittered across Redding’s face as he turned away. “The Hunt Club needs another pretty face to replace that girl who went and got married.” Redding held out his hand for one of Oscar’s pistols. “You are known to personally interview potential candidates, are you not?”

“That I am.” The duke held out his hand for the other, but Oscar didn’t oblige either man. “Redding is a genius. You will wait here, my boy. We have a better chance of getting her out without you with us. Redding has an inkling this abduction is directed at you, personally, and that Agatha is the innocent party in all of it. I know your blood yearns for revenge, but I can walk in there and demand entry to any woman’s bed with Redding at my heels without anyone raising a fuss. He could probably watch me bed the girl and it wouldn’t be remarked upon.”

Redding rolled his eyes. “You hardly need an audience to get a rise, Your Grace.”

The duke barked a laugh, but didn’t seem to have a ready answer for a change. Redding’s grin appeared and disappeared as the silence lengthened.

Could Oscar trust the duke to bring Agatha to him unharmed? “Do you even know what Agatha looks like?”

The duke eased Oscar’s pistols from his grip and handed one to Redding. “Blonde hair, blue eyes, face of an angel. Answers to the nickname precious?”

Oscar nodded numbly. “Is there anything about my life that you could not find out? Surely some things are private?”

The duke chuckled. “You sleep on the left side of the bed and prefer one particular sexual position. The—”

Redding clamped his hand over the duke’s mouth to shut him up. “Enough now. If you say any more, the boy will likely never speak to you again.”

When Redding dropped his hand, the duke was grinning. “You see why I keep him on, Oscar? Who else would dare keep me in line like that? We will return with your Agatha as quick as we can. Stay in the carriage and keep out of sight. We don’t want you noticed, or they might not let me have her.”

Oscar opened his mouth to protest.

The duke held out a staying hand. “Shh, boy. Trust me.”

Redding spoke to the driver and they moved off. As the building came closer, Oscar’s panic doubled. It was a mean place. Too coarse for his precious girl. He hoped Staines could get her out. He prayed for it with all his heart.

The coach stopped and Redding stepped out. After a long wait, Staines followed and rushed up to the front door with an eager spring in his step. The door closed and his carriage moved away. They circled the block as the driver normally would and stopped in a side lane to wait for the duke’s signal to return.

Oscar slid to the window closest to the brothel and peered out. He could see scarcely one window from here. He wasn’t nearly close enough. He’d get out and wait. He set his hand to the door as one of the footmen jumped down. The groom opened the door and pushed him father into the carriage.

“Here now!” Oscar protested.

The groom ignored him, flipped open a concealed cupboard and poured a drink. He handed the crystal glass to Oscar. “Redding insisted.”

A drink could settle his nerves.

Oscar took the glass and swallowed it down fast. As he handed the glass back, the groom pulled something long from his pocket. Oscar’s dueling pistol sat on the groom’s lap. A silent threat.

The groom shrugged. “Afraid Redding insisted on this, too, my lord. Mrs. Leyton’s bawdy house is no fit place for you. The duke would never forgive himself if you were hurt. Best to stay here, as Redding likes you.”

“She’s lovely. Very soft skin, but I’m after someone a little purer on the eye. Someone who might cause a ripple of envy on my arm at the theater. I want everyone mad for her name and for an introduction. When they find out she’s the latest acquisition for the Hunt Club’s stable, we will be inundated with applications, all of which I must reluctantly refuse, and thus retain our popularity. You, of course, know what a reputation for exclusivity means in our world. I intend to finish the year with a triumphant roar.”

Agatha heard the deep voice outside her door and cringed. Don’t come in. Don’t come near me. I cannot be that woman. She’d rather die than be any man’s whore. She held her breath, but the footsteps didn’t move on.

“Well, that does make your pocketbook heftier. Wouldn’t mind that myself.” There was a painfully long pause. “If you want purity, then I’ve got just the lass for you. Mind you, she could be trouble. The pure ones always are. But if the price was right, I’m sure we could come to an arrangement. This one is worth double the previous girl.”

Agatha’s doorknob jiggled. She stared at it as it began to turn and could not look away as the abbess entered the room, two finely dressed gentlemen hard on her heels.

One of them, the tallest, hissed.

The other stared at her foot. “How utterly delightful.”

Despite not wanting to react, Agatha squeezed her toes together. A flicker of anger crossed the shorter man’s face. One of his hands curled into a fist.

The tall man moved closer to the bed. He tested the bonds at her ankles, yet did not, thankfully, touch her skin.

The shorter one turned his back on her, one arm behind him, fist still clenched. “She’s perfect, breathtaking, but I do think she should be inspected. Redding, be a good chap and take a look at her teeth.”

Redding winced. “Of course, Your Grace. I should have thought of it sooner.”

Agatha stared at the shorter man’s back. A duke? Good God she would never get out of this with any of her reputation intact. While the duke haggled with the abbess, the Redding fellow moved closer. He met her eyes as he reached for her face.

Agatha shifted her head from side to side.

The abbess appeared beside the bed. “You’ll need a firm hand with this one. She’s somewhat feisty.”

The duke drew the abbess away again. “I do like a feisty woman. So much more fun to have around. Now about the price…”

Agatha whipped her gaze back to Redding just as he captured her jaw.

“Don’t fight me now, precious,” he whispered. “Open your mouth like a good girl so we can get you home.”

Precious? Only Oscar called her that. Why would this gentleman know or use the name? He didn’t say another word. His grip softened.

She let her jaw slacken. Redding gently pried her mouth open and made a show of inspecting her teeth. But he whispered, “Go along with whatever the duke does and says. Don’t fight us too much.”

Redding sat back. “She has all her teeth, Your Grace.”

“Excellent. And her breath?”

“Quite fine, too.”

“Well.” The duke returned his attention to the abbess. “I’ll take her now, and Redding will deliver the funds this evening. I cannot wait to begin her education.”

The duke seemed almost giddy with glee. He swung about, his hand falling to the binding on her ankle.

The abbess put a staying hand on his arm. “Half now to secure her. Half later. You can take her once you’ve paid me.”

The duke’s smile fell. “I so hoped you would indulge me, Mrs. Leyton. Redding?”

Redding stood and put his hand behind his back. But Agatha could see what the abbess couldn’t. Something bulky hid beneath Redding’s clothes. “Yes, Your Grace?”

“The abbess strikes a hard bargain, but requires payment before we can take the girl. Do be a dear fellow and pay her. You know I loathe handling money.”

“With pleasure, Your Grace.”

Redding hurried forward, removing a pistol from the back of his trousers.

The duke lunged for the abbess at the same time and slapped a hand over her mouth. “You should have been kinder to me, Mrs. Leyton. I do not like being thwarted.”

Mrs. Leyton squawked behind the duke’s hand, her eyes round as saucers. Unfortunately, they closed to slits after a moment. Her eyes darted around the chamber in a way that made Agatha afraid.

Redding hurried to close the door then turned to Agatha. He tore his coat from his shoulders and placed it gently over her. “Oscar sent us.”

Agatha closed her eyes. Despite her best efforts, tears squeezed out. Redding untied her hands and feet and drew her upright. She clutched his coat tightly about her and looked for her own dark gown. But it was gone. Nowhere within sight.

Redding and the duke glanced at the abbess. Redding stared at Mrs. Leyton, his jaw clenching and unclenching in a disturbing way. “I think I will enjoy this.”

“Oh, no, Redding,” the duke countered. “The joy will be all mine. Come muzzle her while I do the honors.”

While Mrs. Leyton struggled and squirmed, the duke stripped her of her gown and held it out to Agatha to slip on. Then, while Agatha was contending with the larger garment and her shaking hands, the pair of them forced Mrs. Leyton into the exact same predicament in which they’d found Agatha, but with one additional detail—they gagged her so she couldn’t cry out.

Redding approached. “May I finish dressing you, Miss Birkenstock?”

Numbly, she nodded. Everything had changed so fast, but why were this duke and his servant rescuing her on Oscar’s behalf? She didn’t know either of them, and couldn’t remember Oscar mentioning this duke either. Redding buttoned her as fast as any maid she’d ever had, and when he was done, he led her to the duke’s side.

The duke held his arm out to her.

Puzzled, she frowned at him. “Who are you?’

He grinned rather impishly and wound her arm through his. “Someone who really shouldn’t be crossed.” He looked sadly at the woman twisting violently on the bed. “Mrs. Leyton would do well to remember this incident for future reference. I look after my own. Don’t get involved with my family affairs again—or I will crush you out of business. Is that understood?”

Mrs. Leyton’s gaze flew to Agatha and a small sound, a muffled whimper, escaped her throat.

Family? Agatha looked up at the duke as he patted her hand.

“Come along, my dear. We have nicer environs to frequent. You must come to dinner soon.”

The duke swept her from the room and down the main staircase as if he made the short journey every day.

But at the bottom, a shot rang out and Redding fell. He slumped to the ground with a groan. His pistol bounced uselessly across the floor.

When Agatha looked around, she spied Lady Prewitt standing between her and the door—pistol pointed directly at Agatha’s head.