by Wendy Vella
He smiled as he thought about the years ahead of them. They would argue and debate and then he’d take her to bed and hold her the entire night. The thought had his smile growing.
Patting his breast pocket, he felt the rustle of paper. This was his gift to her, and he knew no flowers or jewels would make her happier.
Knocking on the front door, he waited impatiently for someone to answer.
“I wish to speak with Miss Madeline Spencer. Please tell her Lord Lockhart has called,” he told the butler when the door finally opened.
“I’m afraid she is unable to accept callers today, my lord.”
“What? Why?”
“I cannot say, my lord.”
“I wish to speak with Lady Spencer at once then.”
“If you will come this way, I shall see if she is receiving callers.”
Gabe paced the small confines of the parlor he’d been placed in. Was Maddie sick?
“Gabriel?”
Lady Spencer entered the room, and one look at her red eyes told him something was very wrong.
“My Lady, are you well?”
“I am thank you. My husband has recently returned to London, and I am expecting him home from his club shortly.”
Which told him nothing.
“Something has happened to upset you, perhaps I can help in some way?
Lady Spencer collapsed into a chair and started weeping.
“Where is Maddie?” The words came out with more force than he’d intended, but something told him that whatever was going on in the Spencer household, it involved Maddie. “Please, my lady. Tell me what has caused your distress?”
“She and Henry had a terrible fight. I do not know all the details, only that he was very angry with her. Then just moments ago a letter arrived demanding money for Maddie’s return. She has been kidnapped, Gabriel!”
“What?” Gabe’s body went cold. Not his Maddie. He couldn’t lose her now that he’d only just found her again.
“She left the house without our knowledge after Henry told her she was forbidden to leave her room. Oh, Gabriel.” Lady Spencer staggered to her feet and collapsed against him. “My darling girl is in danger.”
Gabe held Maddie’s mother while he grappled with what must be done. He had to find her, but where did he start? Maddie needed him to be controlled now; this was what he usually excelled at.
“I will find her.” Gabe released her. “Stay here and try to remain calm. I will send word.”
“H-Henry will arrive soon and know what to do.”
“Very likely, but I cannot sit here and wait for him. I must go and find her now.
“B-but how will you know where to go?”
“I will find her,” Gabe said with a confidence he was far from feeling. “But first I need to speak to your footman.”
“Which one? Why?”
“Bring them in here. I have no time to explain.”
Minutes later he was speaking with the one he wanted.
“You are James, correct?”
“I am, my lord.”
“And you know your mistress is missing?”
“Yes, I know what has happened.” The footman’s face was clenched with worry. “But she left the house without me. If I’d known she was leaving, I’d have gone.”
“I understand, and be assured this is not your fault,” Gabe said. “Do you know who dropped off the ransom note, James?”
“A boy, but he fled before we could question him,” the footman said.
“Who would want to hurt her, James?” Gabe wanted to roar. He wanted to run out onto the street and not stop running until he’d found Maddie. But he couldn’t help her that way.
“Frank Blackley and his brothers.”
“Why?”
“He’s always there trying to get money out of her, and she won’t pay him. Not Miss Spencer; she won’t be intimidated.”
Gabe saw the respect on the footman’s face.
“Gabriel, what has you here today?” The parlor door opened, and in walked Lord Spencer.
“Oh, Henry!” Lady Spencer ran to her husband. “Maddie has been kidnapped.”
“What!”
“She left the house after you forbade her to do s-so.”
“Good God!” Lord Spencer staggered back with his wife and fell onto the sofa.
“Why had you forbidden her from leaving the house, Spencer?” Gabe asked.
“Tell him, Henry. He and Maddie have grown closer,” Lady Spencer urged her husband.
“My solicitor contacted me. It seems Maddie has been involving herself in things she should not. I came home to sort that out. I confronted her, told her I knew what she was up to. We argued, I am ashamed to say, then I forbade her from leaving the house.”
Maddie would be distraught if her father kept her from Spoke House, but he had no time to worry about that now. He had to find her.
“I know what you speak of,” Gabe said. “And it is there I’m going now, as I believe she would have visited Spoke House today.”
“You knew?” Lord Spencer got out of his seat. “You should have told me, Gabriel.”
“I have only just learned of it myself and was taking steps to stop her going there.”
Lord Spencer paced across the room.
“She mentioned you, and at the time I didn’t understand. She said you’d betrayed her.”
It made him angry that she thought him capable of telling her father about Spoke House after what they’d shared. But he had no time to think about that now; he would deal with her lack of faith in him when he found her.
“I am going to find her and I’m taking your footman with me, Spencer.”
“I will come with you.”
“It will be easier if I go alone.”
Her father wanted to argue, but to his credit he simply nodded. “I will go to Watch House and get the money in case it should be needed.”
“I will succeed,” Gabe vowed.
“Bring her back to us, please,” Lady Spencer begged.
He left the house, directing his driver to take him to Spoke House. James sat silently opposite him in the carriage, looking worried.
“How did she manage to get you to accompany her to Spoke House, James?” Gabe needed to talk, or he’d go mad. The thought of anyone hurting Maddie was not to be borne.
“She bribes me with food. But I would go even if she didn’t, just to keep her safe.”
“Tell me more about this Blackley.”
“I don’t know much about him, only what the children told me when I questioned them. Seems he and his brothers believe they have control over that part of London. They extort money out of people. Protection money, they call it. If they don’t pay it, the Blackleys hurt family members until it’s paid.”
Gabe didn’t want to contemplate Maddie in the hands of such men.
He was out of the carriage and running up the steps into Spoke House seconds after it stopped. He found several of the children there. Gabe dragged a chair before them and sat so his size didn’t intimidate them.
“I need your help, so please listen carefully.”
They all nodded, watching him wide-eyed.
“Miss Spencer has gone missing. When did you last see her?”
They were visibly upset by his news, but he could not take the time to comfort them. All that mattered was getting Maddie back.
“She was here for a bit this morning, but she was upset and said she had to leave.”
She was upset because she believed he’d told her father about Spoke House.
“A ransom note was sent to her family, and James believes that Frank Blackley is behind her kidnapping. I must find her, but I will need your help to do so.”
Horror was etched on the children’s faces now.
“Them Blackleys are bad!”
“What do you know, Hetty?”
“They didn’t see me, but I heard them a few days ago. I was in the doorway two along, hiding when I heard their footsteps.
They were talking about her... Maddie.”
“What were they saying, Hetty?” Gabe crouched beside the little girl.
“That she was looking for trouble coming here alone. That she’d fetch a pretty price if they took her. I told Maddie. Told her to have a care.”
“We need to find her.”
“Where do we search for her? Where would the Blackleys have taken her?” Gabe looked around the worried faces.
“I know, follow me.”
“What’s your name?” Gabe asked the boy who had spoken.
“I’m Graham, and these are Jack and Paul.”
He and James followed the three boys who had volunteered to find Maddie out onto the streets and started running.
I’m coming, Maddie. Stay safe until I reach you.
Chapter Fourteen
“Let me go!” Maddie yelled, as she had many times since she’d arrived here. Wherever here was. “You can’t hope to hold me here! My father will find you; then you’ll know fear!”
Maddie swallowed down the terror that clawed at her throat. Terror and despair.
Gabe had betrayed her.
Had she been thinking clearly, she would never have allowed Frank Blackley to grab her, but her thoughts had been on Gabe’s betrayal.
Her father had told her someone he knew and respected had alerted him to Maddie’s involvement in Spoke House. There were plenty of people who were aware of what she did there, but none who would betray her or surely, they would have done so by now. Gabe had known for only a matter of days, and he’d told her he didn’t want her going back there. Maddie believed this was how he intended to ensure that. The realization of his betrayal hurt so much it was almost a physical pain.
She’d fallen in love with the fiend and believed he could love her back. And yet he’d made love to her as if he cared and then betrayed her. Now she would have to live with her foolishness. She’d never love or trust again, Maddie vowed. That was, if she got out of here alive.
“Cad!”
She’d waited until her father left the house, forbidding his youngest daughter to even leave her room, and then had defiantly slipped out.
After leaving Spoke House, where the children had asked her what was wrong, she’d been grabbed from behind, a sack thrown over her head, and bundled into a cart. The rest was a blur.
She was bound hand and foot, a blindfold placed over her eyes, and transported to this warehouse by a rowboat. Clearly, she was by the Thames somewhere, and likely down at the docks. She just had no idea where or how anyone would find her now.
They’d left her on the cold floor, wrenched off her blindfold, and walked away, leaving her still bound hand and foot.
There was no furniture, not even a barrel or a crate, only Maddie and the dark, murky waters of the Thames beyond the dock that was a few feet away from where she sat.
She’d moved around on her knees, and hopped, but found nothing to cut the ropes from her wrists or a way to leave. She’d drown if she went into the water, which her captors knew when they’d placed her here.
Slumping down the wall to the cold floor once more, Maddie watched the water as daylight slowly dwindled into darkness and tried to fight back the panic that clawed at her throat. The place seemed even more sinister now that the only light she had was from the moon as it cast shadows over the water.
It was damp, and the cold had slipped into her bones and stayed there. Clenching and unclenching her fingers, she tried to warm them up, but the job was hopeless.
She’d been alone in here for hours. Alone with her thoughts, and they were not good company.
Focus on that perfidious fiend, Gabriel Lockhart. The rage will warm you up.
Her father’s rage had been worse than any she’d encountered before, and there had been times when she tested him... but this was worse.
He’d threatened to send her back to Chasten and leave her there forever. His disappointment in her for what she’d done, looking after those children and renting Spoke House, had cut deep. Maddie had tried to explain, but he’d not wanted to listen.
There had also been dire warnings about a convent before he left, slamming the door behind him.
The sound of footsteps had her struggling to her feet, using the wall at her back as a prop. She would not cower to Frank Blackley, the man who walked toward her.
“I wish for food.” Maddie wouldn’t let him see her fear.
“You’ll get it when I’m ready.” He moved closer. She stood her ground. “I’ve always wondered if it would be different with a lady.”
Maddie didn’t want to contemplate what “it” meant but had a terrible feeling she already knew.
“You do realize, of course, what the penalty for kidnapping the daughter of one of England’s most respected peers will be, don’t you, Mr. Blackley?”
He leered at her, his eyes settling on her breasts.
“Let me educate you, Miss Spencer. We don’t care about you or your family. We only care about the money you’ll bring us. No one will find us if we don’t want to be found, and that goes for you also.”
“My father will never give you money without seeing me first.”
Her skin was literally crawling at the look in this man’s eyes as they traveled over her. But Maddie would not let him see her fear, only her disdain.
“We’ll just have to send him a little incentive then, won’t we.”
Before she could stop him, he’d ripped open her cloak, the heavy material falling from her shoulders, and wrenched the necklace from her neck. Maddie lunged at him, but as she was bound, she fell to the floor.
She welcomed the anger, because it gave her strength. Forcing herself into a sitting position she glared at him, then made herself laugh.
“I will be in the front row for your hanging, Mr. Blackley. And I shall enjoy the moment immensely.”
The surprise on his face made her force out another laugh. She was not laughing a moment later when he kicked her in the thigh. But she did not whimper. She would never show this man fear.
The slap she took to her left cheek, however, made her cry.
Chapter Fifteen
“They have a place there.” Graham pointed to a narrow building that looked uninhabited. Boards were loose or rusted, and it had a general air of decay.
“Are you sure?” Gabe asked the boy.
Graham nodded. “It’s a warehouse with an open end and a dock, which allows them to do any number of underhand dealings as no one can see what comes in by boat.”
He and his friend Becks, who they’d picked up at their second stop, had been James and Gabe’s guide for the last few hours.
They’d gone from place to place, meeting people and getting information or any clue as to where the Blackleys were holding Maddie.
God, she has to be safe and unharmed.
Desperation clawed at Gabe. She was out here somewhere, and he couldn’t find her—and when he did it may be too late.
No! He couldn’t allow himself to contemplate that. He had to find her. He couldn’t live without her now.
The weather was cold now that night was settling around them. An icy cold that chilled your cheeks and formed puffs of white when you spoke.
“I’m going inside the warehouse. James, you take the boys and wait by the entrance, but stay out of sight.”
“I’d advise strongly against that, my lord.”
“And yet that’s what I am doing.”
The footman tried to argue, but Gabe was determined. If he was to get inside that warehouse undetected, he needed to do so quietly. He also needed someone outside to carry on looking for Maddie should something happen to him. He kept that to himself, however.
The darkness hid him as he walked around the building searching for the entrance. Pushing the door so it was just wide enough to slip inside, Gabe then pressed his back to the wall.
Pulling out his pistol, he moved slowly down the building. He could see weak light coming from somewhere up ahead. Passing w
ooden crates, he listened for any sound that would tell him someone was in the building. More importantly, was Maddie in here? When he got her back, he was never letting her go.
He heard no voices, but that didn’t mean he was alone.
“Take another step and it will be your last.”
Gabe froze as the muzzle of a gun pressed into his spine.
“We have company!” He was pushed forward. “Hand over the gun and walk.”
He did as he was told and started moving. Gabe could not help Maddie if he was dead.
“Left.”
He tracked left and soon found himself near the end of the warehouse. He could hear the lap of water.
“Let me go!”
Fear locked every muscle in his body rigid as he took the two paces needed to bring Maddie into his line of vision. Her lovely eyes filled with tears as she saw him.
“Gabriel!”
Ignoring the man behind him and the one who stood beside Maddie, Gabe walked toward her.
“Who the hell is this?” the man with her demanded.
“I don’t know. He was inside the warehouse with a gun, Frank. So, my guess, he’s come looking for her.”
“You’ll stop now!”
“You’ll have to shoot me.” Gabe reached Maddie and pulled her into his arms. Relief filled him that she was alive and he was holding her once more. “Because my fiancée is terrified and I am going to comfort her.”
She was cold, her body shaking as he held her close. Her cheek was bruised, and he’d make someone pay for her pain, but they held weapons. He did not. Retribution would have to wait. Getting her out of here was his main priority now. To do that, he must keep calm.
“You should not have come,” she whispered in his ear.
“How could I not? I love you, Maddie.”
“You lie!” Her whisper was furious.
“What is your name?”
Gabe looked at the man who spoke, recognizing him as the man who had been at Spoke House that day. Frank Blackley.
“I am Lord Lockhart, Blackley, and you will pay for hurting the woman I love.”