by Vella, Wendy
“I am looking for a woman, Mrs. Caron. She was inside, but did not leave by the front door. Have you seen her?”
They all shook their heads.
“Where is the rear entrance?”
He ran in the direction they pointed and found Fleur’s doll on the floor. Picking it up, he continued to the door and opened it. There was no sign of Maddie. He looked but could not see her anywhere on the road. Had she doubled back and was now with the others?
Please let her be with the others.
“What’s happened?” Dev arrived with Cam and James.
“It’s Maddie. She came back in for Fleur’s doll, and when she didn’t appear, I looked for her. I have checked, but her color is not inside this building. I found the doll near this door.”
“Can I help, Your Grace, Lord Sinclair?” Mr. Rolland appeared.
“A woman who came with us has gone missing. She came back inside for something and did not return,” Dev said.
“I assure you, there is no one in here, my lord, but my staff.”
“I’ll check that she has not returned and is with the others.” Dev ran back the way he’d just come.
Harry brushed by Mr. Rolland and headed to where he’d seen the staff gathered.
“Do any of you know where Mrs. Caron is?”
“There’s been no woman in here,” the mermaid said.
“Let me rephrase that question.” James stepped forward. “A woman, who is my sister, was here. Now she’s not, and I believe she has been taken with nefarious intentions. If one of you know something, I suggest you tell me now.”
No one spoke.
“I’ll beat it out of them,” Harry snarled.
“We don’t know if they are involved as yet, so no one is beating anyone.” Cam placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder.
“She is not outside.” Dev returned.
“Then she has to have left by the rear door where I found Fleur’s doll. But who with and why?” Harry said, looking at the three staff before him. The mermaid had been part of the stage performance. The merman was young and looked nervous. Again, he’d been part of the performance, so Harry doubted he was involved in this.
He would guess the eldest was in his sixties, and he had no expression on his face. Being someone who could control his emotions so that no one realized what was inside your head, he recognized it in another.
“How many staff work here, Mr. Rolland?” Dev asked.
“Just those who stand before you, and Sam, who is cleaning. If you know anything,” he said to his staff, “I implore you to speak. These are the people who burned down this building.”
“In our defense, that wasn’t really our fault. Someone was trying to kill me,” James said, standing next to Harry. He too was looking at the nervous staff.
Harry stepped closer to the older man, sure that he was the one who knew something. “Tell me what I want to know or I’ll beat it out of you.”
“Well now, there’s no need for that,” Mr. Rolland blustered.
“If I get to five, you’ll be sorry.” Harry started counting, his eyes on the man and no doubt now a vibrant green. He got to three.
“The man said he wanted a way out that wasn’t through the front door!”
“No, Jonas!” Mr. Rolland was horrified.
“I was putting the props away, and he approached. He carried her over his shoulder. He paid me more than you do in a month to help him get out the rear door.”
“You let him walk out of here with a woman you knew he was taking against her will, and did nothing to help her?”
“I needed the money!” The man wasn’t impassive now.
He wanted to hurt him, inflict pain on him because of what he’d done to Maddie. Instead, Harry controlled his rage and blocked out the image of Maddie helpless. He had to find her; nothing else mattered.
“If she is harmed in any way, I will come back for you, and believe me when I say I know how to make someone suffer.”
The man lost all the color in his face.
“Give us his description,” James demanded.
“Sh-shorter than you,” he pointed to Harry, “and he has brown or black hair. I don’t know, the light wasn’t good when he approached me, and he wore a hat.”
“Dress?”
“L-like yours, and spoke as he does,” the man nodded to Dev.
They ran from the theater and found the others waiting.
“I can see by your faces you have not found her,” Emily said. “Eden and Wolf have gone on horseback to search for her.”
“Take the children back, Em. James, Harry, Dev, and I will search now and meet up with Eden and Wolf.” Cam hugged his wife hard.
“Warwick, you locate Max, Rory, and Nicholas. Then find Mr. Brown and Mr. Spriggot. Tell them what has happened, and when that’s done, start searching,” Dev added. “Keep the news of Maddie’s disappearance from the others. Make up a story for Fleur about her mother having to go shopping for something.”
“Give her this,” Harry thrust the doll at Warwick.
Warwick took it, expression grave, and then he and the rest of the family left.
Cam mounted behind Dev, and they began to thread their way through the crowded streets in search of Eden and Wolf.
Harry struggled to clear visions of Maddie struggling in the hands of whoever had taken her. He tried to shut out what could even now be happening to her and focus.
“Harry, search right, and I’ll search left,” Dev said.
He let his eyes move methodically through buildings and shops, searching, trying to find any clue as to where Maddie could have been taken.
“This must have to do with what happened to put her in jail,” James said.
“That’s my way of thinking, but what we don’t know is why someone wants Maddie. Has trouble followed her from France? Or is it something to do with her family connections?” Dev added.
“Wolf and Eden are there.” Harry pointed ahead, and soon they were galloping to catch up with them. They drew alongside minutes later.
“Have you found anything?”
“I spoke with a man who owns that shop there.” Wolf pointed to a building. “He was outside when a carriage came through not long ago at speed. As this is usually a busy thoroughfare, it’s rare to see such a thing. It turned down Turnham Road, which is there.” Wolf pointed ahead.
They didn’t hesitate, and in seconds were heading in that direction.
“She could be anywhere,” Harry said, feeling desperation grab hold of his throat. He needed to find Maddie; every second she was gone, his fears grew.
“Dismount and form a link. We will use our senses, and this will heighten them.”
Harry knew what they could do; after all, they’d healed him, but he’d never been a part of it until now. He did as Dev directed him and soon found his hand in Eden’s. Cam then wrapped his fingers around Harry’s wrist. The jolt of awareness that rippled through him was more intense than what he’d felt when just a single member of his family touched him. This was as if every sense in his body had fired to life.
“Focus,” Dev said.
Harry closed his eyes, and when he opened them, the world around him was filled with color. He discarded the ones he knew and looked for Maddie.
“I smell her scent, she has passed through here,” Cam said.
“I don’t hear anything that would indicate she’s here,” Eden said. “But that doesn’t mean she isn’t.”
“I don’t see her colors,” Dev added.
They mounted and rode, slowly, along the street. The fact that Cam had caught Maddie’s scent in the air told Harry they were going in the right direction.
“There.” Harry pointed to a narrow building. Painted white, it stood out among the gray ones on either side. “She’s in there!”
“Don’t charge in.” Dev grabbed Harry’s arm as he prepared to dismount. “We need to see what we’re dealing with.”
“She could be hurting.”
&nb
sp; “Is her color weak?”
“No.”
“Dismount, and Eden will listen.”
Harry usually did as he wanted, when he wanted, and he wanted action now. Instead, he did as the others were and stood in the road outside the building.
“I don’t hear Maddie, but there is a woman talking about something disconcerting,” Eden said.
“Tell us exactly what is being said, sister,” Dev moved to her side.
“‘The master has brought another in. We’ve prepared her so she’s ready for the fun.’ And another woman is saying, ‘It won’t be fun for anyone but him.’”
“How many are inside?” James said.
“Five,” Wolf replied.
“What is this place?” Cam asked. “I’ve never been here before, and as vices were my particular specialty, I’m sure I should have.”
“I don’t know,” James said, “but we’re about to find out.”
Hold on, Maddie, I’m coming.
Chapter 30
The journey had not been a long one, and soon Maddie was being lifted from the carriage, thrown over a shoulder, and on the move once more. They’d climbed stairs, and then she’d been lowered onto something soft, which had to be a bed. The thought was a chilling one.
“Get her prepared, and force something down her throat if she won’t comply. I don’t want her fighting until I am ready.”
She’d hadn’t killed him. She wasn’t a murderer. He wouldn’t touch Maddie that way again. She’d fight with everything thing she had, just like that night in the cottage.
The door closed. A hand pulled the blindfold from her eyes. She found two women before her.
“Don’t bother fighting us. We’ve had plenty of experience with girls like you. You’d be best to just go along and get it over with.”
“Why are you doing this? How can you live with yourself, knowing what that man is capable of, what he’d do to me!”
They wore a uniform Maddie would expect a maid to wear, both large, with sturdy builds. She could not fight them both, so she let her shoulders slump and the tears of frustration fall. If they thought she was defeated, she may have a better chance of escape.
“Don’t carry on; we’ve no time for it. You’re not going to die, and some even enjoy it.”
“You’ll pay alongside him when my family arrives,” Maddie said.
She was pulled from the bed and her hands untied.
“No one will find you. A man’s outside the door if you try to leave, so you won’t escape.”
They stripped her clothes from her body, and she let the anger inside her build. She would show no shame before these women. Maddie had fought her entire life for survival. She’d been cowed plenty of times too; her mother had seen to that. Rory had saved her from some of the beatings and slept beside her so none of her mother’s “friends” harmed her. He’d then seen her married to Jacques and living in supposed safety.
This was just another thing she had to fight her way free of.
They forced her into her bath and scrubbed her with sweet-smelling soap. Maddie submitted to it all and uttered not one word. Only when she’d been dressed in a night rail that was sheer and showed off her body did they leave.
Hurrying to the window, she found it had boards halfway up. She dragged one of the two chairs closer so she could look down and saw the drop was too far to jump even if she got the boards free.
Knowing her time was limited and that he’d come back to the room soon, she searched for anything she could use as a weapon. They would come for her, her family. Harry would not stop; neither would her brothers or sisters. She had people that cared for her now. They’d find her with their senses, and Maddie must stay safe until then.
She was not alone.
The room held very little. A huge bed draped in satin sheets and thick fur coverings. There were mirrors everywhere, even on the roof. The bed had leather cuffs on the head and foot boards, which made Maddie shudder at how helpless she would be if he got her into those. A sofa, two chairs, and a small desk were the only other furniture. Rifling through the desk, she found nothing.
That man will not take me against my will.
Picking up the hairbrush that the woman had left behind, Maddie studied it. Could it be a weapon? One of them had said she’d bring back a tray soon. Could she use this to subdue her? Then what? Was the end sharp enough to fool her it was a knife?
Voices outside told her someone was returning. Hurrying to pick up the gag they’d used on her, she moved to press her back to the wall beside the door. Maddie gripped the bristles hard and hoped she could carry this through. She had to do this for Fleur and, yes, Daisy. The little girl had come to mean so much to her in the few days she’d been in their lives.
The key turned in the lock. She watched the door swing open. One of the women entered, and the door shut behind her. Maddie moved up behind her, pressing the handle into the woman’s back.
“Move or make a noise and I will force this blade into you,” she whispered. “Walk to the bed and lower the tray to the floor.”
With her heart thudding, she walked at the woman’s back. They tray was lowered.
“Force this into your mouth.” Maddie handed her the gag. The woman hesitated, so she pressed the brush harder. She whimpered and stuffed the material into her mouth.
“Take off your clothes.”
“He’ll kill me,” she whispered.
“So will I.”
She stumbled out of her uniform and soon stood in a chemise only.
“Now lie facedown on the bed.”
The woman climbed onto the mattress and did as she was told. Maddie secured her arm in the cuffs, then hurried around the bed to do the same with the other one. She then cuffed the woman’s ankles.
Maddie hurried to pull on the woman’s clothes, and took the hat from her head and tugged it on. The clothes were big but would have to work. She now had to get by the guard on the door. Taking a deep breath, she put the side of her hand in her mouth and bit down hard enough to make a mark. She then screamed and kicked the tray across the room. Running to the door, she threw it open.
“She bit me!” Maddie didn’t look at the man who stood beside the door, just ran along the hall as fast as she could until she found some stairs. Once there, clutching her hand, she hurried down.
“She bit me!” she cried again as she met another woman, and continued to run, head down, hand pressed to her chest. Along another hall, then another set of stairs.
She reached a spacious entryway with sofas and yet more mirrors. The front door was in sight when she heard his voice.
“Stop!”
Maddie kept running, but he was gaining on her. She had the door handle in her hand when he gripped her shoulders.
“I said stop!” He wrenched her round, and there was the man who had sent her fleeing from France.
“Let me go!” She fought against him, but his strength was more than hers. He gripped her hard, pulling her into his chest.
“I paid for you, Madeline. You’ve caused me far too much trouble to ever let you go. We’re going to have a great deal of fun, you and I, especially now I know how adventurous you are. I’m sure your mother taught you some tricks; she certainly knows how to please a man.”
“I’m not my mother!” She fought him as he dragged her back across the floor.
“Fight all you want, you will not escape me, my sweet. You belong to me for as long as I want you.”
“You don’t own me!”
They both turned as the door burst open and in ran Harry. Maddie nearly sobbed with relief; instead, what she did was make a fist as his hold on her relaxed and punch him hard in his groin like Rory had once taught her. He groaned and released her.
“Harry!”
He caught her in a fierce hug, then forced her behind him to where Eden stood.
“’Tis all right now, Maddie, we have you.” She let the duchess wrap an arm around her. “We shall now watch while Harry tak
es Lord Raynor apart on your behalf.”
Lord Raynor, as she now knew he was called, was attempting to flee up the stairs. Harry leapt the first four and grabbed him, he then threw the peer back down.
“That’s got to hurt,” Cam said, jumping to one side as Lord Raynor crashed into the tiles.
“I’m gutting that bastard!” Harry followed, grabbing the man by the lapels and hauling him upright. He punched him hard, sending the peer stumbling across the floor into the wall.
“That will do, Harry.” Wolf attempted to grab him, but Harry shook him off and reached for Raynor again.
“You really can’t kill him, Harry.” Dev and James waded in with Wolf’s help and pulled hm off the man.
“Let me shoot him!”
“No, we can’t allow that,” Cam said, taking off his necktie as he approached the now groaning Raynor, who had fallen to his knees. “He needs to stand trial and be totally humiliated and then incarcerated. We must to do this right, Harry.” He bound the man’s hands.
“I want to kill him.” Harry snarled like a raging beast as he struggled for release.
“Not happening,” Dev said, gripping his arms. “Maddie needs you, Harry, and you are scaring her.”
She wanted to deny that. She wasn’t scared anymore and wanted the man who had caused her so much suffering to feel as she had, but Dev was right. It would not be good for Harry to kill a man on her behalf.
“I’m all right, Eden.” She eased out of her arms, moving to where Harry stood, still restrained. She touched his cheek.
“Harry, enough now.”
Harry shook his cousins off, and suddenly she was looking into his brilliant green eyes. The eyes of a man she now knew she cared for deeply.
“Are you all right?” His hands shook as they touched her face. “Did he… did he hurt you?”
She shook her head. Now the fight had gone out of her, she was shaking.
“Tell me the truth.” His eyes searched her face.
“I am unharmed, Harry, I promise.”
“Thank God.” He held her as if she would shatter. “I was so scared, Maddie.”