Just This Once

by Jill Gregory

  Snake’s grin couldn’t have stretched any wider if he’d just filled his belly with a slab of Texas beef. “You’re in a corner of London where no one who don’t live and belong here will ever find you. There’s miles of alleys and gambling dens and brothels between you and that fancy house you been staying in, and every bit of it’s crawling with rats—not to mention thieves and beggars and murderers who’d likely slit your throat just to get their hands on that pretty bauble you’re wearing. Not to mention that shiny gold ring.”

  Before Josie could move, Snake clamped his fingers around her wrist and tugged off Latherby’s gold ring, then ripped her opal-and-pearl brooch from her gown.

  “No, you bastard! Give it back!” She hurled herself at him and tried to wrest the brooch from his grasp, but he flung her back onto the bed.

  “This here is just the start of what you owe me, Josie girl. You took our loot, remember? And all them fancy jewels from the stagecoach passengers? Hell, I figger it’s up to you to pay me back. For starters”—he nodded at Deck, who reached into his vest pocket and drew out a gray cloth pouch—“we cleaned out all the fancy jewels we could find in your bedroom—and in Savage’s, too.”

  As Josie stared in horror, Deck fished out the ruby necklace she’d worn to Lady Tattersall’s dinner party, dangled it in the air a moment, then with a grin fished out the matching earrings and a gold stickpin of Ethan’s.

  “These and the rest’ll fetch a good price, but not near enough to pay back what you owe. It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than money, and more than baubles to pay back what you owe, honey.”

  Josie barely heard the veiled threat in his words. Revenge, that’s what Snake wanted. More than riches. His power over her, his ability to cause her pain and suffering, that would be the only payment that would satisfy him.

  But she was far more concerned with the pouch Deck was now dropping back into his pocket. Those rubies had belonged to Ethan’s mother. He’d entrusted them to Josie. And when Ethan returned home, he’d find her gone.

  What if he saw that the jewels were gone too—as well as his own valuables?

  Would he think she’d stolen them, and run off? That everything between them had been a lie?

  “You have to let me out of this place.” It wasn’t a question, it was a demand she threw at Snake between gritted teeth.

  “I don’t got to do nothin’, Josie girl,” Snake growled, and grabbed her wrist once more. “And you’d best learn to quit all that back talk.”

  She glanced toward the window. The darkness of night now blackened the small slit of sky visible through the curtains. Had Ethan returned from his meetings? she wondered desperately. Did he know yet that she was gone?

  She couldn’t bear to think of how he would feel when he noticed all of the jewels that were missing as well....

  “It’s not me you want, Snake.” She jerked free of his grasp, then pushed her hair back, trying to speak clearly despite the pounding in her head, and the fear that tasted like sand in her throat. She forced herself to look into his wide, smarmily handsome face, hoping she appeared calmer than she felt. “It’s money you want. Money to make up for the loot I stole. More money than these jewels are worth, money enough to buy you anything you want. I can get it for you. Take me back, and I’ll—”

  “You’ll what?” Snake jeered, his mouth twisting with contempt. “You’ll ask Savage to hand over a bag of gold? Or write out a bank draft? Just like that? You must think I’m a damned fool, Josie.” Suddenly he leaned down and gripped her by the shoulders, wrenching her forward so sharply, her head snapped.

  “I ain’t. I got a better plan, one thet’s goin’ to pay you back and that son of a bitch would-be husband of yours too. And it’s going to make me rich.”

  “It won’t work, Snake, whatever it is. Ethan will find you and—”

  “Find me, will he? Not till I’m good and ready to be found. Not till I’ve set my trap for him and he walks right into it, just like a squirrel tumbling down into a snake pit. Snake pit, honey, get it?” He burst into ugly laughter, and Spooner, Noah, and Deck joined in. They stood in a ring around Josie as she stared from one to the other of them with growing dread.

  “You’re too stupid to outsmart Ethan,” she said, hoping to goad him into revealing his plan so she could figure out a way to stop it.

  But she didn’t count on Snake’s whipcord temper. With a grunt, he lifted his hand and backhanded her hard.

  “I ain’t puttin’ up with none of that smart talk of yours, you hear, girl?” Satisfaction glinted in his eyes as he watched her slam back against the pillows, the imprint of his hand showing first white and then red on her cheek.

  “I masterminded my share of holdups back home, and since I got to London, you’ll be proud to know I’ve done just fine. Matter of fact, me and the boys have made out real good. Got us some new pards. Some new ideas. These here ‘nobs,’ as our new pards call ’em, they’ve got real money, and most of ’em walk around at night weighted down with more jewels than sense. It’s easy as pie to lighten their load, if you know what I mean, honey.”

  Through the pain in her jaw, and her aching head, Josie tried to think clearly. “Ethan won’t be... robbed so easily,” she muttered. But she feared for him even as she spoke the words. The image of his being set upon to or from his club, or coming from some party, by Snake, Noah, Spooner, and Deck filled her with panic.

  “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away from him, all of you!” she cried. “If you don’t believe me, ask Pirate Pete, the most feared criminal in all of London.”

  Snake just laughed. “Reckon I’ll do just that,” he grinned. As if on cue, Spooner loped to a door that adjoined the next room and yanked it open.

  Josie’s eyes narrowed as the other members of the gang each exchanged grins. Then she forgot all about them when the stout man with all too familiar slitted black eyes sauntered through that door, followed closely by a giant. From the second man’s size and girth and those unforgettable blank wooden eyes, she had no doubt it was Tiny. And his companion was Pirate Pete.

  “We meets agin, me lady,” Tiny grunted, and gave her a low, clumsily executed bow. “Lady Stonecliff, me and Pete ’ave been itchin’ to see you agin, we ’ave.”

  Her blood froze as Tiny closed in. But Snake held up a hand.

  “You boys don’t get ahold of her till I’m through.”

  “Through with what? What’s going on?” Josie cried.

  She couldn’t believe that Snake had joined forces with Pirate Pete. This was worse than any nightmare. Only last night, she and Ethan had made love upon silken sheets in her beautiful bedroom, and only this afternoon she’d had tea with her grandfather and sister in Belgravia, and now... now she was imprisoned in some mean, damp hovel in the rookery, a captive of these animals.

  “Tell me what you’re planning!” She turned her gaze toward Snake. If her hands hadn’t been clenched into fists, she’d have been tempted to rake him with her nails. When he didn’t answer her, she peered frantically at Spooner, then at Deck and Noah. Only in Spooner’s face did she see the faintest hint of sympathy.

  “Tell me!” she pleaded with him, but he remained silent, and it was Pirate Pete who sidled forward to speak.

  “None o’ this would ’ave ’appened if yer Lord Stonecliff ’adn’t killed Lucian and spoiled everything that night. Then he ’ad to top it off by offering that reward.”

  The lamp cast an eerie glow over Tiny’s sallow flesh as he regarded Josie with satisfaction. “He’s gettin’ what’s comin’ to him, and so ar’ you, me lady. Ye never should ’ave taken up against us. We ’ave our reputations to think of.”

  Feeling ill, Josie stared into both of their faces and then glanced at Snake. A sly, half-crooked smile curled his lips. He was happy as a coyote in a henhouse now that she was in this fix.

  Damn him—damn all of them. She wasn’t about to sit here meekly while they plotted against Ethan. There had to be a way out of
this place, and if there was, she’d find it.

  Snake hooked his thumbs in his pockets. “Boys, time to leave me and my little wife alone for a spell. We got some personal matters to talk over. Noah, you’d best get yourself ready to ride.”

  “Sure will, Snake.” He winked at Josie and stroked the ends of his reddish brown mustache.

  “The rest of you boys,” Snake continued easily, “go on outside and have a round of drinks on me.”

  Pirate Pete didn’t budge. Those black eyes remained locked on Josie. “P’rhaps ye need a bit o’ ’elp explaining things to ’er? I ’ave me a way with the ladies.”

  The glare Snake fixed him with left no doubt of his resentment. “I reckon I can handle my own wife,” he snarled.

  “That nob, Lord Stonecliff, thought she was ’is wife.” Pete’s harsh gaze skimmed over Josie as if she were a morsel of pie he had in mind to swallow whole. “Seems to me she’s a slippery one.”

  “Not slippery enough to get away from me again.” Snake moved a hand to the gun holstered low on his hip. “Now leave us be before I throw you out myself.”

  “As if ye could.” But Pirate Pete relented with a chuckle when Snake took a step toward him. “I’m a’ goin’, I am. Don’t get yet drawers in a tangle, lad.” He winked at Josie and followed the others to the door.

  Snake frowned at her as the others shuffled out, closing the door behind them. The thud of their boots trodding downstairs died away before Snake broke the silence.

  “You never should’ve left me, Josie girl.” Beneath the quiet of his tone, she heard the deep, raging currents of his anger. It was there, too, in the pinprick of lust flickering in the center of his eyes.

  “Now you and Savage are going to pay. No one runs off with my woman, makes a damned fool of me, and gets away with it, you hear? He’s going to pay first with his money—and then with his life. And you... Hell, honey, I haven’t decided yet exactly what the hell I’m going to do with you. If I oughta keep you awhiles just for fun or turn you over to Pete and Tiny as soon as this here job is done. Reckon it depends on how you behave.” Josie could only gasp in frozen fear as he reached out to cup her chin in his hand. But at his touch, she flinched, and instantly his smile widened and the strange light glowed brighter in his eyes.

  “Easy, now, honey, don’t be scared. I’m your lovin’ husband, remember? And we’ve been apart for a hell of a long time. Too long, Josie girl. Way too long.”

  “You’re making a big mistake.”

  It took all of Josie’s willpower to keep the quaver from her voice, to hold his gaze with a modicum of calm. Only by digging her nails into her palms did she keep from shrieking in panic and hold the shreds of hysteria at bay.

  “Think so, honey? Well, you’re wrong.” Snake’s eyes narrowed as he sat down on the bed beside her. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”

  “You’ve gone too far. Taking me from my house. Ethan will have the police scouring for me day and night. You’re going to be caught, and locked up in prison—a British prison. I hear they’re not too pleasant.”

  “The hell you say. Me and Pete have run circles around these London police. Them with their fancy inspectors, their constables and sergeants. We’ve outsmarted ’em all. They’re tearing the rookery and half the English countryside upside down looking for Pete and Tiny—and can they find them? Nope.” He grinned at her and leaned closer. She could smell the gin on his breath.

  “We’ve got ourselves a real good hiding place here in Beetle Bob’s. No policeman’s going to risk coming in here unless he knows for sure what he’s after is in here—and none of ’em do. And no one’s going to rat on any of us—in spite of that reward Savage offered—because they know they’d be dead before they could spend a penny of it. So, the boys and me and Pete and Tiny have been leading those constables on a wild chase. I’ve done some of the robberies, masked, and all done up like Pirate Pete—with Spooner passing himself off as Tiny. Yep, that’s it,” he chuckled as Josie gave a gasp.

  “Now you see. Pete and me, we look somethin’ alike when we’re wearing masks and dressed in the right clothes, and Spooner ain’t as big as Tiny, but most folks we’ve held up are too scared to be exact in their recollectin’. We’ve got those policemen running around in circles, between pulling jobs in London and out in the country, and we’ve gotten ourselves a dandy pile of loot.”

  A crack of laughter burst from his lips. The rain outside the window began to pelt down even faster.

  She had to keep him talking. As long as he was bragging about himself and his plans, he was too preoccupied to get any other ideas of how to spend this time with her.

  “How did you meet up with Pirate Pete?”

  “Hell, honey, that was plain luck. We came here looking for you—and for that varmint Savage. Found out he was called Lord Stonecliff over here. We landed in the rookery, got ourselves settled in a lodging house, met some folks, sort of got the lay of the land. And then we stumbled across Pete and Tiny under the eaves in the alley one night. Heard ’em making all kinds of plans. Plans to stick a knife in the ribs of some ‘nob’ they said—Lord Stonecliff. On account of he killed their pard, Lucian, and offered a reward for them. Hell and damnation, honey, they were mighty burned up about that.”

  A knife in Ethan’s ribs. Dear God. Josie fought panic. She had to get out of here and warn him.

  But Snake had risen from the side of the bed and was swaggering about the hideous little room. He was never more than three paces from either the window or the door. “Well, soon as I heard that name I knew Lady Luck was smiling down on me. Because I’d heard all about how you’d up and married Savage—and then cleared out of Abilene.”

  Dry-mouthed, Josie met his glare. “Where did you hear that?”

  “Don’t matter none.” He moved toward her again. “What matters, honey, is that you and me are back together. And I’m going to make that Savage feller real sorry he ran off with my wife.”

  Suddenly he hauled Josie up on her knees, dragged her against his chest, and clamped his mouth on hers. She fought, flailing her arms, twisting her body, but Snake held her fast and dragged out the greedy, sucking kiss until nausea swept through her.

  “And you are still my wife, Josie girl. You’d best not forget it agin.”

  He ran a hand across her breasts, then pushed her away, slinging her down onto the bed with a laugh.

  Josie frantically scrubbed the gin-flavored wetness from her lips. She rolled sideways and tried to dart off the bed, but Snake was faster and stronger, and he hauled her back.

  “Don’t you want to hear the plan, honey? Me and Pete came up with a real good one. Want to know what we’re going to do?”

  “No!” She tried to extricate herself from his grip, realized her struggles were only fueling his satisfaction, and abruptly went still. “Yes!” she spat, eyeing him from beneath the wild tangle of her hair. “I’m sure you’re going to tell me whether I want you to or not!”

  Snake, pleased by the paleness of her face, the fear staring from her eyes, continued with growing zest for his topic.

  “First, I’m going to write Savage a nice little note. Tell him how you’re going to die by noon tomorrow if he don’t do what he’s told. That if he wants ever to see you alive again and looking as pretty as the last time he laid eyes on you, he’d best show up with a wheelbarrow full of money, and no tricks.”

  “You bastard!”

  “Noah’s going to deliver it tonight. And”—he smiled, tightening his grip on her until she winced—“we’re going to send along that gold wedding ring of yours since he’ll recognize it and know we’ve really got you.”

  “What if he doesn’t care?” she asked in a ragged tone. “What if he ignores your note?”

  “Josie, honey, what man wouldn’t care about getting you back? I did, didn’t I? And besides, Pete told me all about how Savage fought to protect you that night he was robbed.”

  His face twisted, the outwardly handsome features beco
ming an ugly mask of hate. “He thinks you belong to him. So he’ll come. But when he brings the money, he’s going to get a little surprise. Not you, honey. You’re staying with me—until I say Tiny can have you—or what’s left of you,” he added with a low-pitched chuckle. “No, Savage will drop off the money—and then he’ll get himself a lesson he won’t ever forget. Actually, he won’t have a chance to. He’ll be dead.”

  “No!”

  Snake leaned down toward her, his eyes glowing as he brought his slick wet mouth within an inch of hers. “Yep, honey, and there ain’t a damn thing you can do about it.”

  He watched the pain and the terror and the agony imprint themselves upon her face, and his smile deepened as he reached up to stroke her cheek.

  “We’re all of us going to get ourselves a piece of him,” he promised. “A damn fine bloody piece.”

  Twenty-five

  Heads swiveled to watch as the Earl of Stonecliff bounded up the steps of the Opera House at Covent Garden three stairs at a time. It was intermission, and the lights were up, the lobby filled with people. He nearly collided with several clusters of men and women in his single-minded haste to reach the private boxes.

  “Good Lord, it’s Stonecliff! What the devil has got into him?” Lord Cavenleigh muttered nervously to Lord Willowton as the black-haired earl, looking to be in an even blacker temper, lunged past.

  “Perhaps he is looking for Lady Stonecliff?” the young woman on Lord Willowton’s arm suggested with a sly quirk of her lips. “If what Miss Crenshaw told me is true, his lordship will have a time of it trying to keep tabs on that lady.”

  The way she sniffed and emphasized the final words made the two gentlemen smile, albeit nervously, but neither of them, knowing Lord Stonecliff to be in the vicinity, dared speak a word against the Earl’s bride.

  Ethan hadn’t known such fear since the night Molly died, the night he’d heard of her accident, when he’d torn across town only to find her on her deathbed on that grim, cold hospital cot.

  Nothing like that had befallen Josie, he’d told himself over and over on the drive to the Opera House, but the icy knot at the pit of his stomach said otherwise.