by Vella, Wendy
“How interesting. Scum comes from all levels of society, it seems.”
“Shut up!”
“You are indeed foolish for thinking you can get away with whatever you are planning here.”
“No one knows we’re here.”
“Except the nobleman who sent you to harm me, and let us not forget the people hiding out here doing things they shouldn’t. Just how much of a simpleton are you, sir?”
Now his eyes had adjusted, he could see the men clearly. The leader was not happy at his taunts.
“I ain’t no simpleton!”
“And whoever is behind this child-thieving business had to send six men to silence me. It seems I am far more menacing than I realized.”
“They wanted to make sure you understood the warning.”
“They? So there is more than one nobleman involved, how interesting.”
“I did not say that!” The man was getting agitated.
Nicholas thought about running. The path behind him would lead him away and deeper into the grounds. There he could get lost. There he could also meet his maker at the hands of six men.
Settling his weight evenly on his feet, he tensed his muscles and prepared for the fight that was coming.
Chapter Thirteen
“Your beauty eclipses all others, my dear Miss Sinclair.”
“Thank you, Mr. Cellar.”
“Your eyes are the color of a dew-drenched forest after a rainfall.”
“It’s very kind of you to say so,” Alice said, looking over his shoulder hoping for rescue. Surely the dance was due to end.
“I had thought there could be no other in your family that eclipsed the beauty of the last, yet I was wrong.”
“I have a sister,” Alice felt duty bound to point out.
“Alas, I fear my heart will not survive another one.”
The man was surely the silliest she had encountered, and there had been a few.
Mr. Cellar turned his head, and the points on his collar nearly took out an eye, they were so ridiculously high and... well, pointy.
Who wore a lemon jacket?
After visiting the statues and being kissed senseless by Nicholas, she’d danced with Captain Young again just to annoy him further. The captain didn’t raise sparks of excitement inside her as Nicholas did, but then he’d not kissed her so perhaps he would... however, she doubted it.
Why had he kissed her again when clearly he had no wish to? Or did he wish to but knew he shouldn’t. It was a perplexing thought that she had no answer for.
What Alice did know, however, was that she liked his kisses way more than she should.
Something that she labelled unease slithered suddenly down her spine. Looking about the room, she tried to locate her family. This reaction usually meant something was not right with one of them.
“I hope you will dance with me again, Miss Sinclair.”
“Of course.” Alice felt the tension in her climb.
“Soon.”
Something was wrong. Thankfully, the dance ended. Cutting Mr. Cellar off as he began to wax on about how light she was on her feet, Alice thanked him and walked away.
She found James first. He stood talking to a gentleman she didn’t know. He excused himself as she approached.
“Something is wrong.”
His eyes went from her to search the room.
“I see all the others except Nicholas. Eden and Rose are just walking through that door to help that silly woman who feels faint.”
“It is Nicholas then, I’m sure of it.” She reached for her earplugs.
“It will be too loud for you in here.”
“I must.” She pulled them out. James gabbed her arm to steady her as the noise hit her from all sides.
“What is wrong?” Wolf arrived, sliding a hand around her back.
“Alice thinks something is off with Nicholas. She is listening to see if she can hear him.”
“Christ, in here? She’ll have a headache in seconds.”
Dev, Lilly, and Cam appeared next.
“Nicholas is in trouble, I can feel it,” Lilly said, looking worried.
“Alice feels it also,” Dev said, taking his wife’s hand. “Take a breath for me now, love.”
“He’s not in this room,” Alice said placing her hands over her ears to dim the noise. “We need to go outside.”
James didn’t hesitate, just took her arm and led her out the door, and Wolf stayed at her back. Alice inhaled deeply as they stepped into the cool evening air and away from the music and voices. She felt herself steady.
They moved along the balcony away from the other guests, then stayed silent while she listened for any indication of where Nicholas was.
“He received a note.”
“When?” James asked.
“I was looking at the statues and he arrived. A footman found him and handed it over.”
She heard voices then. “He’s in trouble. That way.” She pointed to the right.
“Let’s go!” James started running, and the others were soon on his heels.
“What can you hear, Alice?”
“He’s fighting, but he is outnumbered! The men are saying to harm but not kill him.”
“Nicholas!” The name was torn from Lilly.
Cam took the lead, running hard with the other men on his heels. Alice felt her sides start to burn as she clutched Lilly’s hand in hers. With their skirts hampering them, it was not easy to run at any great speed. Stopping, both hiked them above their knees and ran on.
“Do you still hear him, Alice?”
“Y-yes, Lilly.”
“Thank God! I have only recently found my b-brother again, I have no wish to lose him.”
They rounded the bend in the path and stopped. Alice was confronted with a mass of men. They were all fighting, but it was hard to see a great deal in the dark even with moonlight.
The women moved sideways in a circle, keeping their distance from the men.
“Good shot, Dev!” Lilly cried as her husband knocked one of the men backward.
“I cannot see Nicholas, Lilly.”
Alice shuddered as she heard a fist connect with flesh. She searched through the mass of bodies, trying desperately to find him.
“He has fallen!” Lilly cried pointing to the right.
Alice saw him then, on the ground, with a man over him. She watched as he drew back his foot and kicked Nicholas in the ribs.
“Cur!” Alice screamed, running at the man. She jumped, landing on his back. Wrapping her arms around his neck she squeezed as hard as she could.
“Get off me!” the man roared, spinning in circles, his hands trying to grab her.
“God’s blood!” She heard Nicholas shout. “Get off him, you little fool!”
“Jump clear, Alice!” Lilly’s words had her leaping off the man’s back, and seconds later she swung a branch hard at his head. The man crumpled to a heap on the floor.
“Excellent shot, Lilly!”
Looking for Nicholas, Alice found him back on his feet, fighting, moving left and right, fists raised. A man lunged at him, and he did a kicking motion that made the man grunt in pain.
“Well done!” Alice cried.
“Move!” he roared at her.
Lilly grabbed Alice’s hand, and they scurried back a few steps.
James charged his man, sending him stumbling backward. Alice moved a few feet to the left and stuck out her foot; the man tripped, fell, and hit his head. Dev landed a blow and his did the same. The last men who had attacked Nicholas, realizing they were beaten, then ran off into Hyde Park.
“Wh-what the hell were you two doing?” Nicholas stalked toward them, the breath rasping in and out of his mouth. “You are mad!”
“Helping you,” Alice said, backing up a few steps, which put her at Lilly’s side. The women locked arms as Dev approached.
“That was reckless and dangerous. One punch would have felled either of you!” Nicholas roared. Blood ran down h
is face from a cut under one eye.
“Lilly, my love. What have I told you about staying out of danger?” Dev said, grabbing his wife and hugging her close. “But you are both very brave,” he added, kissing her cheek.
“Brave? It was foolish! Christ, they could have been hurt, or worse! I cannot believe you would say that was bravery. It was idiocy!”
“They are safe, Nicholas,” Cam said. “All is well.”
They heard the sound of running feet, and soon Eden and Rose arrived.
“Ouch.” Nicholas deflated like a balloon before Alice, his legs buckling as he staggered a few paces clutching his chest.
James grabbed him.
“Where are you hurt, brother?” Lilly rushed forward.
“My ribs.”
Alice watched Dev’s eyes flare bright in his face. They were focused on Nicholas.
“He needs healing, love. His ribs.” Dev whispered the words to his wife.
“Wolf, take his other side, please,” Alice said, coming forward to stand before Nicholas. She then took a handkerchief out of her brother’s pocket and pressed it to the cut on Nicholas’s eyes.
“Alice—”
“Let me stop the blood now, Nicholas. Let us help you.”
Alice knew that both Dev and Cam were touching Lilly as she touched Nicholas. Her spare hand gripped her brother’s, and she knew Wolf would be connected to the others in some way, just as Eden would.
“What did those men say to you, Nicholas?” Alice distracted him as Lilly joined the circle, now without her gloves on.
“I’m still angry with you,” Nicholas rasped, then hissed as he tried to breathe.
“Very well, but that doesn’t stop you from telling us what they said, surely.” Alice blotted the blood on his cheek.
“Nicholas, I’m going to touch your ribs now,” Lilly said.
“Why?”
“To check they are not broken.”
He nodded, as clearly talking was taking its toll on him.
“M-my ribs feel warm?”
“They don’t appear to be broken,” Lilly said.
“What do you know of such things?”
“A great deal, actually; Essie taught me.”
It was only a matter of seconds, maybe a minute, and then Lilly stepped back. Dev reached for her.
“I am well,” Alice heard her whisper.
“You need to rest and eat,” Dev whispered back. “Let me help you to the carriage, my love.”
“Come, let us leave. James, you and Eden get the coats, and we shall see you at the carriages,” Cam said. “We shall retire to the duke’s residence, where he can feed us and Essie can come and look you over, Nicholas.”
“I am well.”
“Undoubtedly, but that cut under your eye will need something to stave off infection.”
“I will go to my house. My housekeeper can tend me.”
“No, you will go to mine,” the duke said. It was not a tone he often used, but one that had them all moving.
Alice wasn’t sure how it happened, but she ended up in the coach alone with Nicholas. Probably as she still had her hand pressed to his cheek, blotting the blood with Wolf’s handkerchief.
“Alice is alone with Nicholas!” She heard Wolf come to the same realization as the carriage started moving.
“And will be fine,” Rose soothed. “No one will know, and he is family.”
Wolf grumbled about it not being right, but as his carriage was now some distance ahead of the one she occupied with Nicholas, she could not hear Rose’s reply. Which was odd, she could usually hear for some distance.
Lifting the handkerchief, she noted the bleeding had eased. Nicholas grabbed her hand as she pulled away.
“You should not have taken that risk tonight, Alice.” His eyes were as black as midnight. She saw other bruises starting to form on his face, but it did nothing to deter from the beauty she saw in it. Or the raw emotion radiating from him.
“I would do it again,” Alice said, unmoving.
He moved to the edge of his seat and pulled her closer until she was trapped between his legs.
“Why must you take risks! Damn you, woman, why can you not understand the danger you place yourself in!”
He was roaring at her now. Surprisingly his words did not make her wince, almost like her hearing was normal. He needed to do this, she realized, needed to release the emotion the fight had built up inside him.
“You were the one in danger, Nicholas. Now sit back and let me tend you.”
“Alice, you must show more care.” The words were desperate. “This is not your village, there are bad people—”
“I am not a fool. Now, you must calm down.”
“I don’t want to calm down. When I saw you jump on that man’s back I... I....”
“Yes?”
“You shouldn’t have done it.”
“I will not stand by and watch while people I care for are harmed.”
The anger left him as quick as it had come.
“You care for me?” His hand cupped her cheek. Suddenly he was no longer angry.
“M-my family.”
“Me,” he whispered, closing the distance between them.
The kiss was everything that the others had been and more again.
“Alice.” Her name was torn from his lips. “This... we cannot.”
“I know, you’ve already told me that, but here we are, kissing once more.” She said the words against his lips.
“I am not the man for one as sweet and innocent as you.”
“Why?” Alice whispered as his lips moved over her face, his hands trailing up her sides, leaving fire where they touched.
“Because I am the dark where you are light.” His hand reached the underside of her breasts, and the breath lodged in her throat. “Because I would do this when I know I should not.” The hand moved up and cupped her breast. He swallowed her cry, crushing her lips.
And then he released her and moved away.
“No more. I am not myself. Forgive me, it will not happen again.”
His face was once again closed tight, each muscle clenched as if chiseled in stone.
“Why am I not for the likes of you?”
His eyes moved from the window to her.
“Because I am a sinner, Alice, and nothing and no one can change that. My life has been one of debauchery and salacious behavior. The only companion I am fit to keep company with is Lucifer himself.”
Alice did not speak again, because for the first time in her life she didn’t know what say. That he thought himself fit company for Lucifer was both disturbing and sad. She vowed to speak with someone about his past, and this time she would get answers.
She watched from her side of the carriage as London passed her by and tried to think about how wonderful it felt to have his hand on her breast. Surely she was indeed a loose woman.
Wolf was the first to their carriage as it stopped, running his eyes over her as he helped her down.
“I am well, Wolf. I received no injury, and it is Nicholas who needs your attention.” Alice moved aside, and Wolf leaned in to help him.
“I can manage.”
“You look ready to fall.”
“I am not an invalid.”
“Be quiet, Nicholas, and let Wolf help you,” James said, joining them.
Alice followed them inside. James and Wolf were on either side of him in case he should stumble.
I am not the man for one as sweet and innocent as you.
What had he done?
They gathered in James’s study, a wonderful room with comfortable furnishings and books that she loved. This room had a soul that wrapped around a person when they entered it. Tonight, it did nothing to ease the cold that had formed inside Alice.
“I have sent a footman for Essie.”
Nicholas tried to bite back a moan as they lowered him into a chair. Now that the fight had left him, he was suffering.
“Don’t wake her, Dev, I
am all right.”
“Shut up,” James said, handing him a brandy.
Soon everyone was there; even Max had come, looking rumpled, with Essie carrying her supplies.
“Don’t fuss, Essie, I am well.” Nicholas tried again to get them to leave him alone. “Return to your beds.”
“I will be the judge of that.” She dropped down beside him. “Warm water, please, James, and cloths.”
Nicholas rested his head on the back of the seat and closed his eyes, knowing that he was outnumbered.
She watched Essie turn to Dev, who changed his vision and checked Nicholas over. He then motioned to Nicholas’s ribs and pointed to Lilly, who was resting in a chair eating and drinking to regain her strength. Essie nodded.
She cleaned and stitched the cut on his eye. Nicholas never moved.
Alice drank the tea Rose handed her and watched. Why him? What was it about this man that was different from the others?
“Tell us what happened, Nicholas. Why you were out there alone tonight?” James said.
He opened his eyes and took the tea Essie handed him. He sipped, then gagged.
“That is revolting.”
“But it will help you grow into a big, strong boy, so drink up,” she said. “Plus it will help you heal.”
His hair was messy, his necktie missing, and shirt and coat torn. In that moment, she could imagine him as Lucifer’s companion.
“Speak, Nicholas, and I shall decide how angry I am with you!” Lilly said.
“I am all right, sister.”
“You are now, but only because of Alice.”
His eyes found hers.
“Why Alice?”
“I couldn’t find you, and she told us about the note, so we came looking.”
Of course they couldn’t tell him the truth.
“Thank you.” He nodded, then winced. “A footman brought me a note, as Alice told you. It directed me to meet whoever wrote it outside, as they had information about the babe that my housekeeper—”
“I thought you more intelligent than that, Nicholas. You are a bloody idiot for going out there without alerting us!”
Nicholas was shocked at Cam’s anger.
“I don’t see why?”
“God’s blood,” Cam muttered. “The man’s a fool.”
“I am not a fool. The note was addressed to me.”
“And you walked into a trap,” Lilly said. “You are a fool.”