Bedford Street Brigade 02 - Love Unbidden (39 page)

Millie paced from one side of the room to the other. Lord and Lady Strothum had been kind enough to allow her the use of one of the rooms off the foyer in which to wait until Reid returned. They’d also assigned someone to help Janie with the children.

She stopped when she reached the window that faced the street in front of the town house and looked out. How much longer could the investigators be? How much longer would Reid make her wait?

It was difficult to think of him as Reid now. He’d been Roarke for so long that she’d have to condition herself to think of him as Reid. But she was glad he wasn’t Roarke any longer. So grateful to put to rest everything the name Roarke had meant in her life and savor the new name.

Reid.

Roarke belonged to Rosie, he was the love of her life, the father of her child. Millie didn’t want it to be the name of the man who had now claimed her own heart.

Everything was clear now. Especially the reason Reid had no recollection of Rosie. How could he when he’d never met her? How could he when he knew nothing about her other than that his brother was deeply in love with someone, but he didn’t know who that someone was?

Knowing he was really Reid Livingston instead of Roarke also erased the guilt and self-recrimination that plagued her for falling in love with the same man she thought her sister loved. For the first time, she was able to examine the emotions she felt for Reid and admit that she loved him with all her heart.

At any other time the joy of it would have overwhelmed. But tonight it was tinged with fear, fear that her silence had led to tonight’s dark turn of events. That her fear of losing Robbie had kept her silent too long. And now she might have lost the child forever.

Millie had never felt so alone. Lord Strothum had gone with the investigators, and Lady Strothum was in her rooms. The quiet on this floor of the house was different than the quiet on the third floor where the nursery was located. Here she heard the sounds of every carriage
rumbling past, and each time she raced to the window in hopes that the carriage would stop and Reid would emerge with Robbie in tow. But the hours went by without a carriage even slowing.

Finally, a hansom cab drew to a stop in front of the house. Reid bounded out, but he didn’t rush up the walk to the house. He stood at the curb and removed his hat. Then raked his fingers through his hair as if he needed time before he entered the house. He rolled his wounded shoulder, then rubbed his upper arm as if to ease the pain. He didn’t turn to help a child from the cab. He was heartbreakingly, devastatingly, alone.

Millie rushed to the front door.

The footman Lord Strothum had assigned to take over until a replacement for Rogers could be found held the door open. Reid entered, and Millie was struck by the tired look in his eyes and the drawn expression on his face.

Their gazes locked for a few long seconds, and during that time, Millie not only saw how exhausted Reid was, but how disappointed. From the dark shadows beneath his eyes and his desolate countenance, she knew the news he brought wasn’t good.

Her hands flew to cover her gasp, and then she held out her hand and pulled him to the room where they could be alone. “Carson, would you please bring a tray with tea and the sandwiches Cook made?”

“Yes, Miss Millie.”

Carson went to get the tray, and Millie closed the door behind Reid. While Reid walked to the sofa that faced the fireplace, Millie went to the small table that held several decanters. Her hands trembled, her fingers fluttered over the crystal tumblers, as if they couldn’t decipher how to grasp the familiar objects.

“Millie, stop,” Reid whispered. He took her hands and drew her gently away from the table. “Let me.”

The smile he gave her melted her heart.

“Come, sit down, Millie.”

Millie sat on the sofa near him and waited until he’d taken a gulp of the whiskey she’d given him. Then she asked the question that her lips had feared to form. “Do you know where Rogers took Robbie?”

He shook his head, then lowered the glass. “There’s no sign of him yet, but that’s not surprising. Especially since he had such a head start on us.”

Millie shivered, and caught her lower lip between her teeth to stop the fierce trembling that threatened to escalate. “Do you think he’s left London?”

Carson entered with the tray, and Reid waited to answer until the young man had placed the tray of sandwiches and tea on the table in front of Millie and left the room.

“No, he’s still here.”

“Oh thank God! Why…why do you think that?” She put a sandwich on a plate and handed it to Reid quickly, before her quaking fingers could make a mess of it all.

“Because he still has the papers he took from Lord Strothum’s safe, and he can’t leave London until he’s sold them.”

“Do you know who he’s selling them to?”

“The most likely person is Clyde Ortman. He’s Joseph Whitworth’s plant foreman and the Brigadesmen are watching him. He’s been skimming from Whitworth’s profits for years, and wants to get his hands on Armstrong’s design and copy it. He’d like nothing more than to get a government contract for a breech-loading rifle. His ill-gotten profits would be staggering.”

Millie waited for Reid to eat one of the sandwiches on his plate. Her mind whirled in a hundred directions putting pieces of the story together, but some small corner of her thoughts was able to register that he looked exhausted.

“Aren’t you going to eat something?” he asked when he reached for a second sandwich.

“I’m…I’m not hungry.”

“You have to eat, Millie. It won’t do anyone any good if you don’t.”

“I know. I’ll eat something. Later.”

“Robbie’s fine,” Reid said. “Rogers won’t harm him.”

“I know. He thinks he can be a proper father to Rosie’s son.”

“And my brother’s.”

Millie’s gaze locked with Reid’s. His eyes said so much. The hurt she saw in them spoke volumes.

“I wish you had told me about Rose. I wish you had told me why you disliked me so much. I might have—”

Millie shook her head. “I couldn’t. I couldn’t chance you finding out about Robbie. I thought you were Roarke Livingston, and I was afraid if you discovered you had a son you’d take him away from me.” Tears filled her eyes. “I couldn’t risk losing him. He’s mine more than he was Rose’s. I’ve loved and cared for him since the night he was born.”

Reid set his empty plate on the low table in front of him and leaned back against the cushions. He lowered his head back against the sofa. “Robbie’s father is dead because of me. Robbie will never know what a wonderful man his father was, because I killed him.”

Millie turned to face Reid, aghast at what he’d said. The pain she heard in his voice tore through her like a dull knife. She reached for his hand and twined her fingers through his. “It’s not your fault your brother is dead. You didn’t kill him.”

“If only Roarke hadn’t come in search of me. If only he hadn’t jumped in to help me.”

“Those were decisions your brother made. You didn’t drag him to that tavern or force him to fight your battle. He came because that’s the kind of person he was. He jumped in to fight with you because he didn’t want you to fight alone. That’s how much he loved you.”

“But I wasn’t worth it, Millie. I’m still not worth it. He was worth a hundred of me.”

“Then stop trying to be him, Reid. Be yourself. Perhaps you’ll find you’re a better man than you thought you were.”

Reid sat up and turned toward her.

Millie knew he intended to kiss her, and she wanted nothing more. The second he brought his head near her, she lifted her chin. She was in agony waiting for his lips to touch hers. Couldn’t wait for his tongue to dance with hers. Couldn’t wait for his arms to envelop her.

He kissed her tentatively at first. Kissed her as if he was fearful of her reaction. But when she indicated how desperate she was for him to kiss her, he deepened his kisses.

Millie felt as though a key had been turned that unlocked the feelings she had denied for so long. She felt as if she could finally admit how much she loved him because he wasn’t the man her sister had loved. She felt as if the barriers had been removed and she could finally show Reid how desperately she loved him.

She met his kisses, matched them with a desperation of her own, and returned his passion with an unbridled need that knew no bounds. She loved him and wanted him to know the depth of her love.

He pulled her closer to him and came over her. She twined her arm around his neck and held him. Emotions that she couldn’t explain raced through her. Passion so intense she couldn’t contain it churned inside her chest, then spun down to the pit of her stomach and lower.

How could something as simple as a kiss have such an extraordinary effect on her emotions? How could the touching of two people’s lips cause such turmoil? Why did kissing someone you truly cared for make one want something more?

Millie kissed Reid with a greater desperation than she’d ever felt in her life. She wanted nothing more than to stay in his arms like this forever. But somewhere in the back of her mind a noise from beyond the door disturbed her.

Reid heard the voices before she did and ended their kiss.

“Lord Strothum is here.”

“Oh,” she said, brushing her hands over her hair to make sure it was in place.

“Can you move to your chair?”

Millie stepped to the chair opposite the sofa and smoothed her hands over her skirt to give her rumpled gown some semblance of order. She looked up as Lord Strothum entered the room.

“Hello, Millie. Roarke— Um, I mean, Reid.”

“Good evening, my lord,” Millie said.

“Strothum,” Reid answered. “Calling me Reid is going to take some getting used to by everyone, including myself. I’ve lived my life as Roarke for so long, it’s hard to remember that’s not who I am.”

Lord Strothum walked to the table with the crystal decanters and poured himself a glass of whiskey. When he had an inch or so in his glass, he held the decanter up as an offer to fill Reid’s glass, but Reid shook his head. “What progress have you made?” he asked when he joined them.

“Not as much as we had hoped. Rogers has gone into hiding. We’ve got men watching Clyde Ortman’s house and the Whitman plant. Ortman won’t be able to leave without us knowing. And following.”

“The sale will take place soon,” Strothum said.

Reid nodded. “The longer Rogers remains in London, the greater his chances are that we’ll find him. That’s why I came back here tonight. To make sure Millie is ready to leave as soon as we know where the meeting will take place.”

Millie couldn’t hide her surprise. Reid smiled at her and her heart warmed.

“Robbie will need you there when we get Rogers. He probably misses you enough the way it is.”

“Thank you,” she said through the tears that filled her eyes.

“I just wish we would have figured out that Rogers was the inside connection before he left with Robbie. We could have prevented him from getting the design.”

Lord Strothum lifted the glass to his mouth and took a small sip. “That’s all right. No loss.”

Even Reid had a surprised look on his face. “Excuse me?”

“Mack and I anticipated that there’d be another attempt to steal the design, so we removed it.”

“Then what did Rogers take?”

The expression on Lord Strothum’s face said he was inordinately pleased with himself. “He took a forgery. I made a copy of the original design, but changed it just enough that it wouldn’t work.”

“The copy Rogers took was a fake?”

“Yes,” Strothum answered. “And I sincerely hope that the thieves don’t manufacture one according to my design. Someone could get hurt.”

Reid laughed, and to Millie it was the most wonderful sound she’d heard in a long, long time.

“Well,” Lord Strothum said, rising from his chair. “I think it’s time I retired. I expect to be included when this goes down.”

Reid rose, too, and extended his hand to Millie. “Absolutely,” he answered. “We’d be pleased to have your help.”

“Good,” he said, then left the room.

Reid and Millie followed. He took her up the stairs, then stopped when they reached her door.

“Try to get some rest,” Reid said when they reached her room. “I’ll come for you the minute something happens.”

Reid leaned down to kiss her before he opened the door.

Millie went into her room and closed the door behind her. Emotional exhaustion overtook her, and a torrent of tears washed her cheeks. She had never been more fearful in her entire life. Or happier.

Reid checked the carriage where Millie had promised she’d remain until he came for her. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, but he knew how difficult it would be for her to stay there once she saw Robbie. He knew she’d want to rush to the boy and gather him in her arms. But that would ruin everything. Lord Strothum was with her. Hopefully, he could keep her from rushing into danger.

Clyde Ortman had left the warehouse almost an hour earlier and traveled west on Fleet Street. He’d continued on Ludgate Hill, then stopped when he reached St. Paul’s Church Yard. Mack and the investigators had the area surrounded. There was no way Rogers could escape once he entered the churchyard.

Reid watched every approaching carriage. Waiting was always the hardest part of an investigation. Anticipating the possibilities always the most nerve wracking. But Reid had been in these situations before. He’d honed his skills to perfection. He was an expert at waiting.

Just when he thought that perhaps Rogers had decided not to come, a carriage turned into the churchyard.

The carriage sat there for several moments, then the door opened and Rogers emerged. Robbie followed close behind him.

Reid did a quick check of the carriage where Millie was and breathed a sigh of relief. There was no sign of movement. The corner of his mouth turned up at the thought of how she was struggling right now, desperate to get her Robbie safely in her arms. She adored that child. Her nephew. And his.

Reid watched as Rogers walked toward the gated cemetery at the back of the church. The man held Robbie’s hand as he walked, and kept the boy close to him. He stopped when he reached the spot where Ortman was waiting.

The men talked for a short time. Ortman was outwardly angry that Rogers had brought Robbie with him. He stabbed his finger at the boy as his voice raised a notch in volume. Rogers said something that seemed to placate Ortman, then he reached into his pocket and removed a folded piece of paper.

Ortman grabbed it and looked it over, then folded it again and stuffed it into his pocket.

Reid expected things to proceed as the investigators anticipated they would, and hunkered down behind a tombstone in the cemetery, ready to spring into action.

But a sudden realization set his heart into a panicked rhythm. Ortman wouldn’t want any witnesses. Rogers was as good as dead.

And so was Robbie.

Unless—

They were all to wait until Mack gave the signal, then Briggs, Hugh, and Quinn were supposed to arrest Ortman. Mack and Jack were to go after Rogers. And Reid was supposed to grab Robbie and take him out of harm’s way. But Reid had suddenly anticipated Ortman’s next move.

When he pulled his hand from his pocket he had a pistol in his grip and aimed it at Rogers. The butler dropped Robbie’s hand and the two men scuffled.

At the same moment, Reid bolted from behind the tombstone where he’d been hiding. Mack bellowed for his investigators to move. After that, everything played out in slow motion.

Reid prayed for Rogers to overpower Ortman as he sprinted across the cobblestones toward the two. But Ortman had more brute strength than Rogers. Before Reid reached them, Ortman fired his pistol and Rogers sank to the ground.

Reid raced against time. He needed to reach Robbie before Ortman turned the weapon on him. But with Rogers no longer there to act as buffer, Reid became an open target as he raced for Robbie.

Reid raced forward, praying that one of the brigadesmen would reach them in time to stop Ortman, but they were all farther away than he was. It was doubtful they could get close enough to have Ortman in range.

Reid was prepared for whatever might happen, and knew he didn’t have a choice but to do everything in his power to save Robbie. Millie wouldn’t survive if something happened to the boy. But he wasn’t prepared for what happened next.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blur of green racing through the graveyard. It was the very green of the gown Millie was wearing. Reid turned, and caught site of her as she darted around one tombstone then another in her attempt to reach Robbie.

“No!”

Reid bellowed a warning for her to stop, but she continued toward Robbie. A shot whizzed past his ear but he kept running.

Tears streamed down his face blurring the site of the small boy next to Rogers’s limp body that lay on the ground. He didn’t move, still as one of the statues in the graveyard.

Then Millie cried out Robbie’s name and Ortman whirled to search the darkness. He fired one shot. Two.

The boy turned, hesitated, then saw her familiar figure emerge from behind a small crypt and took a step toward her. Then another.

Reid ran faster. He bellowed Ortman’s name, praying that he’d turn his attention back toward him instead of focusing on Millie. And Ortman turned. But not toward him. Toward Robbie.

Reid pointed his pistol at Ortman and fired. The bullet hit him and he staggered, but he didn’t go down. Instead, he lifted his arm and refocused his aim on Robbie.

Millie was close. Too close.

Reid hollered for her to stop, but she didn’t. If anything, she ran faster. When she was close enough to Robbie to reach him, she threw out her arms and wrapped them around the boy.

Several gunshots echoed at the same time. Reid knew his second shot hit Ortman, and probably so did more than one of the barrage of shots that came from the brigadesmen.

Ortman crumpled to the ground in a heap while Millie held Robbie to her.

Reid couldn’t describe the relief he felt. He couldn’t explain the joy that spread through him when he realized Robbie was unhurt.

He raced to where Millie still held Robbie and dropped to his knees. “Are you all right, Robbie? He glanced up and caught the glazed expression in Millie’s eyes. “Are you all right, Millie?”

She nodded, at least he took her slight reaction as a nod and he focused on little Robbie again. “You were a very brave boy,” he said, brushing his fingers across the tears that were streaming down Robbie’s cheeks.

“That man had a gun,” Robbie said through his tears.

“Yes,” Reid answered. “He was a very bad man.”

“And Rogers was going to take me away from Millie. I told him I didn’t want to go, but he said I had to.”

“You don’t have to now, Robbie. You can stay with Millie. And never have to leave her. Isn’t that right, Miss Millie?”

Reid looked up and the first thing he noticed was the paleness of Millie’s face. The second thing he noticed was that Mack and Quinn were supporting her.

“Millie?” he said, rising to his feet.

“Good God, she’s been shot, Reid!” Mack cried.

Reid leaped to support Millie and knew a fear unlike any he’d known before. He scooped her up in his arms and started for the carriage. “Follow me, Robbie. We need to take Miss Millie home.”

“Is she hurt like she was in the park that day?” Robbie asked.

“Yes, like in the park that day.” Reid raced as fast as he could. He didn’t have to worry about Robbie keeping up. Quinn had picked him up and was running alongside Reid toward the carriage.

The carriage lurched forward the second the door closed and Reid pushed the bonnet from Millie’s head, then brushed a wisp of hair that had fallen over her face. Her skin felt cool and so very still.

He felt for a heartbeat and breathed a sigh of relief when he found one. But it was so weak it was barely there.

“Millie,” he whispered in her ear. “Don’t leave me. Robbie needs you. I need you. Neither of us can survive without you.”

The carriage pulled up in front of Lord Strothum’s townhouse and Reid jumped out with Millie in his arms. What he’d told her was true. He wasn’t sure he could survive without her. But something told him she might put him to the test.