Regency 03 - Deception (30 page)

“
He told me the same,” said Sir
Adam.

“
Here is Bri, Sprite. Go with her,
please.”

To her credit, Aurora’s expression was frankly
questioning but she did as her husband requested anyway, moving off
with Lady Rothsmere. Levi was quite sure he’d hear about it
later.

“
Out with it, Adam. Where is
Hart?”

Adam assumed a look of innocence. “I swear I have no
idea.”

“
Fustian! Tell me or I’ll throttle
you here and now.”

Watching the baronet far closer than the other man
knew, Levi could tell he was uneasy. Logic insisted his unease had
everything to do with Derringer’s absence. Levi felt a sinking in
his own stomach at the possibility of the duke doing something to
get Rhiannon killed.

Adam sighed. “Cheapside, I assume.”

*

Unfortunately for Derringer, the unease being
experienced by his friends was spot on.

Everything went well at first. The duke arrived at
the building that Tiny assured him was the residence of Jeremiah
Miller and his wife Elizabeth. The landlady informed them that they
lived in the top floor.

Derringer debated his next move. He thought about
just bursting in and demanding the child. That would be in keeping
with his reputation.

But there was the child to consider.

Derringer stood there, debating the amount of danger
he was willing to put Rhiannon in, ignoring the two anxious
fighters near him. He stared at the harmless looking façade, noted
how alike it was to all the other packed-in houses on the
street.

As his gaze moved up and down the street, a small
boy came near, old and tattered clothing proclaiming him to be of
the thieving trade. The duke smiled, casting a quick glance at his
companions.

“
We will need a diversion,
boys.”

Bruiser caught on, fading into the shadows of an
alleyway. Tiny meandered away, his movements unhurried and casual,
a slightly well-off man out for an evening stroll. Derringer leaned
against the Miller’s home, waiting.

The small boy glanced nervously at the duke, his
face tense. Derringer smiled, tipping his head the slightest bit,
acknowledging the existence of another human.

As the thief passed Tiny, the huge man took
advantage of the child’s preoccupation, snatching him into the air.
The shriek that burst forth from the boy’s throat echoed through
the street.

Lights flickered to life in window after window,
heads popped out to inquire as to the source of the disturbance,
some even threw refuse out in the hopes of scaring away whatever
beast made such a racket. The child continued to scream as Tiny
moved out of sight.

Still, Derringer waited.

Beside him, the door opened. A woman stepped out
brandishing a rolling pin, her face creased in annoyance.

Derringer stepped forward, smiling. “Madam?”

She visibly started, alarm making her eyes huge in
her gaunt face. “Milord?”

“
Astute of you,” he murmured,
ignoring her look of incomprehension. “Where is Miller?”

A scuffling sound behind the woman drew the duke’s
attention. “Never mind. I believe I hear him now.”

Derringer was inside the building before anyone
realized. He pursued the fleeing man up the stairs until he stood
before a door just recently slammed.

Derringer stared at that door for one second.
Growling deep in his throat, rage suffused him, giving him the
impetus he needed. He stepped back and kicked the door down.

~~~~~~

Levi muttered to himself all the way to Cheapside.
He’d kill Hart when he got his hands on him. How dare he have the
audacity to deny Levi his right to rescue his own daughter!

He had taken his leave at the party, assuring his
wife that he just had a simple matter to attend to, apologized to
his hostess for cutting out so soon after his arrival, and left in
the greatest state of rage he could ever remember experiencing.

The hackney pulled to a stop short of Levi’s goal
but upon stepping out, he realized why. Judging by the wailing that
filled the street, someone was being tortured. The earl could
hardly blame the jehu for refusing to venture further into
hell.

Levi just shook his head, paid the man, and moved
toward the screams of terror that seemed to reverberate through
him. It was not Rhiannon. That was the only comfort he could take
from the situation.

He turned the corner and saw Bruiser lurking near a
particular residence. Levi’s tense muscles eased the slightest bit.
If Derringer was in trouble, Bruiser would not have been standing
there doing nothing.

Levi nodded as he passed, having just noticed the
duke disappear into the building. A woman stood nearby, staring
after the duke, her face a comic expression of shock. Levi smiled,
tipping his hat.

“
Madam.”

She started, her face so startled that Levi realized
she’d had no idea he was there. “Odd bloke? Dressed all in
black?”

She nodded.

Levi looked around, ignoring the other people who’d
gathered outside to investigate the contretemps. He deduced the
direction of the continued screams, and made his way toward
them.

He glanced down an alleyway and saw Tiny. The giant
stood with a grimy street urchin in his arms. Levi indicated with a
slash across his throat that the sounds should cease and was only
mildly surprised when the boy ceased his caterwauling with an
impish grin.

Silence drenched the street. Levi found this nearly
as unnerving as the screams. He ignored all that, returning to the
building into which Derringer had disappeared moments before.

It was not difficult to find the duke. All he had to
do was follow the sound of threats. Levi smiled at the
inventiveness of his friend.

Any feeling of mirth was dispelled by the sight that
greeted him at the mangled door of the Miller’s domicile. While a
gun was trained relentlessly at his heart, the duke taunted the
other man. Levi was stunned to realize Derringer’s disregard for
his own life was total.

“
What is all this then?” he asked,
adopting an overall aura of casualness, despite the maddened tempo
of his heart. Rhiannon was not present—but neither was Mrs.
Miller.

All eyes met his, varying degrees of shock visible
in each countenance. Levi shrugged. “Well?”

For some reason, Jeremiah Miller seemed to think it
was an invitation to flee. And, somehow, he managed it quite
handily.

Levi was never quite sure afterward how the man had
slipped by him. He just had.

“
What the devil just happened?” he
asked the duke.

“
It doesn’t matter,” replied
Derringer shortly. “We have to get Rhiannon out of here before he
returns.”

Perhaps Levi wasn’t the quickest fellow in all of
London but he was far from the stupidest. “You think he has gone
for help?”

Already moving to the other room, the duke’s reply
was slightly muffled. “Of course he has. Do you think he’d let a
windfall like Rhiannon slip through his fingers?”

Mrs. Miller was not pleased to have been left alone
to deal with the Duke of Derringer. She screeched, shoved the
sobbing girl at the two men, and was through the door before they
realized. Levi snatched up the child, soothing her as best he could
under the circumstances.

“
How do you accomplish anything
when everyone manages to escape you?” the earl asked. He murmured
something to Rhiannon that seemed to calm her, forgetting in the
next second what he said.

Derringer’s glare settled on his best friend. “They
only escape me when I let them.”

Despite his instinct for self-preservation, Levi
chuckled at such conceit. “Indeed. And for what possible reason
would you let the Millers go?”

There was no opportunity for reply. Sounds of a
brawl, then running footsteps, reached them. The duke shoved Levi
to the window. “Climb down.”

“
What!?”

“
Whoever Miller hired has made it
past Tiny and Bruiser. Are you eager to meet them? Here.” Tearing a
cord from a nearby drape, he proceeded to lash Rhiannon to Levi’s
chest. “Keep as tight to the wall as you can without crushing her.
It will be difficult but both of your lives depend upon
it.”

Levi wrapped his greatcoat around them both. “What
of you?”

Derringer glanced toward the door. “Don’t worry
about me. I will make sure you get away safe. GO!”

Levi needed no more urging. He nimbly climbed out
the window, thankful for the first time in his life for such a
dubious skill.

Actually, the second time in his life. He managed a
grin as he moved along the narrow ledge beneath the window.

A shout from above had him pausing briefly. He
glanced up, saw the black of Derringer’s greatcoat near the open
window and continued his decent as quickly as possible—no easy task
for a man his size.

The drainpipe shifted, threatening to come away from
the building. Levi paused; Rhiannon whimpered. Taking a deep
breath, he focused on the goal, ignoring all sounds around him.

Later, he reasoned it was this intense focus that
was to blame. No sooner had his feet touched the ground than a
gunshot had him glancing upward. He watched, horrified, as the Duke
of Derringer hurtled down. He landed at Levi’s feet, his body
making a sickening sound as it connected with the cobbles.

~~~~~~

There was the expected amount of alarm when Levi
arrived home with his wife’s daughter and his best friend.
Derringer was senseless, rambling about anything and everything
that happened to cross his mind and Rhiannon had resumed her
anguished cries at the sight of the duke’s still form. Levi was
nearly insane with the chaos of it all.

Tiny carried the duke, Bruiser bringing up the rear.
Levi’s body eased when his wife entered the foyer. Her eyes widened
at the sight before her but seemed to linger on Tiny longer than
was strictly warranted, even in regard to his unusual size.

Tiny nodded to the countess and it was then that
Levi remembered Derringer’s comment about Aurora’s acquaintance
with the other man.

Locking eyes with his bride, Levi saw the horror and
wondered if she would panic. Proving herself to be more sensible
than her past actions would indicate, she moved forward swiftly,
taking Rhiannon to quiet her.

She turned to the butler, “Direct Mr.Wilton to a
guestchamber.” Her eyes met her husband’s. “What happened?”

“
An accident,” Levi replied
shortly. After directing the footman to send for a doctor and then
Rhiannon’s nursemaid, the earl grasped his wife’s arm and urged her
in the direction of the drawing room.

Aurora settled into a chair, her daughter clasped
tightly in her arms. “An accident? Hart looks as though he’s been
run down by a carriage.”

Eyebrows lifting slightly at his wife’s familiar use
of the duke’s given name, the earl simply said, “Fell from a
building, actually, but I suppose the injuries could be
similar.”

He was not best pleased at Aurora’s stricken
expression. Was she enamored of the heartless duke? He told himself
how silly the thought was but there was something in him that would
not let it pass.

“
He will survive, I daresay,” he
drawled, moving to pour himself a drink. He was relieved to see the
child had dozed off. “I do hope you are not too
disappointed.”

Genuine confusion stamped her brow. “Disappointed? I
don’t understand. I should be deeply distressed should he die, of
course. I am deeply distressed that he was hurt at all.”

Levi sighed, closing his eyes against the pain in
his chest. This was no time to come over jealous like some young
sprig in his first throes of calf love. Derringer hovered near
death and Forester was still out there plotting the Lord only knew
what mischief.

Swallowing his port, he turned just as the door
opened to admit Nancy, the nursemaid. She took the sleeping
Rhiannon and left the earl with his wife.

“
Aurora, we did not catch
Forester, as you are well aware.” He moved to her side, looking
down at her. “We did not catch the Millers either.”

“
You did not?” Her delicate
features paled. “Where are they?” Standing, she moved to leave,
saying, “Where is Rhiannon? We must keep her safe.”

Levi stopped her, his fingers closing gently over
hers. “Rhiannon is safe in her bed with Nancy hovering
protectively,” he said softly.

“
But the Millers. Do you actually
think they will just give her up? They must believe her to be of
some value to risk the danger they have.”

He nodded. “I agree with you. I will find them,
Rory. They will pay for the pain they have inflicted.”

Aurora’s face clouded. She bit her lip, under the
power of some strong emotion that Levi could not name. A tear
slipped down her cheek to be angrily wiped away with a brief swipe
of her hand.

“
I caused this. I caused all of
this. Had I just left her with them, they would never have met
Desmond and thought to use her for monetary gain. I caused
this.”

Levi dropped her hand, cupping her face. “You did
not cause this. Anyone who would ransom a child would have used her
in some way for monetary gain, whether Forester was involved or
not.”

She blinked up at him. “Do you think?”

“
I do. The Millers have always
seen Rhiannon as a source of income, Rory. First from your father
and now from you. Had you not taken her, they would have
blackmailed you anyway.”

Her eyes seemed to search his for the truth of his
statement, finally clearing as she realized the veracity of it.