Silk and Shadows (60 page)

Though Sara struggled to free herself, the other woman effortlessly immobilized her. "I don't know who you are, my fine lady," the madam snarled, "but you got no business here."

Kuram managed to throw off his assailant, but the other man grabbed a stone doorstop from the corner of the hall when he fell. The fight ended abruptly when the guard smashed the heavy weight into the side of Kuram's head.

The Pathan groaned and went limp. As blood began soaking through the white fabric of his turban, Sara cried out and tried to go to him, but she couldn't break the madame's grip.

"Tie him up in the back room," Mrs. Kent ordered the guard. "The master may want to question him, so don't kill him yet."

Sara's hood had fallen back when the women struggled. Mrs. Kent studied her captive with narrowed eyes, then gave a slow, unpleasant smile. "I'd lay fifty quid you're the older wench my master described not more'n ten minutes ago. He's going to be right pleased to see you." She twisted Sara's wrist viciously. "You'll wait in my office till he's through upstairs."

In the office the madame searched her captive with rough thoroughness, giving a grunt of satisfaction when she discovered the money hidden in the cloak. "This is a day for good things coming out of bad. First a mistake gave me a new girl for the house, and now you walk in ripe for the fleecing." Mrs. Kent pushed Sara into a heavy chair, then lashed her wrists together and tied them to one wooden arm.

Knowing that the more helpless she appeared, the more careless and contemptuous Mrs. Kent would be, Sara shrank back in the chair, letting her fear show. Looking frightened was easy, for Jenny had been right—Sara was a fool to have come here. Not only had she failed to help Eliza, her disastrous error in judgment might cost her and Kuram their lives. Worst of all, Mikahl might come and be taken unaware by the guard.

Closing her eyes, Sara forced herself to calmness. Then she began to pray.

As his daughter spoke, Weldon stood stock-still, his body chill with stupefaction. He, who always had prided himself on being unshockable, now found that the sight of his daughter's plight was like a blade thrust mortally deep into his heart.

Eliza's voice trailed off uncertainly. "Papa… Papa, are you all right?"

Her question snapped Weldon from his horror-struck trance into molten, coruscating rage. If it had not been for Peregrine, Eliza would never have been abducted.

Her presence in this foul place was an abomination, a corruption of the innocent for which that bastard was ultimately responsible, and for which he would be made to pay an unspeakable price.

The sight of Eliza's wide, panicky eyes forced Weldon to curb his rage. Before vengeance could be executed, his daughter must be freed. With clumsy fingers, he began undoing the sashes that bound her to the bed. "Don't worry, darling," he said in a shattered voice. "Papa's here. I won't let anyone hurt you."

Released from her bonds, Eliza sat up and leaned into her father's embrace as she shook with desperate sobs. "I was going to call on Lady Sara, just for a few minutes, but they grabbed me on the street just outside Haddonneld House," she gasped. "They had a smelly rag that put me to sleep. When I woke up, I was here and a horrible woman was touching me. She said I could never go home again. She said I would have to…"

As his daughter's voice broke entirely, Weldon patted her on the back, crooning over and over that she was safe now, that her father would never let anyone harm her. When Eliza's sobs finally subsided, he asked, "Are your clothes here?"

She swallowed, then spoke with a heartbreaking attempt at bravery. "The awful woman put them in that chest of drawers."

"You get dressed while I go downstairs and make sure it is safe for you to leave." Weldon's trembling hand touched his daughter's bright hair as she gazed at him with trustful eyes.

"Yes, Papa." In her father's presence, Eliza was recovering rapidly from her terror. "I knew you would come, and everything would be all right."

Out in the corridor, Weldon leaned back against the closed door, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he struggled to suppress horrifying images of what would have been done to Eliza if he hadn't chanced to come to the house. His precious daughter would have been defiled by some filthy brute who did not recognize true innocence when he saw it.

Peregrine was behind this, but Mrs. Kent and the guards who had kidnapped Eliza were also guilty. They should have known as soon as they saw her that she was pure; they should never have laid their vile hands on her. They would pay; by God, all of them would pay.

Weldon always carried a small pistol when he came to this part of London. Now he pulled the weapon from under his coat, checked the loading, cocked it, then concealed it again. White-hot with fury, he went downstairs to Mrs. Kent's office.

When he opened the door, the madame said, "We've a visitor, sir. This female just pranced in, bold as brass. Is she the one you told me about earlier?"

The words Weldon had meant to hurl at his employee were temporarily forgotten when he saw Sara tied to the chair. Incredulous, he exclaimed, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Sara stared back, vivid shock on her face. "I might ask you the same, Charles. I refused to believe that you could be involved in something so sordid, but I see that I was wrong." A mask of cool control smoothed her expression. "I came because I feared Eliza had been brought here. Is she upstairs?"

"Yes, but she's about to leave." Weldon gave a smile of deep, malicious satisfaction. "You, however, will not." Then he turned to Mrs. Kent, his expression vicious. "The girl upstairs is my daughter, you stupid bitch. Are the two beasts who abducted her in the house?"

Mrs. Kent paled. "One went back to Mrs. Cambridge's, where he usually works. The other is here, in the back room watching the servant who came with this lady."

"For laying hands on my daughter, you must die,"

Weldon growled as he reached under his coat and withdrew a small, ugly pistol.

Her gaze fixed on the gun, Mrs. Kent gave a strangled gasp. "You can't blame me for not knowing who she was! The girl wouldn't even tell me her name."

"You should have known that she was an innocent," he said relentlessly, his finger tightening on the trigger. "Instead you treated her as just another worthless slut."

Finally believing that her master meant what he said, Mrs. Kent screamed and tried to run away, but flight came far too late. The pistol discharged, the noise deafening in the small room. The ball caught Mrs. Kent in the temple and she crashed to the floor, knocking over a wooden chair. She sprawled in an ungainly heap, her eyes still wide with desperate disbelief as the room filled with acrid smoke.

"Fortunate that this house has such good soundproofing." Weldon turned to Sara, a wild, dangerous gleam in his eyes as he reloaded his pistol. "Before I am done, you will wish that I had killed you quickly. I have some business to take care of, but I will be back soon."

He strode from the room, the door behind him not quite closing. Sara began to work frantically to loosen her bonds. Until now, she would not have believed it possible that Charles would hurt her, but now she knew that he was capable of any kind of mad violence.

She tensed as she heard a single shot in the back of the house. Had he killed the guard or Kuram? Considering how he had executed Mrs. Kent for the mistaken abduction, probably he had shot the guard and spared Kuram, at least for the moment. Weldon was mad, thoroughly, terrifyingly mad, executing others for the same crime he had routinely committed against other children.

Weldon's footsteps ascended on the stairs again. Several minutes later, two sets of feet sounded, one heavy, one light.

Listening hard, Sara heard Eliza say fearfully, "Is that awful woman gone?"

"Yes, darling," Weldon said in the soft, comforting voice of a perfect father. "You're safe now; Papa will let no one harm you. But you must be brave and ride home in the carriage alone. The driver will take you straight back to your uncle's house."

"You can't come with me?"

"No, darling, there are some things that must be done before I can leave. The people who hurt you must be punished."

Sara could have screamed, but that would do no good. Eliza could not help her, and knowing that Sara was in the brothel would put the child in an intolerable position.

The front door opened and closed. Then the house was silent for perhaps five minutes. It was odd just how quiet it was; Sara supposed that the children were locked in their rooms, and it was too early for customers. If there were any servants, they were wisely keeping away. Perhaps they had even fled.

Sara had one wrist almost completely free when Weldon returned to the house and came directly to the office. He crossed the room and finished undoing the bonds, then yanked her to her feet. Savagely he said, "We're going upstairs, where I can punish you in comfort."

Praying that she might be able to calm him, Sara said quietly, "What have I done to deserve punishment, Charles? For Eliza's sake, I risked my life coming here."

His eyes flared with renewed rage. "You have tried to corrupt her! Eliza was captured while trying to visit you. She would never have disobeyed her father's orders if not for your pernicious influence. But it is not just for Eliza that I must punish you." As he dragged Sara from the room and up the stairs, he continued, "I thought you were a lady, worthy to be Eliza's step-mother. Instead, you betrayed me for a rutting foreign bastard. Tonight you will pay for your treachery."

Thinking it might deter him, Sara considered saying that Mikahl would arrive at any moment, but she quickly rejected the idea. If he knew that his enemy was coming, Weldon would tie her up again and wait with pistol in hand.

Weldon took her to an empty bedroom at the end of the upstairs hall, and shoved her inside. Sara staggered as her weak leg twisted, but she managed not to fall. "Have you ever considered blaming yourself for your problems?" she said, reckless with anger. "Surely Eliza was kidnapped on your orders, not Mrs. Kent's."

"She frightened my daughter. She shouldn't have done that. And the guard—he hurt Eliza. They deserved what they got," he said with glittering eyes. "Now, you little whore, you will also get what you deserve." With one hand he pulled Sara close while with the other he fondled her coarsely, his fingers digging deep into intimate flesh.

Revolted, Sara shrank away from him, but it was impossible to avoid his probing hand. Even through layers of petticoats, she felt violated.

Weldon smiled with vicious satisfaction. "Don't play the virtuous lady with me, Sara. You'd like this if I were the bastard, wouldn't you?" Releasing her, he reached to turn the key in the lock. "Before the night is over, you are going to do everything for me that you do for him."

While his attention was on the key, Sara reached under Weldon's coat in a desperate attempt to take the pistol. Her fingers had just touched the weapon's handle when he felt her action and whirled around.

"You will regret that," he snarled. He untied her cloak, which slithered to the floor in heavy folds. Then he seized the neck of her gown and ripped the fabric down to her waist.

Sara raked at her assailant's face with clawed fingers, but Weldon easily slapped her hands aside. Then he forced her to the floor and dropped down to trap her under his solid body.

Impact with the floor temporarily stunned Sara, but as Weldon tore at her with feral hands, she screamed and began struggling frantically. In her naivete", she had thought she understood something of Mikahl's furious need for revenge. Now that early understanding paled beside the deep, visceral rage she felt at Weldon's abuse. But even rage was futile against her assailant's brutal power.

As Weldon tore at her clothing, Sara made a despairing prayer for strength to survive the horror that was to come.

Before approaching Mrs. Kent's house, Peregrine checked the alley where Kuram had kept the carriage the night they had rescued Jenny. Sure enough, die alley was occupied, this time by Peregrine's own armed and watchful driver.

Before leaving his horse in the driver's charge, he asked a few quick questions and learned that Sara and Kuram had gone inside about twenty minutes earlier. Just a few minutes ago, a man and a little girl had come out of the brothel. The man had put the child in a waiting carriage, then returned to the house.

From the description, the people were Weldon and Eliza, which meant that the girl was safe, but Sara and Kuram were in danger. Peregrine swore under his breath at the sheer bad luck that had brought Weldon to the brothel at the same time as Sara.

Seething with impatience, he sprinted to Mrs. Kent's house and knocked on the door. Unsurprised that no one answered, he studied the building's facade with narrowed eyes. The lower-level windows had always been barred, and bars had also been installed on the upper floors since Jenny's escape.

Frowning, he recalled from his previous visit that the front door and lock were solid. However, he also had a vague impression that the door frame had been old and brittle-looking, and a lock was no better than the wood that surrounded it.

Hoping that his memory was correct, and that he didn't break his foot, he kicked the door hard, striking beside the lock. With a sound of splintering wood, the door shuddered and moved inward. After two more kicks, the lock ripped from the frame and the door swung open. He pulled his pistol out and cocked it, then entered cautiously, weapon ready.