The Kidnapped Bride (Redcakes Book 4) (11 page)

“Ye think if I had a private audience with her, if I fell tae my knees and proposed, she’d say yes?”

“You’ve got to persuade her she’s more than a rich dowry to you,” Cross said.

Startled, Dougal blinked. “I didn’t even know there was a rich dowry. The old marquess all but bankrupted the estate, I’d understood.”

“The current marquess has restored the estate to health. You say you like her . . . well, think hard. What do you think would make her want to marry you?”

“I know what doesn’t work,” Dougal said sourly.

Cross grinned. “Then you’re halfway there. Don’t waste time talking to me. I’ll be out of here soon enough. I expect my deal to be finalized by the end of the month.”

Dougal reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of small cigars, passing them to Cross. “Thought ye might be able to barter with these.”

Cross reached for them and tucked them into his ragged coat. “Thank you. You’re not a bad sort. Beth could do a lot worse.”

“With that ringing support, I shall take my leave.” He held out his hand, and Cross grasped it.

“Thank you for getting her home safely. I was terribly worried about her.” Cross nodded hard.

Dougal accepted that Cross’s words held the ring of truth. “What about Hester?”

“Who? The prostitute’s child?”

“Was Gertie a prostitute?”

Cross nodded.

“She died. Beth took the child in. I hope you’ll forget you ever knew about this Gertie’s business habits.”

“Forgotten,” Cross said, then, more fervently, “thank God you found her. Beth was in no situation to care for a child. She’d have starved and beggared herself.”

“I know it,” Dougal said, choosing not to tell Cross about Beth’s kidnapping. What would be the point of making the young man feel any guiltier? “Maybe I’ll be seeing ye sometime.”

“I doubt it, but we’re both survivors. Good luck to you.”

Dougal nodded and pounded on the cell wall to get the turnkey to return. After he’d changed his clothing and washed off the prison stench, he’d go after Beth. He had the glimmer of an idea of what would get her to agree to his proposal.

 

In the end, it grew too late to call at Hatbrook House. He found that he cared about appearances now, cared what the brothers Shield thought of him as a man. At two
P.M.
on Tuesday, he presented his card in Belgravia and was told the marchioness was at home. He’d never troubled himself with the Shield women in the past, working directly with Lord Judah and, sometimes, other male members of the extended Shield and Redcake families, but now he found himself passing through an ornate foyer into a warmer, more welcoming parlor, full of women chatting.

A tall, shapely redhead greeted him. “I’m Lady Hatbrook, Mr. Alexander,” she said, inviting him to sit down on the chair next to hers.

“I have great respect for your husband,” Dougal said, quite uncharacteristically. Before he’d only cared about whether or not a man paid his bill on time. Of course, Hatbrook always had.

“As do I,” Lady Hatbrook said with an impish smile. “I had given up hoping he and Judah would bring home our missing sister, but they managed it.”

Dougal glanced around the room. He saw a pretty, blond woman in her early twenties, an older, blond woman with gray-streaked hair, and an exotic, voluptuous creature seated next to a tall, slight girl who still had a few years left in the schoolroom. But no Lady Elizabeth. In turn, Lady Hatbrook introduced him to Lady Judah, her mother, Lady Redcake, and another Lady Redcake, then Miss Fern Haldene.

“Isn’t Lady Elizabeth well enough to be at home?” he said sharply. Surely she wasn’t being ostracized.

“She didn’t care to join us,” Lady Hatbrook said. “Would you like to take a stab at coaxing her downstairs?”

His head might have swiveled three hundred and sixty degrees if his neck allowed it. “Are ye suggesting I enter her private rooms?”

“You saved her life, Mr. Alexander, hosted her in your family home. I feel she is quite safe with you, and I know she feels the same. Every time I’ve spoken to her, you come into the conversation.”

He felt a wave of pleasure warm his icy heart. “I am glad to hear it.”

“We did not expect to see you in London so soon,” Lady Judah said in the clear, aristocratic voice of someone born into Society. “My husband indicated you were to go after the unfortunate women who were kidnapped.”

The other three women leaned forward.

“Kidnapped?” the young girl asked. “There was kidnapping?”

“Oh, dear,” said the elder Lady Redcake, putting her hand to her chest, her long, bell-shaped sleeve draping artistically. “I’m afraid so. Poor Beth has been through such a trial.”

Dougal cleared his throat. Never had he been obliged to entertain so many ladies, having a rather femaleless family. “Lady Judah, your husband did indeed give me the commission, and I have discharged it.”

“It seems to me that my husband only just returned from Scotland. How could you possibly track a ship in that time?”

“I didn’t have tae,” he explained. “Between the police and myself, the leaders of the white slavers were dispatched. They dumped the women and took off in all directions. The ship did leave Leith, but not with any women on it, as best we know.”

“Did you speak to any of them?” The exotic Lady Redcake sounded like a northerner, despite her brown skin.

“I did,” he said. “Then I went to the police and verified what I was told. I was as amazed as you ladies are, but I was out of touch of goings-on in Leith for a few days while Lady Elizabeth was recovering.” He left out her flight, not knowing what she’d told her family.

“That is good news,” Lady Judah said. “One reads such rubbish in the papers about white slavers. I was alarmed to realize such blackguards really did exist.”

“I’m afraid so. The police are attempting tae discover where the ship went, where the headquarters of this group is.”

“I expect you’ll want to set Beth’s mind at ease about the whole matter,” Lady Hatbrook said.

“I would, very much,” Dougal said. “It is rare, in my work, to see such a happy ending as a family reunited and women saved with virtue intact.”

“Indeed,” said Lady Hatbrook with a sad smile. “Come, I will show you upstairs.”

Dougal bowed to the other ladies. The elder Lady Redcake openly smiled approval at her daughter as Lady Hatbrook led him from the room. He followed her up the ornate double staircase. When they reached the landing, she hesitated.

“My lady?”

“I wonder,” she said. “Do you love her?”

“Ma’am?”

“My husband has learned not to keep secrets from me,” she said. “And I know what happened in Edinburgh. All of it.”

Only his experience as a private investigator kept his face expressionless as she regarded him. He said nothing, but his palms itched and his underarms tingled under his best shirt and coat.

“I want to know, do you really want to marry her?”

He nodded, not knowing how the words would come out if he tried to speak.

“Then I’ll let you go into her room alone,” she said. “And have it out with her in private.”

“You are not the usual sort of marchioness, are ye,” he said.

She smiled wickedly. “I certainly hope not, Mr. Alexander. Welcome to the family.” She led him down the hall, then pointed to a sturdy door.

He opened it and then, with a last backward glance at her, turned the knob. It opened easily under his fingertips, and he found himself in a small sitting room, devoid of people. The curtains were drawn here, and the fire was not lit, but he could see light beyond a half-open door. Silently, he moved through the sitting room and sidled up to the door. At first he saw nothing, but then detected a rocking chair next to the window. Beth, her beautiful hair back in a proper bun for the first time since he’d seen her, sat there with Hester sleeping in her arms. Her face was still gaunt from near starvation, but her color had returned. The girl he’d seen in little more than gray rags was dressed in mourning.

He thought she’d be in some gay silk in the latest fashion, but no, she wore bombazine and crape. Had someone in her family died while she was away?

He must have said her name without realizing it because she looked up, shock on her face. Did she even recognize him in his best clothes?

“Dougal?” she whispered.

“Yes, treasure.” He stepped forward. “I’m not a ghost.”

“Did you break into the house?”

He smoothed his gray-striped waistcoat, exposed his best gold cuff links. “No, I made a proper call, met the ladies. Lady Hatbrook let me come up here.”

“I met her for the first time under circumstances like this, you know,” Beth said. “She’d witnessed a fight between Lord and Lady Mews, and Freddie and my brother brought her to me, in my private rooms, to be cleaned up. Back before I was out.”

“I saw Freddie yesterday,” he said. “He expects to be released by the end of the month.”

“I won’t be reuniting with him, if that’s what my family is worried about,” she said.

“Your family didn’t send for me.” His throat was suddenly dry. “I came for ye.”

“Came for me?”

“Yes. I realized I didn’t propose marriage properly. What I did was dreadful, telling your brothers my wishes and not asking ye if you agreed. I realize that now. But you have tae understand, a Scot doesn’t always ask.” He forced a smile. “Sometimes we kidnap our brides.”

“Speaking of kidnapping . . .” she began, not responding to his attempt at humor.

He stepped forward, grasped one of the rocker’s back posts. “The women are safe. We missed the rest of the gunfight and the women being freed. They are all as safe as ye, at least as you were before I arrived.”

“Oh?”

“Yes,” he said firmly. “No more of this sitting in cold rooms and staring out of the window at life. You and Hester are coming back to Edinburgh with me. We’ll be married immediately and dive headfirst into fashionable society there, so I can show off my beautiful wife.”

“Why would I agree to that?”

He bared his teeth. “Because I fell in love with ye, you hoyden. And I don’t believe you feel any different, after the passionate night we shared.”

Hester stirred in Beth’s arms, cooed, then slid back into a deeper sleep. “What about Hester?” She sounded breathless.

He liked the hope in her eyes. “She’ll be mine as much as yours. She’s too young to remember any differently. I’ve warned Freddie not tae remember much about Gertie.”

She nodded. “My family set wheels in motion to make her Mark Cross’s child.”

“Perfect. They need to tell Freddie.”

Smiling, she nodded agreement. “Yes, I’ll tell them that.”

He gave her his best stern expression. “You’ll tell them by letter. We’re leaving now.”

“You must be joking.” Her smile turned to shock as he remained impassive.

“Not at all. I’m taking my bride back tae Scotland, where she belongs.”

“I belong here with my family,” she said. “Why would I run away again?”

“Because I love ye,” he repeated. “I love your strength, your cleverness, even your ungovernable spirit. I don’t want you locked away here in England. You belong with me.”

“Why are you so certain?”

He grinned. “There was a night in Edinburgh. You might recall.”

She shook her head. “I thought it was my last night of freedom.”

“It was your last night alone,” he said. “It just took me a few days tae sort it out. Come with me, Beth. Come home.”

“I do have the Edinburgh accent perfected,” she said with a gleam in her eye.

He tipped the chair just enough that she had to stand up, cradling Hester. “Ye do not, my love, but it doesn’t matter. You’ll be my English bride.”

“Your kidnapped bride.” Her mouth quirked in humor.

“Exactly.”

She slid one arm around his waist, holding Hester between them. He tilted her chin up for a kiss and they clung together for long moments.

“I do think I love you,” she whispered. “Because you fought for me. No one ever did that before. Everyone has always been content to put me aside.”

“I will not have the luxury of that,” he said. “Not when my wife has proven herself tae have so many bad habits. For instance, you are excellent at loading guns.”

She laughed. “What will the baron think of you marrying me?”

“He’ll be jealous, and quite sorry that ye haven’t a sister for him.”

She kissed him again. “I think one Shield bride in any family is quite enough. Am I allowed to pack a bag before my kidnapping?”

“Only under supervision,” he said. “I’m never allowing ye to be parted from me again.”

“All I ever needed was to be wanted,” she said. “Thank you.”

“No more vanishing, Beth, not into character or into other countries. From now on, ye are front and center in my life, as you should be.”

She kissed his cheek and handed Hester to him. “Just unleash me on Edinburgh and you’ll see what I’m capable of.”

He watched contentedly as she pulled a carpetbag from a wardrobe and began to fill it with necessities for Hester and herself. While he had never expected such an ending to the Vanished Lady case, he could not be anything but pleased at the outcome.

Keep reading for a special sneak preview of the next Redcakes novel, Lewis Noble’s tale of Christmastime romance, coming in November 2014.

 

And don’t miss the rest of the Redcakes series, already available where eBooks are sold!