Then Came You (The Gamblers #1)(72)

“You’ll have to excuse Miss Lawson,” Alex advised the men at the table. “She’s decided to cut her losses and retire for the evening. Au revoir.” Before their astonished gazes, he carried Lily out of the room, while she wriggled and shouted indignantly.

“Put me down, you arrogant bastard! There’s a law against abduction! I’ll have you arrested, you high-handed beast! Worthy, do something! Where the devil are you? Derek Craven, you detestable stinking coward, come help me!…Damn all of you…”

Cautiously Worthy followed Alex, offering tentative objections. “Lord Raiford?…er, Lord Raiford…”

“Someone get a pistol,” Lily cried, her voice diminishing as she was carted down the hall.

Still seated at the card table, the elderly Lord Cobham closed his mouth and shrugged prosaically. “P’raps it’s a good thing,” he remarked. “I might play better now. Marvelous gel, but she’s no good for straight thinking.”

“True enough,” the earl said. He scratched his white hair and mused, “On the other hand, she does my libido no end of good.”

The men chuckled and nodded appreciatively, while fresh hands were dealt.

Over the lively strains of music in the ballroom, a shrill feminine voice rose louder and louder, shouting every conceivable profanity. A few of the musicians faltered, some of them staring down into the ballroom in confusion. At a peremptory signal from Derek they continued playing valiantly, but still they craned their necks to see the cause of the commotion.

Derek leaned against a statue of Mercury, listening to the wondering exclamations of the crowd. Couples abandoned their dancing and gambling and wandered out of the central room to investigate the noise. Judging from the fading sound of Lily’s voice, Derek discerned that Raiford was taking her down a side corridor, toward the front entrance. For the first time in her life Lily had been rescued, though she didn’t seem to appreciate it. Torn between relief and agony, Derek whispered curses under his breath that easily surpassed Lily’s in foulness.

A flamboyant buck dressed as Louis XIV came back to the central room and made a laughing announcement. “Raiford’s taken our Lady Eve over his shoulder—and he’s carrying her outside like a deuced savage!”

The scene crumbled into bedlam. A good portion of the crowd swarmed outside to see, while the rest mobbed around Worthy’s desk, demanding that the factotum take down bets. With his usual efficiency, Worthy began scribbling furiously in a large book and announcing odds. “Two to one he’ll keep her for at least six months, twenty to one for a year—”

“I’ll wager a thousand they marry,” Lord Farmington said with drunken enthusiasm. “What are the odds on that?”

Worthy considered the question carefully. “Fifty to one, my lord.”

Excitedly the throng gathered closer around Worthy to place more bets.

As Lily wriggled helplessly on Alex’s shoulder, she twisted to see a few well-wishers following them. “This is a kidnapping, you drunken asses!” she screeched. “If you don’t stop him, you’ll be named as accessories when I charge him with abduction and…oh!”

She gasped with surprise as she felt a hard thwack on her posterior.

“Hush,” Alex said tersely. “You’re making a scene.”

“I’m making a scene? I’m…ow, damn you!” She fell into a stupefied silence after another stinging blow.

Alex’s carriage was brought around, and he carried her to the vehicle. A footman wearing a baffled expression opened the door. Unceremoniously Alex dumped Lily inside and climbed in after her. A good-natured cheer went up from the crowd of masked guests on the steps. The sound fueled Lily’s temper to an even higher blaze. “A fine thing,” she shouted out the window, “when people applaud the sight of a woman being brutalized right before their eyes!” The carriage pulled away, and the forward jolt of the vehicle toppled Lily sideways on the seat. She labored to be free of the securely wrapped cloak, nearly dumping herself on the floor. Alex watched from the opposite seat, making no move to help her.

“Where are we going?” she spluttered, wrestling with the binding fabric.

“To Swans’ Court, on Bayswater. Stop shouting.”

“A family property, is it? Don’t bother taking me there, because I won’t set one foot on the bloody—”

“Quiet.”

“I don’t care how far it is! I’ll start walking as soon as—”

“If you’re not quiet,” he interrupted with soft menace, “I’m going to give you the spanking of your life.”

Lily paused in her squirming to stare at him in outrage. “I’ve never been struck before tonight,” she said in a muffled, accusing voice. “My father never dared—”

“He never gave a damn,” Alex replied curtly. “And he should be shot for that. You’ve needed someone to spank the hell out of you for years.”

“I—” Lily began hotly, but as she met his purposeful gaze, she closed her mouth with a snap, realizing he meant it. She concentrated on freeing herself from the confining cloak, but she was swaddled as tightly as a babe. Enraged, humiliated, a little frightened, she watched him in quivering silence. She’d thought that after last night she had nothing to fear from him. Now it seemed that nothing and no one would stop him from doing what he wanted with her.