Worth Any Price (Bow Street Runners #3)(87)

Follard laughed in manic glee. "One," he cried. "Two." He stomped again, the crushing force of his foot causing a brilliant burst of pain to shoot up Nick's arm. Follard's boot lifted once more as he prepared for the coup de grace.

"Three," Nick gasped and grabbed at Follard's ankle, jerking him off-balance.

Letting out a shrill scream, Follard toppled from the beam, his body falling two stories to hit the bottom floor with fatal force.

Nick didn't dare look down. Desperately he focused his attention on pulling himself onto the beam. Unfortunately his strength had been depleted, and his left hand was crippled. Writhing like a worm on a hook, he arched helplessly over the fatal drop.

Incredulously, he realized that he was going to die.

The note trembled in Lottie's hand as she read it again.

Lottie, Please help me. Mama says that Lord Radnor is coming to take me away. I do not want to go anywhere with him, but she and Papa say I must. They have locked me in my room until he comes. I pray you will not let this happen, Lottie, as you are my only hope.

Your loving sister, Ellie A village boy had brought the tear-stained letter not long after Nick had left for the day. The boy claimed that Ellie had bid him to come to her bedroom window and given him the message. "She said if I brought it to ye, I'd get an 'alf crown," he said, shifting his weight uneasily, as if he suspected that the promise would not be honored.

Lottie had gratified the boy by giving him a half sovereign instead, and then sent him to the kitchen with Mrs. Trench for a hot meal. Pacing around the entrance hall, she gnawed frantically on her knuckle as she wondered what to do. She had no way of knowing when Nick would return home. But if she waited too long, Radnor might have already fetched Ellie.

The thought filled her with such distress that Lottie clenched her fists and uttered a cry of outrage. Her parents, allowing Radnor to come take poor innocent Ellie...as if she were an animal to be traded. "She's only sixteen," she said aloud, her face hot with the blood of anger. "How can they? How could they possibly live with themselves?"

And there had been no mention of marriage in the note, which could only lead Lottie to believe that her parents were virtually prostituting Ellie for their own benefit. The realization made her ill.

No, she could not wait for Nick. She would go and collect Ellie herself, before Radnor came. In fact, Lottie was furious with herself for not already having done so. But who could have predicted that Radnor would have wanted Ellie, or that her parents would have given her to him like this?

"Harriet," she called out sharply, striding to the nearest bellpull and tugging it frantically. "Harriet!"

The dark-haired maid appeared at once, having run so fast that her spectacles were a bit askew. "Milady?"

"Fetch my traveling coat and bonnet." Pausing, Lottie considered the footmen in Nick's employ, and decided that Daniel was the largest and most capable man to help her in his absence. "Tell Daniel that he is to accompany me on an errand. I want the carriage to be readied immediately."

"Yes, Lady Sydney!" Harriet rushed to obey, seeming infected by Lottie's urgency.

In less than a minute, Daniel appeared, his tall form clad in black livery. He was a good-natured, robust young man with dark brown hair and sherry-colored eyes. "My lady," he said, making an impeccable bow and waiting for her instructions.

Receiving her bonnet from Harriet, Lottie tied it deftly beneath her chin. "Daniel, we are going to my parents' home to fetch my younger sister. I have no doubt that my family will offer strong objections. There is even a possibility of a physical altercation...and while I don't want anyone to be hurt, we must bring my sister back here with us. I trust that I may depend on you?"

He understood what she was asking. "Naturally, my lady."

She smiled slightly, her face pale. "Thank you."

The carriage was prepared in record time, and Lottie clutched the balled-up note in her fist as the vehicle rolled swiftly away from Betterton Street. She tried to make herself think clearly, to understand what was happening.

What did Radnor want with her sister? In the years that Lottie had known him, he had barely seemed to notice Ellie's existence, except to make disparaging comments-that Ellie was plump, simpleminded, unrefined. Why choose her, of all women, to make his mistress? Perhaps because Radnor knew that it was the worst way to hurt Lottie. He knew that she could never be content in her marriage to Nick knowing that her happiness had been purchased at the price of her sister's.

Seething with fear and anger, Lottie twisted her hands in her skirts.

It took only a quarter-hour to reach her parents' home, but to Lottie the wait was unbearable. When they arrived at the street of Tudor houses and Lord Radnor's carriage was nowhere in sight, Lottie allowed herself to feel a glimmer of hope. Perhaps she was not too late.

The vehicle halted, and Daniel helped her down. His calm face helped to steady her frayed nerves as she stepped to the pavement and allowed him to accompany her to the house. The front yard was vacant, her brothers and sisters strangely absent.

At Lottie's nod, Daniel used his fist to knock firmly on the door, alerting the occupants of the house to their arrival. Soon the door was opened by a maid.

"Miss 'Oward," the maid said uneasily, her eyes wide in her freckled face.

"I am Lady Sydney now," Lottie replied and glanced at the footman. "You may wait out here, Daniel. I will call for you if your assistance is needed."