Blackthorne's Bride (33 page)

The sergeant shook his head. "You might as well kill me. I don't know."

"Goddamn it, you tell me something!" Jack demanded.

"My job was to lure her into the library. I didn't want to do it, but he would have killed me otherwise. I don't know what they were going to do with her afterward. I was supposed to go along, but one of Bleven's men hit me hard, left me for dead." His gaze finally met Jack's. "That's all I know, I swear."

Valentine pulled Jack aside. "I think he's telling the truth. He'd served his purpose. What use would Bleven have for an old man?"

Jack nodded. But if the sergeant didn't know where Bleven had taken Maddie, then the trail was cold. He would never find her.

"You could try his town house," Valentine suggested. "It's unlikely, but one of the servants might know something."

Jack nodded. "Fetch my horse!" he ordered one of his footmen. The man jumped to attention and rushed toward the mews.

"Give me a moment," Valentine said. "I'll come with you."

Jack shook his head. "You have a promising political career ahead of you, my lord. You don't want your name mixed up in this."

"My career be damned. This is Maddie we're talking about, not to mention arson and the kidnapping of an innocent woman."

"No," Jack said, striding toward his mews, where the footman was helping a groom saddle his best horse. "When I find Bleven, this will be murder."

He mounted the horse, yelled for the gate to be opened, and rode away.

When the carriage stopped, the door flew open and one of Bleven's thugs grabbed Maddie by the hair, pulling her out. Her feet tangled in her skirts and she fell hard to her knees. The other thug yanked her to her feet and dragged her through the warehouse door.

It was dark and smelled moldy inside. Maddie's heart kicked in her chest. This was it. Whatever Bleven had planned would happen here. And with her hands tied, she was completely helpless. The letter opener secreted in her pocket might as well still be on Jack's desk.

Jack.

Oh, please God. Please let him be safe,
she prayed. But she knew that if anything happened to her, he would never recover. He'd never forgive himself, though this was no more his fault than his mother's death had been. She knew she had to stay alive, not just for herself, but for Jack.

Resolution making her strong, she twisted away from Bleven's man and swung around to face the Black Duke. He was standing in the doorway, the sunlight shining around him in a deceptive halo. Maddie hoped he could see her face. She willed him to see the contempt and the challenge in her eyes. Was he so much of a coward that he kept her, a defenseless woman, bound and gagged?

"You do have spirit left, don't you?" Bleven said. He entered the warehouse, and the door closed with a loud thud behind him. One of the men lit a candle, and Maddie took a quick inventory of her surroundings. There wasn't much to see: a few crates, a scarred table where the candle burned, and an old mattress in one corner of the room.

Maddie's belly lurched violently when she saw the mattress. It was dirty and stained with something that looked very much like blood. She swallowed the rising nausea.

Everything was going to work out. Everything would be fine. Jack
would
find her.

"Free her," Bleven ordered his thug, and Maddie quickly ducked her head. She didn't want Bleven to see how pleased she was.

The lackey, a blond man with light brown eyes and a large forehead, yanked the rope hard, and Maddie stifled a gasp. A few more tugs and her hands were free.

Pushing the man away, she loosened her gag and pulled it down.

"There, isn't this much more civilized?" Bleven motioned his men toward the door. "Out."

"But you said we could watch," the blond thug complained. "And we could have her when you were done."

Bleven rounded on them, and both men stepped back. "Get out."

The men obeyed, and when the door thudded closed, Bleven turned to face her. "Now, Lady Blackthorne, shall we do this the painful way or the more painful way? I want to hear you scream."

* * * * *

Jack smashed his fist into the butler's face. The servant's nose broke this time, splattering blood on Jack's tailcoat. The man howled and tried to crawl away, but Jack hauled him back, clutching him by the throat. Jack tried to ignore the river of viscous liquid pouring from the man's nose and coating his hand with crimson.

"Now, I'm going to ask you one more time," Jack said quietly to the butler. "And I'm going to ask you nicely. But if you don't answer me, you give me no choice but to show you my nasty side. I don't think you'll like it."

The man whimpered.

"Where is your master?"

The servant opened his mouth, and Jack held a finger up. "Do not tell me you don't know."

He tightened his hand on the man's throat, the blood making their contact slick and sticky.

"But he'll kill me, sir," the butler whined.

Jack leaned close to him, the metallic smell of blood flooding his nostrils. "Not if I kill him first. Do you think I can do it?"

The servant nodded, eyes wide.

"Tell me," Jack demanded.

The butler gurgled, then spoke.

* * * * *

Maddie took a step back, trying to put more distance between her and Bleven. He was advancing on her one small step at a time, and the leer on his face left little doubt as to what he planned.

Her hand itched to retrieve the letter opener, brandish it and ward him off, but she knew if she acted now, it would be too soon. Besides, she was trembling so much she would probably drop it.

She had to be brave. She had to forget she was Lady Madeleine—Lady Blackthorne—Lady anything. She had to become the kind of woman who could slide a steel blade into a man's chest and twist it until he coughed, choked, and died.

And if any man deserved to die that way, it was Bleven.

He moved toward her again, and she took another step back.

"My husband is going to find you, Duke," she told him. "And when he does, he'll kill you slowly."

Bleven laughed. "I'd like to see him try. I have plans for Jack Martingale. Yes, I do."

Maddie stepped back again.

"But first I want to deal with you. Now, my lady, stop scurrying about. There's no place to hide." He crooked a finger at her. "Come here."

She shook her head. "I don't think so."

Bleven's smile never faltered as he reached in his coat and withdrew a slim small pistol.

Well, that changed things a bit.

Maddie bit the inside of her cheek. Hard. She had to still her body's shaking.

"Let me phrase that another way. Get over there." He waved the gun at the mattress. "And take your clothes off. I'm done playing cat and mouse."

* * * * *

Jack rode as fast as he could into the shipyard, reining his mount hard before jumping off and running for the warehouse. He recognized the dingy blue building immediately as the one Bleven's butler had described. If the man had lied to him, he swore there would be hell to pay.

The warehouse looked deserted, but Jack wasn't taking any chances. He kept scanning and listening for Bleven's men. But nothing moved and all was silent. The men must be inside with Bleven and Maddie.

An image from his youth—of three men pinning a woman down in an alley—flashed through his mind.

No. It wouldn't end that way. Not this time.

Jack reached into his pocket and withdrew the Manton pistol. He'd had enough foresight to grab it from his desk before dragging Sergeant Timms outside the burning library. Now, he hefted the familiar weight in his hand and reached for the warehouse door.

It was locked, and he realized there would be no way to make a surprise entrance. So he stepped back and rammed his foot into the door handle, splintering the wood and jarring the passage halfway open.

With a yell, he raised the pistol. "Let her go, Bleven, or I kill you now!"

His voice echoed, but nothing in the warehouse moved. Nothing breathed.

Cautiously, Jack moved forward, nudging the door fully open with his boot. He moved aside, allowing the light to stream over his shoulder. What he saw made him slam his fist hard into the door, ripping it off its hinges.

The warehouse was empty, deserted.

"Bloody hell!"

"Looking for 'is Grace?" someone behind him asked.

Jack rounded on the small man and aimed his pistol at the stranger's chest. The man was short, his face dark and weathered. He was obviously a former sailor.

"Don't shoot me, gov. I can't 'elp you if I'm dead."

"Who are you?"

"Work for 'is Grace, I do. Looks like you got a quarrel with 'im."

"Do you know where he is?"

The man shrugged. "I might. Wot's it to me? Maybe I don't know. Maybe I don't rightly remember."

Jack reached into his pocket and withdrew a handful of coins. "How's this for incentive?"

The man stuck his grubby hand out. "Me memory just improved."

* * * * *

Maddie was running out of options. She didn't believe Bleven would shoot her, but she'd backed herself up against the wall, and he was coming closer. Her hand hovered near the opening to her dress pocket, but she didn't dare grab the letter opener yet.

Bleven closed the distance between them until she could see the bead of sweat on his temple. He was too close. She scooted to one side, then heard a scraping sound.

Jack?

She glanced toward the door to the warehouse, and when she took her eyes off Bleven, he pounced. He slammed into her, one hand grabbing her around the throat and thrusting her back hard against the wall. Her head thudded on the wood and she tasted blood.

Bleven's hand tightened on her neck, and she was forced to gasp for air. Forgetting the letter opener, she clawed at his hand and struggled for breath. She was able to loosen one of his fingers, but then he pocketed the gun and his other hand came up.

His face was close, the small teeth bared in an expression halfway between a smile and a grimace. Maddie wheezed as black dots flitted across her vision. Her feet were sliding out from under her, and she struggled to keep her footing. She dropped her hand, fumbling in her skirts for the letter opener.

"Let ... go," she managed to hiss, but his hands closed harder, and the room began to dim. She kicked at him, tore at his fingers with one hand while her other closed on the warm metal hidden in her skirts.

She struggled for one last breath, even the smallest particle of air to keep her going.

But blackness descended and her grip relaxed.

* * * * *

Jack knew he was running out of time. If what the compact sailor had told him was correct, Bleven's other warehouse was clear across town. He didn't know if he'd make it in time.

And if the sailor was wrong ... He did not want to even think about that.

He rode through the back streets, hoping to avoid the traffic and make quicker time. The wind whipped around him, making a screaming sound in his ears.

Or perhaps the screaming was within him.

He pushed his horse faster and harder, and finally turned into a lane leading toward a row of ramshackle warehouses. At the far end, Jack caught sight of two men. They loitered outside a warehouse, one with his ear pressed to the wooden door.

Jack's breath came quicker; the screaming in his head muted.

He'd found her.

* * * * *

Maddie was jarred back to her senses as she fell on the mattress. It was thin and did little to cushion the hard floor beneath.

Above her, Bleven was yanking his cravat loose. The white linen fell down his chest like a snowy bird.

She took a shaky breath. Blinking, she tried to dispel the black dots still floating before her eyes.

"I've been looking forward to this," Bleven said, unbuttoning his collar. "I've been waiting to put my hands on you, to see Jack Martingale's face when he realizes what I've done to you."

Maddie swallowed. Her throat was too raw to allow her to speak, and she knew it would be a wasted effort anyway.

"The Martingale family has insulted me for the last time. First the mother ..." Bleven paused. "Did your husband tell you what I had done to his mother?"

Maddie's hand was still in her pocket, and at his words, she closed her fist around the handle of the letter opener. It was Bleven? He had been responsible for the death of Jack's mother?

"This time I won't be in the back watching.

That wasn't as fulfilling as I'd hoped. This time I'll do the honors."

Maddie felt her belly churn with nausea, but she pushed it down. As Bleven removed his tailcoat, she slowly drew the blade free of her pocket, keeping it hidden behind her skirts.

Her hand closed tight.
Come and get me.