Pleasing the Pirate: A Loveswept Historical Romance (24 page)

“Like I said, guv, ain’t no one here. Move on and get outta my home.”

There was an ominous silence that had Mairi straining to hear anything.

Then something that sounded like a fist hitting flesh. The woman cried out and Mairi had
to press her hand to her mouth to keep from crying out, too. Oh, Lord. Oh, Mary and Joseph, what had Grant done?

“I’m tellin’ ye, ain’t nobody here,” the woman said even more defiantly than before, and Mairi closed her eyes in relief that she was able to speak.

“I don’t believe you.”

The woman cried out in pain and Mairi turned and fled, unable to hear any more. She wanted to stay and help her savior, but she needed to get to Phin and tell him what she’d learned. Her plan to bring Grant back to Scotland was dust now. He wasn’t returning with her. He didn’t care about her or their family or land.

Good Lord, he wanted to
kill
her.

It was so dark she couldn’t even see her hand in front of her face. She ran with her arms outstretched, fingers occasionally brushing against the dirt walls. The floor was uneven, as if someone had carved it out of the damp earth, and she stumbled more than once.

She was sobbing, unable to stop the tremors that shook her body and forced the sobs from her throat. Had she left the woman to die at her brother’s hands? Was he beating her even now? Would she reveal Mairi’s escape route?

And
why
was there an escape route? Where was she headed? Was the woman telling the truth when she said someone would be waiting on the other side?

The only thing Mairi could do was have faith because she had no other choice unless she wanted to turn around and go back to Grant. But that wasn’t an option. Not if she wanted to stay alive, and not if she wanted to stop this mad scheme of his.

Had it really come to this? Running for her life from her own brother?

Eventually the tunnel sloped upward and Mairi had to force her trembling legs to pull herself up the incline. By now she’d stopped running, unable to go at that speed any longer. Tears had dried on her face and she could barely breathe through her stuffed nose.

She walked slowly, sensing she was getting to the end of the tunnel. She didn’t know how long she’d walked and run. A quarter of an hour maybe? A half hour? It was hard to tell time when you saw nothing.

Her fingers, stretched out in front of her, brushed against wood. She felt all along it, her mind picturing a door. Maybe something similar to the one the woman on the other side had.

She was afraid to knock. Afraid to find that the woman had lied to her and no one was on
the other side. Or maybe someone was on the other side. Someone far more frightening than Grant.

She stood there for what seemed like the longest time. She had two choices. She could go back the way she’d come and face her brother, or she could trust the woman and knock on the door.

The woman hadn’t revealed Mairi’s hiding place even as Grant beat her. That told Mairi more than she needed to know. Later she would ask herself why, but for now she went on instinct and knocked three times.

Waited.

Knocked twice.

Waited.

Mairi strained to hear any movement on the other side. For a long while there was nothing. Just as she was beginning to think she should knock again, she heard the
tap, tap, tap
of someone quickly walking toward her.

The door slid open and she’d been correct, it was a panel just like the one on the other side.

And just like before a hand reached in and grabbed her. Mairi almost squealed she was so surprised although she didn’t know why she should be. She was yanked out of the tunnel and into a bright … kitchen? She wasn’t sure what she’d expected—after all, she’d just left a kitchen—but another kitchen wasn’t it.

Especially a bright, clean, well-organized kitchen. A woman stood before her. Unlike the woman in St. Giles, this one was clean. Her hair was swept up off her neck and her skin was clear, her gown well cut although it was a servant’s gown.

She smiled at Mairi, apparently not surprised at all to pull a woman from her wall.

“Good afternoon.”

“G—” Mairi had to clear her throat. “Good afternoon.”

“Come, sit down. I imagine you’ve been through an ordeal.”

The woman took Mairi’s hand and pulled her toward a wood plank table. She gently pushed Mairi down onto a bench and somehow produced a cup of tea. She sat opposite Mairi and watched her.

“Drink. It’s peppermint tea. Very soothing. I’m Barbara, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Barbara.” She took a sip of tea and let the minty warmth slide down her throat. Barbara didn’t question, nor did she seem surprised that Mairi hadn’t given her name.

“Polly found you, then?”

Polly? Was that the woman on the other side who took a beating for her? Oh, Lord, it seemed worse knowing her name.

“Yes.” Best to keep to short answers. Barbara seemed nice enough, but Mairi still had no idea who she was, who Polly was and what all of this was about.

“Someone is on their way to fetch you. Polly sent word ahead to expect you. She said you weren’t our usual sort.”

“Fetch me?” The usual sort? Just how many women were pulled out of the walls? Apparently quite a few or the magic walls wouldn’t be needed.

Barbara patted her hand. “No worries, love. You are well on your way to escaping those wretched men and mayhap to a new life altogether.” She waved her hand indicating the kitchen and insinuating that something like this might be within Mairi’s grasp. The place seemed cozy enough. Nice and bright and well kept. Not as grand as Phin’s house and of course nothing like Gabrielle’s, but much better than Polly’s. “Look what happened to me after I came out of the tunnel? I have a warm bed and three solid meals a day and the woman I work for isn’t so bad.”

“Ah.” She wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. Barbara spoke as if the tunnel had reborn her to a different life. Very odd.

There was a commotion in the front of the house. Barbara rose and smiled. “Here she is.”

Mairi stood too, the uncertainty and apprehension almost too much. Since the moment she was snatched in the square she had no idea what was going to happen next. Truth be told, the moment she left to find Phin she had no idea what would happen next. She wasn’t positive she liked living like this. She might not have had food at home and her future might have been uncertain, but at least she’d known where she was going to wake up the next morning.

The woman Barbara spoke of in near reverent tones swept in, navy skirts and all, took one look at Mairi and stopped cold.

“Mairi?”

She couldn’t help it. Mairi burst into tears, her relief so enormous she had no other outlet for it.

“Oh, my. Oh, dear.” Lady Gabrielle Addison moved forward and held out her arms just as Mairi collapsed into them.

She shouldn’t cry, but she couldn’t control it. All her emotions came bursting out of her and she was helpless against them. For the longest time Gabrielle held her and soothed her and rocked her and murmured to her until eventually Mairi calmed down enough to pull away and wipe the tears from her cheeks.

She sniffed as Gabrielle watched her, hands on her arms to steady her.

“Goodness,” she said, and for some reason that made Mairi laugh.

Goodness, indeed.

She was mortified for having fallen apart, but she was so relieved that it had been Gabrielle who walked through that door that her emotions got the best of her.

Gabrielle led her back to the bench and sat her down. With shaking hands Mairi picked up her tea and sipped the soothing peppermint.

Barbara must have slipped out because they were alone in the kitchen.

“I have to find Phin,” she said.

“Of course, but first let’s get you calmed down.”

Mairi shook her head. “I need to find him now. It’s imperative.” She stood suddenly, too nervous to sit still anymore. Now that she’d cried some, she needed action. They were wasting time sitting here when France was gathering its forces to attack England in less than a week’s time.

“Please, Gabrielle. Please take me to Phin.”

Apparently sensing the desperation inside Mairi, Gabrielle stood. “Very well. I’m unsure where Phin might be, but Sebastian may know.”

Mairi’s urgency was overwhelming and frustration gnawed at her. She didn’t want to stop to talk to Sebastian, but it was no use riding around London looking for Phin if there were simpler means of contacting him.

On the way out, Gabrielle bid Barbara goodbye, and Barbara wished Mairi luck as they climbed into Gabrielle’s carriage.

“No doubt you have questions about my presence,” Gabrielle said.

Mairi had been so concerned with locating Phin and so relieved to find a familiar face in this bizarre ordeal that she’d only given a passing thought to why Gabrielle appeared in Barbara’s home.

“I grew up in St. Giles,” Gabrielle said.

“But … you’re Italian.”

“I’m no more Italian than you are, my dear. I was born and lived the first twelve years of my life on the streets of St. Giles.” Gabrielle settled into the seat, fluffing her skirt and shifting until she was comfortable. “Most of that time I hid from the child snatchers. If it weren’t for the crown finding me …” A pause followed in which Gabrielle’s expression became rigid. She seemed to shake the melancholy away, though. “Anyway, the crown found me, educated me,
sent me to Italy so I could grow up speaking the language then used all of what I’d learned to help them spy. I loved every moment of it. But since my marriage to Sebastian and my subsequent retirement from the spy business I’ve found myself at loose ends. I like to help people and I especially like to help girls—children, really—who are in the position I was in so long ago. It’s my goal to not only stop men who snatch young girls off the street and force them into prostitution but to save the girls as well. I’ve created a network of women willing to help me. You’ve met two of them.”

“Polly and Barbara.” She could barely comprehend what Gabrielle was telling her. Of course she’d known about Sebastian being a spy, but had no idea his wife had been one as well. It just proved to her that people were not what they seemed and that to judge them without knowing them was doing them a grave disservice.

“Polly finds them and sends them to Barbara. Barbara contacts me and I take them away. I have a friend who trains them to be maids. Polly takes her job very seriously. She’s always on the lookout, always ready. She lives in the nastiest part of the city precisely because that’s where the child snatching takes place.”

Mairi leaned forward and grabbed Gabrielle’s hand, startling the other woman. “Please, please, check on Polly. I fear she’s been hurt trying to save me. Grant … Well, he wasn’t kind when he questioned her about me.”

Gabrielle searched her face then patted her hand. “I’ll have an associate check on her right away, but Polly’s a scrapper. She’s been in these situations before and she’s managed to get herself out of them.”

Mairi slumped back in her seat, relieved that Polly had someone as powerful as Lady Addison on her side. “What you do is admirable.”

Gabrielle shrugged the compliment away. “What were you doing in St. Giles? Who were you running from, Mairi?”

Mairi looked away, the things she learned weighing heavy on her soul. Gabrielle used to be a spy; she was accustomed to this sort of thing, but Mairi was not. She was still shocked and a wee bit rattled.

The carriage clattered to a stop in front of Gabrielle and Sebastian’s home.

Gabrielle directed Mairi to Sebastian’s study, where he was sitting behind his desk. Surprise crossed his face when he saw her and his gaze took in her wrinkled, dirty dress, her hair
that fell unbound past her shoulders. No doubt she had dirt on her face and tear tracks in the dirt.

“What happened?” His question was directed at Gabrielle.

“Barbara contacted me and said she had a package. When I arrived, Mairi was the package.”

Sebastian looked her over again. “You were abducted by the child snatchers?”

Mairi shook her head. The last time she’d been in this room she’d searched through his desk looking for damning information that would aid her brother. Oh, how glad she was that she’d found nothing. What if she had passed something on to Grant? Something that would cause more bloodshed and possibly harm Sebastian and Gabrielle?

“Where is Phin?” she asked.

“Looking for you.”

“I need to speak to him.” She knew she had to speak to Sebastian as well, but she wanted to see Phin first.

Sebastian drummed his fingers on his desk as he contemplated her. “I will send for him. What happened to you?”

She looked at Sebastian, then at Gabrielle, trying to decide what she should do next. She had to tell them everything, even if it meant they thought less of her. Good Lord she could even be arrested for treason herself, but it had to be done.

“Grant took me.”

Sebastian’s lips thinned. “That’s what we assumed. Where did he take you?”

“I’m unsure. Somewhere in St. Giles, I assume. That’s where Emma snatched me off the street as they were chasing me.”

“And what caused them to chase you?”

She looked at the floor. “I overheard them.” She glanced up at Sebastian, girding herself for what was to come. She needed to tell them now, needed to unburden herself from the guilt that lay so heavily on her it was difficult to breathe.

“The night of your dinner party I escaped to your gardens for fresh air. I swear I went out there only for fresh air and to be alone for a few moments. But Grant was there. When he discovered I was …” She wanted to say,
friends with you
, but hesitated because she felt presumptuous calling an earl and countess “friends.”

“When he discovered I was a guest here he asked me …” She closed her eyes
momentarily, mortified and disgusted with herself. She pushed the words out as fast as she could, relieved and terrified to unburden herself. “He told me that he would return to Scotland with me if I could find what information you had on him.” Her words trailed off as Sebastian’s face tightened in fury.