He hated hearing the pleading in hervoice.
“I will not go until I’ve found the proof ofwho I am. My father and Molly will have not died in vain. This ismy obligation to them.”
“Enough. We have been here longer than wehave allotted.” He grabbed her arm.
She jerked back, and then fell to her knees,probing, poking, crying. “I cannot leave.” Footsteps pounded in theouter hall.
“Hell. Had his men missed a guard posted inthe house?”
As Nicholas rose, he leaned on a brass knob.Click. He stretched his hand beneath the desk. A farthing-sizedbutton protruded. With certainty, there was a correlation with thepressure he put on the brass knob and the button. That’s why no onehad figured it out. He unclasped a door and a drawer slid out.
Alexandra grabbed papers, held them up tothe light. “This document speaks of my inheritance. This is theevidence I’ve been looking for.”
He stuffed the papers in his shirt, blew outthe lantern. The door swung open. He jerked Alexandra to her feet,hauled her to the window. Too late. A light shone on them.
“Lady Lucy Sutherland. Is it really you…nota ghost?”
Alexandra turned and blinked. The elderlygentleman had called her by her mother’s name. She remembered him.Her father’s butler, Andrew Baines, older now, his cheeks furrowedand writhen like rain-washed crags. He had always been kind to her.“Bainey?”
“My God. Is it you, Lady Alexandra, allgrown up?” He lifted his light and the rays spread across aportrait above the fireplace. “You have your father’s eyes but youare a mirror image of your mother.”
Nicholas cursed. “By God, if that isn’tevidence enough.”
Bainey placed the light on the desk, hismouth gaping. “I thought you had been kidnapped and died. Wherehave you been all these years?”
“Molly and Samuel Elwins hid me away toprotect me from Ursula.”
“Lady Ursula is an evil woman, mistress. Imust tell you, I believe your father had suspicions of yourstepmother before he died, and informed me you were the heir. Yearslater, your stepmother, Lady Ursula and Willean were in their cups.They were toasting each other, and she bragged how she had poisonedyour father to make Willean the heir, telling him where she keptthe bottle of poison in case he ever needed it.”
Alexandra sobbed. “She killed Molly,too.”
Bainey swore. “I overheard Lady Sutherlandsaying something about killing Molly. She was a good woman.”
“Why didn’t you come forward sooner?”Nicholas asked.
“Lady Ursula caught me eavesdropping on herpoisoning the Baron. She blackmailed me, knowing I stole silverfrom a former employer and threatened to have me sent to Newgate.Recently I’ve been told by a doctor I have tumors and have monthsto live. I’d like to do what is right by you, Lady Sutherland,before I meet my maker.”
Nicholas stepped forward. “I’m Lord Rutland.We need you to come with us to attest to Lady Ursula’s crimes. Youwill be under my protection.”
“A pleasure, milord. I’ve burned to see LadyUrsula pay for what she has done for a long time. What might behelpful is that I swapped a similar bottle and kept the original insafekeeping for evidence.”
“Nobody’s goin’ anywhere because what I ’aveto say goes.”
Damn. Nicholas whirled around, shovedAlexandra behind him. His stomach rolled, obviously a guard Ursulahad posted inside the house. So much for his man’sreconnaissance.
The man gestured with his gun to Alexandra.“’er ladyship thought you’d show up.”
Definitely East Londoners. They didn’tbother to pronounce their “t’s” and “h’s.” They were large men,dressed the same, in dirty breeches and purloined frock coats. Theysmelled the same too. Eau de Rookeries. They both had hats.Comical. Formal top hats jammed on dirty heads. They were bothbow-legged, probably from malnutrition when they were young, yetboasted an intimidating air. One had a scar down the side of hisleft cheek and his companion boasted a scar down his right cheek.They could have been twins.
The two men moved into the room, stopped sixfeet in front of him. Nicholas pulled his gun from his belt. Oneagainst two wasn’t bad except he had Alexandra to protect. Notgood. His father’s men outside, too far to help.
Bainey froze, his hands up, a scared man,resembling an unhappy mastiff. Not much help there.
Both thugs grinned like gargoyles. “You canshoot one of us, your lordship, but you still ’ave the ot’er bloketo deal wit’.”
Nicholas flexed his left shoulder, ran somemuscle tension up through his back and shoulders. “Not if Idispatch both of you first.”
They both laughed. The thug on his leftmoved closer, waved his gun. Nicholas followed to his left. Acandlestick was within reach of Bainey. Would the old servant showcourage? He needed a distraction. Keep talking.
