She pursed her lips and dipped her chin, looking every inch the stern disciplinarian as she glared up at him. “Is that so?”
“‘Allow’ might be too bold a word.” He nestled against her, loving how her lush curves notched perfectly against his body. He ran his hands up and down her waist. “But I do have some alternatives I believe we should explore.”
“I am much more amenable to alternatives than orders.” She pressed closer, her belly tight against his hardening cock.
Solutions to her problems would take some concentration. Removing an underage girl from her father’s care was a sticky situation.
But a solution to their immediate needs was easy to come by.
He lowered his head.
The door flew open, the frame of it hissing against his carpet.
John turned and scowled at Wilberforce. “Whatever emergency you think warrants such an interruption, I can assure you…” His voice trailed off as a second figure joined Wil’s in the doorway.
Netta slid from his arms. “Cerise!” She hurried over to the woman. “What has happened? Who did this to you?”
Netta’s friend was wrapped in a thick cloak, one much too warm for the weather. The skin around her right eye was swollen and a bruise darkened the skin at her jaw.
“I do not know his name,” Cerise said, her accent more pronounced with her agitation. “Only zat he looked for you.”
Wil stalked to the sideboard in the corner of the room and poured a liberal glass of whisky. He returned to the actress’s side and pressed it into her hand. “Drink.”
Cerise took a small sip, wincing. She touched her bruised lip. “In our dressing room, there was a man. Ugly. With no manners. He said I was to tell him where you were. Zat his employer wanted to speak with you.”
Netta clutched her friend’s hand. “Who is his employer?”
Cerise gave Netta the glass then dug through her reticule and pulled out a calling card. She exchanged it for the glass.
Netta read it, her face blanching. “Sudworth.”
John strode across the room and took the card.
“He recognized me at the masquerade,” Netta whispered.
“We don’t know that.” John’s fingers itched to crumple the thick piece of cardstock, but he reined in his temper.
“He must have done.” She pressed her fingers to her lips. “I have lived in London unmolested for six years, and it is only now that he’s come for me.” She closed her eyes. “The carriage abduction. It was him.”
“Probable but not definite.”
“Why would Sudworth want Miss LeBlanc.” Wil’s face mottled with anger. “We haven’t put your plan into motion yet.”
“They have a history.”
Wil opened his mouth, but John shook his head. “I just learned of it tonight. It isn’t relevant right now.”
Wil nodded and shifted closer to Cerise, keeping a watchful eye upon the actress.
“I can never apologize enough,” Netta said to Cerise. “I didn’t think my past could hurt anyone but me.” She gently touched Cerise’s cheek. “Why did he do this? You should have told him everything you knew about my whereabouts.”
“It would have made no difference.” Cerise took another sip of whisky. “He believed me when I said I did not know where you were. He hit me when I refused to lay with him.”
Netta gasped. “That bastard! Did he…I mean, should we send for the doctor?”
A physician was a good idea. If not for Cerise, for Wil who would break his own hand from clenching it so. John moved to ring the bell for a servant.
“There is no need,” Cerise said. “I have a greater need for a modiste rather than a physician.” She untied the strings of her cloak with one hand and pulled it off, handing it to Wil.
