He slipped on his light beige waistcoat and started fastening the tiny pearl buttons. For some reason his tailorhad seen fit to make the damn things smaller on his evening waistcoat. He supposed that had something to do with the elegance of the evening too.
Zane’s hand stilled when from below he heard the door knocker clanking hard and fast—as if someone were frantically banging. He glanced over at the clock on his dressing table. Guests weren’t due to start arriving for another half hour. Obviously Fulton hadn’t heard the first knock, and whoever it was wanted to make sure he heard the second time. Zane kept buttoning his waistcoat.
The thought that it might be Brina hurried him along. But then he heard loud masculine shouts.
He tensed. One of the voices was Harry’s.
Zane grabbed his dinner coat and started out the door, shoving his arms into the sleeves as he went. From the top of the stairs he could see that Fulton and Harry held on to each other’s lapels.
“What’s going on?” he called and started down.
They released each other and both started to speak at once.
Damnation.Zane couldn’t make sense of either one of them. “Fulton, enough,” he said.
“He was barging in, my lord.”
“I understand. Thank you, but I’ll handle this now.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Before Fulton turned to walk away, Harry said, “You must come with me now. There’s no time to waste. I’ll tell you about it on the way. My carriage is outside.”
Zane’s blood ran cold. Harry wasn’t one to be excitable or to exaggerate. Still, Zane said, “I can’t leave. I’m expecting more than twenty people for dinner in a little over an hour.”
“Then be prepared to never see your cousin Robert again.”
“What do you mean?”
“Believe me when I tell you there is no time to waste. It might be too late even as we speak.”
“All right, let’s go.” Zane then raced out the door behind Harry, who yelled to the driver, “Brass Bull and don’t slow for anyone.”
The carriage lurched before the door closed. Zane had to reach out to grab it and slam it shut before being jolted back into the seat.
“Hellfire, Harry, what the devil is going on?”
“Remick isn’t just another skilled player out to dupe your cousin out of his money. He’s a crimp.”
Zane tensed again. “A crimp?” he said disbelievingly.
“Yes. Apparently Remick lures young men into a gambling club, gets them heavily in debt to him, and when they fail to pay, he sells their indebtedness to either the military or a boarding master. Robert is already his captive.”
“Damnation! How did you find out about this? And do you know for sure Robert’s debts have already been sold?”
“Remick apparently discovered I’ve been asking about him. I received a note to meet him this evening so I did. That’s when he told me he has Robert, and unless I could get you to the gaming house in twenty minutes, he would leave and Robert would be on a ship far out of your reach.”
Zane’s stomach tightened like a fist. “I knew the blade was in debt. I refused to help him again. I thought it best he learn to stand on his own. I never dreamed his ineptness would be to a crimp.”
Zane seldom had dealings with the unsavory, yet still somehow lawful, act of crimping—forcing men into the military or service on a ship. Both occupations werealways in need of young, strong, able-bodied men. Neither was an easy life.
“Did he name the ship?”
“Of course not. He didn’t even say if he was still in a crimping house. Only for me to get you. Even if we follow him after he leaves the gaming house, we have no way of knowing whether or not he’ll go to where he’s holding Robert.”
“I will pay whatever he asks to free him.”
Zane looked out of the small window on the coach door. Lights from buildings flashed by quickly as they jostled along, reminding him of how Brina’s eyes sparkled at him. Hellfire, he would be late for his own dinner party. This would be a tough one to explain but he believed she would understand.
