Payne dove.
Simon ran for Edeen, his arms pumping as fast as he could.
The girls screamed and ran in every direction. Simon raced toward Caillen’s sisters. The man grabbed for Edeen, but Robbi jumped on his back and slammed her pistol down repeatedly on the top of his head. He fell with Robbi on his back, taking down Payne as a gunshot exploded through the air. Smoke billowed.
Payne was at Robbi’s side as she shoved the half-conscious man’s face into the floor. Payne drove his knee down onto the man shoulder and twisted his arm behind his back, the gun clattering to the floor. Simon grabbed the gun and shoved it in the back of his waistband. He turned toward the guard who was attempting to stand up and Simon raised his own pistol. “Make one more move and I’ll blow your head off.”
The guard froze on bended knee.
“It seems I can’t leave the Blair sisters alone for two minutes before all hell breaks loose,” an all too familiar voice said from the doorway. Sir Williamson strolled into the warehouse as if he were walking into an afternoon musicale.
“Blair sisters?” The man with his jaw shoved to the ground repeated.
“Tremayne!” Cora squirmed out of Edeen’s arms and ran to the man on the floor. She ineffectively pushed at Payne’s leg and screamed, “Get off him. It’s Tremayne!”
“You know this man?”
“Tremayne’s my mama’s protector,” Cora said.
Robbi scowled as if the name left a bad taste in her mouth. “Lucas Tremayne?”
“The one and only,” the man said then grunted when Robbi used the side of his face to push herself up. Payne released Tremayne’s arm and Simon took a step back to keep an eye on Tremayne and the guard.
Cora jumped into Tremayne’s arms as he rolled over and Tremayne hugged her as if she were his missing little sister.
“Williamson,” Simon said. “I need to go. Caillen’s in danger. Can you handle this fiasco?”
Williamson nodded. “What has Lady Bredlebane stirred up now?”
Robbi turned on him, “The mess you left when you didn’t arrest the man who killed our father.”
Neither Edeen nor Robbi noticed the nearly imperceptible tick in Williamson’s jaw.
“Violet!” A man yelled from the doorway, and Viscount Pembrock walked in with his gun pointed at anyone who moved.
“Put that away, Pembrock. The time for shooting is over,” Sir Williamson ordered as he shoved the guard back down on his arse.
Lord Pembrock turned to Edeen, wearing only a corset and drawers and Simon’s jacket. His gaze traveled the length of her in a silent but scathing rebuke, which only made Edeen’s chin rise further as she turned to go to the other girls.
“Where is my sister?” Pembrock demanded.
“I’m here,” Violet called out, her voice cracking with emotion as she came from behind the staircase. Her composure broke as her brother closed the distance between them.
Pembrock put his arms around her and pulled her into his embrace. “Why are you dressed like a maid?”
“Edeen thought we should dress our parts.”
Pembrock sent another furious look in Edeen’s direction, before saying, “I told you I didn’t want you socializing with that whore.”
His insult changed Simon’s course of direction, and he stepped in front of Pembrock.
“Unless you would like to meet me at dawn, I suggest you apologize to the young miss who is responsible for rescuing all these kidnapped girls.”
It was only then that the young girls who had been taken from their homes, began coming out from all directions in the warehouse as they ran toward Edeen.
“Edeen and I couldn’t let them get away with taking Elizabeth.”
Lady Elizabeth stepped forward. “My brother wouldn’t pay my ransom.” Her chin quivered as she held it high, a single tear tracing a track through the dirt on her cheek.
