Page 58 of A Countess Never Tells

Quietly, he rose, stifling a groan as the dull pain in his head throbbed with every heartbeat, and followed the three men heading deeper into the house, Baltimore bringing up the rear with a candle. Where were they taking Kitty? The most likely answer was a tunnel like the one in his house that led outside. Had he remained unconscious, they’d have whisked her out through the mews, and no one would have known where to find her.

Outrage made Ash less cautious, his heavy tread on the floor producing a squeak. The ruffians froze then Baltimore called, “Hurry on!”

The men carrying Kitty hastened their stride, but with a great leap, Ash snagged Baltimore’s jacket, bringing the man to the ground with a loud, “Gawp!” One solid punch to his jaw, and the baron lay still. Ash sent a thank you up to Jack Broughton for his boxing lessons then jumped to his feet and ran after Baltimore’s henchmen.

Kitty’s struggles could be heard, but they were muffled. If they harmed her in any way, Ash wouldn’t be responsible for his actions—or their deaths. The candle had fallen with Baltimore, but there were intermittent sconces leading to the kitchen. Just as the two thugs approached a door that might have led to the mews, Ash caught up to the nearest man.

The tricky part was to not hurt Kitty in the process of felling the blackguard. Wishing in vain for a pistol or sword, Ash grabbed the first thing to hand, a large glass vase with a fluted edge, and heaved it at the man closest to him. It hit his head, a thousand pieces of glass raining down as the man slumped to the floor, Kitty on top of him. Ash ran up to the last man, who’d dropped his end of Kitty and was scrambling at the door, trying to get the latch to open. Unwilling to waste valuable time with this ruffian when he needed to assess Kitty’s hurts, Ash grabbed another piece of glassware—this time a bowl—and simply bashed him over the back of his head.

The man crumpled.

Ash tossed the bowl down then dropped to the ground and unwound the strip of velvet that Baltimore had used to gag Kitty.

Coughing, she sat up, and he untied her hands and feet, anger growing as she began to cry. “Oh, Ash.” She threw her arms around him. “I knew you’d come for me.”

“Always, my love. You need never fear on that account.” He peered at her, and though tears still streamed down her face, she didn’t seem otherwise injured. “What did he do, Kitty? Did he assault you or simply tie you up and have his henchmen carry you away?”

“Yes. No. I mean no.” She shook her head and breathed deeply. “When he opened the door, at first, I thought it was you.” Her voice grew grim. “But it was that foul Baltimore. He snatched the candle out of my hand, and I stumbled backward and fell. I attempted to crawl away in the darkness, but he called to his men, and they pounced on me and tied me up. When I tried to scream, they thrust that wretched cloth in my mouth then picked me up like a rolled-up carpet and carried me out of the room.” She clung to him, shaking and crying.

“Shh, shh, my love.” He crooned to her, rocking her gently there in the dark corridor until her trembling finally ceased.

She sniffed. “I could hear some ruckus behind me, and I prayed it was you come to rescue me.” Suddenly she sat up, gazing around, her eyes glazed in terror. “Where is he? Where is Lord Baltimore?”

“I felled him with a great crack to his jaw, not far back up the corridor.” Ash sighed. “We really must get up now so I can go see he’s not causing more mischief.” He stood and helped Kitty up. Taking her chin his hand, he looked into her eyes, expecting fear but finding instead absolute trust. That shook Ash more than a little. They had been so hell-bent on getting married, he’d not truly thought what the office of husband entailed. He would be responsible for Kitty forever more, a service he embraced wholeheartedly, but still the idea sobered him. He needed to make quick work of Baltimore before the man could do his soon-to-be wife real harm. “I am so sorry about what you’ve had to endure because of my folly.”

“What folly is that, Ash?” Her gaze drank him in, as though she couldn’t get enough of him.

“It’s a tale for another time, my dear, but I will confess it once I have you safely home. Come, let us see if Baltimore has been discovered and then find your brother.” They headed back up the corridor until they came upon the place where Baltimore had fallen. No trace of the man remained, save a crumpled handkerchief that made the corridor reek of civet.

Kitty wrinkled her nose and curled her lips. “Ugh, that is what he smelled of when he came into the room. Nasty through and through.”

“It does smell atrocious.” Ash kicked it toward the wall. “I will say this, you know when the man is approaching.” They hurried on. Ash was very interested to know what Baltimore was saying about the altercation in the corridor.

They came out in the part of the house where the card party seemed to have ceased. Everyone was gathered around a familiar figure in bright scarlet, sitting on a chair someone had set in front of the room in which Ash and Kitty had been playing cards.

“Do you know any way to go around this crowd and still get to the front door?” Ash whispered to Kitty.

She nodded, took his hand and led him to a small room on the right that had several deal tables set around it, all of which had been abandoned by their players. At the far end of the room was another door, and Kitty took them through it to the foyer itself.

“Kitty! Thank goodness you’re all right.” Judith turned from gazing toward the hubbub of excitement in the other room. She ran to her sister-in-law, looking her over from head to toe. “But what has happened? Your hair is all mussed and your gown is torn.” She pointed to the flounce around the bottom of Kitty’s blue and white robe à l’Anglais then stared hard at Ash, her brows deepening in a frown.

“Not my fault, although I suppose it ultimately is. Where is Lord Haxby?” Ash took in all the guests standing around, twittering about Baltimore, he supposed.

“When Lady Phoebe told us of Baltimore’s presence, John went directly to order the carriage. He must be just outside.” Judith took Kitty’s arm. “I think he didn’t wish to come close to Lord Baltimore for fear of what he’d do to him.”

“I understand that sentiment completely. Here,” Ash pulled the door open, not waiting for the butler, who’d hurried forward. The cooler night air was a blessed relief as Ash escorted the two ladies out to the waiting carriage and assisted them inside. The moment he climbed in and shut the door, the coachman started the horses, throwing Ash forward almost onto Judith’s lap. “I do beg your pardon.” He cut his gaze to Haxby, but for once the man was absorbed with his sister, not his wife. Ash fell back onto the seat beside Kitty.

“What took you so long to come out, Kitty? Lady Phoebe told us of Baltimore’s presence over twenty minutes ago.” The scowl on her brother’s face was likely more from concern than censure, but Ash felt the need to defend Kitty.

“We would have been out sooner, but Baltimore tried to abscond with Kitty, and it took a bit of time to thwart his attempt.” Ash was somewhat embarrassed at how much pleasure he got from seeing Haxby’s jaw drop. But only somewhat.

“Turn the carriage around, Privett,” Haxby shouted up to the coachman. “I’ll not stand for this gross insult to my sister.”

“Think a moment, Haxby.” The last thing Ash wanted was to return and have to explain his actions tonight with Baltimore most assuredly playing the martyr. “No one knows of this save we four, Baltimore, and his henchmen. If it were to come to light, you could end up saddled with Baltimore as your brother-in-law instead of me.”

“Not if I send him to hell first.” Haxby’s nose flared, and his lips almost disappeared so severely had he drawn them in.

“And if you don’t, where does that leave your family? I don’t know the baron’s skill with a sword, but his reputation with a pistol is better than many. Kitty hasn’t been hurt or I’d have gone in and challenged the blackguard myself. As it was, I gave him a knock to the jaw he’ll be feeling for a week.” Ash paused for breath and to give Haxby time to calm. “The best thing we can do now is go home and worry about how Baltimore came by the knowledge we were going to be at Lady Wymer’s card party.”