Page 6 of His Wicked Secret
“Pleased to meet our guest, Lady Society? He’s the oldest member, you see.” Langley’s tone turned falsely solemn. “Ancient, you might say.”
Ancient? Surely he couldn’t believe the cat was the devil himself? Langley was clearly mad. All these men were mad! Gillian tensed beside her, testing her bonds, and Audrey did the same.
Thank heavens Gillian keeps her head in a crisis. Audrey knew she was not as composed as her friend in such dire situations. It was one of the many reasons she loved Gillian like a sister. While most ladies kept a polite, emotional distance from their staff, she and Gilly had been fast friends ever since they met when they were eighteen.
And I put her life at risk.
She caught Gillian’s eye and tried to give a reassuring look, then focused on a plan to get them out of there. If they could find a way to get their wrists freed and the men chose to remove them from the dining room, they could perhaps escape. The front door wasn’t far from the dining room, and if they could reach the street they could call for help or find someplace to hide.
Yes, that could work. It had to.
By the time the feast—if one could call the small portions such a thing—had ended, Langley rose from his chair and held up a pair of black dice. The room hushed.
“Each man shall toss the sacred dice to determine who gets the joy of bedding the one in the purple gown. Then we will cast the die for Lady Society. But rest assured, we have all night, and every man gets a chance withbothladies.”
He held up the dice as though displaying a prized jewel, chuckling darkly as he looked over every face in the room. He waved the dice in the air, acting like a street performer, grinning at a few men closest to him.
Audrey shouted a stream of curses at Langley despite the gag. If any of the men could have heard her words, they would’ve been blushing to the roots of their hair. Her muffled expletives only heightened their laughter, and the dice were passed around until they reached the last gentleman next to Langley. She continued to glare as he accepted the dice and stared at them, his hesitance drawing Audrey’s sharp focus. Why was the man hesitating?
Then he cast the dice. They rattled down the length of the dining room table and came to a stop.
“Twelve!” the man beside him shouted. “By God, you’re lucky bastard!” He slapped the victor on the arm. Audrey stared hard the man, trying to assess him. He didn’t seem as sinister or dreadful as the rest, but given the circumstances, there was no reason to feel any comfort in that at all.
Gillian glanced her way, terror sparking like lightning in her eyes.
I’m so sorry, Gilly. I’ll find a way to save you. I swear it.
“It seems we have our winner,” Langley announced and turned to the man beside him. “Take your pretty prize to any of the upstairs rooms. I’ll give you half an hour, and then we shall roll to see who is next.”
The winner came forward, and the man next to Gillian loosened her wrists from the rope and jerked her to her feet. He slapped her bottom hard, and Gillian let out a cry of pain. Audrey saw red, but there was no way she could break free to help her friend. The victor gripped Gillian’s arm and pulled her out of reach of the man who had slapped her backside.
“This way, my dear,” the victor said.
Audrey worked frantically at the handkerchief wedged in her mouth. She finally spat it out it as Gillian and the man walked past her.
“You touch her and I will kill you!” she vowed. The man’s lips opened as though to speak, but another man beat him to it.
“Hold your tongue, or I will put that mouth of yours to better use,” another man fired back at her.
Audrey stilled. She knew that voice, knew it intimately. She knew what it sounded like as it curled her toes and murmured in her ear and knew it as it was now, threatening and cold. She even knew that voice when it turned strained and paternal, as it reminded her how young, naïve, and careless she was. That voice could raise her hackles like no other, yet she trusted the keeper of that voice with her life.
She turned her head and met Jonathan St. Laurent’s gaze.
The man she adored, the man she despised, the man who had broken her heart. She could see his lovely green eyes watching her. He gave her the barest shake of his head before she could speak. All thoughts of Gillian shifted to the background. If Jonathan was here, he wouldn’t allow Gillian to walk off into danger, which must mean the other man could be trusted. Shehoped.
I will put my faith in you, just this once.
She only hoped Jonathan could read that in her expression.
“Well, one lovely dove dealt with. Now to the next!” Langley retrieved the dice and stood, tossing them into the air.
Jonathan rose and reached out over the table close to Langley and caught the dice a second before they would have landed and closed his fingers around them.
“Actually, that won’t be necessary. The lady is coming with me.”
Langley sputtered. “What the devil do you mean?”
Jonathan pulled a pistol out of his coat and aimed it at Langley.
