Page 7 of His Wicked Secret
Audrey sucked in a breath. Blood began to roar in her ears so loud she could barely hear the men who started shouting around her in panic. A pistol? What the devil was he thinking?
“I mean your fun is over and we are done with this. This woman is going to be released at once, and she will leave with me.” Jonathan’s voice was full of command. The hand gripping the pistol was steady. Audrey stared at him in awe.
No one dared to speak or even breathe, except for one man who hiccupped and spilled his drink before muttering a curse. Only the black cat on the table moved, its tail twitching back and forth as it watched events unfold.
“Release her. Now.” Jonathan raised the pistol a little higher, aiming for Langley’s heart.
Langley gave a jerk of his head, and the man beside Audrey released her from her bindings. She heard him mutter, “Little bitch,” before she shoved her chair back right into the man’s foot, winning a curse from him. She rubbed her freed wrists.
“Lady Society, if you would come this way.”
Relief flooded her as she moved around the table toward Jonathan. They were going to escape. Even though she was still furious and hurt at the man, she could have kissed him, though that would only lead to more trouble.
As she brushed past Langley, he grabbed her wrist, trying to jerk her in front of him. Jonathan fired the pistol. She and Langley both jerked to a stop. Langley cursed. The bullet had grazed his shoulder. If he hadn’t moved, it would have struck him in the chest. It might have hit her! What was Jonathan thinking?
Langley shoved her into the table in front of her, and she grunted in pain.
“He’s unarmed now! Get him!”
The mob around them had not been prepared for this, however, and most wanted no part of it. Everyone began to move all at once, screaming, shouting, feet and hands fighting as the guests rushed from the room or tried to push forward toward Jonathan. Someone ran into her from behind, knocking the breath from her. She saw Jonathan throw his pistol to the floor and lunge for her, but there were too many drunken men stumbling around, the ones trying to stop him colliding with the ones trying to get away. Langley was almost to the door now. He was getting away.
“Oh no you don’t!” She lunged for him but tripped on her gown, ripping it. Langley vanished through the entryway.
Coward. She was tempted to go after him, but a number of the men in the room were far too drunk to be smart cowards like Langley. One of them reached for her, but she ducked. Her gown tore at the hem as her boots caught on it, and she fell. The man attempting to grab her collided with her, tripped over her, and smacked into the rug beneath them with a pained grunt.
“Stay under the table!” Jonathan hissed. “Otherwise you’ll keep tripping on that dress and fall right out of it!”
She was tempted to ignore him, but he was right. The last thing she wanted to do was run about naked during a brawl in a hellfire club. She moved deeper under the table, watching the men fight. She recognized Jonathan’s lean legs as he danced on his feet, using the general confusion of the room to his advantage. He moved with a grace that she had seen her brother use often enough sparring in his leisure room in Brighton, yet somehow Jonathan made it even more beautiful.
“Come on, you bloody bastards!” Jonathan roared.
Audrey gasped as a man grappled with him and shoved him hard against the table. Several dishes and a candelabra dropped to the floor. Audrey gripped the base of the heavy item and crawled forward, watching the battle of the booted feet in front of her, holding her breath.She smacked the shin of the nearest leg that didn’t belong to Jonathan, and she crowed in triumph as her victim hopped in agony.
“Take that!” She struck again. “And that!” She felt a flood of wicked glee at striking these awful men. They had ruined so many lives to satisfy their depraved lusts and vices.
“Mreow.” An angry sound drew her focus away from the fight. She saw the black cat a few feet away, also hiding under the table, its ears flat against its head. Yet it did not flee as she approached.
Crack!Another pistol fired, and Audrey screamed for Jonathan, afraid he’d been shot. Terror seized her. She grabbed the cat as it tried to bolt away and tucked it under one arm. She crawled out from under the table, hoping to find Jonathan had cleared a path to escape.
The tide had turned against her rescuer, however. He was being held down by two men who now took turns punching his stomach. She ran to the fire, grabbed a poker, and rushed at the nearest man, smacking him in the back. The man let go of Jonathan and howled like a wild animal as he turned on her. Audrey scrambled back, clutching both the cat and the poker, waving it like a fencing foil.
But her attack had allowed Jonathan to gain the upper hand once again, throwing punches like a professional pugilist, and before the man approaching her got a step farther, Jonathan had grabbed him and tossed him into one of his companions. For a brief second, her heart soared before the odds turned against Jonathan once again. There were simply too many of them.
Her mouth dropped open as the last person in the world she expected to see burst in through the doorway—James Fordyce, the Earl of Pembroke, flushed and covered with dust.
“What—?” she began, then cheered as James grabbed a man and tossed him over the table while fighting to reach Jonathan. Audrey maneuvered deeper into the dining room, toward Jonathan and James.
“Lord Pembroke! Heavens!” Audrey cried out. “I’m so glad to see you! Where’s Gillian?”
“She’s there.” He waved behind him. “I’ll take her to safety. St. Laurent, we can rendezvous tomorrow, once it’s safe.”
“Right.” Jonathan swung a hard punch at the man he’d been sparring with, who promptly fell flat on his backside. Audrey whacked a drunken man with a well-aimed blow to the nether regions as she hurried to Jonathan. The man fell to his knees, issuing a high-pitched squeal. No one immediately around them seemed willing to continue the fight, but there was always the chance that those who’d run off were finding their nerve and planning to come back. Jonathan moved to the window facing the street and shoved the sill up, clearing a path for them to escape.
“Out you go,” he barked.
She hastened to obey and slipped over the edge, dropping to the ground. The cat escaped her fumbling, shaking hands and landed beside her, his back arched with black fur standing on end.
“Careful!” Audrey grabbed him just in time to avoid being crushed when Jonathan landed beside her.
