Page 43 of A Duke in Pursuit of Passion
"Well then, tell us!" Nate insisted.
Dipping his head in acknowledgement, the manservant explained, "The men I set to keep tabs on Mr Giles after we left have followed him to another tavern close to the first, where we found his own lodgings."
"And? What did you find there?" Nate demanded. Ella's stomach clenched, and she held her breath, trying not to grow too hopeful at this latest development.
"He met with some very shady characters, and although the men couldn't get close enough to hear everything, they heard snippets," Mr Murphy explained, his head still bowed until he raised it to meet Ella's gaze, "My Lady, we have reason to believe your sister is being kept there."
Even before Ella could react, Nate jumped up from the bed, looking quite unphased at the fact he was entirely naked in front of his manservant after what they had just done.
"Ready a carriage. We leave for this tavern immediately."
Mr Murphy dipped his head and started back towards the door, not before Ella exclaimed, "I'm coming with you."
"You most definitely are not!" Nate said, already grabbing his garments from the floor.
"I most definitely am!" Ella countered, glowering back at him with the bedsheets still pulled up. "If my sister is there, she will need some reassurance. How is she supposed to know who you, Mr Murphy, or any other men are? She will be terrified and likely thinkyouare in cahoots with the men who have taken her!"
Ella felt only a little satisfaction as she saw the fight fade from Nate's dark gaze. It was clear that he realised she was speaking sense.
"Get dressed, quickly; we leave as soon as the carriage is ready." With that, Nate leaned over the bed and placed a kiss upon her forehead before following his manservant. He only stopped for a second to add, "I'll have Alice sent in to assist you."
Chapter 26
Having met Mr Murphy's men at the tavern, Ella was well aware they were all about the place, watching to keep them all safe. But as she waited in the back alley for the rear door of the building to be unlocked by Mr Murphy himself along with Alice, who – though Ella felt quite guilty about asking her to do so – was playing the role of a paid girl to keep the heat off them all, Ella couldn't control the anxiety that boiled in her stomach.
So many things could go wrong. Mr Murphy and Alice's drunken thug and paid girl cover could so easily be dismantled or perhaps the men keeping her sister had a better watch on the place than they initially believed. Maybe Louisa wasn't even there at all.
There were so many variables, and Ella found herself clutching to Nate's arm even as she stood protected behind him, waiting to see who would be the one to open up the back door. Throat constricting, Ella tried her hardest to maintain her composure, but Nate's presence near her was a comfort that stopped her from crumbling.
"Come on with you, girl! Up those stairs!" She heard the loud, drunken-sounding slur from just inside, and it was only the familiar tinkling laughter that followed that alerted Ella to the fact it was Mr Murphy and Alice.
And her heart soared as she heard the deadbolt being drawn back moments before they burst through the door, urging her and Nate inside with hushed tones and rapid gestures of their hands.
"Upstairs, turn left, door at the end, so my men say," Mr Murphy instructed in a harsh whisper as Nate and Ella passed through the door. And just as quickly, she was following the nobleman up some of the most rickety stairs she had ever set foot on. They were so bad, in fact, that she thought a couple of the steps might give way beneath her feet.
Yet, just when she thought they might not make it safely to the top, they did. And gripping tightly to Nate's back, she waited for him to glance this way and that around the corner, down both ends of the hall before they began to creep once more.
"You're sure?" Nate asked Mr Murphy over Ella's head when they finally reached the door at the very end of the corridor without any problems.
Where are the thugs?Ella wondered though she could guess from the raucous coming from down the stairs they were likely too busy having a good time.
Mr Murphy simply gave a firm nod. Nate tried the door. Ella's heart skipped a beat. It was locked.
"Stand back," Nate instructed, and Ella and Alice clutched each other, moving as far back against the wall as possible to allow Nate a run at the door.
He tried once, twice, and finally upon the third time, the door burst open.
Before he could stop her, with no concern for her own safety, Ella raced into the room. And the scene that met her caused vomit to rise in the back of her throat.
The smell that hit her nostrils was rancid but her sister's looks were even worse. Wearing a gown that looked as though it had once been cream, she was slumped in a wooden chair, her hands bound at the wrists to the arms, her ankles tied similarly to the legs of the seat. A dirty rag had been shoved into her mouth, and though the breaking down of the door had been loud, she barely seemed to flutter an eyelash.
"Louisa!" Ella cried, her heart breaking for the pitiful-looking woman who sat before her. Rushing forwards, she dropped onto her knees before her sister and started to shake her knee with one hand while trying to untie her wrists with the other. "Alice, help me!"
Alice came rushing forth while Nate and Mr Murphy remained in the doorway, clearly looking out for any trouble that might come their way. There was no change in the sounds coming from below, and Ella guessed nobody had batted an eyelid at the sound of the door being broken through.
In a place like this, stinking of urine and stale ale, debauchery and scum, Ella couldn't imagine many sounds that fazed the patrons, even those who had taken to holding young women hostage.
"Louisa, can you hear me?" Ella asked, placing a hand upon Louisa's shoulder to shake her while Alice continued to loosen the knots around her limbs.
