Page 119 of Three Weeks with a Princess
Lia crouched to peer through the keyhole, seeing only a murky half darkness and a grimy bit of wall opposite their room. She straightened with a sigh. “We can only hope Mrs. Grace is trying to talk some sense into Sir Nathan’s extraordinarily thick head.”
After Lia had informed everyone that she was Jack’s fiancée, Mrs. Grace had launched into a full-throated tirade, berating Prudhoe for kidnappingquality. Events had quickly deteriorated after that when the madam boxed his ears, all while yelling they could end up facing the gallows.
In the mayhem Lia had pulled Amy to her feet and tried to escape. They’d made it into the corridor before their guard got his hands on Amy, throwing her face first against the staircase banister. Lia had launched herself at him, but the other thug suddenly had materialized and pulled her away. On the orders of the madam, she and Amy had been hauled off and locked in this room with threats of a beating if they didn’tkeep their gobs shut.
Silence had descended quickly after that. Wherever they were, this section of the building was apparently little used. No one had come near and nothing could be heard through the thick plaster and brick walls of the house. All they could do was wait and pray for a miracle.
Amy closed her eyes. “They’re not going to let us go.”
“They’d be insane not to,” Lia replied, trying to sound confident. “Imagine what will happen when Sir Dominic finds out about this. He’s a powerful magistrate, you know. He will see them all hang if they dare to injure us.”
When Amy opened her eyes, her gaze was terrifyingly bleak. “Which is exactly why they’re going to have to kill us.”
Lia’s heart jolted. “What?”
“There’s no backing away from this, Miss Lia. As soon as Mrs. Grace heard who you were, we were done for. Even if Sir Nathan is too stupid to realize how much danger he courted by kidnapping us,shecertainly did. She’s a nasty piece of work, that one, and she hasn’t survived this many years by acting the fool.”
“You know her?”
Amy’s mouth quivered for a moment before she regained control. “My sister was the prettiest, happiest lass you ever did see. Mrs. Grace lured her into the trade and did everything she could to keep her there, even when my Nancy wanted to leave.” She grimaced. “She died of the pox a few years ago.”
“I’m so sorry, my dear,” Lia said quietly.
“That’s why I worked so hard to become a dancer. I didn’t want to end up like Nancy.” Her gaze was hardening. “I may take a lover now and again to protect myself, but I’d never sell myself to one of these places, Miss Lia. I’d starve before I did that.”
Lia hunkered down and took her hands. “You won’t have to, I promise. We’re going to get out of this.”
Amy slumped against the seat back with a weary sigh. “There’s no way out of it, miss. You know too many important people andyou’retoo important. Lord Lendale and Sir Dominic would go berserk if they found out about this. Mrs. Grace knows that, too. She knows she’d end up hanging at the end of a rope.”
Lia sat down on the hard floorboards, aghast at the turn of events. She finally had a big, loyal family that loved her and wished to protect her, and that simple fact was probably going to get her killed. She would never see Aunt Chloe or Gillian again, or meet her half brother, who’d already written Lia the most warm and loving letter.
And Jack. She would give anything to be with him now, to have the chance to tell him that, yes, she would marry him. All the obstacles that had loomed so large were now insignificant. And he would be devastated if she died, blaming himself for not taking care of her, for not being there when she most needed him.
Lia had wanted to disappear from his life, thinking it best for him. Yet now she was about to get her wish and the irony was all but choking her. It was like being trapped at the bottom of a hill watching a landslide hurtling down on her. Already she felt buried, her chest constricting with panic, and she had to force herself to take one slow breath after another.
Amy scrubbed away tears from her cheeks. “What they had planned for us before . . . well, it wouldn’t have been pleasant, but at least we would have survived. Now . . .”
Lia sat quietly for a good minute. Now that she’d calmed down, she could think. “I think we were sunk before actually.”
“How so?”
“Because Sir Nathan knows exactly who I am and who I’m connected to. He knew as soon as he snatched us that he couldn’t allow me to survive. He might have acted on impulse, but the die was cast as soon as he told his thugs to kidnap me as well as you.”
Amy came up out of her slump, her fury quickly replacing despair. “That degenerate bastard,” she hissed. “He couldn’t just hurt me. He had to go after you, too. Which meant the end of both of us as soon as he touched you.”
“I’m afraid so. Eventually, he knew he would have to kill us.”
The girl let loose a stream of hair-raising curses, ending with a threat to string Prudhoe up herself.
“I hope you get the opportunity,” Lia said with a rueful smile. “But what I can’t figure out is why the idiot would risk so much on this crazed venture. He obviously wants to punish us very badly.”
Amy let out a hollow laugh. “Looks like he’ll get the chance.”
Lia scrambled up from the floor. “I have no intention of making it easy for him. From what Mrs. Grace said, you’re to be, ah, offered to some gentlemen who would bid on you for your services?”
“They hold an auction. Someone like me, who’s younger and fresher than most of the girls, could fetch a pretty penny.”
“That’s revolting, but we might be able to turn it to our advantage.”
