Tenacious Trents 03 - A Reluctant Rake (34 page)

“Have you learned anything?” Audrey
questioned.

Bentley shook his head. “I am missing
something, I am sure of it.”

Jordan lay on his straw mattress
watching the window as night began to disappear and the sky
lightened. He slept very little and when he did his dreams were
filled with nightmares. He had to get out of here. Being caged like
this was going to make him mad, of that he didn’t doubt.

He had gone over the facts as he knew
them and he looked damned guilty.

But he wasn’t.

Who committed the crimes and what piece
of information was he missing?

The questions had been asked a thousand
times and he still had no answer.

Frustrated he swung his legs over the
side of the bed and thrust his fingers through his hair. What was
he missing? What small detail had been overlooked?

What was Audrey doing now?

Was she still safe? Was she worried
about him? Would her uncle reject his suit because he had been
locked up in Newgate?

Jordan wouldn’t allow it. If her uncle
and father declined his offer of marriage he would simply take
Audrey off to Gretna.

These few days he had been in this cell
had left him with a lot of time to think. For so long he wanted
normalcy. A home and family. As long as his father was alive Jordan
knew it was impossible, but the man had been dead over a year now
and just when Jordan thought he was about to achieve all that he
wanted it was snatched away.

Would he be stuck in here for the rest
of his life, or swing from the gallows, never knowing what it was
like to fully love Audrey? He closed his eyes and lay back on his
bunk, imagining what it would be like to fall asleep with her each
night and wake to her warmth in the morning. To be able to lay his
hand on her stomach as it grew round with their child. He had heard
of expectant fathers being able to feel a child’s movement before
birth, not that it was usually discussed, and Jordan wanted that
experience.

He would buy a home near her parents,
build stables and fill them with horses. He would learn all there
was to know about running a stud farm and raising race horses. What
Audrey couldn’t teach him, Jordan would learn from her
father.

He would need to split his time between
Grosmont and London because he wasn’t willing to give up his
profession. At least not just yet. There were too many men two
floors below him, locked away but just as innocent.

He wanted a home with laughter and
love, with children running about, and behaving like children as he
and his brothers were never allowed.

Tears pricked the back of his eyes but
he refused to cry.

He would be free of here. Somehow,
someway he would walk away from Newgate a free man and the first
thing he was going to do was make Audrey his wife.

Jordan pushed up from the bed. Laying
here feeling sorry for himself was not going to get him free. He
made his way to the desk and picked up the parchments filled with
his notes. Once again he reviewed the list of who would wish to
harm the women and kill the gentlemen. It was a damnable short
list. What was he missing or what connections were he not
making.

It was deuced frustrating.

“Another delivery, Trent.”

Jordan turned to find the jailer
approaching his cell, John following behind.

“Have you learned anything more?” Trent
asked anxiously as John entered the cell.

His face was grim. “No, but we aren’t
giving up.”

“I know you won’t.” Jordan sighed and
took the basket and handed his brother the empty one.

“You look a mess,” John
offered.

Of that Jordan didn’t doubt. There
wasn’t a mirror in the cell but he hadn’t bathed or shaved or
changed his clothing since the morning of his arrest. What he
wouldn’t give for a hip tub, hot water and a razor at the moment.
“You may want to stay over there.”

John quirked a brow. “Trust me, I will.
Just don’t get too close.”

“How is Audrey? Is she
safe?”

“According to Matthew, Grace doesn’t
think she is sleeping much. She went to Bow Street to plead for you
but as she didn’t have any evidence she was turned
away.”

Audrey should not have to be worrying
about getting him his freedom. She should be thinking about the
next ball or what horse she wished to place a bet on.

“Lady Rothsbury and Angelique also went
to Bow Street to insist on your innocence.”

“Were they able to sway their
opinion?”

“No.” John leaned back and shoved the
hand not holding the basket into his pocket. “They were there when
Audrey was however.”

Jordan’s head snapped up.

“Apparently all three were pleading for
you at the same time but Wesby wouldn’t listen to any of
them.”

“Audrey was with Angelique and Lady
Rothsbury?”

John laughed. “Only you could manage to
have three women, two former lovers and a future wife, pleading for
you and not fighting each other. How do you do it?”

Jordan wasn’t sure himself. He just
wished his past life would separate from his future. What had
Audrey thought of the women, what had been said? Would she break
from him when he was free? But, he was a better man now. Or, at
least he wanted to be.

The day proceeded at a snail’s pace and
Audrey was about to go mad at the inactivity and worry. She was
sitting in the large parlor with the rest of Jordan’s family
waiting for John to return from Newgate. The dowager countess, his
step-mother was also present. She had been apprised of the
situation shortly after Jordan’s arrest but this was the first time
she had left her home. The woman was pale and her face was drawn
with worry, though she tried to remain positive. Despite this,
Audrey was struck by how young the lady was. She couldn’t be much
older than Bentley. Had she been a child bride? She was the former
Bentley’s third wife and it wasn’t uncommon for older lords to
marry much younger ladies though Bentley wouldn’t have needed to
marry someone so young for heirs. He already had four sons before
he married his third wife.

Few words were spoken and each turned
toward the door whenever a carriage slowed before the house. This
waiting was maddening.

The knock on the front door startled
them. Audrey didn’t understand why any of them reacted so since
this is what they were waiting for. It only showed how on edge each
of them was.

John sauntered into the
parlor.

“Did you get them to drop the charges?”
Bentley demanded.

John sadly shook his head. “Wesby would
hear none of my arguments. He said that until we can prove Jordan
was somewhere else when each of the crimes were committed then they
have no choice.”

“How is Jordan?” his step-mother
asked.

John offered her a gentle smile. “He is
holding up.” He strolled to the sideboard and poured dark liquid
into the glass before turning to the rest of them.

“I would like to speak with Lady
Rothsbury’s brother,” Audrey announced.

They all looked at her. “We already
have,” Bentley informed her.

“Yes, I know, and I mean no
disrespect.” She clutched her skirt, balling the material hoping
she didn’t offend.

He lifted an eyebrow. “But you think we
may have missed something.”

Her face heated. “Not necessarily but I
may think of a question you did not.”

“I don’t think that is a good idea,
Audrey,” Matthew offered. “Bridges works in a storehouse along the
docks and his home is not far away from his ships or his business.
It is not safe for a lady.”

Audrey lengthened her spine. She was
not going to sit here like some delicate lady waiting for someone
else to free Jordan. She was perfectly capable of thinking and
investigating as the gentlemen and they hadn’t come up with answers
so who was to say she wouldn’t. “I will go alone, if necessary, but
I am going.”

The brothers shared a look. Bentley
finally moved toward her. “I will take you.”

“I will go along,” Elizabeth
offered.

Bentley looked to John, as if he needed
to give approval for his wife to accompany them. John simply
shrugged. “You should have someone to protect you.”

“Thank you for the vote of confidence,”
Bentley offered dryly.

Audrey had never been to the docks
before and was amazed at the number of people and constant
activity. Men operated large pulleys, lifting crates off of ships,
workers shouted to each other and seagulls squawked and flew about.
The carriage stopped before a large storehouse and Bentley assisted
the ladies out and escorted them in to the one she assumed belonged
to Lady Rothsbury’s brother. A huge bulk of a man approached and
Audrey had to tilt her head back to look up at him.

“I need to see Mr. Jonathan Bridges,”
Bentley informed the man.

“Who might you be?” the large man
asked.

“Lord Bentley and this is Mrs. John
Trent and Miss Audrey Montgomery.”

The man crossed his thick arms over his
barreled chest and nodded to a set of wooden stairs leading to what
Audrey suspected was an upstairs office.

Bentley offered his thanks and turned
toward the stairs. Elizabeth went first, followed by Audrey and
then Bentley. The steps ended at the entrance to a rather large
office. A man with sandy hair was bent over his desk, reading some
sort of document.

He glanced up at their entrance and
stood. “Is there any word about your brother?”

Bentley strode toward the desk, stuck
out his hand and introduced himself. “We need to ask you a few more
questions about the night your sister was attacked.”

Bridges gestured to the chairs before
the desk. “Please, have a seat.”

“He didn’t attack Lady Rothsbury,”
Audrey felt the need to inform him.

“Of course not,” Bridges shook his
head. “Bow Street is rushing to judgment and not listening to
reason.”

She relaxed back into her seat. Audrey
wasn’t sure what she would have done if Mr. Bridges had thought
that Jordan was guilty. “Who do you think attacked her?”