Tenacious Trents 03 - A Reluctant Rake (39 page)

Should Audrey trust her? If no one
could hear then it wouldn’t hurt to scream. She opened her mouth
and let go of the loudest scream she could muster. Millicent smiled
and polished the blade.

Audrey waited. She could hear no sound
of footsteps coming from the hall. Was she really so alone with
Millicent?

“Whoever cut those whores did me a
favor.”

Audrey blinked at Millicent. What was
she talking about?

“My Jordan was spending too much time
in their company. Now that their beauty has been destroyed he will
want nothing to do with them.”

Audrey was going to point out that he
hadn’t seen the women since their injuries because he had been in
Newgate but there was no reason to further agitate Millicent given
she was practically caressing the blade of the knife.

“It occurred to me that if I scarred
you in the same manner he would no longer want you.”

“You can’t go around maiming any woman
Trent happens to glance at.”

Millicent cocked her head and looked at
Audrey, a thoughtful look upon her face. “You call him Trent. Has
he not given you leave to use his first name?”

Actually, he hadn’t. It was not
something they ever discussed. One day he was Mr. Trent, then Trent
and then Jordan. It was a progression that one has as a
relationship moves forward, not that she would say as much to
Millicent.

“He has been Jordan to me for a year.”
She smiled. “Of course, when a couple shares a child, they are much
too intimate to call each other anything other than by their
Christian name.” Millicent blew on the blade and then polished it
with her handkerchief. “It is nice to know you and he have not been
intimate.” She glanced up. “Otherwise, I might be forced to kill
you instead.”

“If you didn’t cut Lady Rothsbury or
Angelique, who did?”

Millicent shrugged. “I have no idea,
but I thank them for taking care of the situation and the idea of
what to be done with you.”

Fear lodged in Audrey’s throat as
Millicent leaned forward and drew the blade down her cheek. Tears
fogged her vision but she blinked them away. One leaked out and ran
down her cheek.

“Ah, so sweet.” Millicent wiped it away
with the pad of her thumb. “I promise to try and not cause you too
much pain.”

Audrey bit her upper lip as Millicent
grasped her jaw to hold Audrey’s head steady. “You will heal in no
time, but the scar will be hideous.” She grinned again. “Jordan
won’t want you when I am done and he will be all mine.”

Jordan lay on the bench, eyes closed
and going over his options. It would be easier to concentrate if
his head didn’t hurt so much. What happened? The carriage gently
swayed as it traveled along the road and he wished he could
disappear into oblivion again and wake when the pain was
gone.

“
I know you are awake,”
Lydell said from his side of the carriage.

Jordan slowly opened his eyes and
waited for his vision to clear. He then struggled to a seated
position, finding it difficult to balance since Lydell had tied his
hands in front of him. Jordan stared at his one-time friend. None
of this was making sense and he was trying to remember where he was
and what was happening. He tried to think back over the events that
brought him here. The last clear memory he had was leaving Newgate.
He was going to pack and take Audrey to her father and gain
permission to marry. What happened after that? He wouldn’t have
left London without Audrey and he certainly wouldn’t have decided
to travel with Lydell instead.

Why were his hands tied? “What do you
intend to do with me.”

“That all depends on what Millicent has
done to Miss Montgomery.”

Fear lurched inside him at the thought
of Audrey being alone with that deranged woman. Jordan knew deep
down to fear for Audrey and wasn’t sure why. Is that why he was
with Lydell now? Were they going after his wife? Yet, if Lydell was
to help him, he wouldn’t have tied his hands.

The pain increased the more he tried to
concentrate and Jordan closed his eyes and simply tried to clear
the thoughts from his mind, hoping the fog would clear from his
brain.

Lydell leaned forward. “We will be at
the estate shortly and I want to caution you about warning your
driver or calling out for help.” He produced a pistol from inside
his jacket.

Jordan focused on the barrel of the
gun. The odds of him escaping quickly diminished.

“You will tell your driver to go on
into the house.”

“He will see that my hands are tied,”
Jordan pointed out.

“Not if you call to him from inside the
carriage.”

The carriage began to slow.

“Do not contradict me,” Lydell
warned.

Jordan lifted and eyebrow in challenge.
“If I do?”

“Then I will kill the driver and Miss
Montgomery next.”

There was a cold glint in Lydell’s
light eyes and a hard edge to his tone. Jordan couldn’t risk the
driver, and especially Audrey, being hurt or killed. He gave a
quick nod of his head.

The carriage rolled to a stop. The
weight shifted in the front as the driver moved from his seat and
jumped to the ground.

Lydell tossed a blanket on top of
Jordan to hide his hands and the rope wrapped around his wrists.
The door swung open.

The driver jerked back and frowned.
“Are you alright, Mr. Trent?”

Jordan slowly nodded.

“Mr. Trent fell off the bench and hit
his head while he slept,” Lydell explained. “I will have my footmen
come out and escort him inside.”

“I will be happy to help.”

“It isn’t necessary,” Jordan answered.
He wanted the driver away from here before Lydell shot him. The gun
may be out of sight again but Lydell could shoot through his pocket
if necessary.

“It has been a long night. Have
something to eat and get some rest. I will be fine.”

The driver paused, reluctant to leave
Trent.

“I’ll see that he is taken care of,”
Lydell insisted as he rose from his seat to exit the
carriage.

“If you insist.” The driver took a step
back.

“I do.” Jordan somehow managed to offer
an encouraging smile.

Lydell jumped to the ground and waited
until the driver had disappeared around the side of the house
before motioning Jordan out of the carriage. They walked toward the
front door, Lydell behind him and Jordan could feel the pistol in
his back.

Nobody was there to greet them and
Lydell unlocked and open the door. The two stepped inside and if
Jordan had hoped there was a servant who would come to his rescue
he was sadly disappointment. There wasn’t one in sight.

“We are short of staff at the moment.”
Lydell nodded toward the grand staircase. “Millicent managed to
fire over half the servants before we left for London. She was
going to worry about hiring replacements when we returned in the
summer.”

Jordan began climbing the steps, taking
them slowly. His mind worked frantically at a way to get out of
this predicament. He could try and push Lydell down the stairs but
what if the gun went off and he shot Jordan? And, he wasn’t much
use with his hands tied together like this.

“I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this,”
Lydell muttered, almost apologetically. “I rather like you but as
long as you live and breathe Millicent will never really be
mine.”

“You intend to kill me?”

“Eventually,” Lydell answered. “You
won’t be returning to London. I just need to figure out what to do
with your body.”

At least he had some time, though
Jordan had no idea of knowing how much. He glanced around.
Shouldn’t there be a few servants around even if the manor was only
half staffed?

“Turn left at the top of the
stairs.”

“Where are we going?”

“To the family wing.”

For some reason this gave Jordan
comfort. Certainly Lydell wouldn’t kill him where he
slept.

He turned as instructed and continued
down the corridor and stopped at an arched entry with two heavy
doors. Lydell opened one and ushered Jordan inside. “The servants
never come in here unless summoned. The walls and doors are thick
so nobody will hear you even if they are right outside those
doors.”

Ahead of him was a central sitting room
with four separate doors. This area was almost as if it was a
separate apartment of rooms instead of being part of the manor
house.

Audrey wasn’t anywhere to be found. Was
she in one of the chambers? Was she in danger?

Jordan took a step forward intending to
find Audrey when a blood curdling scream reverberated from the
chamber at the end of the room.

He took off at a run. He had to save
her. Even if his hands were tied he would find a way to save
Audrey. Lydell was running after him, not giving chase, but Jordan
suspected the man wanted to stop his wife from whatever she was
doing.

His heart stopped when he entered the
room, his eyes fixated on Audrey, lying on the bed, eyes wide with
stark fear as Millicent placed the blade against her cheek. One
droplet of blood emerged as she pressed and broke the delicate
skin.

“Stop,” Jordan yelled.

Millicent jerked but thankfully didn’t
cut into Audrey’s cheek further. Her face lit with joy as she
dropped the knife and moved toward Jordan, arms open. Did she think
he had come for her?

“If you harm Audrey I will never
forgive you, Millicent.”

She frowned. “But if she is ugly you
won’t want her any longer.”

It wouldn’t matter to him how scarred
Audrey was because he would always want her though he didn’t voice
the thought to Millicent as it could possibly enrage
her.

“I am here now,” he said instead. “Just
let her go.”

Millicent glanced back at Audrey, then
at Jordan.

“Don’t let her go,” Lydell ordered.
“She will bring all of Bow Street down on us.”

Millicent bit her bottom lip and her
gaze shifted to Jordan’s hands. “Why is he tied?”

“He needs to be gone.”

Millicent rushed forward and put her
arms around Jordan. “I won’t let you hurt him. He is mine, the
father of my daughter.”

“He is not,” Lydell yelled and grabbed
Millicent, turning her until he faced her, his hands firm on her
upper arms. “I’ve told you repeatedly. It was I who came to you
that night. Trent was never there. I am the father of our
daughter.”

She stared up at him. Worry creased her
brow. “Why would you lie to me?”

“I lied that night to get into your
bed. I am not lying now.”

Millicent glanced at Jordan and then
back to Lydell. “I don’t know what to believe.”

“Believe your husband,” Jordan said
quietly.

Tears formed in her eyes and Jordan
suspected this was the first time in months she may be facing the
truth or leaving her deranged world. While it was a relief, it
could very well be dangerous for him and Audrey. Her madness was
too hard to predict and they could both be dead within the
hour.

“Did you harm those women, Millicent?”
Jordan had once dismissed the idea because he thought it impossible
until he saw her with a knife pressed against Audrey’s cheek. He no
longer knew what to believe.

“No,” she answered. “But it did get
them out of my way so I thought to do the same to
Audrey.”

“I did it,” Lydell
announced.

Jordan’s head snapped to Lydell. He
attacked Lady Rothsbury and Angelique. “Why?”

“For the reason Millicent stated. Once
they were scarred you would leave them and concentrate on Miss
Montgomery. I needed you married, Trent, so my wife would stop
going after you.”

For a moment he thought he was going to
be ill. It never occurred to him that Lydell attacked the women.
Was the husband as mad as the wife?

“Oh, Peter,” Millicent put a hand to
her husband’s cheek. “You did that for me?”