Tenacious Trents 03 - A Reluctant Rake (45 page)

A footman he recognized from the Lydell
estate stood at the counter speaking with the owner.

“There is Mr. Trent now.”

The footman turned and grinned. “We
found the key.”

Relief shot through Jordan. Audrey
would be thrilled that she would not have to wait until sometime
tomorrow to be free of those shackles. “Thank you.” He searched for
his coin purse but the man held up his hands and backed away. “It
isn’t necessary, Mr. Trent.” He handed him the key and bolted out
the door.

Jordan simply stared after the lad
before turning and mounting the stairs. He unlocked the door and
pushed it open; trying to be as quiet as possible though he knew he
would be waking Audrey any moment so he could finally unlock the
irons.

He glanced toward the bed. She was
sitting up watching the door. Most of her hair had come loose and
was hanging about her shoulders. The blouse and jacket were open,
revealing her breasts though the delightful coral nipples were
covered. She looked tussled and well loved. His cock swelled. The
walk had not been nearly long enough.

Audrey fought the panic of waking
alone. Where had Jordan gone? Was it her wanton behavior what drove
him away? But he was the one who did those delicious things to her.
Should she have said no? How could she have? She had never
experienced anything so wonderful in her life.

The lock clicked in the door and she
stared at it, praying it was Jordan and nobody else.

The door slowly opened and he stepped
inside. Relief washed over here.

He grinned at her and held up a
key.

“They found it?”

Jordan laughed as he crossed the room.
“A footman just brought it to me.”

Audrey sat further up and produced her
wrists. She couldn’t get these off soon enough.

Jordan pulled a chair up to the side of
the bed. She settled her wrists on his knees and held her breath.
Jordan bent over and began fighting with the key in the lock. He
could only screw it in so far before it stopped. He then tried with
the other wrist and again the screw would only go so far. Panic
welled up. What if it wasn’t the right key? He shifted and more
light shown on her wrists.

Jordan went back to trying to make the
key work, turning it with such force that his knuckles turned
white. Was it the wrong key?

“Let’s move to the table. That surface
might be better.”

Audrey grasped the blanket for cover
since she hadn’t put her riding skirt back on and hobbled to the
table trying not to reveal her lower body but it was deuced
difficult to hold the blanket so everything was covered with her
hands like this. Jordan didn’t even glance at her and picked up the
lamp to place it on the table beside them. He once again bent to
work at the lock on her right wrist, trying to make the lock come
loose.

“What is wrong?” Audrey finally
asked.

“I am afraid there is too much
rust.”

Of course there was. The outside
surface and where the links joined were rusted as well, but not
enough to weaken the metal so that she could break them
apart.

“There must be something that can be
done.” What if she was stuck like this forever. No. She couldn’t
even think that way. The locksmith would be here tomorrow and he
would know what to do.

Jordan sat back in his chair, and
looked around the room while rubbing his chin. Despite her
disappointment in not being free, she couldn’t help but admire his
handsome profile. She wondered if his face itched. Every time she
had seen him he had been clean shaven. There was at least a days’
worth of dark stubble along his chin and jaw line. In a day or two
he might have a full beard. It made his appearance a bit more
wicked, though that could only be because of what he had done to
her earlier. Her face heated as she remembered his head between her
thighs and where he had kissed her. Goodness, she never dreamed
such things occurred. Would he wish for her to do the same to him
and would she even know how?

“We had a gardener on the estate when I
was a child,” Jordan said a few moments later. “Some tools had been
left out over winter.”

Audrey frowned. “Shouldn’t a gardener
be more careful with his items?”

Jordan offered her a sheepish grin. “I
left them out, John and I. I can’t remember what we were playing at
but we didn’t put them away and winter came.”

“They rusted?” she prompted.

“Yes,” Jordan chuckled. “The gardener
made us clean them.”

Audrey leaned forward.

“Oil if I remember. It loosened the
rust.”

Hope began to grow. “Do you have
any?”

He laughed again. “I do not carry oil
with me, but they should have some in the stable. He rose from the
chair, kissed her on the forehead and disappeared. Audrey drummed
her fingers against the table. She wanted these off her wrists more
than anything and hoped Jordan could find what he
needed.

He returned a moment later with a small
container and soft rages. “The stable hand gave me these.” He set
the items on the table, turned her wrists so that the opening to
the lock faced the ceiling. Slowly he poured liquid into the lock
on her right wrist. She tried to turn her left hand so that lock
was facing up as well but the chain wasn’t long enough that she
could hold both arms in the correct position.

Jordan sat back.

“Now what?”

“We need to give it time to penetrate
the rust. I remember trying to clean tools and when they couldn’t
come clean the gardener told me that I just couldn’t pour it on and
wipe off but had to wait for it to be absorbed.

Audrey slumped. “How long?”

Jordan shrugged. “I can’t remember but
it seemed like a very long time to a ten-year-old boy.”

“It seems like a very long time for a
twenty-one-year-old female.”

He hitched a brow. “So, that is how old
you are.”

“You didn’t know?” She assumed he did.
Ages were not a secret amongst society, especially if one was an
unmarried lady. If she recalled, he was one and thirty, ten years
older than her.

“It never mattered.”

“I am practically a child compared to
your ancient years and experience,” she teased.

Jordan looked at her bodice and a smile
tugged at his lips. “Hardly a child, my love.”

Audrey glanced down. Her blouse and
coat still hung open from earlier. Her breasts strained against the
chemise. A shiver ran over her skin and her nipples tightened.
Audrey wasn’t sure if it was from the chill in the air or Jordan’s
smoldering look.

He grasped the bottle of wine and
poured a glass before taking a sip. She was parched and licked her
lips. Jordan leaned forward and placed the goblet to her mouth so
she could drink. She couldn’t wait to feed herself again, though it
had been rather fun when Jordan had done so for her.

“Do you think it has been long
enough?”

“Perhaps.” He picked up the key again
and inserted it into the lock. Instead of trying to make it work,
he moved it about as if scrubbing the inside and then stopped and
set it aside.

He wasn’t giving up already, was he?
Instead he reached into a pocket and took out the cork-skrew. “I
don’t want to ruin the key or wear it down so it doesn’t
work.”

Audrey nodded and resisted the urge to
bounce her leg in anticipation and nervousness.

He went back to scraping the inside
with the corkscrew. Goodness those things had more uses than she
realized. He had used it to pick a lock and now on her cuffs. He
tilted the cuff slightly and reddish brown oil ran out. That was
good, wasn’t it? Once again he inserted the key and this time he
tried to turn it. “I don’t want to force it because I don’t want
the key to break in the lock.”

She nodded. This had to work. It just
had to.

Jordan poured a bit more oil into the
lock. He took a sip of his wine and then offered a drink to her.
Audrey simply sighed. This could take the rest of the
night.

Once again he used the corkscrew to
loosen up the rust on the inside of the lock. It still didn’t give
and he poured the oil in once again.

Audrey blew out a breath in
frustration. Jordan refilled the goblet and offered her another
drink.

“I went shopping today, while you
slept.”

She watched as he crossed the room and
picked a package up off of his small trunk and began to unwrap it.
He held up two dresses, both made of a light blue material. “I hope
they fit.”

Her heart warmed. “Thank
you.”

“As we will be traveling to your
parent’s home from here, I thought you may wish for a change of
clothing.”

“I cannot wait to be out of this riding
habit,” she admitted.

He quirked a brow. “As it is, you are
only wearing half of it.”

Her face heated and she would have
wrapped the blanket tighter except she had to keep her hands on the
table so the oil didn’t spill out of the lock.

“It didn’t occur to me to get you a
nightshift, though.”

He was kind enough to buy her two new
dresses so she certainly wasn’t going to complain. “I don’t mind
sleeping in my clothing.”

“I am sure there is a shirt in my trunk
you can use.”

Though one of his nightshirts would be
large on her, it was better than sleeping in a dress. “Thank
you.”

He folded her dresses and came back to
the table. “Shall we try again?”

Audrey nodded and held her breath.
Please let it work this time.

Once again he used the key to loosen
the rust then tilted the shackles so that the oil ran out. He then
inserted the key again, took an audible breath and turned. It
turned and the shackle on her right wrist loosened and Jordan was
able to disengage the metal from the latch and Audrey drew her hand
free. She stretched her arm out and around, the muscles in her
shoulder protesting at the movement.

“Shall we work on the other,” he asked
with a grin.

“Yes,” she nearly cried and turned the
left wrist so that Jordan could have access to the
keyhole.

Less than an hour later she was free of
the shackles completely and Audrey stretched the left arm much as
she had done the right one earlier and winced.

“What is wrong?”

“I am sore is all. Much like when I’ve
been training new horses and holding reins for too
long.”

He gave her a nod and a smile as if he
knew exactly what she was experiencing. She didn’t really care how
sore she was because she was free and wanted to dance and shout for
joy. The goblet still rested on the table and she reached for it,
thankful to be able to serve herself. Jordan stopped her by
grasping her hand. He turned her hand over and to the side,
inspecting the bruises and scratches caused by the
cuffs.

“Stay here.”

She hadn’t really intended on going
anywhere but watched as he moved across the room and picked up
another package. He carried it back to place mysterious jars on the
table. He picked up one, read the label and then set it back down.
He did the same for the second and uncorked the lid. Jordan then
poured some form of light colored lotion into his hand and gently
grasped her wrist. “I also visited an apothecary while you slept.”
He began to gently rub the lotion onto both wrists. The coolness
felt good against the swollen skin and his touch was very
soothing.

“Thank you.”

Though his head was bent he glanced up
at her. “It is my pleasure.”

She sighed and leaned back, letting him
take care of her injury.

When he was finished he picked up the
first bottle. “This is what my valet rubs into my shoulders and
back after I have been to Gentleman Jackson’s. It will help with
the ache.”

Audrey studied it. How was she going to
manage to do that?

He stood and offered his hand. Audrey
eyed him but came to her feet. She didn’t take his offered hand
because she was holding the blanket and wrapped it around her lower
body.