An Unexpected Gift by Katherine Grey Read Free Book Online

their pre-arranged signal, Fingers nodded to Muldoon, who leaned against the building, and sank deeper into the shadows and waited for their prey.
    A few minutes later, he heard footsteps coming in his direction. He waited until the rich toff passed by, then pounced. He and Muldoon grabbed the man by his arms and bundled him toward the waiting coach.
    “What the devil?” Lord Glenville tried to pull free, drag his feet, anything to stop the forward momentum, but Fingers kept them moving.
    One hard shove between the shoulder blades sent his lordship careening into the coach. He landed on the floor with a thud, his shoulder bouncing off the opposite wall. Fingers followed him in, tossing a guinea to Muldoon for his trouble. As soon as Fingers pulled the door shut, the coach shot into motion.
    Glenville scrambled to his knees and grabbed the bench seat to keep from being thrown sideways as the coach careened around a corner. Fingers smiled in the darkness. Patrick was the fastest coach driver in all of St. Giles. His lordship was in for quite a ride. “Take a seat, Guv’nor.” Fingers lit the lamp nearest to him.
    Glenville squinted against the sudden light. He slid onto the leather seat and faced his abductor. “What is this about? Do you know who I am?”
    “Aye. The Earl of Glenville.” Fingers spit on the floor in a show of disrespect. “Lazarus wants to see ye.” He leaned back against the buttery leather seat.
    “If this person wants to see me, he can call on me at the appropriate time. Now, I suggest you order the driver to take me back to White’s before you find yourself in trouble with the law.”
    “Ooh, you be siccin‘ the Watch on us then?” Fingers rubbed his hands together with glee. It had been some time since he’d pitted his skills against the law. “Mayhap a Bow Street Runner, too?”
    To prove their excursion wasn’t a lark, he pulled his pistol from within the folds of his coat. “There isna gonna be a single thing the law ”—he sneered the two words—“kin do. We’re jus’ going for a ride, two friends meeting another.”
    His lordship glanced from Finger’s face to the gun.
    Fingers cocked the pistol. He wanted the earl to have no doubts that he would shoot him without a moment’s regret. He deserved anything that happened to him for the way he’d treated his wife, and if that “anything” happened to be fatal, Fingers was certain the Lady Glenville wouldn’t be shedding any tears.
    Silence stretched between them, the tension growing with each passing mile. Fingers didn’t allow either his gaze or the pistol to waver from his quarry. He hoped the intensity of his stare caused the earl to grow more and more uneasy. It served the bastard right.
    “Where the blazes are you taking me?” Glenville demanded, finally finding his tongue, not to mention his courage.
    The coach rolled to a stop just as Fingers opened his mouth to respond. The door opened from the outside. He gestured toward it with the gun. “Get out.”
    Glenville shook his head. “I don’t think so. If you’re going to shoot me, you’ll do it here.”
    “I willna shoot ye. Yet. Now get out. Lazarus is waitin’.”
    “Tell him to come inside. We can talk in here just as well as we can out there.”
    “Nobody tells Lazarus what to do.” Fingers looked toward the door, then tilted his head toward the earl.
    Two hands reached into the coach and dragged the earl out. He landed in a heap at the side of the road.
    Jumping to his feet, he advanced on Patrick. “What the bloody hell is going on here. I demand—”
    “You aren’t in much of a position to be demanding anything.”
    Glenville spun to the left, scanning the thick copse of trees.
    A man dressed in black moved out of the shadows behind the earl. He nodded to Fingers and moved closer.
    Glenville turned to face him. “You must be Lazarus.
    Will inclined his head. “I am he.”
    “And do you know the penalty for kidnapping a member of the