The Kidnapped Bride (Redcakes Book 4)

The Kidnapped Bride (Redcakes Book 4) by Heather Hiestand Read Free Book Online

Book: The Kidnapped Bride (Redcakes Book 4) by Heather Hiestand Read Free Book Online
Authors: Heather Hiestand
“Can you stand, holding the building?”
    She didn’t speak, just took a halting step, leaning against the wall where he’d placed her. He pulled out his other pistol, holding it in both hands as he stepped backward.
    More shots, a scream off to the left as one of the men appeared, missing him and the lady around the building, and headed toward the first woman.
    “We can’t let them get her,” Lady Elizabeth whispered.
    “I have to keep ye safe. You’re hurt.”
    “Get me to the constables, then go back for her.”
    The hell he would. Lady Elizabeth was his prize, not some unfortunate who’d been caught in the white slavers’ net.
    He heard halting footsteps along the building, probably the man he’d shot. Was his pistol loaded? He had to deal with the man, finish him. Anyone who knew about Lady Elizabeth’s presence this night would doom them. But another gunshot might bring the second, uninjured man running.
    Damn the constables, where were they?
    He shoved his loaded pistol into his belt and pulled the knife from his boot. It would do the business more quietly. Crouching down, he felt for stable footing on the slick bricks under his boots. When he found a dry spot, he sprang forward, finding a pair of shoulders with his free arm. He wrapped it around and held his knife to his opponent’s throat.
    But it was wrong. Very wrong. The shoulders were slight. He felt a fluffy shawl rather than a coat. Spinning around, he pulled the woman into the space between the warehouses.
    “Where’s the man?” he rasped, dropping his knife into a greatcoat pocket.
    “He went back into the warehouse. He’s going to the boat to get help, but he was bleeding.” The voice was English.
    “Were you one of the women inside?”
    He felt her nod. “I was too scared to go with you. I thought it was a trick.”
    “What’s your name?”
    “Beth Cross.”
    He frowned, his hand dropping from her throat. Beth Cross sounded a lot like an alias Lady Elizabeth Shield would use. He’d heard Lord Judah refer to his sister as Beth, and Cross was the jewel thief’s last name. But then who was the girl he’d carried? He pulled the new girl with him and followed the girl who still stumbled along the buildings.
    In only a few steps he’d caught up with her and stopped her with a hand against her back. “We can’t go out that way. The man I shot got away.”
    “We can’t go back; the other man is in the wynd.”
    “We need to go between the buildings. Stay in the shadows. This rain will help. Can you walk without support?” He’d figure out their various identities later.
    “I’m not as dizzy. The fresh air helps.”
    He positioned himself between them and took an upper arm of each in a fist. “Sailor, two doxies, stumbling along,” he said. “Just shapes in the rain.”
    Slowly, they stepped between the warehouses and out to the main road. He could see lanterns moving onboard The Lady Shore , but they hadn’t come down the gangplank yet. The man he’d shot must still be explaining his misadventures. No one spotted them.
    They passed by one warehouse, then another, then a public house on the corner of two roads. He could no longer see the ship. Making a decision, he pulled the women up the street alongside the public house, hoping to make their way to the police station.
    Light spilled from the door as it opened. A woman stumbled out, crying for help. Without meaning to, his eyes went to her. Could she be the first woman from the warehouse, come into the public house from a door off the wynd? Two men pushed her back as she leaned against the doorway, holding her side and breathing hard. Then a third man ran past, hulking yet puffing, like the woman, and knocked her down. He clutched at the red handkerchief around his neck with a beefy paw, but when Dougal saw the pistol in his other hand, he gripped the women at his sides more tightly and dragged them into a stumbling walk.
    The woman in the doorway called out and stepped

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