Jen Turano - [Ladies of Distinction 02]

by A Most Peculiar Circumstance

  She opened her eyes and found Katherine staring back at her.

  “Did you ask Him for help?”

  “I did, and you could ask Him too. Again, it’s not that hard, and we can use all the help we can get.”

  Katherine nodded, closed her eyes, and then a second later opened them.

  “That was fast.”

  “I just said ‘help’ and thought God would understand and—”

  The wagon suddenly tilted to the right, and Arabella grabbed hold of Katherine as they tumbled around on the floor, coming to a stop when they hit the rough sides of the wagon. She pushed up to a sitting position, shoved aside a lock of hair that had slipped into her eyes, and smiled. “I think God might just have answered our prayers. Unless I’m mistaken, we’re stuck, and that’s certain to slow those men down.”

  Seconds later, the door to the delivery wagon swung open. Arabella leaned forward, trying to make out the man’s features, but the setting sun was at his back, casting his face in shadow.

  “You’re going to have to push this wagon out of the snow.”

  Arabella crossed her arms over her chest. “I think not.”

  The man shoved a hand into his pocket, pulled out Arabella’s pistol, and pointed it directly at her. “Don’t tempt me to use this on you. You’ve caused me far too much trouble as it is, and even though I have a buyer for you, my patience is beginning to wane.”

  “You found a buyer for Arabella?” Katherine asked.

  “He’ll pay a pretty penny for you too, miss,” the man said as he leaned closer, his face coming into view.

  He was the man who’d given her directions to the farmhouse.

  “You’re almost as beautiful as that one there, even though you’re not as young as we normally like. Wallace and I are thinking about telling our contact the two of you are sisters. Sisters always fetch a good fee.”

  “Wallace is the man I shot?” Arabella asked.

  “I shouldn’t have told you that,” the man muttered before he brightened. “It doesn’t really matter, though. Where you’re going, it’s not likely you’ll find anyone to tell.”

  Katherine stiffened. “Out of curiosity, where are you taking us?”

  “You’re going across the ocean, my dear,” the man said. “Our contact has a man in India who pays well for light-skinned women.” He gestured to Arabella with the gun. “I knew as soon as I saw you get off that train in Gilman that our fortunes were about to increase. That’s why we followed you here. Took us a bit of time to find you, and Wallace and I were run ragged trying to keep track of your friends, but when we saw trunks being taken out of the Beckett house, we knew we’d finally found a way to get to you.” He rubbed his hands together. “The money we’ll get from this venture will let us go on a nice little holiday until things settle down and we can set up shop again.”

  “Carter, what’s the holdup? We need to get moving, because the nosy gent who brought that Beckett chit out here doesn’t seem the type who’ll just sit back and do nothing.”

  Carter turned and spit on the ground just as Wallace appeared beside him. Arabella couldn’t help but feel a sliver of satisfaction when she noticed Wallace rubbing the arm she’d lodged a bullet in. She flinched when he set his sights on her and narrowed his eyes.

  “It’s unfortunate you’re worth so much money to us, Miss Beckett, or I swear, I’d extract retribution for my arm right here and now.”

  Arabella lifted her chin. “It’s unfortunate I only aimed to wound you.”

  “That’s a mistake you’ll never be able to rectify,” Wallace said. He took Arabella’s gun from Carter, stuffed it in his boot, and sent her a mocking smile. “Now, get out of the wagon and help us get it unstuck.”

  Knowing she had no choice, Arabella climbed out of the wagon and turned to help Katherine down. Katherine pushed down her skirt and set her sights on Wallace.

  “For your information, that ‘nosy gent’ is not only a private investigator, he’s also my brother. Add in the pesky little fact that he’s a special agent for the government, and you must realize he’ll never rest until he tracks you down.”

  Wallace exchanged a look with Carter and then turned back to Katherine. “You’re just trying to rattle us.” He gestured to the wagon. “Get digging.”

  Arabella slid through the snow to the stuck wheel and began digging with her hands, making certain not to scoop up too much snow. She needed to waste as much time as possible in case Theodore was already looking for them. Her hands quickly became numb, but she didn’t stop, and a glance to Katherine showed her that her friend apparently had the same idea because Katherine was only throwing tiny bits of snow over her head.

  She jumped in surprise when Wallace suddenly let out a grunt.

  “This is no good. It’s taking too long.” He nodded to Carter. “We’re going to have to free the horses. We can ride on them back to the city.”

  “Why didn’t you think of that before?” Carter snapped. “We’ve been wasting time.”

  Wallace didn’t bother to reply but moved to the horses and released them. He turned to Arabella and waved her forward.

  Arabella stood there for a moment, her mind whirling. If she got on that horse, well, it would not be good. She lifted her chin, dropped the snow she was holding, and shook her head.

  Stars suddenly erupted behind her eyes as pain washed over her. She stumbled forward and then fell, turning to squint up at Carter, who’d just punched her squarely in the face. She blinked as tears flooded her eyes from the pain, but held up a hand when she saw Katherine trying to get to her. “I’m fine,” she said. She struggled to get out of the snow, rising on shaky legs to a standing position, lifting her chin again as she stared at Carter.

  “You’re despicable,” she hissed before she made her way to where Wallace was now sitting on a horse. She took the hand he offered her and let him pull her up, fighting back revulsion when she was forced to wrap her arms around his waist when the horse started moving. She glanced over her shoulder to check on Katherine, rage coursing through her when she saw a trickle of tears running down Katherine’s face as she sat behind Carter on his horse. Arabella tried to send her an encouraging smile, but found that her mouth was already swollen and stiff. The horse moved into a gallop, and she tightened her grip, her rage quickly being replaced with fear as the direness of their predicament set in.

  No one spoke as the horses galloped the best they could down the snow-packed road. Time passed by in a blur, until Arabella looked up and discovered they were on the edge of the city. Panic began sweeping over her as she realized they were almost certainly close to their destination.

  She needed a plan.

  Nothing came to her except distracting Wallace until she could think of something helpful.

  She cleared her throat and then pitched her voice to be heard over the pounding hooves of the horse. “Are you taking us where you’ve stashed the other women?”

  “What?” Wallace asked.

  “You know, the women you’ve been snatching off the streets. The prostitutes.”

  “I don’t deal with prostitutes. Be quiet until I figure out where the building we’re supposed to meet our contact is.”

  She ignored his request. “Surely we’re not going to be sold tonight?”

  “Surely you don’t think I want to suffer one more minute than I have to in your company?” Wallace countered. “Carter and I had a sweet thing going in Gilman until you showed up. We were making a fortune, but then you brought the law down on us and we had no choice but to move on. You have only yourself to blame for your predicament. If you’d left well enough alone, we might not have felt the urge to come after you. You left us with a nasty mess when you stole that young girl from under our noses. Carter had already taken the money, you see, and we didn’t want to give it back. Not that we could’ve, mind you. We spent almost every cent that man gave us, and then you stole our prize.”

  “You should have been more frugal.”


  “We’ll pay the man after we collect the fee for you, and then we’ll find him another sweet young thing.”

  “Do you ever consider the life you’re forcing women into?”

  “The ladies shouldn’t have too many complaints. It’s not like I’m selling them to poor, desperate beasts. I’m doing women a service, setting them up with a better lot in life. You’ll be pampered and adored in India. I hardly see why you feel you have room to complain.”

  “Oh yes, I don’t understand why I’m not falling at your feet in gratitude over the idea I’m to become some man’s slave.”

  “Is that really any different from becoming some man’s wife?”

  Before Arabella could respond to that piece of insanity, Carter let out a whistle from behind them.

  “It’s up there, Wallace, just past that light.”

  Arabella peered through the darkness and saw the outline of a large building loom into her sight. From what she could discern, there was no one around to lend them assistance. She closed her eyes.

  Please be with me, Lord.

  She opened her eyes, took a deep breath, and launched herself from the horse, rolling over in the slush and jumping to her feet before Wallace realized what she’d done. She ran to his side and pulled her pistol out of his boot, but before she had a chance to pull the trigger, she was knocked to the ground by a blow to the back of her head. She kept her grip on the pistol even as a heavy boot planted itself on her back.

  “You’ll not be shooting anyone again,” Carter said, grabbing her by the back of her dress and hauling her to her feet. Stars exploded once again as Carter backhanded her across the face.

  A menacing growl sounded from behind her. “That was a mistake.”

  Arabella found herself flying through the air to land in another pile of slush as Theodore’s body plowed into Carter’s, the sound of his fists pummeling the man loud in the eerie fog surrounding her. She watched in horror as Wallace jumped from his horse and entered the fight.

  Her fingers tightened on her pistol.

  She jumped to her feet, shook her head to clear it, and raised her hand.

  “Don’t shoot,” Katherine screamed. “You might hit Theodore.”

  Before Arabella could even nod in agreement, another figure hurtled out of the darkness.

  It was George, and it was immediately clear he’d spent his life in dangerous situations, because although he was almost eighty years old, he didn’t hesitate to grab Wallace by the back of his shirt and swing him around, planting a fist in the man’s face.

  “Good one, Father,” Samuel yelled, who seemed to appear out of thin air, jumping into the fray.

  Less than two minutes later, it was over.

  Wallace and Carter lay on the ground, both men unconscious as Theodore, Samuel, and George made short shrift of tying them up.

  Arabella turned and found Katherine by her side. She reached out and put a shaking arm around Katherine’s shoulders, pulling her in for a good squeeze. “That was a close call.”

  Katherine let out a watery snort. “Indeed it was, but at least we’re safe.”

  Arabella frowned. “Not quite yet.” She dropped her arm from around Katherine and slid her way over the slushy ground, stopping by Theodore, who was just finishing tying a knot around Wallace’s wrists. “Wallace told me there’s another man waiting around here somewhere.” She shivered. “He was waiting to buy us.”

  Theodore glanced at the pistol she was still gripping in her hand before he lifted his gaze. “Is that loaded?”

  “Of course.”

  He nodded to Samuel. “I need you to take Arabella’s pistol and make certain you keep it trained on these two. Grandfather and I will go and see if anyone else is around, but if we’re not back in five minutes, get Arabella and Katherine out of here.”

  Arabella shook her head. “We’re not leaving without you.”

  “This is hardly the moment to argue, Arabella. I’m concerned for your safety.”

  “I’m not arguing, but we’re not leaving without you.”

  “Fine, stay here then. Maybe someone else will come along who wants to do you in.”

  Arabella felt her temper flare ever so slightly as Theodore and George strode away. She turned to Katherine. “Did you just get the impression Theodore blames me for this whole abduction business?”

  A trace of a smile teased Katherine’s lips. “I’m sure that’s not true. He’s probably just worried about us because danger is still nipping at our heels, and he only has Father here to protect us.”

  “I do believe I’ve just been insulted,” Samuel muttered.

  “I certainly didn’t mean to insult you, Father, but I have a feeling Arabella is better equipped to handle that pistol of hers. We’ll let her keep it until Theodore and Grandfather come back.”

  Samuel looked as if he wanted to argue the point, but the sound of muffled carriage wheels drifted to their ears on the brisk breeze. Everyone froze for a second, but then Arabella spun around and leveled her pistol toward the sound. Her arm lowered when Samuel let out a sigh just as the carriage came into view.

  “I should have known,” Samuel said.

  Katherine took one step forward and stopped. “Good heavens, what is Harold doing here?”

  “He arrived just about the time we discovered you were missing,” Samuel answered.

  The carriage slowed, but Harold was out of it before it came to a complete stop. He charged up to Katherine, looked at her for a brief second, then pulled her into his arms, burying his head into her hair. “Don’t ever, ever, ever scare me like this again.”

  Katherine pushed her way out of his embrace and tilted her head. “What are you doing here, Harold?”

  “You didn’t think I’d remain at your grandparents’ after I found out you were missing, did you? I was preparing to unhitch the horses in order to join the rescue team, but realized Samuel, Theodore, and George had already left. Then Ethel and Louise descended on me, and I had no choice but to offer them a ride in the carriage. Good thing some of Theodore’s men were in front of us or we would have never found the trail.”

  “Theodore’s men are here?” Samuel asked.

  “They rode up ahead when they saw Theodore and George heading for that building.” Harold looked down and frowned. “Are those the men who abducted you?”

  Katherine nodded.

  Harold walked up to them and prodded Wallace with his boot. “Did they hurt you?”

  “They didn’t hurt me, but the one to your right hit Arabella.”

  Harold sent Arabella an odd look, moved to stand by Carter, and then calmly kicked him in the stomach. “Would you like a go at him?” he asked, turning his attention back to Arabella.

  Arabella realized her mouth was gaping open, but before she had the presence of mind to snap it shut, two bodies barreled out of the carriage, and she was soon enveloped in a strong hug.

  “My dear, you and Katherine have given us such a fright,” Ethel said in a shaky voice as she released her and stepped back.

  “Where did Theodore and George go?” Louise asked, giving Katherine a hug before looking around.

  “They went to see if they could find the gentleman those two men on the ground were going to sell our daughter and Miss Beckett to this evening,” Samuel said, moving to Louise’s side.

  Harold blinked. “Did you say sell?”

  “They said we would fetch top price,” Katherine explained. “Although that man you just kicked insinuated I wouldn’t fetch as much as Arabella. He seemed to think I was quite a bit older than she is, and I know we’re of the same age.”

  “Give or take a year or two,” Arabella said with a grin.

  Harold pointed to Carter. “He insulted you?”

  “He did, and he divested me of my gun. But instead of keeping it, he threw it into the snow. It was my favorite pistol, and now it’s lost to me forever.”

  “I’ll buy you a new pistol, darling,” Harold said. He then walked over to Carte
r and gave him another kick, earning a smile from Katherine. “What’s happened to you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “For one, you’re here, and forgive me, but you’re hardly your normal mild-mannered self. I’ve never seen you lash out at someone before, and I must admit I find it somewhat perplexing.”

  Harold crossed his arms over his chest. “Would you like me to apologize to the unconscious men?”

  “Certainly not. They deserve a sound thrashing for what they attempted to do to Arabella and me.”

  Harold nodded and delivered another swift kick to both men, causing Katherine to laugh nervously. “I think that will be quite enough, Harold, although I do sincerely appreciate your unexpected support.”

  “You say that as though my support has taken you by surprise.”

  “It has.”

  “You sounded surprised by the mere fact I came after you.”

  “And you sound annoyed by my surprise,” Katherine returned.

  “I came for you three days ago.”

  “I know. I was there when you broke the window.”

  “You allowed me to leave.”

  “I didn’t know you expected me to call you back.”

  “Of course I expected you to call me back. I thought that, just perhaps, you’d come to realize you missed me as much as I missed you,” Harold muttered.

  “You missed me?”

  Harold rolled his eyes. “There’s that tone of surprise.”

  “I’m afraid I’m confused.”

  Arabella stepped forward. “I think Harold’s trying to tell you that he wants you to come home because he’s discovered, while you were away, that he enjoys your company.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m trying to say,” Harold said with a nod. “Thank you, Miss Beckett, for summing it up so nicely for me.”

  “You’re welcome, and . . .” Arabella’s voice trailed off when a shot rang out in the distance. “Theodore!” she yelled, spinning on her heel and dashing off in the direction the shot had come from, ignoring the shouts of protests that sounded behind her. She got no more than a few yards before strong arms caught her.