Lord Valiant (Lords Of Night Street Book 2)

by Wendy Vella

  Marcus had been lonely for so long he’d just accepted the emotion. Yes, he had his friends, and for that he was extremely grateful, but when he sat in his house surrounded by servants and people who doted on his every word, awaiting his next dictate, he thought that just once he wanted someone to challenge him.

  Visions of Charlotte pressed against his body filled his head, and Marcus knew that she would never be a woman to take a backward step when challenged by a man. Dismissing the thought because it had no bearing on his future, no matter how much she intrigued him, he focused on the task ahead.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The warehouse they were seeking was cloaked in darkness. Marcus signaled Leo that he had found a door, and after trying the handle and finding it locked, he pulled out his tools and went to work opening it.

  “It’s nice to know that if you ever bring your family to its knees, you can take up a career as a thief,” Leo whispered.

  Marcus grunted as he heard the lock give, and then pocketing his tools once more, he opened it slowly.

  The building was large and in the center, Marcus could make out the hull of a ship. He and Leo drew their pistols as they moved forward slowly. Their informant had told them he had heard women were being kidnapped and then sold as sex slaves to wealthy men. What they didn’t know was if those men were outside of England’s waters or not.

  Marcus knew the base nature of men, but to keep a woman as a slave purely for the purposes of his pleasure was beyond belief. He and his friends would see to it that whoever was behind this venture was brought to justice, and soon.

  The quiet was interrupted by the rumble of a man’s voice, and to Marcus it sounded like whoever it was, was inside the ship. Looking for Leo, he watched him signal to the left. He would take the right.

  Keeping his steps light, he moved close to the wooden hull, running a hand along it as he walked.

  “Who’s going to make Jed a happy man tonight then?”

  The words were spoken from above, but Marcus kept walking until he’d rounded the end and reached Leo, who was standing at the foot of a ladder. His friend started upward with Marcus following.

  “Come on now, me and the boys just want to have some fun.”

  The man who was speaking had his back to Marcus. His hands were braced on a railing, and he was looking downward.

  Moving quietly, Marcus and Leo walked around the deck of the ship to see how many other men were on board. They found two and dealt with them before circling back to the man.

  Raising his pistol, Leo pushed it into the side of the man’s throat. “Move and I put a bullet through your neck.”

  The man raised his hands, and Marcus moved him to one side. He looked down into the hull and found four women staring back at him. All were bound hand and foot, and gagged. Descending quickly, he pulled off their gags first.

  “Now him I wouldn’t mind tupping,” one of the women said, which made the others laugh.

  “Good evening, are you the ladies who were recently taken from London streets?”

  “Yes,” a blonde woman said. “Have you come to rescue us?”

  “I have, but it was Miss Radley who initiated the search.”

  “Told you.” The woman looked at the others, who all nodded back. “No one else gives a fig about us but her.”

  Marcus pushed aside the guilt that he had been one of those people who didn’t care before he met Charlotte.

  “Miss Radley is indeed a determined woman, and now, ladies, we need to leave before anyone else arrives.”

  He quickly untied each of the women’s hands and feet, while Leo stood watch above.

  “Are any of you injured?” The women shook their heads. “Do you know what they had planned for you?”

  “We heard them saying they needed five more girls and then we were going to be sold,” one of the girls said.

  Marcus thought about that as he helped them each to their feet.

  “A few minutes more, ladies, then we will leave. My colleague and I need to speak with your guard.”

  He headed back up the ladder to where Leo had tied up the man.

  “Who are you working for?”

  “Don’t have a name,” the man said.

  “Who gave you your orders?” Marcus questioned him.

  “Don’t have a name.”

  Taking his pistol, Marcus pointed it the man’s head. “Try again.”

  “A man acts as go-between. I never met anyone else. There are four of us. We pick up the girls and bring ’em here, and then payment is handed over by the man.”

  “This man, what does he look like?” Leo asked.

  “His face is covered, and a hat pulled low, so I don’t know.”

  “How many women have you kidnapped?” Marcus said.

  “This is the third lot.”

  “Where do you take them? Are they going offshore?”

  The man shook his head. “We just bring ’em here, watch ’em, then when they want ’em, we walk away, and they come and collect the women.”

  Marcus thought the man knew more, simply because human nature suggested he had asked questions of someone who eventually had answers.

  “Just kill him, Leo, he’s got nothing more for us.”

  Leo went through the motions of preparing his gun, and Marcus began to nudge the man to the rear of the boat.

  “No, wait!”

  “Speak now, or he’ll kill you.”

  “Brothels,” the man said. “I heard a rumor they’re being sold in a brothel.”

  “What brothel?” Leo said.

  “Don’t know that, only that the women have to be young and lookers, and that they are being auctioned.”

  Disgusted, Marcus brought the butt of his gun down on the back of the man’s head, watching him fall to the floor.

  “It disgusts me that I live in a world where a woman can be sold like cattle, Leo.”

  “In that we are in agreement, my friend.”

  They went back to the women.

  “We will need to be quiet now, ladies,” he said, helping each one up the steps.

  “Cor, he’s another handsome one,” one of the girls said when she saw Leo. He in turn swept her a magnificent leg and smiled, making them all giggle.

  Rolling his eyes, Marcus said, “Follow my friend, and I will be at the rear.”

  They made it outside with no further problems and had soon found hackneys to take the woman back through the London streets to safety, or at least back to their lives. It was as they turned into Charlotte’s street to drop off the last one that he saw the smoke.

  Charlotte was woken by Fred calling her name. Throwing back the covers, she quickly pulled on the dressing gown and slippers she kept at the foot of her bed.

  “Fire,” he roared.

  Dear God, a fire would spread quickly through the building, Charlotte realized.

  “The stairs are blocked!” Fred appeared before her as she ran from her room. Like her, he slept on the first floor. Only Dandy slept below.

  “We can’t get down to Dandy, so I’m hoping he’s got out,” Fred said, his young face clenched in worry.

  “He will. He’s a light sleeper.” Charlotte tried to look down the stairs. The fire was moving swiftly, and the smoke already filled the air. She had no time to gather any of her things. “We will have to get out through a window,” Charlotte said, hurrying to the one closest and pulling it open. Running back to her room, she grabbed the sheet off the bed before returning to Fred. She urged him to grab one side, and between them they tore it in two. She then tied the ends together.

  “Come, Fred, you must go first,” Charlotte said, wrapping one end of the sheet around her body and lowering the other out the window. She prayed it would hold his weight. “Take that end and I shall lower you as far as I can, and then I’m afraid you must fall the rest of the way to the ground.”

  “I’m not going without you!” He shook his head, eyes wide, and pale with fear.

  “You will do a
s you are told, Fred. I shall tie this around the window and follow, and, as you are the stronger of the two of us, you will catch me.”

  Charlotte coughed as the smoke drew closer. “Now, Fred! We do not have much longer before this entire floor is engulfed in flames.”

  “I don’t want to leave you!” The anguish on his face made her want to weep, but she had to be strong. She needed to get him to safety.

  “Fred, you are the child I will never have, and I love you with all my heart. Therefore, I cannot leave this house until I know you are safe, so you must do this for me. Do you understand?”

  Tears rolled down his cheeks as he nodded. Reluctantly, he took the end and climbed onto the window ledge.

  “Charlotte, promise me you will follow?”

  “I promise.” She managed a shaky smile. Bracing both feet on the wall, she felt her arms wrench as he let go of the window ledge and she took his weight. Her hands shook, her legs threatened to buckle, and she was sure her back would never recover. It felt like forever before the sheet went slack, and she could hurry to the window to check Fred was safe.

  Relief nearly dropped her to her knees as she saw Fred in the arms of Lord Needly. He lowered the boy then looked up at her.

  “Tie the sheet around the window now, Charlotte, and lower yourself!”

  His face was calm, and she felt his strength reassure her as she quickly did as he told her. Her fingers trembled, and it took precious seconds to tie a knot that she hoped was secure enough to hold her.

  “Do not dally, Charlotte!”

  “I’m not dallying, my lord!” she yelled, looking toward the door. The fire was close; she could feel the heat. Surely the floor under her feet would soon fall, plunging her to her death. “I am trying to secure this knot.”

  “Not hard enough!”

  “I’m moving as fast as I can,” she muttered at his curt tone and then had to brace her hands on her thighs as she started coughing.

  “Charlotte!” She heard his urgent call, and it made her hurry to the window, where she threw out the sheet, then climbed on the ledge. Closing her eyes, she then lowered herself over the edge and gripped the sheet.

  “Move your hands, Charlotte, that’s it.” Lord Needly called encouragement along with several other people as she lowered herself slowly. The knot gave as she neared the bottom, and she felt herself falling. Bracing herself for the impact that was sure to come, she clenched her eyes shut and landed in a strong pair of arms.

  “It’s all right. I have you now.” He held her close, and Charlotte allowed herself a moment of weakness to sag against him before he lowered her gently to her feet.

  “Th-thank you,” she said, before doubling over to cough. “Dandy,” she managed to rasp out.

  “Right here, Miss Radley.”

  Her dear old friend appeared at her side, followed by Fred. She wrapped her arms around them both and held them for precious seconds.

  “Where shall we go, Miss Radley?” Fred said.

  “We shall be all right, Fred.” She placed a hand on his head. “You let me worry about where we are to go, only know that we will stay together, I promise you.”

  Where would they go? Dear lord, how could she protect them?

  “Everyone move back now!”

  Charlotte felt hands pull her backward and noted that her home was now engulfed in flames and that it would soon spread to the building on the right.

  “Dear Lord, they will all burn down, surely?” she whispered in horror.

  “There is nothing on the left, Charlotte.” Lord Needly’s arm circled her waist as he spoke. “And it will have nowhere to go after the building on the right, as there is a lane between that and the next building.”

  “But people live in those places.”

  “Yes, and they, like you, will now be homeless.”

  She let him take her hand and lead her down the lane as the fire continued to rage.

  “I must help.” She tried to struggle free.

  “No one can do anything now,” he said, picking her up.

  “Fred and Dandy!” Charlotte cried.

  “They are with my friend, Leo,” Lord Needly said, and then they were running. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held tight until they had reached the end of the lane, where she was surprised to see a hackney.

  “Everyone inside,” Lord Needly said, walking in with her in his arms. Fred, Dandy, and the man Charlotte guessed was Leo joined them. She was then lowered to the seat as Needly took the one beside her.

  “I should go back,” she said, looking out the hackney window at the flames rising into the night sky. “To check no one is hurt, and look after the homeless.”

  “No, you shouldn’t.” Lord Needly wrapped his fingers around her wrist to shackle her at his side. “For now, worry about yourself, Fred, and Dandy. Tomorrow you can come back.”

  “Yes, tomorrow,” Charlotte whispered, wondering what was to become of them now.

  “We found the ladies who had been kidnapped tonight.”

  Charlotte suddenly felt overcome as she looked at Lord Needly. “Are they well?”

  He nodded. “They are in good health.”

  “Thank you,” Charlotte bit her lip to hold back the tears. “We owe you a great deal.” She looked across the carriage to the man seated beside Dandy. Dark haired and dark eyed, he was not as tall as his friend, but equally as handsome and had the same dangerous air about him.

  “My name is Leo,” he said, giving her a charming smile, “and rescuing damsels is my forte.”

  She couldn’t find a smile, so instead, nodded before facing Lord Needly. He was so close that his thigh pressed to hers. The warmth of his body seeped into her.

  “I need to find lodgings for the night.” Charlotte couldn’t seem to draw her eyes from his. How could she ask this of him when she owed him so much already? “I-I—could I please have the loan of enough money to pay for a night’s lodging, Lord Needly?” She closed her eyes at the shame, then opened them as she felt his finger run down her cheek. “I would not ask for myself, but Fred and Dandy—”

  “Sssh. It will be all right, I promise.” He touched her lips, stopping her words. “Was it deliberate, do you think, Charlotte?”

  “The fire?”

  “Yes.”

  “It was deliberate, my lord,” Dandy said from across the carriage. “I heard the door being broken down, and when I went to investigate, I saw the fire.”

  Charlotte watched Lord Needly’s hand clench briefly.

  “And which of your enemies do you believe would do this?”

  “I don’t know,” she said, unable to deny the fact that she did have enemies who wanted her dead, or at least out of East London. Could her father be responsible for the fire? Had he attempted to burn down her house with her, Fred, and Dandy inside? That deed showed real hatred, to her mind, and she knew he was capable of that.

  “Are you taking us to the lodgings now, my lord?”

  “Yes.”

  Charlotte wondered where they would sleep that night. She was tired, scared, and very aware of the fact they were lucky to be alive. She, Fred, and Dandy had no possessions or money now, and no way of surviving until she secured employment. The money she kept in her office was gone. It had only been a small amount that she’d collected after selling her mother’s jewelry, but it had been enough for them to survive on for many years if she was frugal. Even that was taken from her now.

  She did not want Fred turning back to his old life, and Dandy would not survive if he were forced to live on the streets again. They would come about, Charlotte told herself. They were all survivors in their way, and this was just another setback in a long list of them.

  I am so tired of struggling against the odds. She wanted to fall sideways into the arms of the man beside her. But she could not because she was a bastard and he a lord, and even if he cared for her, which Charlotte knew he did not, he would never be more to her than a distant acquaintance. Viscounts did not becom
e involved with bastard daughters of dukes.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Charlotte was pale, her face leached of color, and the carriage had begun to smell of smoke, which told Marcus how close she had come to the fire. She was coughing, and her voice was raspy, all signs she had inhaled more smoke than was healthy. Her dressing gown was torn and filthy, and she had lost a slipper but seemed unaware of that fact. Her hair was half in a braid; the rest fell in tangles to her shoulder.

  He and Leo had run down Thimble Lane, his heart in his mouth as he realized it was Charlotte’s house on fire. They’d arrived in time to see the boy, Fred, hanging from the window by a sheet. He had caught him and then asked the people gathered who else was in the house. They had told him that only Miss Radley remained.

  Only? Dear Christ, his heart had nearly stopped. He’d wanted to run into the flames to reach her, had even taken a step in that direction when Leo gripped his arm and made him stop, telling him that Charlotte was at the window.

  He’d seen her then and roared for her to hurry. She’d disappeared, coughing several times, before reappearing. Fear had gripped him as she climbed onto that window ledge and then lowered herself until she was dangling from the sheet. His heart had thumped as he had watched, helpless, Charlotte’s hands moving with agonizing slowness until the sheet had come loose, and she had fallen into his waiting arms.

  The entire incident had unsettled him to the point where he was struggling to come to terms with what he felt for the woman. Why did he care so much for her well-being, of all people? She was nothing like the ladies of his acquaintance; in fact, she was not like anyone he had ever known. Surely that was the reason he felt as he did? It was the novelty of Charlotte Radley that made him aware of her. It was simple fear also, Marcus reasoned. The need to see a person he had come to respect unharmed. Nothing more, he soothed himself.

  Her eyes were closed, the dark fan of lashes standing out against the pallor of her cheeks, and he clenched his fists to stop from touching her to reassure her that she was safe.