Forbidden

by Jess Michaels

  In the corner, the men at the table laughed. “Ain’t we all, guv?”

  He ignored them and focused on the mustached and very annoyed skinny bartender. “Have you seen her?”

  “I know you,” the man said with a glare. “You were in here last month. All dressed in your finery, looking for another lady.”

  Jude lifted his brows. It was odd the man would remember such a thing, but then it was possible not many strangers came in here.

  “Yes,” he admitted slowly. “I was. But today I’m looking for her.” He held out the miniature for him.

  “Do you know what you brought down on me?” the barkeep whispered, casting a glance at the table in the corner. The men were no longer playing cards, but watching them talk.

  Jude knitted his brow. “What are you talking about?”

  “You got them interested in this place,” the other man continued. “And if I’d known this bird was part of your crowd, I never would have let her go upstairs.”

  Jude jolted and pointed at Audrey’s portrait. “This woman?”

  “Not a quarter hour ago, just before that lot arrived.” He indicated the table in the corner. “She demanded a room and went up.” The bartender noted the increasing interest from the group in the corner and shifted. “Will you be having a drink, guv? I don’t know nothing about that girl,” he said the words loudly.

  Jude swallowed hard. “I’ll take a room if you have them for rent,” he said, pulling out blunt and resting it on the table. “Will that cover the cost?”

  The bartender yanked the money close and stuffed it under the bar before the large amount became evident. “Barely,” he hissed. “Go upstairs, third door from the right. Here’s a key.”

  Jude took the key and tried very hard not to bolt for the stairs that were between the bar and the interested patrons. As he passed them by, he tipped his head in acknowledgment.

  “Gentlemen.”

  “Guv,” said one of the men, drawing the word out in mockery.

  Once he was through the door, Jude raced up the stairs. Unless the bartender was only playing on his fears, which was utterly possible, Audrey was here. Why she was upstairs in an establishment such as this was a question he intended to ask her just as soon as he stopped holding her close and kissing her until he knew she was all right.

  Audrey paced the tiny, dirty little room and shuddered not for the first time. Knowing that people rented a hovel like this—both by the night and by the hour, as the bartender below had told her—was really very disturbing.

  And why would someone rent a room by the hour anyway? It wasn’t enough time to sleep off the travel. It was hardly enough time to even get a bath. Not that she would take one here.

  She shivered again and checked the window. Her orders had been very clear to leave the window wide open, and it was as wide as she could get it. She leaned out, looking down on an equally dank alleyway below, where a drunken man was currently casting up his accounts in a trash heap.

  She spun away, her stomach turning. It was at that moment the door handle began to rattle. Someone was trying to get in! Could it be her contact?

  But no, why wouldn’t he knock? Or use the window, as she had assumed was the plan by his orders.

  She had locked the door, of course, but as she stared at the flimsy apparatus, she felt no comfort. Someone was trying to get in and she had no idea what they wanted. She backed up to the window, ready to jump if she had to. Although…looking down behind her, she was afraid all she’d succeed in doing was breaking her legs.

  There was the click of a key being set into the lock, and she covered her mouth as she fought back a scream.

  Without thinking twice, she dove for the bed and began to crawl under through the cobwebs and dust. But she hadn’t wedged herself under halfway when the door opened and she felt someone grab the waist of her dress. She pulled back in vain, dragging her fingernails against the wooden floor. But the person who had intruded was much stronger and he yanked her out into the open where he could do anything he liked to her.

  Audrey flipped on her back and kicked at the intruder with all her might. At the same time, she uttered a scream that was truncated when she looked up and saw that it was Jude looming over her.

  “Jude!” she cried and leapt to her feet to wrap her arms around him. He was warm and real and smelled like leather and horse and a hint of mint. She shook with relief as she clung to him, hardly noticing as he leaned back and shut the door quietly.

  Once they were alone, he set her back, looking over her. He brushed dust from her hair and face. His expression was so tender, so loving as he said, “Are you all right? You’re not hurt?”

  “No, not at all,” she breathed.

  He smiled, but then his expression grew angry. “What the hell were you thinking?”

  “Jude—” she began, but he didn’t stop talking.

  “Running away after what your family has been through?”

  “I didn’t—”

  He shook his head as he railed on. “Coming here of all places? Endangering yourself? Terrifying all of us?”

  “I wasn’t trying—” she tried, but again to no avail.

  “You could have been killed, Audrey! Or raped! Or both! I swear that you are the most frustrating—”

  “Samson!” she shouted, and finally he stopped talking. “Honestly, you say I’m frustrating?”

  “You are frustrating,” he muttered. “And you need to explain yourself. Right now. Why did you run away?”

  “I didn’t run away,” she insisted, dusting off her incredibly dirty gown as best she could. “I would never do that.”

  “But you did do it,” he insisted. “You told Edward and the rest that you were going to London. But unless your driver, who will likely be sacked by the way, has the worst sense of direction in all the country, you must know he didn’t take you to London.”

  “Well, he shouldn’t be sacked,” Audrey began, trying to focus. It was nearly impossible when Jude stood before her, so handsome even in his anger. Even through her own. “Carson did what I ordered him to do. He argued very strenuously, as did Ursula, but I wouldn’t allow it.”

  “And why did you tell him to take you here?” Jude pressed.

  “I didn’t. I had him go to your mother first,” she explained. “Jude, she is as lovely as ever. You should try to convince her to return to London. I think she’s lonely in the countryside and—”

  His eyes went wide. “You are trying to change the subject! Why did you go there?”

  She frowned. “You must have known what you confessed you had done would set off a chain of events, Jude.”

  He threw up his hands in obvious frustration. “I thought you would tell your brother or have me sacked. I didn’t think you’d go running to my mama like we were children and I’d shoved you down.”

  “Well, I didn’t go running to your mama,” Audrey corrected, though she smiled a little at his rendition. “Good Lord, I wasn’t there to tattle on you. I knew you’d gone to her before you met with my sister and thought she might know where you met with Claire.”

  He rolled his eyes. “I thought as much. Edward and Evan went to do the same, to see if you were still there. You have terrified them, you know. When we received word you never arrived at the home where you were to spend the night, you should have seen their faces.”

  Audrey had been trying to keep guilt and regret at bay almost since the first moment she had rolled away from her family home and her plan had truly begun. But now it hit her in a crashing wave.

  “I’m sorry for that,” she said. “Did they tell my mother?”

  “No,” Jude snapped. “We all felt she was still too weak to know the truth.”

  She let out a sigh of relief before she thought about what he’d said. “But wait, if Evan and Edward are looking for me at your mother’s, where is Gabriel?”

  “With me, here,” Jude said. “Looking for you across town.”

  “Why did he come with y
ou?” she pressed, searching his face but finding it more unreadable than ever. He was very stern, but she couldn’t see the reasons.

  “Because none of them trust me,” he said softly. “Because they not only know that you have been in my bed, but they now know the same story of betrayal that sent you fleeing here.”

  She staggered back. “Jude,” she breathed. “You told them?”

  He nodded.

  “But why? I told you I wouldn’t reveal the truth and I didn’t.” She blinked at sudden tears. “Jude, I never would have destroyed your relationship with them.”

  He moved on her, catching her upper arms, dragging her a little closer so that she was utterly aware of his warm breath on her cheek and the hardness of his body against hers.

  “Do you really think I gave a damn about my relationship with them when compared to your safety, Audrey? Have I not made it clear that I love you? I would sacrifice anything to have you safe.”

  She blinked. “You—you would risk your livelihood, your lifelong friendships, your whole world for me?”

  He nodded slowly. Her heart leapt, his words and the obvious truth behind them trumping his betrayal yet again. She cupped his cheeks. Gently, she drew him down and kissed him. He was stiff for a moment, but then opened to her seeking tongue.

  For the first time in what seemed like an eternity he kissed her with all the passion that had shared, all the love they had exchanged and all the desperation of a man who believed it was ending.

  And just as suddenly as it had begun, he set her aside.

  “You are trying to distract me,” he muttered as he walked to the window where she had stood not but a moment before.

  “Is it working?” she teased gently.

  He didn’t smile as he faced her. “So you found my mother and she told you about Windport.”

  “Yes. I spent the night there and left her home before ten this morning. The carriage seemed to take forever, but with limited stops I arrived here just after three.”

  “Just a few hours ago,” he said.

  She nodded. “I began to ask about my sister right away.”

  “And what of Ursula and the driver?” he pressed.

  “Ursula is very angry with me, I’m sure, but I snuck out of the hotel room we took up the street at a reputable establishment after I met the man.”

  Jude blinked. “The man?”

  “Will you stop grilling me and just let me explain?” she said. “Good Lord.”

  He folded his arms. “Explain,” he ground out past what were obviously clenched teeth.

  Carefully, she did just that, telling him everything about the man who had captured her in the alley. When she was finished, he moved on her, his face red as a ripe tomato.

  “You cannot be so naïve, Audrey! And yet you are, for you let this room by the damned hour, to meet a man who is probably lying to you about knowing your sister at all.”

  She pursed her lips. “I never said I let it by the hour, Jude. I only mentioned that it is possible to do so. I have no idea why.”

  He cupped her face. “It is let by the hour so that the lightskirts who work the docks can fuck their lovers for money.”

  She flinched at the bluntness of his language and the meaning behind it. “Oh.”

  “Yes, oh. And likely the reason that little weasel in the alley wanted you to come here is so that he, or someone even worse, would have you alone here so he could do the same.”

  “But he said he knew Claire,” she insisted, panic rising and clawing at her certainty.

  “He didn’t say anything to you that he couldn’t have overheard in the general store.” He caught her hands and held them between his own. “I’m sorry, Audrey. I’m sorry, but the likelihood of your sister still being here is almost none. And that man lied to you, played on your desires so that he could fulfill his own.”

  “Actually,” came a feminine voice from behind them. “Willows would be more interested in you than Audrey, Samson.”

  Audrey’s head spun as she pivoted in what felt like slow motion. There, perched in the open window, was her sister. Claire’s blonde hair was pulled back loosely, framing her oval face. She wore men’s trousers and a baggy shirt that was tucked in haphazardly.

  “Aren’t you going to say anything, Audrey?” Claire whispered.

  Audrey opened her mouth, the emotions of the past few days—hell, the past two years—mobbing her. Overcoming her. To her surprise, darkness began to envelope her vision and she felt her knees buckle. Just before the world before her vanished, she felt Jude’s strong arms catch her. She heard his sweet voice say her name.

  And then he was gone.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  “What were you thinking, bringing her here?” Claire barked at Jude as he carried Audrey’s limp body to the lumpy bed and laid her down.

  He glared at her. “God damn it, Claire, I didn’t bring her here. She came on her own accord.”

  “Is she injured?” Claire asked, taking a step into the room, then hesitating.

  “No.” Jude smoothed Audrey’s pale brow. “Just fainted, I think. The strain has been great on her between your mother’s illness and now this.”

  “My mother’s illness?” Claire cried, her green eyes settling on him.

  Jude nodded. “She has been very unwell, but is better now. Claire, you need to come home.”

  “I can’t,” she whispered.

  He frowned. “So you’ll let them suffer? Look at yourself in that get-up. Are you a burglar now?”

  Claire moved into the room. She sat on the edge of the narrow bed and stroked Audrey’s cheek with her hand. “I’m a lot of things now.”

  He frowned. When he’d last seen Claire a few weeks before, she hadn’t looked like this. She’d discouraged him, of course, and he had guessed she’d been forced to do a great deal she regretted.

  Now he wondered how much force had been applied.

  “How is it you’re still here?” he asked. “I would have thought you and Aston would have fled once you encountered me.”

  She straightened. “We would have, except he didn’t know I’d met with you. He followed me into town the day we met but didn’t see you. I convinced him that I was here only to scout out potential…opportunities for his gang. He decided to work here a few weeks, strip a few visitors of their gold during their time in the restorative waters.”

  “You help him,” Jude breathed. “I cannot believe it.”

  “I do what I must,” she snapped. “How dare you judge me?”

  He leaned across the bed, not shouting so he wouldn’t wake Audrey, but teeth clenched in anger. “I judge you because of what your actions do to people I love. Your mother, your brothers and Audrey. Claire, she is so desperate for you that she came here looking for you. She endangered herself for you!”

  “I see that.” She frowned. “Why, though? Why here? Why now?”

  “Because she found out what I’d done. How I was involved with your disappearance.” He bent his head. “And it destroyed everything.”

  Claire turned her gaze from her sister to him. “Destroyed…wait, are you saying you finally acted on that tendre you’ve been carrying for my sister for, what? A decade?”

  “Not a decade,” he muttered.

  Claire smiled. “Oh, Samson.”

  “But how could she love someone who betrayed her?”

  Claire’s smile evaporated. “You didn’t betray her. I betrayed her. I betrayed all of them. But here she is, looking for me.” She leaned in to her sister and took a gentle whiff of her hair. “Even dusty and road worn, she still smells like oranges. Like home.” Jude looked across the distance between them and saw pain streaked across Claire’s face. She was trying to hide it, but it was there. “If she can forgive me enough to search for me, she can forgive you.”

  “Why can’t you come home, Claire?” Jude asked.

  “That is a very good question,” Audrey said, opening her eyes slowly. She looked up and into her sister’s
face, then let out a cry and sat up. She slung her arms around Claire.

  Jude said nothing, just watched as Claire returned the embrace. Although she acted hard, she couldn’t control the tears that began to slide down her cheeks as the sisters held each other.

  Finally, Audrey pulled back. Jude tensed at the joy on her face, the hope. Audrey had come so far, convinced she could save her sister. But Jude wasn’t certain that was true. And he feared what it would do to this woman he loved. This woman of light and laughter and faith in goodness.

  “Claire, what is going on?” Audrey asked softly. “Why are you here? Why are you dressed like this?”

  “I’m dressed like this because it’s easier to scale a building in trousers.”

  Audrey wrinkled her brow. “Claire,” she said, her tone a warning.

  Claire let out a long sigh. “I’m here because you’re here. Audrey, you caught the interest of some very dangerous people by searching for me. When Willows came back, I managed to convince him to give me time before he told Aston everything he saw. But he won’t keep the fact that you were here looking for me a secret for long.”

  “And you fear your husband will come after me.”

  Claire’s face faltered a fraction. “Aston is worthy of fear, I assure you.” She glanced at Jude. “You need to take her home.”

  “Not without you,” Audrey snapped.

  Claire reached out and took her sister’s hand. “I’m not going back, Audrey.”

  “We’re here, we can save you. We can protect you,” Audrey insisted.

  Claire shot Jude a look that spoke volumes, and released Audrey. She stood up and backed away. “I don’t need protection,” she whispered. “And there’s no going back for me.”

  Jude recoiled at that plainly stated fact. At the way Audrey’s face crumpled when it was said. He had caused all this. Caused Claire to go. Caused Audrey this pain with his secrets and his confessions. And he could do nothing for her but watch her drown in her pain.

  Audrey heard Claire’s words, and individually she understood them. But together they made no sense. Here her family had fought, searched, prayed to find Claire, but now that they were together, her sister wouldn’t return? Even with the promise of protection?