no.' With a flick of her knife, she lightly scored the length of a fatty fold. A line appeared like a piece of red string around his neck.
'Yer cut me,' he whimpered, his great jowls quivering.
'Yer lucky I didn't kill ya.'
She backed away from him, thankful that her long skirts hid the trembling in her knees. The past two years had changed her more than she had realized, and the sight of the blood she had deliberately drawn sickened her. 'Now get out of my sight,' she ordered.
A fist unexpectedly darted out from behind her, slashing down agonizingly on her wrist and sending her knife flying. Great hands grabbed her arms and pinioned them behind her while a knee crashed into the small of her back. Blinding pain tore through her body.
'Not so fast there,' her unseen assailant growled. 'I don't like the way yer been treatin' me friend.'
'Wot took yer so long, Georgie. Like to kill me, she did.' The fat man rubbed the back of his hand along the bloody line encircling his neck. 'Look wot the bitch did ter me.' He held up the crimson smear.
'I should of killed ya,' Noelle hissed.
Again, the knee slammed into her back. Despite herself, she screamed as searing shafts of agony raced through her body. The viselike grip on her arms tightened cruelly until she felt as if her shoulders were pulling from their sockets.
'Any more from you, and I'll snap yer back in two.' The voice of the man called Georgie rumbled threateningly in her ear. 'Let's get 'er to the boat. She's the last of the lot. We'll make a pretty penny from this night's work.'
Noelle tried to focus through the pain. These men were white slavers! They were members of one of the gangs who prowled the streets of London, looking for young girls to ship to the most infamous brothels of Europe, brothels where no desire was too perverted, and the most twisted of appetites could be satisfied.
The fat man leaned over and picked up her knife from the ground. 'Not so fast, Georgie. I got a score to settle with this one.'
With the handle of the knife clenched in his fist, he held up the shiny blade inches from Noelle's horrified gaze.
'I'm gonna carve me initials in that pretty face of yers.'
' 'Ere now, don't be markin' up 'er face. We'll lose money on 'er. Do it someplace wot won't show as much.'
The little weasel eyes glittered maliciously at her, and then
Noelle watched, terror-stricken, as the cold steel slid between her breasts and sliced open the bodice of her gown. With a flick of the blade, he pushed aside the fabric and exposed first her right breast and then her left. His thick lips hung slack as his eyes fastened on her.
'Would ya look at this, Georgie,' he leered.
Noelle whimpered as she felt the sharp tip of the knife trace the bottom curve of her breast, not yet breaking the skin but menacing in its purpose. The fat man circled the knife up to the top and then began a slow descent toward the coral tip.
'I think this'll be a good spot, don't you, Georgie?'
A scream tore from Noelle's throat as the point of the knife touched her nipple.
There was the sound of racing footsteps, and Noelle found herself flung down as a dark figure threw himself at Georgie. Dimly Noelle saw the fat man abandon his struggling partner and scurry out of the alley. She wasted little thought on him, however, as Georgie's powerful fist caught her rescuer in the jaw and sent him staggering.
She saw the powerful shoulders and lean thighs clearly outlined by the light from the street. A dreadful recognition filled her, and with trembling fingers she tightened the shawl that covered her head.
Quinn quickly recovered from Georgie's blow and sidestepped just in time to avoid another. The men struggled silently, their faces indistinct in the dimness of the alley. Quinn was the taller of the two, lighter than Noelle's burly assailant but more agile. He delivered a series of savage blows, fighting with an intensity that his opponent coulcfnot match.
Georgie was breathing heavily, his strength obviously flagging under the single-minded assault. With one last burst of energy, he pushed past his attacker and fled from the alley.
Quinn approached her, his chest heaving from the exertion of the brawl. 'Are you all right?' He loomed over her as she huddled down in the dirt.
She was suddenly conscious of her uncovered breasts and pulled the edges of her cloak together, keeping her head down.
'I'm fine,' she murmured. 'Thank yer for 'elpin' me.'
'Let me make certain they didn't hurt you.' Quinn reached down and slipped a hand under her elbow. As he pulled her up, the dim light from the street fell fleetingly on her face.
'It's you!' he exclaimed.
She ducked back into the dark shadows of the alley so he could not see her clearly. Whom had he recognized? she wondered desperately. The pickpocket or Dorian Pope?
'I won't hurt you,' he said, mistaking her withdrawal for fear. 'Christ! I don't even remember your name. It was different -French.'
He hadn't seen through her disguise! 'Just call me 'Ighness, the same as everybody else.' She lowered her pitch so that her normally husky voice sounded gruff.
With the back of his knuckle, he wiped away a thin trail of blood that trickled from the corner of his mouth. 'How long has it been since you've had a decent meal?'
'I eats when I'm 'ungry.'
'Somehow I'd hoped you'd make better use of the money I left you, but you're no better off than you were.'
'I likes me gin too much,' Noelle whined, as an idea, born of desperation, sprang into her mind. 'Besides, there ain't much else left for me, thanks ter you. Georgie, 'e'd marry me all legal and proper if I wasn't already married.' Inwardly Noelle winced at her choice of name, but it was the first one that had occurred to her.
'Why do you want to marry him?'
' 'Cause we're gonna 'ave a baby, ducks, that's why. 'E's a good bloke, 'e is. Wants to be a proper dad.' With difficulty she let out a sly cackle. 'Least it won't be a bastard. Georgie and me spent many a night laughin' over it. A rich bloke like you bein' the legal father of our baby.'
Noelle could not help feeling a flash of admiration for Quinn. He did not betray by so much as the flicker of an eyelid the dismay her news must be causing him.
'And if you were not married to me, you would be able to marry your Georgie, is that right?'
'Blimey, yes,' Noelle managed, tensing for his response.
'All right. I'll make a deal with you. I'll see what I can do about legally ending our marriage.'
It was all too easy. 'And wot's my part of this deal?'
'You'll make no claims on me, and you'll give me your word that you'll stay away from the gin shops.'
'The gin shops!' Noelle exclaimed, so startled by his strange demand that she could barely absorb the fact that her plan was working.
'The stuff they sell around here is deadly. It has sulphuric acid in it. That's a poison. Highness; it'll hurt your baby.'
This was a side of Quinn Copeland she had never seen. She had no time to ponder it, however, for he was not finished with her.
'Do I have your word?'
'I wouldn't want to do nuthin what would 'urt me babe,' she muttered. 'And as fer the other, you're the last person I'd want anything from. I'll do wot yer say.'
'Good. Now, take this. See that you get some decent food.' He thrust a wad of bank notes into her hand. 'Buy some meat, fruit. None of this goes for gin, do you understand?'
'I give you me word, didn't I?'
'Where can I find you when I'm ready?'
Noelle thought rapidly. 'There's a man named Bardy. Yer can leave word with 'im.' She gave him directions to the lodgings.
