all too real…
Dimly she registered that Samways was leaving and instructing one of his men to stay with the girls. Therese was objecting at this invasion of her home but was being overruled. The door slammed behind and the man settled himself in the armchair, fingering his knife and grinning wolfishly at Jane. Therese, who appeared to have accepted the situation with sudden and suspicious equanimity, was offering him a drink of wine. Jane watched as she moved across to pour it and, behind the man’s back, added some of her mother’s medicine. Jane stared, then, obedient to a fierce glare from Therese, looked away.
They settled down, Jane taking the pallet that Therese had indicated and Therese herself lighting another candle and sitting at the workbench as though prepared to sit out the night. The presence of Samway’s henchman prevented any kind of discussion. On the bed, the Vicomtesse sighed a little in her sleep.
For what seemed like hours, Jane lay rigid on the hard pallet, her thoughts going round and around in her head. It was bad enough to have put herself in a position where Simon could be asked for money for her safe return, but to have brought Alex into danger was an entirely different matter. She wondered whether Samways had contacted him yet, what he would do, whether he could escape the threat and if so, what would happen to her…She knew her thoughts were quite profitless but she could not escape them. A couple of tears squeezed from beneath her eyelids.
‘Jane!’ Therese was shaking her by the shoulder and Jane opened her eyes, dazzled for a moment by the candle flame. ‘Come quickly! He is asleep!’
‘What-?’
‘The poppy juice!’ Therese said impatiently. ‘I thought it would never work!’ She stood aside so that Jane could see the slumped figure of the guard, sound asleep and snoring loudly. ‘Now, listen. You must get out of that window and climb along the ledge to the end of the building. There is a staircase there that leads down to the street. Samways’s men will be about, but in the dark you may be able to slip past. If not, there is a family in the end tenement who will hide you! I would come too, only I cannot leave
‘But when he comes back…’ Jane was struggling with the stiff catch on the window. ‘What will you say, Therese?’
‘Oh, that I fell asleep and when I awoke you were gone! If it comes to it, Jane, I will do everything I can to help your Duke of Delahaye, but I hope-I imagine-that he is a man who can look after himself! Now, good luck and godspeed!’ She gave Jane a brief, hard hug.
Just climbing out of the window was frightful enough for Jane. She had never been afraid of heights, but in the dark she felt frighteningly exposed and alone. The ledge was wide enough to edge along very carefully but when her dress caught on a nail and pulled her back she almost lost her balance, and had to bite her lip hard to prevent herself from crying out. She found that she no longer cared if all of Samways’s men were thronging the street below as long as she could get back on to solid ground.
She reached the end of the building at last and stepped carefully down into the dark stairwell, pausing for her frightened breathing to still. There was no sound or movement close by and she began to hope that she had been undetected. The stairs were unlit and she started to creep down, feeling her way down one wall, each step a venture into the unknown.
When she got to the bottom she paused again, before peering gingerly around the corner and out into the street. It appeared to be deserted, which was odd since Samways’s men had been swarming everywhere earlier. Jane started to slip along the edge of the building, keeping in the shadows, intent only on reaching the main street and trying to find someone who could help her. She tried to blot out of her mind the dangers of wandering around London at night, the perils that might befall her, the fact that Alex might even now be walking into a trap…
She reached the end of the buildings and there was a pool of darkness before her, blacker than the surrounding night. Jane darted across, almost tripping over a kerb stone and putting out a hand blindly to break her fall. And then she was caught and held in a merciless grip, strong arms sweeping her up and away from the darkness, but she did not cry out or struggle, for as soon as he had touched her she had recognised who he was.
There was light and warmth, and someone was forcing strong spirit down her throat.
‘What the hell do we do now, Alex?’ Jane heard a voice say.
Jane coughed and opened her eyes. She was still in Alex’s arms, sitting on his knee and held close, which struck her as somewhat improper given that the other occupants of the room were Harry Marchnight and her own brother. She struggled to be free, but Alex held her tightly.
‘Jane? Has he hurt you? Are you all right?’
‘No, I am not hurt,’ Jane said crossly, ‘but for you squeezing me half to death!’
She saw Simon’s tense face ease into a smile as he exchanged a rueful look with Alex. ‘She’s quite herself,’ he observed.
Alex stood up, placing her gently in the chair opposite his.
‘We haven’t much time,’ he said. ‘You really are unhurt, Jane? Tell me the truth!’
‘Yes, truly!’ Jane was shaken and a little awed by what she saw in Alex’s face. ‘And Therese is quite safe, though we must not be gone long! She drugged the man who was sent to guard us, but how long he will remain unconscious is another matter-’
‘That was when you escaped?’ Henry questioned swiftly. ‘And there was only one man left in the room with you?’
Jane nodded. ‘Therese would not come with me because she would not leave her mother, but she should not be left to face Samways alone! He said his men were everywhere, but-’
‘We’ve taken out all of those who were guarding the street,’ Alex said. ‘We were intending to ambush the ones in the house with you, though of course we had no way of knowing how many there were. But you say there is only one, and he has been dealt with by Mademoiselle de Beaurain.’ He flashed Simon a grin. ‘The next time we consider mounting a rescue we will remember that the two of you are well able to take care of yourselves! What did you have in mind for Samways? Hitting him over the head with a saucepan, perhaps?’
‘Perhaps…’ Jane shivered. ‘We must go back for Therese. Whatever she says, she cannot stay there now!’
‘No.’ Alex consulted his watch ‘-and we have little time. I am to meet Samways here within the hour-which I shall do, but with the odds weighted more in my favour than he imagines! Simon, will you escort Jane, Therese and her mother back to Portman Square? Harry and I will deal with Samways!’
It was Therese who opened the door to Jane’s knock. The candlelight was behind her, turning her silver hair to a halo, and her face was in shadow.
‘Jane? What has happened?
Alex tucked the pistol into his belt. ‘Your servant, Mam’zelle de Beaurain. I am Alexander Delahaye, Miss Verey’s fiance.’
‘Jane is most fortunate,’ Therese said, with an expressive lift of her brows. ‘And this gentleman…?’
Henry Marchnight, languidly elegant as ever, came forward to bow over Therese’s hand. ‘Henry Marchnight, entirely at your service,
It was an extraordinary moment. Jane, standing within the circle of Alex’s arm, saw the arrested expression on Therese’s face and the still watchfulness of Simon’s. She had not had the chance to tell Simon anything of the outcome of her conversations with Therese, and now she saw that there had been no need anyway. They had eyes only for each other, utterly absorbed in the reaction of one to the other. Jane, Alex, Henry, the sleeping occupants of the room…all might have been invisible.
‘Good evening, milord,’ Therese said, a little tremulously. Her eyes were suddenly full of tears. Jane realised, with a rush of compassion, that she was very nervous.
‘Therese.’ Simon said.
Very slowly they came together. Simon’s arms went around her gently, then he was holding her exultantly to him and there was no need for any further words.
‘Time for all that later,’ Alex said, with a grin. His arm tightened about Jane for a brief instant, then he became businesslike.
‘Mademoiselle de Beaurain, you and your mother must leave here at once. Please could you gather your
