Wick stood up and Becca launched herself into his arms. Followed by Frederica, Helen and Mantheria. They all piled into the embrace, squeezing the life out of him.
Becca stepped back first. ‘Whoever did this is going to regret tangling with the Stringhams.’
Wick could only blink at his sisters. All four of them. Foolishly, he had thought to bear all his grief and problems on his own. But he needn’t. In fact, they wouldn’t let him. Just as Louisa had told him, his sisters were eager to share his burdens. To lighten them. If only he would let them. Lether.
‘Forgive me for entering unannounced,’ Sunny said, walking through the door. He was still wearing his blue riding coat, but took off his hat. ‘I saw what happened at the park. I was too far away to stop the villain, but I chased after him. I watched him put Louisa into a carriage and four that was waiting for them just outside the park. He took off his mask. It was Lord Barnabas Bracken. I followed for several miles, but my horse was already spent. They were headed east, on the road to Windsor and Slough. I decided it was best to come back and get you. But you weren’t in your rooms, so I came here.’
Wick stepped forward and hugged his friend. He didn’t know which of them was the more surprised by his action. He let go.
‘Sunny, I don’t know how to—’
‘No need, old friend,’ Sunny said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. ‘I will always be here for you.’
Mantheria touched Sunny’s arm and Wick saw the searing look that they shared.
‘Will you go and notify Matthew and Grandfather Stubbs about what has happened?’ she asked. ‘Perhaps they can go and speak to Lord and Lady Rockingham instead of us.’
Sunny nodded. ‘As you wish.’
His sister let go of Sunny and Wick almost thought he must have imagined the intense connection between them, but then he saw Mantheria’s eyes, full of unshed tears. How would he feel if Louisa was married to another man? The thought made him see red.
‘Come, Wick,’ Mantheria said, tugging on his arm.
He glanced over his shoulder at his three other sisters. ‘But the girls...?’
Mrs May stood at the door. ‘Do not worry, my lord. I’ll watch over them and keep them out of mischief.’
‘Thank you, Mrs May,’ Mantheria said. ‘You’re a treasure.’
Wick could only nod in agreement as he followed his sister out of her house. When they reached the carriage door, he gave the driver instructions to take them to Slough, a village over five-and-twenty miles west of London. There, they would try to discover in which direction the hired carriage had gone.
He thought his heart would explode from his chest before they reached there. He couldn’t endure the possibility that her cousin had violated Louisa. Hurt her. If Barnabas had so much as laid a finger on her, Wick would kill him. With or without a duel.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Louisa opened her eyes, but all she could see was blackness. Had she lost her eyesight from the terrible blow she’d received to the back of her head? Tentatively, she touched the bump with her fingertips and gasped in pain. Her head was aching. She wanted to scream for help—or simply just to scream.
Covering her mouth with her hands, Louisa forced herself to breathe slowly through her nose. She couldn’t allow whoever had kidnapped her to know that she was awake. Even though she could not see, she could feel. Her hands and her feet were not bound, nor her mouth. Wherever the man had taken her must be remote, for he did not care if she cried out.
She felt around with her hands, down to her knees and the edge of her gown, pricking her finger on the needle in her hem. It was small and sharp. Hardly a weapon. But it was all she had. She touched the floor; it was made of earth. She reached out her hands around her and felt a couple of wooden barrels and some sort of leafy vegetable in a basket. She closed her fingers on what felt like a carrot.
Her stomach grumbled. Her mouth and throat were dry and sore. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and she felt positively famished. Wiping the unknown vegetable on her dress, she brought it to her mouth and took a bite. It was indeed a carrot, and even raw it tasted delicious. Louisa chewed as quietly as she could, not wanting to alert her attacker.
Once she had finished the carrot, she felt for the wall and managed to get to her feet. Touching the wall, she followed it until her knee hit some wooden stairs. She cursed beneath her breath and grabbed her sore leg.
‘What did you bring your fancy piece here for?’ a woman’s shrill voice demanded. ‘Aren’t I enough for you?’
‘’Course you are, Belinda,’ a man said.
Louisa recognised her Cousin Barnabas’s voice. She gave a full-body shiver.The rogue!She should have known it was him from the start.
‘Then why did you bring her to my house?’ the woman asked. ‘I thought you loved me.Onlyme.’
‘I do. I swear it,’ he said. ‘My cousin is a freckled, ugly woman, and if I didn’t need her money she wouldn’t be here. But I do. Without Louisa I could not have paid for your cottage or for your fine dresses.’
Louisa gritted her teeth. Her allowance had been used to pay for Barnabas’s mistress to wear fine clothes and jewels, whilst Louisa had been given rags. If she hadn’t already disliked and distrusted her cousin, she would have hated him now. And she was sure her aunt had known it and not cared. Her villainy seemed to know no bounds.
She blushed as she heard the unmistakable sound of kissing above her. She supposed that Belinda had forgiven Barnabas for bringing Louisa to her house.