Of Noble Birth (44 page)

Instead she turned the
smooth, ivory handle of Nathaniel’s gun and grasped the steel
muzzle. Raising it behind Clifton, she used all of her strength to
bring it crashing down upon his head.

Nathaniel’s half brother
jerked. For a moment, Alexandra feared the blow hadn’t done its
job. But then his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed on top of
her.

“Are you all right?”
Nathaniel’s voice sounded raspy to her ears.

“I’m fine.” She shuddered
as she struggled to escape from beneath the marquess’s heavy
body.

“Give me the gun.”
Nathaniel motioned weakly to her. He’d used the wall of the stable
to help himself rise, and leaned heavily against it now. But his
voice was steadier than it had been since Alexandra found
him.

Eager to be rid of the
weapon in her hand, Alexandra did as she was told, but her breath
caught in her throat when Nathaniel raised the gun and leveled it
at Lord Clifton’s prostrate form.

She stared at Nathaniel’s
face. It was intense, focused. Horrified, she clasped her hands
over her ears, expecting the blast to make them ring.

But the gun never
exploded. Alexandra opened her eyes to see Nathaniel tucking it
into his pants as he shuffled toward her.

“Let’s get out of here
before I change my mind,” he said.

* * *

Nathaniel knew he wasn’t
in the hospital ship. The air was too clean, and there were no
groans from the other men. Perhaps he was at sea on the
Vengeance
then, his stay
in the hulks only a terrible nightmare. But the ground was stable
beneath him; it didn’t rock as a ship would. And the pain was most
definitely real.

He opened his eyes.
Sunlight filtered through a crack in the draperies of a long
dormitory like room, but his mind was too fuzzy and slow-moving to
place his semi-familiar surroundings.

Someone’s head lay next to
him on the bed—a woman, from what he could tell. No one else was in
the room.

“Alexandra?”

Alexandra’s head snapped
up. She was wearing a simple calico dress that looked a bit large
around the neck. Her hair was disheveled and her face marked from
lying on her arms, but her voice was filled with relief.
“Nathaniel!”

He had never thought her
more beautiful. The fantasies that had entertained him in the hulks
rose unbidden to his mind, causing a physical reaction in his body,
despite the throbbing of his head. “I can’t believe I found you.
That you’re here, with me. Part of me thinks it must be a dream.
Have I lost my mind after all?”

She smiled, took his hand,
and kissed his palm. “No, but I thought I’d die when I saw the
prison guard hit you with that club. It felt as though he was
striking me.” Her voice broke. Swallowing, she glanced
away.

Nathaniel turned her face
back toward him, so he could see her eyes again. “My brave
Alexandra. Why did you go to the duke’s? Don’t you know what he is
capable of doing?”

“What else could I do? We
had to find you.” She nuzzled against his hand, and he longed to
pull her to him. If only he were stronger.

“Thank God you did.” His
gaze fell to her lips.

She must have known what
he wanted because she leaned toward him until their mouths met. Her
lips were as soft as he remembered, and tasted better than he’d
dreamed. “Where are we?” he asked, surveying the room again when
she pulled away.

“We’re at Dr.
Watts’s—”

“Oh hell!” He sobered
instantly. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

“What?” Alexandra jumped
to her feet. “We can’t leave. You need to rest—”

Nathaniel’s head swam when
he tried to sit up, but he dared not lie back. “My father knows of
this place.”

“How?”

“Rat—” He leaned over,
hoping the dizziness would soon pass.

“But you’re in no
condition to go anywhere.”

“My father will come
here.” He managed to find his feet while Alexandra hurried around
the bed to support him. “This time he’ll take you, too. We’ll not
get a second chance to escape.”

Alexandra looked up into
his face and saw something there that convinced her. “You sit here,
then,” she said. “I’ll check the back and make sure it’s clear. At
least your wound has been cleaned and bandaged, and we’ve got some
decent clothes.”

Decent clothes! Nathaniel
looked down at the pants he wore. They had obviously belonged to
someone several inches shorter than he, and the shirt must have
been a castoff from someone much wider. Only the shoulders fit. At
least he was rid of his prison garb, though.

“Where’s the gun?” he
asked before she could leave.

Alexandra shook her head.
“I don’t know. Dr. Watts took it somewhere before he
left.”

“Where did he
go?”

She shrugged. “Probably
out on a call.”

“How did you explain all
this?”

“I didn’t. When he saw
your back, he thought it might be better if he didn’t
know.”

Nathaniel considered this.
“And the horse?”

“I let it go. I didn’t
want to be caught with it.”

He nodded. “Go, then, but
be careful... and hurry,” he admonished as she darted
away.

Supporting himself by
leaning on the furniture in the room—the bed, the washstand, the
wardrobe—Nathaniel moved into the doctor’s office next to the
dormitory. He could hear someone upstairs banging around in the
kitchen as the enticing smell of bacon wafted through the house. So
it was morning yet, he thought, grateful that not too much time had
passed.

Digging through the
drawers of the doctor’s desk, Nathaniel searched for the gun. Where
would Watts have put it?

When his search yielded
nothing, he moved to the examination room.

The front door opened, and
Nathaniel heard the doctor speaking to someone he brought in with
him. “I didn’t know what to make of it, but I thought it should be
brought to the attention of the constabulary.”

“The Duke of Greystone
came to Whitehall just this morning with a description of the same
man,” a voice replied. “He said Mr. Kent hit his son on the head
and stole a horse from his stables.”

Nathaniel’s heart began to
pound as he peered out of the room. A constable followed Dr. Watts
back toward the dormitory. Dressed in duck trousers, a blue
swallowtail coat, and a top hat, the man carried a pistol, which
meant he was more than a mere constable. Only inspectors carried
guns.

“You will investigate the
entire story before pressing charges against this man, am I right?”
Watts asked. “He certainly doesn’t seem like a criminal. And it
appears that he’s been quite abused—”

“If this is the man I
think he is, he deserves more than a mere flogging. He deserves a
noose around his neck.”

The doctor stopped and
turned back. “Certainly there are two sides to every
story.”

“Dr. Watts, a man escaped
from the hulks last night, a very dangerous man. And the duke has
witnesses to say that this same person tried to kill his son, and
stole one of his horses. If Mr. Kent is the one, we’re going to
string him up from the gallows. Now, where is he?”

The doctor frowned and
moved ahead, but more slowly. “They’re both back here. He and the
girl he said was his sister.”

Nathaniel prayed Alexandra
would not return at that moment. He needed her to stay in the alley
until he could manage to get out of the house himself.

“They’re gone,” Dr. Watts
said, his voice a mixture of relief and surprise.

A creak on the stair and
Tutty’s voice interrupted. “Doctor? Is that you?
Oh...
I didn’t realize
we had a visitor.”

“Tutty, this is Inspector
Striker. Do you know where Mr. Kent and his sister
went?”

“No. They’re not here?” As
the housekeeper spoke, Nathaniel’s strength nearly gave out on him.
He had to shift his position so he could lean up against the wall,
and his movement drew Tutty’s gaze through the doorway. Her eyes
widened and her mouth opened to speak, but Nathaniel pressed a
finger to his lips in a wordless appeal.

She looked back at Dr.
Watts and the inspector. “Have they done something
wrong?”

“Well, I’m not sure, not
sure at all,” Dr. Watts admitted. “I was a little unsettled by the
terrible marks on Mr. Kent’s back... thought they should be
reported, you know. And Inspector Striker here seems to think that
he’s a dangerous criminal who tried to murder the Marquess of
Clifton.”

Tutty blinked in surprise.
“Oh, I’m sure you’ve got the wrong fellow, sir. Mr. Kent would
never do a thing like that.”

“He hardly seems the
sort,” Dr. Watts agreed.

Inspector Striker’s voice
held disdain. “And you are a professional in criminal matters,
Doctor?” Without waiting for an answer, he continued, “Mind if I
have a look around?”

“Perhaps they went out the
back,” Tutty suggested, moving forward to herd the two men into the
dormitory.

Nathaniel would have been
grateful for her attempt to cover for him, except that Alexandra
had gone out the back, and he was afraid they would find her. He
coughed to gain their attention.

“What was that?” the
inspector asked.

“What?” Tutty’s voice held
a nervous edge.

Dr. Watts cleared his
throat. “The fog always seems to give me a tickle—”

“No, the sound came from
out there.”

Nathaniel heard them come
toward the examination room. Reaching for the only weapon he could
find, his hand closed on the handle of a surgical knife. He had no
idea where the doctor had put his pistol, but now he knew why it
had disappeared.

Before the inspector could
take more than two steps into the room, Nathaniel grabbed him from
behind and laid the knife against his throat. “Looking for me?” he
asked.

The inspector didn’t move.
“Please... I’m only doing my job.”

“Forgive me if letting you
do your job isn’t in my best interest. Please set your pistol on
the table.”

Tutty and Dr. Watts
followed the inspector in, the doctor wearing a heavy frown. “I’m
sorry, Mr. Kent,” he said. “I’m still not sure I was wrong for
doing what I did, but I consider myself a pretty good judge of
character. I can’t believe half the things this man claims you’ve
done.”

“I appreciate you giving
me the benefit of the doubt,” Nathaniel responded. “I don’t have
the time to explain now, but I am innocent, I assure you, at least
of these charges.”

“Nathaniel.” Alexandra’s
voice came from the back, softly calling his name.

“We’re in the examination
room,” Nathaniel called back.

She entered behind the
doctor and his housekeeper, then gasped at the sight of Nathaniel
holding a knife to the constable’s throat.

“Hand me that gun. And get
some rope,” he told her. “We need to tie them up.”

Alexandra hesitated only a
moment. Nathaniel looked as though he might swoon, and something
deeper than reason or thought compelled her to move. She gave the
gun to him as he asked, and waited for the doctor to pull some
thick cord out of a cabinet by the window.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured
to Dr. Watts and his housekeeper as she took the cord.

“Don’t worry, dear,” Tutty
said as Alexandra reluctantly began to tie her up. “My niece is
expected for dinner. No doubt she’ll be along shortly.”

To free them. Alexandra
understood her meaning. She glanced at Nathaniel to see if he had
caught it as well, but his mouth was drawn into a thin line that
revealed his pain, and she began to fear he would lose
consciousness again. They had to hurry.

“Looks as though you’ve
had experience with such things before,” he told her, after she’d
finished tying the inspector. He attempted a weak smile as he
checked to make sure the knots she’d tied were secure.

Alexandra shot him a look
of mock exasperation. “Since I’ve met you, I’ve gained a great deal
of experience, indeed.”

“Not the kind I’d like to
give you.” He spared her a lascivious grin, then saluted Dr. Watts
and his housekeeper.

Alexandra smiled ruefully,
her way of saying good-bye, and followed Nathaniel out the back
way.

* * *

Alexandra helped Nathaniel
down the alley, but progress was slow. Sweat stood out on his
forehead and ran down his back as he limped along. She feared the
jostling and the exertion would start him bleeding
again.

“This isn’t going to
work,” she said after they had traversed several blocks. “You can’t
walk much farther, and we’re not moving fast enough. We have to get
to an inn or someplace where I can take proper care of
you.”

Nathaniel grinned as he
stared at the top of Alexandra’s bodice, which kept gaping open in
front. “I like traveling this way. I’ve never had a better
view.”