He rolled to his back and cried out as his muscles wrenched. If he ever learned his attackers’ identities, they were in for a shocking introduction of his foot to their backsides.
***
Lady Helena Prestwick jumped in response to a sharp whoop from the street. Laughter and the sound of running footsteps approached her hiding spot. She pressed against the stone wall, her fingers trembling as she clutched the dagger Fergus had given her. The men ran past the alley entrance without noticing her. She released her breath and slumped against the wall.
Perhaps she should have listened to her late husband’s land steward and stayed behind at the town house while he searched the Wentworth Street brothel tonight, but it had been nine years since she had seen any of her four younger sisters. Waiting one more day to learn of her sisters’ fates was unbearable. Fergus—a man who was more like family to her than a servant—had never lied to her, but she couldn’t quite trust he would do as he promised if she wasn’t present to oversee everything. Her father’s and husband’s duplicitous natures had taught her the value of caution.
She and Fergus had tracked Lavinia to Whitechapel a week ago. There were an overwhelming number of places to search, but last night they had gotten their first promising lead. A widow with several little ones clinging to her skirts was certain she remembered Lavinia, even though she hadn’t seen her in a long time.
The woman had wrung her hands. “Such a pretty girl. It’s a shame she landed in a brothel, but it’s no surprise O’Riley wanted her.” She had no recollection of Lavinia having had any living family.
Helena’s stomach turned and she closed her eyes against the horrid images invading her mind. She couldn’t allow herself to believe Cora, Pearl, and Gracie might be dead. It was awful enough knowing Lavinia had ended up in the rookery. Their father had wagered it all away, then. Had he also lost Lavinia in a lousy game of cards?
She breathed in deeply to slow the surge of animosity racing through her veins. She had prayed her sisters would escape this fate just as she had with her late husband’s help. If only Wickie had allowed her sisters to come with her to Scotland, they could have been saved, too. Resentment swelled within her, but she pushed it down. Lord Prestwick had been under no obligation to take in Helena, much less her sisters. She tried to remember she was fortunate he’d married her and gave her a home, even if she’d often felt like a prisoner at Aldmist Fell.
A low groan carried on the air followed by an almost unintelligible curse. Almost. The word bugger had been clear enough to make her blush. The man’s moans grew louder.
Whoever was out there was in pain, but it was too dangerous to come to his aid. Her fingers gripped her gray skirts. She had promised Fergus she wouldn’t leave the alley for any reason.
“Help.” The man gasped for air.
She covered her ears to shut out his pathetic moaning, but it did no good. What if he lay bleeding in the road and here she hid like a frightened mouse?
She eased along the wall toward the mouth of the alley and peeked around the building. An indistinct dark lump crawled toward a building with flickering lights in the windows, but collapsed in the street.
“Help me, please.” His voice was raspy and weak.
He couldn’t know she was there, could he? Yet his plea seemed directed at her.
“Please.”
Oh, good Lord above! She couldn’t take it anymore. As quietly as possible, she slipped into the street, holding the dagger at the ready, and hurried to where the man lay facedown in the mud.
“Help has come,” she whispered as she sheathed the dagger and knelt beside him, “but you must be quiet before someone else discovers you and finishes the task the other men started. Can you roll over?”
Grabbing his shoulder, she pulled firmly. He flipped to his back with a sharp hiss. “Feels like knives when I breathe.”
She cradled his head in her lap and wiped the mud from his eyes and mouth as best as she could. “You may have cracked ribs. I know it hurts, but we cannot leave you in the street.”
He started to reach a hand toward her face then jerked to a stop with another painful moan.