Page 84 of A Relentless Rake

Olivia placed her hand on Alec’s chest to signify that he was a friend and not one of the kidnappers.

“Intruders,” Olivia explained frantically as darkness pressed in around her. The floor rose and fell beneath her, and dark spots formed before her eyes as she forced out, “Count the girls…make certain…all here…”

Nodding, Mrs. Adams raced back down the stairs toward the dormitories on the floor below.

Olivia’s hand clenched at his waistcoat. Shehadto make him understand. “If they’ve taken any of the girls…” Her throat tightened, and she choked. A hot tear rolled down her cheek.

“They didn’t take…” But his voice came garbled and distant, as if he were speaking underwater. “I promise…”

The world spun around her, and she couldn’t catch hold to stop it. She closed her eyes to stop the sickening dizziness that swelled inside her. She felt herself falling away…falling…

The last thing her mind registered before the darkness overtook her was Alec frantically calling her name.

Twenty-Two

Alec gazed solemnly at Reed and Clayton from behind Olivia’s small desk in her office. “Nothing?”

Clayton shook his head. “There’s no trace of Henry Everett.”

With a curse, Alec sat back in the chair. Around him, the school was finally quiet. The girls had settled down just after dawn, believing the story that Mrs. Adams had spun about a stray dog who’d slipped into the school and caused havoc as they’d attempted to chase him out.

Thankfully, none of them had seen Alec.

Olivia was still upstairs in her room and hopefully still sleeping. They’d sent for a doctor who’d assured them that she would be fine and simply needed a long rest. But Alec was ready to kill the bastard who’d struck her.

“My men are asking around the docks to see what can be turned up.” Clayton added solemnly, “But I don’t expect to learn anything. The men who took him are most likely halfway to the Channel by now.”

Exactly what Alec thought himself. The two men who broke into the school had been hired from the docks—or from the tavern next to the docks, more likely, given their stench of stale ale and rotten fish. They could have taken Henry Everett anywhere, collected their money upon his delivery, then sailed away on the first ship. Even Clayton’s network of spies and Reed’s guards wouldn’t be able to find them.

“I did discover the connection between Everett and Lady Rowland, however,” Reed interjected. “The lady employs a very chatty kitchen maid.”

Alec shook his head. There was no hope in finding Henry Everett through the baroness. “Even if Sydney Rowland is caught up in this, she won’t—”

“How, exactly, is Lady Rowland involved with my brother?”

All three men glanced toward the door. Alec’s heart skipped.

Olivia.

She stood in the doorway, and her eyes traveled warily between Alec, Clayton, and Reed. Like any other morning, she was dressed in a fresh day dress, her hair neatly but simply pinned into a chignon. But her beautiful face was pale and drawn, with dark circles beneath her eyes, and her cheek was marred by an ugly bruise. Alec thought he could see her hands shaking before she deftly folded them out of sight behind her back.

He rose and went to her. He took her elbow to escort her into the room and gave it a reassuring squeeze when what he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and hold her close.

“Miss Everett, this is Captain Nathaniel Reed and Major Clayton Elliott, old friends of mine from my army days,” Alec introduced quietly, providing no more information about the two men than that. She needed to know nothing more, except… “You can trust them with your life.”

She gave no acknowledgment of that. Instead, she pressed Reed by bluntly asking, “What connection does the baroness have to Henry?”

Reed looked questioningly at Clayton, who nodded his consent to bring Olivia into their confidence, and said, “Your brother has been frequenting gambling hells and accumulating huge debts, including at Barton’s on the same nights when Lady Rowland was present. They’ve been seen talking privately several times during the past fortnight.” He paused. “You didn’t know?”

“No,” she whispered.

Alec waited for her to say more, bracing himself for the argument about her brother’s innocence that had always come at this point in their previous conversations.

This time, though, she didn’t defend him.

“They were introduced by Sir George Pittens,” Reed explained. “The baroness took pity on your brother and offered to pay his gambling debts.”

She frowned, confused. “Why would she do that?”