Page 91 of No Ordinary Lady

The woman Beatrice had already been detained at the inn, caught going through his luggage. She’d broken into his rented chamber there to see what she could steal and found herself in the company of three Bow Street Runners who had been disguised as his valet and grooms when they’d first arrived.

Crossman and the man called Tommy, who now seemed to be giving all the orders, had followed him from the inn and into this alley, where Daniel would pretend to empty his bladder.

Daniel tucked the coin away and heard the scuff of a boot behind him. Instinct had him turning to face the threat.

Knife held threateningly, the old man Crossman accosted Daniel without words. But his expression turned to shock as Daniel was recognized and his lunge was clumsy and desperate. Daniel easily caught him instead.

Daniel struggled, though, to hold him still. The old man was stronger than he looked. “How dare you threaten a peer, sir!” he growled in the old man’s ear.

At his words, the alley swarmed with Bow Street’s finest, and Crossman was quickly taken off Daniel’s hands. Far behind them all, a heated scuffle was currently underway.

It took four Bow Street men several long and concerning minutes to subdue Tommy, but they eventually dragged him away, slumped in their grip.

A Bow Street man rushed up to him, grinning. “Well done, my lord. We got them all. Are you all right?”

“Not a nick, not a scratch,” Daniel promised, adjusting the set of his coat, and trying to act as if he did this sort of thing every day. “That will teach the scoundrel to tangle with the Earl of Scarsdale.”

Crossman’s head snapped around to stare at him. “Scarsdale?”

Daniel nodded. “My mother sends her regards,” he answered with a smug smile. The fellow turned pale, which made Daniel all the more curious about the things that mother still refused to tell him about her past with Crossman. However, he did not want to dredge up matters that might sully his mother’s reputation.

He also did not offer the man any message from his niece, Marian, or tell him she had become his wife. The less Crossman knew about how he’d been found so easily, the better, in his opinion. He wouldn’t like the old fellow to come after his wife for what he might see as a betrayal.

Daniel glanced down the alleyway to where the young boy had disappeared. There was no sign of him, thankfully, and Daniel could only hope that he’d escaped down the path they’d planned for him to take.

Marian promised young William would hide at the first sign of trouble. She’d taught him that and made him promise that he’d always try to find her when it was safe to come out again. She believed his caution would serve them well when he was separated from the rest.

Marian also believed Daniel’s presence at her side might spook the boy at first. He didn’t know that they were to be married soon, and that Daniel was no threat to anyone Marian loved.

With the thieves caught and being dragged away, Daniel was now at liberty to pursue a reunion with the woman who had stolen his heart.

The alleyway widened, and Daniel moved at a slow pace toward a somewhat open space directly. In the center sat Marian on an apple box, a fresh coat for the boy laid across her lap and a tempting pie for his empty tummy sitting to one side.

Daniel sighted the boy between himself and Marian, hidden under a stack of empty crates, watching Marian closely. Daniel strolled past the boy, as planned, and hoped he wouldn’t turn tail and run in the other direction before Marian got a chance to speak with him.

He paused beside Marian, stooped to kiss her cheek and, as planned, moved on a little farther to wait against a far wall. This was not exactly a safe area for a wealthy earl and his countess to take a picnic lunch. But the boy would be uncomfortable in any place more refined, Marian believed.

“Are you hungry, Billy? I’ve food for you,” Marian said gently to the shadows of the alleyway where the boy hid.

The boy remained in his hiding place, but Daniel was certain he’d heard her words.

She gestured to him. “This is my husband, Danny. He’s helped me look for you. The Runners have what they came for and are gone away again. Crossman, Tommy, and Beatrice are with them now. It’s been so many months since we’ve been together that I hope you still remember me, even in my new finery?”

The boy emerged from the shadows, eyes wide, and his gaze darting around the alley, looking for any others. He was filthy from top to toe.

Daniel’s heart bled for the boy. He had not fared well without Marian to look after him, and Daniel was glad he’d promised to take the boy on no matter what condition or situation they found him in.

For now, it was just him and Marian in the alleyway with a skittish child, afraid of being captured. The boy’s gaze settled on him for some time and then returned to where Marian sat patiently waiting.

The child, obviously half starved, edged toward her at last.

“Do you like my fancy dress? I’m to live like a lady now. In a grand house, and I don’t have to steal to fill my stomach anymore. Neither will you if you trust us. There’s a warm bed waiting for you, Billy, if you want to come and live with us. I hope you will, but the food beside me is yours with no strings attached, as is this larger coat I bought.”

The boy froze when Marian stood up from the wooden crate. He was halfway to her now, and Daniel watched intently as she continued to speak to the boy about her new life as a lady.

The boy was truly a frightened animal, expecting cruelty and capture at every turn. For months, he’d listened to Marian talk and fret over the boy’s absence from her life.

Daniel would do nothing to spook the boy today. They might never get another chance to turn him from a life of crime. But they could not stay here forever.