Page 17 of The Notorious Lady

She didn’t finish her sentence as another loud bang—so loud it sounded as if the building was falling down—interrupted her. She lunged toward the exit, but Ford caught her by the waist and pinned her to the wall. He covered her mouth with his hand before she had time to protest and shushed her next to her ear.

Something was wrong.

These weren’t constables. Someone was breaking into the brothel.

As confirmation, the loud voices of uncouth and rowdy men filtered through to them from the ground floor.

“Find them!” a loud voice boomed over the swearing and cheering. “Don’t let them get away!”

Madame Tricheuse’s eyes widened, not in fear but rather in disbelief. How dare they, her eyes communicated, before narrowing to an almost rectangular form. Ford recognized it to be her look of annoyance.

Ford swallowed a laugh. He had to hand it to her. Most women—hell, most men—would be trembling in trepidation if they heard the noises of a break-in in the middle of the night at a place they thought was a sanctuary. Not her.

As the voices started to get closer and the hurried footsteps boomed loudly, making their way up the stairs, Ford removed his hand from her mouth and gripped the dagger strapped to his waist.

“Secret passage?” he whispered with a raised brow.

“It seems you got your wish, Monsieur Gunning,” she whispered through gritted teeth before tugging on his sleeve and leading him by the arm.

She dashed toward the opposite wall, swiping the candelabra off the floor as she did so. The moment they reached the opposite wall, she doused the candles, waving the smoke away with her hand. In the next moment, she dragged Ford—still disoriented from the sudden darkness—into a narrow passageway.

Chapter 5

Ford couldn’t see a bloody thing inside the secret passageway.

It was pitch black and rather suffocating.

As he tried to turn toward his companion, he bumped into the wall, quickly realizing it wasn’t wide enough to accommodate his shoulders.

“Shhh…” Madame Tricheuse gently put her hand on his chest, pressing him against the wall. She stilled beside him, communicating with her hand on his chest to stand still as well.

He couldn’t see her in the complete darkness, but he could feel her.

She stood so close that her soft exhales caressed his cheek and the whisper of her skirts brushed against his legs. Oddly, he didn’t find those sensations at all unpleasant.

Strange.

He did not like this woman.

She was a seductress, a liar, and no doubt, a criminal. Possibly a murderer.

Yet in the darkness and the confinement of this narrow corridor, she was but a woman. A woman who had quite possibly just saved his life.

A woman whose warmth stirred a flicker of desire in his body.

Ford took a deep breath to clear his mind. Instead, he inhaled the scent of jasmine mixed with the fresh scent of her skin.

His heartbeat accelerated, beating so loudly he was certain she could hear it.

Luckily, the voices outside their sanctuary grew louder, eclipsing his wandering thoughts.

The footsteps carried the intruders closer to their hiding spot.

Ford concentrated on the sounds outside the walls, trying to make out anything about the intruders.

Who were they?

And what did they want?