Page 87 of His Sinful Touch

“Sabrina? What is it?” Lilah started toward her in concern.

“That’s Mr. Dearborn’s hand.” Sabrina stood up.

“Are you certain?”

“Yes, I’ve seen it several times.”

“Don’t open it,” Lilah said swiftly. “We must get Con.” She turned toward the door.

“Excuse me, Miss Holcutt,” Phipps interrupted politely. “But Mr. Constantine left the house a little while ago.”

“Oh.” She turned back to Sabrina. “We should send for him.”

“No.” Sabrina managed a fair imitation of a smile. “I’m being silly to be so alarmed by a letter. Thank you, Phipps.” She nodded to the butler in dismissal. Then, taking a deep breath, she tore open the envelope. Inside was a folded note and another small object. “No. Oh, no.”

“What is it?”

Sabrina didn’t answer as she opened the note and quickly scanned it. She felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. “I have to go.”

“No. Wait. You mustn’t leave. You can’t put yourself in Dearborn’s hands.”

“I have to.” With trembling fingers, Lilah reached into the envelope and pulled out a gold cuff link. “They have Alex.”

Chapter Thirty-One

“WHAT!” LILAH STARED at Sabrina. Sabrina responded by simply handing the note to her friend and heading for the door. Lilah hurried after her. “Sabrina, wait. How can you be certain that this is true?” She shook the piece of paper. “He says that Alex is with them and advises you to join them—and notice how carefully they skirt around saying they’re holding him for ransom—but you don’t know that Mr. Dearborn is telling you the truth. This could be a trick to get their hands on you. Alex may be perfectly fine. We should see if we can find him before you do anything rash.”

“He’s not fine. This is his cuff link.” Sabrina held it out, cupped in her palm. “You see? It has the letter A on it. He told me Con gave them to him as something of joke, saying that now he couldn’t get away with borrowing Con’s cuff links.” The threat of tears roughened her voice.

“He could have lost one, and the Dearborns picked it up or—” Lilah stopped at Sabrina’s derisive look. “Yes, I know it’s a weak argument. But it is possible.”

“Alex is in trouble, Lilah,” Sabrina said flatly. “I know it. I feel it.” She jabbed her finger at her chest. “In here.”

“You feel it? Sabrina, you’re not speaking rationally.”

“It’s not rational,” Sabrina insisted. “But it’s true, nonetheless. There’s some part of me, inside, that...that belongs to Alex, that connects me to him. I don’t understand it. I cannot explain it, obviously. But it’s always there, and just now, when I read that note, I tried to summon it up. And it was all wrong. It was jumbled and...and spiky, somehow. Almost painful.”

“I don’t understand any of this.”

“I know. I don’t really understand it, either. But I’m certain of this—Alex needs me.”

Sabrina pushed past Lilah and hurried down the hall. For a moment, Lilah stared after her, astonished, then ran after her. “Sabrina, wait!” She grabbed her arm and pulled Sabrina to a stop. “I have no earthly idea what you’re talking about. But I do know this—they’re going to demand you marry Peter! You can’t possibly marry him.”

“If that is what I have to do to save Alex, that’s what I’ll do.” Sabrina felt a certain calm determination settling over her.

It must have showed in her face, for Lilah sagged and said, “If you insist on doing this, at least let me go with you.”

“It says I must come alone. I can’t risk Alex’s life by doing anything other than what Dearborn told me to.”

Turning, Sabrina strode to the front door, Lilah trailing after her. A footman sprang to open the door, looking askance at Sabrina. “Miss, your bonnet, your gloves... I’ll fetch them.”

“Never mind that.”

“For pity’s sake,” Lilah exclaimed. “At least take a parasol.” Grabbing one from the stand by the door, she held it out to Sabrina.

For the first time, a faint smile crossed Sabrina’s face. “Very well. Perhaps I can whack someone over the head with it.”

She sailed through the front door and down the street to the carriage waiting at the far end.