Page 91 of His Sinful Touch

Open the door, Alex urged. Open the door and see if he’s flown. The key rattled in the lock, and slowly the door eased open. The guard eased his head cautiously around the door. Alex, waiting with hands upraised, smashed the tray into the guard’s face. The other man staggered back, letting out a howl and clutching his bleeding nose.

Alex stepped forward and swung again, coming down so hard on the side of the man’s head that the wooden tray cracked. The guard hit the wall and bounced off, going to his knees. He wobbled, then collapsed on the floor.

Alex stepped over his body and out the door, pulling it shut behind him. The key was still in the lock, and he turned it, then ran for the stairs at the end of the hall. He was alert for someone to pop out of another room or to be waiting for him at the top of the stairs, but there was no one to impede him. He emerged into a warehouse, piled high with crates, and ran down the aisles they created until at last he found the doors and burst out onto the street.

Pausing for a moment to orient himself, he took off at top speed, running to Sabrina.

Chapter Thirty-Three

DEARBORN’S WORDS SLICED through Sabrina. She thought of Alex, imprisoned somewhere, left to die. It was all her fault. She swallowed the sob that wanted to burst out of her and faced Dearborn. He waited, calm and expectant. He was sure she would crumble. Faced with anger, influenced by his manipulation of her guilt and her debt to them, racked with fear for Alex, Dearborn knew she would back down.

She stiffened her spine. “Then I suppose we are at a standstill.”

He snorted. “You’re bluffing. You won’t leave.”

That was true, of course, but she had to make him believe her. There was no hope of saving Alex without learning where he was.

“No?” Sabrina raised a contemptuous eyebrow and started toward the door.

Peter stepped in front of the closed door into the hallway, blocking it. She stopped.

Behind her, Dearborn rasped, “Don’t be a fool. You aren’t leaving here.”

Sabrina tightened her grip on her parasol. Perhaps she really would have to use it as a weapon. She swung back toward Dearborn. “You intend to kidnap me, as well? How many more people will you abduct? Lilah knows where I am. She knows about your plot. By now, I’m sure the entire Moreland clan knows. They’ll soon be knocking down your door. Do you intend to do away with all of them?”

Almost as if planned, a thunderous pounding began on the front door. Dearborn’s head snapped in that direction, his face almost comical in its dismay. There was the muffled sound of voices, then a clear “Get out of my bloody way!” followed by a resounding crash.

“Really, Con!” Lilah’s voice came through the door. “Did you have to knock him into the vase?”

“Yes.” Con’s voice was so much like Alex’s that it made Sabrina’s heart hurt. He flung open the double doors.

Peter had whirled in surprise at the noise in the hall. Con grabbed Peter by the lapels and flung him aside, then charged at Dearborn. Dearborn skittered back, knocking into a table and going down in a heap. Con hauled the older man to his feet, shaking him.

“Where is he? Where the hell is my brother?”

“Con, he can hardly talk with you shaking him like that.” Lilah entered the room in Con’s wake and hurried over to hug Sabrina.

Tom Quick entered last, going to Con and tugging on his arm. “Here now, sir. You’re choking the man.”

Con dropped his hands away. “I’d like to. And I will, if he doesn’t tell me where Alex is right now.”

Dearborn stepped back, straightening his jacket and trying to regain some shred of dignity.

“You’re a madman. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I think I can persuade you to come up with one.” Con doubled his fist.

“Mr. Dearborn, for pity’s sake.” Sabrina joined them. “Have you gone mad? How do you expect to get away with abducting a duke’s son? If you have any hope of saving yourself, tell us what you did with Alex.”

“What the devil is wrong with you, Sabrina?” Dearborn lashed out in frustration. “Peter is offering you his name. It’s your only hope of salvaging any shred of reputation. No decent man would marry you now. It’s obvious you went traveling around with Moreland, alone, unchaperoned.”

“I was with them,” Lilah said.

Dearborn shot her a withering glance. “I would have thought better of you, at least, Lilah. We all know that’s a lie. You were at Broughton House pretending to be Sabrina while she was spending time with her lover. That was obvious as soon as we saw the two of them come sailing back in the other day.” Dismissing her, he whirled back to address Sabrina, “It wasn’t the first time you’ve been alone with a man, either. You and Peter shared a bedroom the night—”

“You dare to bring that up?” Sabrina cried.

“That doesn’t matter,” Lilah said. “No one knows about that.”