Candice Hern Read Free

Drury Lane. Was she trying to set him up, to extort money or marriage from him? A cold, vicious anger cut through him like a knife. She would not get away with it, the little trollop.
    “Go to hell,” he said and pressed forward, forcing the man and his minions back toward the doorway. “And take that hussy of a daughter with you. I’ll be damned if I’m tricked into a trumped-up leg-shackle with a girl who’s no better than alightskirt.” And probably no relation at all to this hired gang of thugs.
    The older man, obviously an actor in his own right, turned purple in a pretense of rage. “How dare you speak that way about my daughter!”
    The younger men—more actors? a whole troupe of actors?—exploded in an outburst of shouts and curses. Their “father” rushed at Nick and grabbed him by the collar. The others surrounded him, pressing against him, trapping him in his own hallway. Nick tried to wrench away from the leader’s grip on his collar, but the tenacious fellow clung like a leech. The man spoke through bared teeth, playing his part with melodramatic relish.
    “It cuts me to the quick to think of my girl with such a bounder. Where is she? What have you done with her?”
    Nick sneered. “I left her in a pile of rumpled sheets some hours ago. And if you expect me to believe I’m the first to plow that field, then you’re a bigger fool than I am.”
    The man growled and pulled back his fist in preparation for another blow, but Nick caught his arm and held tight. The others grabbed Nick by the shoulders, but he held firm to the leader.
    “You’ve picked the wrong pigeon to pluck,” Nick said. “If your girl thought she’d landed a plump one, I am afraid I must disabuse you of that notion. You won’t get a sou more from me than I left on the bedstead.”
    The older man uttered a sort of howl and theyounger men descended upon Nick in earnest, eyes blazing with fury. His hold on the leader was lost, and both arms were pinned behind his back. It was all he could do to stand upright.
    “I should kill you right now,” one of them said.
    “For what?” Nick asked, full of righteous bravado despite being seriously outnumbered. “Not falling for your game? For speaking the truth about your so-called sister? Get out of my house. All of you.” Using every ounce of strength at his disposal, he wrenched his arms free and shoved two of the assailants aside. “ Now .”
    The older man held his ground and refused to budge an inch. “This is no game,” he said in an ominous tone. “You will do right by my girl or face the consequences.”
    “Do right by her? If you are suggesting a marriage, then you may be assured it will be over my dead body.”
    “That can be arranged. But the girl will be left a widow, not a hopeless ruin.”
    “That one was ruined long ago,” Nick said. “And frequently, I should guess.”
    “Kill him, Roddy.”
    “No, let me do it.”
    “We’ll take turns.”
    “Not yet, boys. We need him for the wedding.” The leader had grown so red in the face he looked near apoplexy. He was shaking with feigned anger. It was a performance worthy of the legendary Garrick. “You will give her your name, Parrish, andthen I’ll let her brothers do with you what they will. And I hope never to lay eyes upon you again.”
    Nick shoved the man in the chest, sending him back into the doorway. “Your threats grow tedious, sir. I would not marry your wretched daughter if you put a gun to my head.”
    The man looked over Nick’s shoulder. He drew in a sharp breath, and his eyes widened.
    Nick turned and saw Prudence coming down the hallway.
    Prudence?
    Her hair had fallen down on one side and spilled in a mass of tousled reddish-gold curls over her shoulder. The bodice of her dress hung slightly askew. Her eyes looked drowsy with sleep even as they widened with apprehension.
    “Papa?”

Chapter 2
    P ru closed her eyes tight and rubbed them with the balls of her hands. Perhaps when she opened