Mistletoe and Mayhem - Cheryl Bolen Page 0,121

my brother in the carriage, then follow, Timothy.” Ivy didn’t hesitate; she simply raised her skirts and pulled out her pistol, then ran. Reaching the rear of the building, she pressed her back to the wall and moved along to the opening.

“It seems we are at an impasse, madam. I have a pistol aimed at you, and you have one aimed at me.”

Rory was talking, which told her he was all right. The relief made her knees weak.

What did she do now? Perhaps a distraction. Picking up a large piece of wood at her feet, she threw it with everything she had. The sound it made hitting the ground was muffled by the hard-packed dirt, and the noise merely a soft thud.

Drat.

“You are outmaneuvered, sir. Perhaps I will simply shoot you and then leave. After all, I have grown bored lately. A trip to the continent at this time of year is nice, I hear,” the woman talking to Rory said.

Ivy raised her pistol as she heard the sound of running feet. Timothy had arrived.

“You three take the left, you four right. Tonks and Brown have two more at the front.” Ivy pitched her voice as gruff as she could as she barked out the orders. She then nodded to Timothy.

“They’re in place and awaiting your command, sir.” Her footman had grasped the situation.

“Stop or I’ll shoot him!” the female inside shrieked.

“I think not. In fact, it is not I who will be shot, madam, but you,” Rory said.

“I’ll make you pay for this, and the Redferns,” the woman yelled.

The sound of movement inside had Ivy rushing through the door and into something hard. Rory’s back.

“Oomph.” He staggered forward several paces before stopping.

A woman turned in the doorway, her eyes meeting Ivy’s. Her beauty was the first thing Ivy noticed. The golden curls, and icy blue eyes—and then she was gone, escaping through the door. “Hurry, we must stop her!” Ivy started in her direction. She got no further than a few feet before a hand grabbing her jacket hauled her backward.

“Where the hell are you going?” Rory yelled.

“After her.”

“No, you are not! We, are leaving.” He gripped her arm and marched her back out the door.

“B-but they hurt my brother!”

“And there are at least fifty of them in this building, whereas there are three of us!”

He forced her down the side of the building at a run.

“You should have stayed with your brother in the carriage! What possessed you to run into that brothel like bloody Boudicca with an army at your back?” He pulled her along beside him.

“I c-came to your aid.” Ivy was struggling to keep up. Thankfully the carriage was close now. “You were alone—”

“No, really, I had no idea.” His words were laced with sarcasm as he stopped, allowing Ivy her first real look at him. His face was set in stone. Teeth gritted, he was in a towering rage.

“There is no need for that tone.” Ivy pulled her arm free.

“There is every need.” He spat out the words. “You are reckless and far too headstrong. God’s blood, have you any idea what could happen to a woman in such a place?” Anger turned his eyes almost black.

“I was not at risk, and am not one of those poor women who are forced to work in there.” She would not be intimidated.

“But what if she’d captured you?”

“Who?”

“Madam Layla, the woman you saw. What do you think would have happened then?” The words were fired at her.

“I would have been locked in a room and money demanded for my return?”

“Lord save me from innocents.” Rory wrenched open the carriage door. Lifting her, he then threw her inside. “We leave at once, Timothy, and take the boy up beside you. He is no longer safe here.”

Ivy scrambled onto the seat next to her brother. Jackson had his eyes closed and rested his head against the seat behind him. She touched his face. It was warmer now.

“Jackson.”

An eyelid rose. “Ivy,” he sighed, and she felt the tears begin to flow. “S-sorry.”

“It’s all right now, brother.” She tucked the blanket securely around his trembling body and then leaned into him, her big brother whom she had loved since the day she was old enough to realize how special he was. “You’re safe now.”

The eyes closed again, and she felt him heave a huge sigh. In seconds, he slept.

Ivy had never avoided what needed to be dealt with, and right now there was an angry man seated across from her.