A Little Bit Scandalous Page 0,73
be a burden on the people closest to her. Now it would seem that would always be the case for her.
The work the men had done upstairs was equally as impressive as the fixes downstairs. Roe certainly knew what he was doing when he hired them. She could at least thank him for that.
A door slammed downstairs, and for a moment Caroline’s blood ran cold. She shook off the feeling. She was distracted and the noise startled her. Perhaps the men had returned to work today. She made her way down the staircase, and she could see from the shoes that two people stood in the entryway. As the bulkhead cleared, she saw that it was Mr. Lamb and one of the girls from Dover House. Upon closer inspection she saw that it was Gretchen and that Mr. Lamb held a pistol in his hand. It was pressed firmly against Gretchen’s side. Tears rolled down her cheeks, but she made no sound.
Caroline frowned and stepped off the last step. “Mr. Lamb, what the devil do you think you’re doing? Remove that pistol from Gretchen this once.”
He smiled, showing his pointed teeth. “It’s her own damned fault she’s here. This was supposed to be you and me, alone. But somehow she was here when I arrived, and I knew she’d tell the authorities if she saw me leave here with you.”
“Gretchen, love, what are you doing here? How did you find me?” Caroline asked. Not that it mattered now because she was here and Mr. Lamb had a gun. Fear surged in Caroline’s throat, threatening to choke her, but she did her best to ignore it. Showing her own fear would only make things worse for Gretchen.
“I followed him. I knew he was up to something and I wanted to see what it was. He’s been making us steal, me and Fiona and I don’t know. I thought I’d find out where he was hiding all the money. If I could take some of it, then me and the girls could leave and get a house somewhere. But he came here. I didn’t know it was your house.”
“It will all be well,” Caroline said, looking straight into the girl’s pretty green eyes.
“Enough talking,” Mr. Lamb said. “It is time for us all to go for a ride. Come along, ladies,” he said, bitterness clinging to the last word.
Caroline stood firm where she was. “I will not go anywhere with you.”
“Is that so? Get out to the carriage now, or I’ll shoot this girl right here in your front entry.”
She stood there for a moment considering the situation. Instinct told her she could not let him have the upper hand, that she could let him take her and Gretchen away from here, but what could she do? She couldn’t allow him to harm Gretchen. And she couldn’t overpower him. She was half his size. How was it that she had no weapon? Of course she wasn’t in the habit of carrying weapons with her, something she would obviously need to remedy.
She walked to the front door. “I cannot imagine what you want with me. Am I to discover the rest of the board of directors tied up in this carriage of yours?”
“No, just you, I only want you,” he said. The sinister meaning of his words snaked chills through her body. Did he intend to ravish her? Certainly not while young Gretchen was with them. Good heavens, it would seem Caroline had gotten herself into more than a bit of trouble. She climbed into the carriage and the girl followed behind her.
“Sit over there,” he said as he too climbed inside. He had them both sit across from him and aimed the gun at both of them, alternating who would get the barrel of the pistol. “Now then, Miss Jellico, or should I call you Mr. Grey? I don’t appreciate what you’ve been doing. I received notice this morning that I was no longer welcomed to play at Rodale’s. What do you suppose that is about?”
“I really couldn’t say. I have no notion of what you’re talking about.” So Roe had been right. Lamb had recognized her.
“Don’t play daft with me, girl. I know you’re not that stupid. What I want to know is how you became such a damned good player?”
She leveled her gaze to his watery eyes and suppressed a shudder. “I rely on skill rather than luck.”
“Oh, touché.” The carriage rumbled down the street and she tried to reach