for you and the coppers had agreed to let you go out of the goodness of their hearts?”
His questions were met with silence.
“It’s all a lie. They paid off the coppers. You’ll work sixteen hours a day for a crust of bread and a pail of dirty water from the creek once a day. But if you want to stay, it’s no skin off my nose.”
He headed for the door.
A rustle of clothes filled the darkness as the street urchins climbed out of the wooden box. “All right. But you’d better be telling the truth.”
Before they could reach the door, it burst open and slammed against the wall. Light spilled across the floor. Luke grabbed a little girl no more than five or six years old and dove between two crates. When he looked back, the other kids had disappeared from sight.
Luke hugged the girl close. He didn’t have to tell her to stay quiet. She didn’t utter a sound.
Eerie shadows danced against the walls. A tall man dressed in a thick overcoat strode into Luke’s line of vision, followed by the hulking forms of Butch and Grady.
Light reflected off the diamond stickpin in the man’s necktie. A stickpin he’d bought from the labor of children.
The man faced Butch and Grady. “If you two ever pull a stunt like that again, you’ll pay—and pay dearly.”
“We didn’t mean no harm, boss. And it’s not like they can go anywhere.”
The man stopped and held the lantern high. Brightness spilled from the globe, stretched out, and pushed the darkness away.
“Then what is this?”
The icy chill of suppressed rage in the clipped words spurred Luke to action. The girl still in his arms, he lunged for the door.
“Hey,” Grady yelled, but Luke had a head start. He ducked out the door. Gaining speed, he darted around the corner of the building, down one alley, then another, finally burrowing beneath a pile of crates. He held the girl close.
Grady ran by their hiding place, cursing a blue streak.
Luke kept still, the little girl tight against him. Minutes ticked by, but Luke waited.
“There was a Mark.” The little girl’s voice was a whisper in the cold night air.
Luke’s heart slammed hard against his rib cage. “Where?”
“In the other crate.”
* * *
Would he see Miss O’Brien again?
Jake hauled the wagon to a stop in front of the orphanage. He halfway hoped Mrs. Brooks would answer the door so he could complete his mission and hoof it back to town like a scared rabbit. He didn’t have time to think about a woman, but his thoughts didn’t seem to understand that fact.
He set the brake and stared at the rambling old farmhouse nestled in a grove of trees, as if it had been waiting for a bunch of orphans to show up and take over. The snow had stopped for the time being, but the dark, moisture-laden clouds threatened to dump more anytime. He jumped down and crunched across the white surface to the front porch, knocked, and waited. He tugged off one glove and undid the top button of his coat before he suffocated. It might be below freezing outside, but the thought of seeing Livy again brought his temperature up a notch or two.
Livy answered the door, and he blinked. Last night’s dim light hadn’t done her justice. Her eyes were bluer than he remembered, her hair a deeper russet brown. She’d twisted the mass up on top of her head, but a few curls trailed down onto the starched stand-up collar of her dress. What would her hair feel like? Would it curl around his fingers like it curled against her long, slender neck? He clamped his jaw, shoving down his distracting thoughts.
“Good afternoon, Miss O’Brien.” Jake yanked off his hat and forced words past the coal-size lump in his throat.
She dipped her head, prim and proper. “Deputy Russell.”
“Just Jake, ma’am.”
A hint of a blush covered her cheeks. “Won’t you come in?”
He entered the warmth of the foyer and unfastened the remaining buttons on his coat. To his left, a savory aroma wafted out of the kitchen, and to his right, the sounds of energetic—if off-key—singing drifted out from the parlor.
Livy tracked his gaze toward the noise. “The children have finished their chores for the day, and Mrs. Brooks decided to teach them a few carols.”
“They seem to be enjoying themselves.”
She gave him a bright smile that seemed to come out of nowhere and sucker punch him in the gut. “Yes, they are.”