and walked through the front room and out the door.
She was too dazed to know where she was walking. She had a vague idea of finding her father and asking what had happened, maybe pleading with him to reconsider. The knowledge that her pleas had fallen on deaf ears before did nothing to calm her.
Maybe she was good for nothing but arranging dinner tables and having babies after all. Maybe she should marry Peter and be grateful that she had a roof over her head. Maybe men were right and women had no place outside the home. She certainly hadn't seen anything to tell her differently since she began this crusade.
Tears were creeping down her cheeks and her handkerchief was in tatters before Georgina realized she didn't know where she was or where she was going. At the same time, it dawned on her that she was being followed. The scuffling noises and murmured taunts grew louder behind her. Afraid to turn around, she walked faster, desperately trying to figure out how to escape this maze of narrow alleys.
"What's the matter, lady? Think you're too good for us?"
As if the fact that they had been discovered made them braver, the men behind her moved in closer. At least Georgina thought they were men. She was too terrified to look, but the voice had sounded definitely low and male.
"Lost, lady? Want a map? Give you one for a kiss."
A hand grabbed her elbow. She shook it off and wished for her parasol. She needed a weapon. Lifting her skirts, she hurried faster.
"Not so quick, lady. You got to pay the toll if you walk this street." A grubby figure dashed in front of her, his cap parked at a jaunty angle over his forehead as he looked her up and down.
He wasn't much taller than she, but Georgina had learned to recognize a man's muscular strength, and this man could have been a blacksmith from the breadth of his chest. The bulky plaid shirt he wore did little to disguise the power of the arms crossing in front of him as he stared at her boldly. She didn't dare try to get by him.
Swinging around, she confronted a taller, lankier assailant. She couldn't tell if his skin was darkened by nature, sun, or dirt, but his teeth flashed white against his face as he blocked her path. "Toll, lady. Pay the toll." He held his arms out wide and stepped forward.
She ducked under his arm and tried to run past him, back the way she had come, but he stuck out a foot and tripped her. She stumbled, and he caught her up in a grip that was just as strong as Peter's. She screamed in fright and tried to shake free.
"I'd leave the lady alone if I were you," a voice rang from out of nowhere.
Georgina and her attackers swung around, searching the empty street, seeing nothing in the blank windows but the occasional flutter of a curtain. The people who inhabited these houses had learned to stay away from trouble.
"Come out and make us," the cocky, short man shouted, reaching to grab Georgina's waist.
"You don't want me to do that." A movement in a nearby alley gave an indication as to the source of the voice.
Georgina gasped as she recognized the insolent stance of the shadow leaning against a wall. Daniel! She had never been so glad to see anybody in her life. The ruffian grasping her waist smelled of garlic and worse, and the taller man's grip was hurting her arm. She blanked her mind against the thoughts of what would have happened had Daniel not arrived. She could barely tolerate her immediate position.
"Why not, cowboy? Whatya gonna do 'bout it?" The taller man grabbed a hank of Georgina's hair and twisted her head backward until she was looking up into his hair-stubbled face. She screamed and tried to pull away as she read his intent to kiss her, but held by two sets of arms, there wasn't far she could go.
An oddly sharp bark split the thick summer air, and the painful hold on Georgina's arm slackened. The tall man yipped and staggered backward, trying to pull his foot up.
"You want your turn?" Daniel asked the remaining man as he strolled from the alley, swinging something in his hand that glittered silver in the sunlight.
Feeling the hold at her waist loosening, Georgina grabbed her skirt and jerked free, running in Daniel's direction, keeping to the side of