Page 24 of Only Pleasure Will Do

Agony shot through her, almost too great to bear. She started forward, but Reginald pulled her back.

Redmond leered at her. “Will you, my dear? Will you really refuse?”

Heart racing, Amorina stared into the terrified eyes of her daughter and shook her head. “No.” God forgive her, but she couldn’t stand here and allow her own child to be slaughtered. A different sacrifice would have to be made on the altar of the dark god. “No, don’t hurt her. I’ll do it.”

“Yes, I thought so.” Redmond stroked Pearl’s hair, still holding the pistol to her head.

A numbness washed through Amorina, draining all feeling from her body. She must get through this somehow, and icy detachment had served her well these last six years. “What do I tell the marchioness? What instructions must I give her?”

“Pick up the clock again.”

As if asleep, Amorina bent once more and withdrew the exquisite timepiece from the bag.

“See the key sticking out of the back?”

Slowly, she turned the clock in her hands. A small, flat key was inserted into a keyhole in the base of the clock. “Yes, I see it.”

“Once the clock is wound, the device is primed. It will play a tune for several moments then the bomb will explode.” The fiend might’ve been giving instructions on how to saddle a horse for all the emotion he showed.

She must focus. Don’t think about anything but accomplishing the task at hand. This was advice she often gave new girls at the House of Pleasure. If one thought only about how to do something well, one often didn’t think about what one was actually doing. “And after I deliver it, what must I do?” She busied herself with packing away the infernal device again. “Come back here?”

“No.” He stared at her as if contemplating something. “I will want proof that the marquess and marchioness are, in fact, dead. So you will wait until the deed is done. Bring me a broadsheet stating so, and then I will decide what to do with your daughter and Sir Reginald.”

That sounded ominous. And try as she might, she couldn’t quite believe that he’d let Pearl and Reginald go free under any circumstances. But what choice did she really have? If she pressed him now, he might simply shoot Reginald before her eyes. Better to agree to his terms and perhaps buy Reginald a few hours to try to escape. “Where am I to meet you?”

“My father’s house in London. It’s empty at the moment. Meet me in the park in front of 21 Berkeley Square. Tomorrow noon.”

“What if Lady Dalbury does not wind the clock before that time?” A glimmer of hope rose in her heart. If the marchioness could be persuaded not to wind the device, Amorina would have more time to send rescue to Pearl and Reginald.

“You had best persuade her to play the damned thing tonight.” Redmond shattered her hopes. “If there is no broadsheet by noon tomorrow, I will have these two killed and their bodies thrown in the Thames.”

Amorina flinched then nodded. She would do what must be done. God have mercy on her soul.

“Come on.”

Fearful she might never see her daughter again, she stooped to embrace her child, but Redmond shoved Pearl to the side and grabbed Amorina’s arm to pull her away. “I said come on.”

Pearl staggered and fell, crying out, then dissolved into tears on the dusty floor.

“Pearl!” Amorina tore her arm out of his grasp and gathered her daughter in her arms. “Hush, my love, hush. It will be all right. Mama promises.”

“Lying to the child will not help you, Amorina.” Redmond jerked her up. She lost her hold on Pearl and the child sank back down on the floor, weeping.

“Damn you, Thomas Redmond.” She wheeled around on him, catching him off guard. For a crucial moment, he seemed confounded by her vehemence then coolly leveled the pistol at her.

“I suggest you mind your manners if you have any, whore.” Redmond turned the weapon on Reginald. “Or I can easily shoot Matthews here, if you need a lesson in civility.”

“If you shoot him, you might as well shoot all three of us.” Fuming with indignation, Amorina turned an icy stare on her tormentor. “You pull the trigger and I’ll not lift a finger to do your dirty work. I know people in authority, Mr. Redmond. Do you think my clientele runs only to the lower echelons of the aristocracy and government? Men’s appetites are the same no matter how high their position.” With every clipped word, she imagined a bullet fired point blank into the despicable blackguard’s heart. “If I find you’ve harmed either of them in any way, I’ll pay a visit to someone who listens to Amorina Vestry, and I promise you, you’ll be the one swinging from Tyburn Tree.”

Some of the color left his face and he turned to his men. “Hanson, get the satchel.”

Amorina took advantage of the moment to help Pearl from the floor and embrace her. “My love, I must go away for a little while.”

The child shook her head fiercely. “No, Mama, stay. Don’t go with the bad man.”

“I must, but only for a bit. You will stay here with Sir Reginald. He is a very good man, who will protect you and watch over you.” Glancing up at Reginald, she raised her eyebrows in a silent plea.

He gave a short nod and smiled. “Indeed, I will take good care of you, Pearl.” Reginald bent to gaze into her daughter’s big blue eyes. “As if you were my very own.”

A weight lifted from her heart. Whatever became of her, he would look after her precious girl.

Thwack. Redmond rapped the back of Reginald’s head with the butt of his pistol and Reginald slumped to the floor in a heap, unmoving.

Pearl screamed as Redmond reversed his pistol and grabbed Amorina’s arm again. “Come on, before I do the same to you.” He dragged her stumbling up the staircase.

She tried to turn around, to catch one last glimpse of Pearl, who continued to scream and cry, but Redmond kept jerking her by the arm, making her almost lose her footing. All she could do was call out, “I love you, Pearl.”

Then she was thrust out into the bright, cold daylight. Her hand flew up before her eyes, shielding them from the brilliance. A carriage and four stood before them, which she recognized as her own. Perhaps on her way back to London, she could discover from Redmond what had happened to her coachman and guards.

But he stood aside as Hanson placed the satchel on the floor then held out his hand to her.

“Are you not accompanying me?” Suspicions running rife through her head, Amorina fought again to sound detached.

“It would never do for us to be seen together at such a juncture, my dear. I have other means of transportation.” He nodded over his shoulder, and she turned to see another coach with his family’s crest emblazoned on the black, lacquered door.

“Very well.” Amorina grasped Hanson’s hand and stepped up into the carriage. She wouldn’t miss Redmond’s company by any stretch of the imagination. Indeed, she’d spend the ride into London trying to determine if she could somehow thwart the scoundrel’s plan without getting herself or one of the people she loved killed.