“You should return to the room and to your new child,” he quietly told the cat and the cat responded with a slow blink but never moved. “I have no box of sand in my bedchamber.” Still the cat did not move. “Well, come along then.”
The cat followed him into his bedchamber, looked at the bed, and jumped up on it. After several moments of circling, it settled down right in the middle of the bed. Brant shook his head, prepared himself for bed, and then, after losing a staring match with the cat, he slipped beneath the covers, contorting his body a little to fit in around the cat. Lady Olympia Wherlocke, the beautiful baroness of Myrtledowns, had a lot to answer for, he thought before closing his eyes. He just hoped he did not wake in the morning too stiff to move.
Chapter 15
Pawl met them at the door as they pulled to a stop before the Warren. He looked at the two cats in the small cage Olympia carried and scowled. “So that is where they went.”
“Sorry about that, Pawl,” said Olympia as she let him take the cage from her. “Just put them back in my bedchamber.”
“How is Ilar?”
“Just fine but it appears the enemy has upped the stakes.” She frowned as she heard female voices coming from the drawing room. “I have company?”
“Your cousin Quinton Vaughn has arrived. It seems he saw to a small bit of business for you in Scotland.”
Olympia turned to smile at Brant who stood behind her. “He found the stolen girls.” She hurried off to the drawing room hearing the click of Brant’s boots as he followed her.
Inside the drawing room were seven girls. He doubted any one of them was older than fifteen. Thomas sat next to a thin, frightened young girl with curly brown hair and huge brown eyes, holding her hand and patting it. Brant supposed that was his other aunt.
And then the man in the room stood up and smiled at Olympia. She gave a glad cry and hurried over to hug him. If not for that very distinct look of a Wherlocke, Brant knew he would be suffering far more than the small pinch of jealousy that he was. This had to be Quinton and, if Brant was any judge, Olympia’s cousin was the sort of man women flocked to. He was not only well over six feet in height, he had broad shoulders, long black hair that he did not bother to tie into a neat queue but let flow over those big shoulders, and was impeccably dressed. When the man looked over Olympia’s shoulders and studied Brant like he was some new kind of bug, Brant had to fight to quell the urge to go over and punch the man right in his elegant nose.
The introductions took awhile as each girl was identified. Thomas took them off to find some place where they could all clean up and rest while Pawl arrived with some food and drink. When Olympia sat down on the small settee, Brant was quick to sit by her side. He just smiled at the cold look Quentin Vaughn gave him as her cousin settled his big body on the settee facing Olympia. As she told Quentin a severely edited version of everything that had happened so far, Brant poured himself a cup of coffee, briefly wondering if he could get Enid to teach his cook how to make the brew. Then he recalled that he was in dire need of a whole new roster of servants at Fieldgate and would undoubtedly have to replace many of the ones at the town house as well.
“There were only six girls?” asked Olympia as she poured tea for the men.
“No,” replied Quentin. “There were twenty but several were from the port town the ship was docked in, a few more had me leave them at their homes along the way as we traveled here. Aside from Thomas’s aunt, the rest live in the city. They all made it very clear who had stolen them away from their homes.”
“My mother,” Brant said and sighed.
“If your mother is somewhat slender, not too tall, and still a handsome woman despite her age, then, yes, I suspect it was your mother. Young Anna, Thomas’s aunt, said the woman acted toward them all as if they were no more than cattle. She arrived in a carriage with a huge footman, looked all the girls over and then demanded payment from the ship’s captain.”
“That certainly sounds like her. Did you see my mother then?”
“No, that description was given me by some of the girls as they were all in the hold and the woman actually came down to inspect them. One lass said that from the way the woman looked them all over she had expected her to ask them to show her their teeth next. I do believe I got them all out of there before any physical harm was done to them. They were soon to be shipped out when I arrived with my men and then they did not have to worry any longer. The captain does not either,” he added with a cold smile.
“Thank you so much, Quentin,” said Olympia. “We must have done her some damage now since we emptied that Dobbin House. I just wish we could rescue everyone.”