Page 41 of The Duke's Improper Bride
“Danny?” Her breath came quick, her chest feeling as if it were about to explode.
The figure walked to the bars and pressed his face between them. The little light thrown from the lantern in the hallway cast just enough for Nora to see.
“I’m dreaming,” the man replied.
Nora reached her hands out, tentatively waiting as her heart sank. The eyes before her were so much emptier than the last time she saw him over the holidays. They had shared a merry dance after a game of charades with Mrs. White, and they had snuck away from the crush of partygoers at the New Year’s Ball. They had sat for hours in the library talking about what they wished for the New Year. Danny had left her with a kiss on the cheek and a simple, “farewell, duck.”
“No, Danny,” she whispered. “I’m here and you’re leav—”
“Oy,” a voice came from down the hall.
Nora jumped back, then quickly rushed forward to the orderly marching down the hall.
“What are you doing talking to them?”
She shook her head, feeling the red blush climb her cheeks and bite at the tops of her ears. At least the man questioning her couldn’t see.
“It’s late. You’re expected to be done.” He stepped forward, crowding her against the wall. “You’re the new girl, aren’t you?”
Nora swallowed, nodding as her back hit the cold stone. A few patients started to howl.
“Pretty thing.” He grabbed a few pieces of stray hair between his fingers and tugged. “We get lonely here.”
Nora closed her eyes and reached forward, her attention focused on one goal. The man’s mouth skirted close to her ear. Her fingers reached, brushing against the metal keyring at the man’s waist. She took a deep breath as he whispered something lewd, no doubt aiming to get a reaction out of her.
What a vile, piggish man.
And how utterly stupid.
He pushed away, laughing at himself as she remained.
“You’re to finish this floor at once or I’ll be telling Mrs. Healy.”
She nodded, holding her breath so she wouldn’t shake, waiting. He gave her another studying look before finally turning around. He shouted at one of the patients before proceeding to the other end of the hall, then turned to go into the office by the top of the grand stairwell.
Not a moment too soon, Nora raced back to Danny. Her hands fumbled with the orderly’s keys as she tried to fit one into the lock.
“Nora, we can’t get out.”
“Shh,” she said, refusing to believe anything but the miracle of her being able to sneak him out tonight. They wouldn’t stay a moment longer.
“It’s too dangerous.” Danny’s hand shot out to grab hers as she tried to work the keys. There were too many. “You shouldn’t have come.”
Nora flipped through the keys until one fit, then turned it.
“I’m done doing what others think I s-should be doing, Daniel.” She yanked the door open, reaching in to gather him in an embrace. His body was frail against hers. Nora squeezed his hand. “Let’s go. We don’t b-belong.”
But Daniel paused, dragging her back into the damp darkness. “We can’t. There’s someone else.”
Chapter 12
Isaac hadn’t seen his wife in over two weeks. He hadn’t received a letter, and none of his usual sources had heard of any leads on her whereabouts.
But he had been to Ireland. And he had learned secondhand about the woman who had helped two patients escape.
Until last evening, as he bent over a pint in some smelly tavern outside of Liverpool, he hadn’t heard anything more. But the thing about taverns is, as the day grows later, lips begin to loosen, people begin to boast, and secrets become truths better left unspoken.
Liverpool was a large city with a dark underbelly, and getting any answers beyond the initial hint Isaac received would be nothing but luck. And luck, which very rarely showed its head in his life, led him to this doorstep.
