Johanna Lindsey (3 page)

Leopold Baum arrived early on the fifth morning of their confinement. He didn’t take chances.

Four big, strapping guards preceded him, entering the cell with their pistols drawn. One of them tied Sebastian’s hands behind his back while the other three kept their guns pointed at him. It was a tight fit in the small cell with the guards filling the corners.

The duke offered few surprises other than his age. Sebastian, who had expected a younger man, could see that the duke was close to the half-century mark. Dark blond hair trimmed short in the fashion of the day. Sebastian wore his hair long and usually clubbed back, only because John made a lousy barber, and they traveled too much to visit a good one with any frequency. The duke had a superb barber.

Sharp blue eyes, keenly intelligent, or so they appeared. Tall, though not quite six feet. His frame was stocky, leaning toward fat. His jowls were starting to sag, though it wasn’t that noticeable under the full, short blond beard. He still held himself regally, a man of extreme consequence and privilege.

Sebastian guessed that he had either just been riding, or he still had it on the morning agenda, as he wore a jade green coat and buff-colored riding breeches, and held a crop in hand, which he tapped against his well-polished black knee-high boots.

His expression was actually congenial, as if Sebastian wasn’t sitting in a cell with four pistols pointed at him but was instead a real guest. “Are your accommodations satisfactory?” Sebastian didn’t bat an eye. “The floor could stand a few boards, but otherwise, I’ve enjoyed the vacation.”

Leopold smiled. “Excellent. It’s too bad we couldn’t come to terms sooner, but I assume you are ready to get back to work now?”

“You shouldn’t assume.”

Leopold’s smile didn’t falter. He was obviously certain he held the upper hand. Sebastian couldn’t quite figure out how. Keeping him imprisoned wasn’t going to get the job done. Letting him go wasn’t going to get it done either.

He pointed out, “Detaining me here because I refuse to work for you is illegal.”

“But that’s not why you are here,” Leopold said jovially. “I can think of any number of crimes you have committed. Execution is possible, though I suspect even that won’t sway you. But come now, let’s not be melodramatic. You’ve been my guest—”

“Prisoner,” Sebastian cut in.

“Guest,” Leopold insisted. “If you were a prisoner, these accommodations wouldn’t be nearly so pleasant, I do assure you. But perhaps I’ve visited too soon. Shall I return next week, to find out if you tire of this ‘vacation’?”

Sebastian finally raised a brow. “And then the week after that, and the one after that? This doesn’t get your wife found, does it?”

Leopold seemed surprised. “You would be so stubborn? Why?”

“As I told your man, I can’t take this job because of where it leads. I swore an oath I’d never return to England. I’m not going to break that oath for monetary gain.”

“Why did you make that oath?”

“That, sir, is none of your business.”

“I see,” Leopold said thoughtfully. “Then I suppose I must appeal to your sympathy.”

“Don’t bother,” Sebastian replied. “A man in my occupation can have none.” Leopold laughed. “Of course not—on the surface. But hear me out, then we shall see.” The duke began to pace as he gathered his thoughts. With such limited space, and four burly guards filling up most of it, he soon gave up and stood still again. Sebastian wondered if what he was going to hear would be the truth, or a fabrication to stir his so-called sympathies.

“I married my wife in good faith. It was an unhappy match, though, as we both soon found out.

She could have had a divorce. She need only have asked for it. Instead she chose to run off, pretending to have been kidnapped so she would have the means to live comfortably.”

“I know all this—”

“You know nothing!” Leopold interrupted, a bit more sharply than he probably intended.

In that brief moment, the real man was revealed, a hot-tempered autocrat. A man who assumed he had unlimited power, true or not, was very dangerous. Sebastian might have to rethink his situation.

“Why didn’t you appeal to the English government to assist you in finding her? They have branches that are quite good at that sort of thing. That would still be your best course of action.”

“I am an Austrian duke,” Leopold said, a degree of annoyance mixed into his condescending tone.

“I cannot put myself in a position where I would owe favors to another government. I’ve sent men, a countless number. That should have been sufficient.”

Sebastian held back a snort. “When did you send the last one?” Leopold frowned, his eyes moving about as if he were searching for an answer, and in fact he was. He really couldn’t remember.

“Last year—no, the year before that,” he finally said.

Sebastian shook his head, couldn’t keep the disgust out of his eyes. “What am I doing here? It’s obvious you don’t really want her back.”

Leopold stiffened, said in his own defense, “I had given up! I was going to have her declared dead. But my darling Maria won’t marry me without proof of death or divorce. She’s fearful of giving me heirs that could be declared bastards if my first wife should ever return.” Smart girl, Sebastian thought to himself, then abruptly amended, not smart at all if she was willing to marry this fellow. Of course, the duke might be a completely different man when dealing with his

“love.”

Leopold continued, “If I had known there were men like you, I would have seen this matter resolved long ago. Your arrival in my town has given me new hope. It is said you have never failed to complete a job successfully. A sterling record like that demands a challenge like this, don’t you agree?

Or have you based your career on simple jobs that any fool could accomplish?”

“Save your breath,” Sebastian said. “I am impervious to insults. My answer stands, for the reasons given. Whether I would like to help you or not is moot. Your wife’s location is the deciding factor.”

“Then let me offer a new deciding factor,” Leopold said coldly and glanced at the guard closest to the door. “Go kill the other man—no, wait. He might be useful to The Raven’s work. Kill the boy.” Sebastian stiffened, was incredulous. Unfortunately, he didn’t doubt at all that Timothy would die in the next few minutes if he didn’t buckle under to the duke’s will. Killing and mayhem were nothing to a despot like this man, just part of doing business. If he hadn’t met other men of this type to know that, he might have suspected a bluff and even called it. But not with this man.

Curbing his own emotions, Sebastian said tonelessly, “You made your point. Leave the boy alone.”

Leopold nodded and called his guard back. He was smiling again, puffed up pleased with his victory. Did he really think Sebastian would honor a forced commitment?

“I’m curious,” Leopold said, his tone jovial again now that he assumed he’d won The Raven’s compliance. “The boy isn’t related to you, at least I’m told he bears no resemblance. Why would you break your oath for him?”

“I’ve made myself responsible for him until we find him a good home. He’s an orphan.”

“Commendable,” Leopold remarked. “Now that we’ve come to an amicable agreement, you might need this.” He removed a miniature portrait from his pocket, dropped it on the cot next to Sebastian. “She has assumed a new name, but she can’t change how she looks.” That was debatable, but Sebastian merely said, “I’ll need better than that. What was she like?”

“Hot tempered—”

Sebastian cut in to clarify. “Not in relation to you, but to others.”

“She was hot tempered no matter whom she dealt with,” the man insisted. “Vain, greedy, condescending, spoiled. She came from a wealthy family.”

“Why didn’t she return to them, instead of running away?”

The duke flushed slightly as he admitted, “They forbade her to marry me. They cut her off completely when she did. They no longer acknowledge her as one of theirs.” That touched too close to home. If Sebastian’s sympathies hadn’t favored the wife before, they did now.

“My next question is pertinent,” he said. “Do you think she had the men you sent to England killed, or were they just afraid to return to you empty-handed? Were threats made if they didn’t succeed?” The duke flushed with anger again but waved his hand dismissively in response. “There might have been, but that isn’t important.”

“I disagree. I need to know if I should be watching my back.”

“A man in your profession would do so as a matter of course, would he not?” Sebastian conceded the point. And he’d asked enough questions for a job he had no intention of doing. “We’ll be leaving in the morning,” he told the duke.

“Very good,” Leopold replied and glanced at his guards. “Escort The Raven and his man back to their inn.” He turned back to Sebastian, adding as an afterthought, “The boy will stay here, of course.” Sebastian didn’t move a muscle, then simply said, “No.”

“Oh, yes. Not here in the dungeon. That isn’t necessary. But I will most definitely keep him. You didn’t really think I would let you go without—insurance? The boy will be returned to you when you bring my wife back to me. You’ll have your fee then as well.” Bloody hell. Keeping the boy is what Sebastian would have done, but he’d hoped the duke wasn’

t that clever.

“You needn’t worry about him,” Leopold assured him. “I will turn him over to the palace women.

They’ll spoil him to his heart’s content, so much so that he probably won’t want to leave. I have no reason right now to hurt the boy. Don’t give me one.”

Leopold’s meaning couldn’t have been more clear. He even smiled one last time before he turned to leave the cell. But he paused in the doorway as one of the guards began untying Sebastian.

The duke glanced back to ask curiously, “Why the name Raven? Why not The Panther? Or The Tiger? You have the eyes of a cat, after all.”

Sebastian looked directly at him, his tone expressionless as he replied, “I have the eyes of a killer.” He paused, waiting for the last of his bonds to slip away. “You should have guessed that,” he added as he shot across the room and locked one arm about Leopold’s neck in a position that would require no more than a slight twist to break it.

The guards reacted quickly, drawing their pistols, but they appeared hesitant about firing in the direction of their employer. And it didn’t take but a moment for Sebastian to position Leopold in front of him.

“Drop them,” he said, looking at each guard in turn, “or I break his neck right now.” They hesitated, not wanting to give up their advantage.

The duke snarled, “Do it!”

The pistols fell on the hard dirt floor almost simultaneously. One discharged. The bullet ricocheted for several long moments, finally coming to rest in one of the guards’ legs. The man screamed, probably more in surprise than pain, and fell to the floor. From the looks of it, the wound was minor. The bullet hadn’t hit an artery. But another guard bent down to help him.

“Tie that wound off,” Sebastian told the man kneeling by his friend. “Fetch the rope you used on me to do it. The rest of you start removing your shirts, and be quick about it. You’re going to use them to tie each other up. I’ll check the knots. If even one is loose, I’ll shoot the lot of you, rather than leave you.”

Ten minutes later, the last guard to be bound presented his wrists and one of the cut strips to Leopold, there being no one else left to do the honors. Sebastian loosened his hold on the duke slightly, so he could accommodate the fellow. There were several long moments while Leopold decided whether he should or not, but in the end, he did.

With that done, Sebastian told the tyrant, “You, I’ll give a choice. I can smash your head against the wall to put you out for a while, tie you up with the rest, or I could just break your neck, to assure I’ve seen the last of you. Which shall it be?”

“You’ll never get out of here alive,” the duke spat back.

“Never mind, I’ll choose.” Sebastian moved closer to the wall.

“No!” the duke exclaimed.

Sebastian wasn’t going to give the man a reason to come after him again. He merely dragged him over to the cot, forced him facedown on it, and wrapped up his wrists with the remnants of the cut-up shirt.

“There’s a man like me in Vienna at the moment looking for work, a chap I’ve crossed paths with from time to time. Name of Colbridge. And that’s the extent of my ‘sympathy’ help, more’n you deserve.”

Sebastian checked all the bindings before he left the cell and locked it. He almost laughed when he found the last fellow, whom the duke had tied up, with loose bonds. A few minutes later, he was letting John and Timothy out of their cells.

“Did you kill him?” John asked as they hurried out of the dungeon. One guard at the top of the stone stairs had to be punched unconscious.

“No,” Sebastian said, rubbing the fist he’d just used. “I probably should have, though, just to save a lot of people a lot of grief.”

“You don’t think he’ll try to retrieve us, then?”

“No. I’m not the only one available for such work. He knows that now. In fact, I steered him to Colbridge, that incompetent fellow in Vienna who should have no trouble failing. Baum was determined to hire me merely because I was already here and could have started immediately—if I’d been willing to work for him. I actually hope his wife continues to elude him. I have the feeling he’d rather kill her than go through the bother of a divorce.”

A
KITCHEN WASN’T A BAD PLACE TO LIVE. It contained pleasant aromas—usually—and warmth to counter the chill of old stone. Deep in the heart of the keep’s ruins, it was the only room that Sebastian had refurbished. The old armory, located on the eastern side of the ruins, had been paneled, furnished, and divided into three rooms that served as bedrooms.