“I will not.”
Hands lifted her off her feet, and then she was standing a few feet back, beside the large lord seconds later.
“Don’t touch me.”
“If you did as you were told, I wouldn’t have to.”
She heard barking coming from inside, but no footsteps, and so knocked again. After another long wait, finally Tilly heard footsteps and the murmur of words. Then the door opened a few inches, and she saw Ruby.
“Hello, Ruby, it is I, Miss Wilson—Tilly—from The Iris Club. I was worried when you did not arrive to start your position with us and came to check on you.”
The door opened wider, and they got their first good look at Ruby Little. Her jaw was bruised and her hand bandaged. She was pale and swaying on her feet. A growl had Tillylooking down at a large black dog who was not pleased to see them.
“I-I can’t work now,” Ruby whispered.
“What has happened to you?” Tilly demanded.
“He came back,” she whispered, and then her eyes fluttered shut and she slumped to the floor.
CHAPTER 14
Ambrose caught the woman before she reached the ground, but it was a near thing. After picking her up, he booted the door open and entered with Tilly on his heels.
Bloody woman. His heart had nearly stopped when he’d seen her outside his carriage window. She had absolutely no idea how close she had come to disaster by being in this neighborhood. Anything could have happened to her, and no one would have known or found her alive again.
The thought made him go cold.
He lowered the unconscious woman onto the narrow cot and studied her. She was thin, pale, and slight, which carrying her had attested to. Her face was bruised and swollen, suggesting she had not long ago suffered whatever hell it was that put her in this condition. Ambrose felt his anger rise that someone had raised a hand to her when she clearly would not have been able to put up much resistance, especially if it was someone whose strength was far greater.
“Ruby,” Tilly said, dropping to her knees beside the cot. “Open your eyes now.”
The dog moved to sit by his mistress’s head and growl at them some more.
“Do not touch her, Tilly. He might bite you,” Ambrose said.
“Nonsense, he’s a good boy. There now, it’s all right,” Tilly said, opening her reticule.
Ambrose watched her pull out another twist of paper.
“Do you have an endless supply of sweets?” he asked.
“Yes.” She held out a piece of what looked like marzipan to the large black beast with equally black menacing eyes. He sniffed it and her hand, and then, considering he was likely hungry, the animal had the good manners to take it without removing a finger. She then opened the paper and laid it on the floor. The dog began to eat with ferocity then.
Looking around the tiny space, Ambrose thought about the new housing project. It would help people like Ruby and get them out of this hell. There was a small fireplace, unlit, which was no doubt due to her being unable to find anything to burn. A box sat by the door that contained clothes and other things. There was a chair, plus the bed. Sparse, cold, and a living hell, he thought.
“So you came here, putting yourself in danger, to find a woman you met once, who has a missing sister?” he reiterated to Tilly, who was bent over Ruby.
“Yes.”
“Just to be clear, you offered her a position, and she did not take it, so you decided to track her down, here, in this hellhole?”
“It was my decision alone to do so.”
“Which in no way justifies your rash actions, Tilly,” he snapped. “Had I not been passing and seen you, you could even now be in the hands of someone with nefarious intentions.”
“You sound like the hero in one of those dreadful novels?—”
“Madam, I warn you, my anger is still strong. Therefore I suggest you do not continue to annoy me.”