Pen hoped for Harry’s sake that Sophie proved steadfast. She also hoped for both their sakes that they hadn’t left for America. Surely there was a way of unraveling this tangle without crossing the Atlantic.
As he and Pen approached the boarding house where a couple fitting Harry and Sophie’s description rented a room, Cam wasn’t surprised to glimpse a tall man striding ahead. Seeing the marquess, his anger welled anew. He blamed Leath for this farrago, almost as much as he blamed Pen. If Leath hadn’t forbidden Sophie from seeing Harry and in the process, turned them into Romeo and sodding Juliet, the love affair would have petered out. Nothing like opposition to make young hearts beat faster.
Leath glanced back when he reached the door. In his elegant clothing, he looked incongruous against the peeling paint and cracked windows. The bruise on his chin had darkened to angry purple.
His eyes narrowed on Cam and Pen. “They’re booked on the Mary Kate, sailing for Boston tomorrow,” he said as though there had been no break in conversation.
“We’re in time, then,” Pen said.
Cam heard her relief. She’d already lost one brother. The prospect of losing another, even if to distance rather than death, must be agonizing.
Together they climbed the rickety staircase to the top of the tall house. The air outside reeked of rotten fish. The air inside reeked of mold, dirt, misery, and human ordure.
Cam’s conviction firmed that Sophie would object to this foretaste of her new life. Leath should have no trouble persuading her home, after which she became his problem. The runaways couldn’t have married already. Sophie was under twenty-one, and they hadn’t had time to stop and talk a friendly vicar into performing a ceremony of doubtful legality.
“Let’s take them by surprise,” Leath whispered as they stood on the landing below the attic.
Cam was about to agree when Pen spoke. “No, let me talk to them.”
“I’d rather kick the door in,” Cam murmured.
Pen’s quelling glance expressed disdain for dramatics. The exchange was a bitter reminder of their previous wordless communication. Regret pierced him as he counted what he’d lost. He’d been so intent on decrying her betrayal. He’d forgotten that without Pen, he was fated to arctic desolation.
The idea revived his impulse to smash something. Unfortunately, while the Marquess of Leath offered the perfect target, punching his lordship wouldn’t help Sophie and Harry.
Pen pushed past Cam and Leath to ascend the last flight. She knocked on the door. “Harry? Harry, are you there? It’s Pen.”
The flimsy door squeaked open. “Pen, what on earth—”
Leath mounted the stairs two at a time, flattening his hands against the door and slamming it open. Cam pursued close enough to see the door crash against the faded wallpaper and a hunk of plaster fall from the ceiling. Sophie Fairbrother curled up on a narrow bed and watched with wide eyes as the tiny room filled.
“I’ll kill you, you bloody worm,” Leath gritted, grabbing Harry’s coat and aiming a blow at his jaw. “How dare you come within an inch of my sister?”
Harry staggered. Sophie screamed and flung herself between her brother and her lover. “James, no! Please, don’t hurt Harry.”
“Hurt Harry? I’ll sodding murder him,” the marquess hissed, flinging her out of the way and advancing on a reeling Harry. “Stand up and act the man. Nobody ruins my sister and lives to tell the tale.”
Fleetingly forgetting his anger, Cam glanced at Pen. He’d been right to fear bloodshed. “Stop it, Leath,” he said sharply.
“You can’t kill Harry,” Sophie protested. “I won’t let you.”
“I’ll deal with you when we get home,” Leath bit out, seizing Harry again.
“Stop it, I say.” Cam tore Leath away before he inflicted more damage. “This serves no purpose.”
“It makes me feel better; that’s enough,” Leath growled. He was stronger than Cam expected and keeping him from Harry, who still looked dazed, took a good deal of effort.
Sophie regained her balance and threw herself on her brother. “James, please, listen to me.”
“Hiding behind my sister, are you, Thorne?” Leath snarled.
Harry shook his head, Cam thought more to order his addled senses than to contradict Leath’s taunt. “What are you doing here?” he asked shakily, touching his jaw and wincing. “How the devil did you find us?”
“We’re here to stop the two of you making the biggest mistake of your young lives, you fool,” Cam said roughly. “Given the mistakes you’ve both made, that’s saying something.”
With a shocked expression, Harry looked past Cam to Pen. “Did you give us away?”
Pen took Harry’s arm. “Harry, this isn’t the way to win Sophie.”