My Wicked Marquess Read Online Free PDF Page A

in. Indeed, he looked like he was having fun.
    She jumped when he suddenly smashed his wine bottle against the brick wall, instantly turning it into a jagged weapon. He brandished it at the approaching gang with a daring smile that Daphne knew she would never forget.
    â€œLooks to me like he can take care of ’imself,” William said flatly. “Besides, ‘rank’ is written all over him. Not even these blackguards would dare taunt the hangman, murderin’ a peer.”
    William was right about that, she thought. Only an aristocratic rake of the first order would come staggering out of a brothel mid-morning, bellowing his demands at passersby. Clearly, he was insane.
    â€œCome, miss, we have to go while they’re distracted. Your father would never forgive me if anything were to happen to you.”
    â€œVery well.” Daphne gave William a taut nod, her heart in her throat. “We’ll go and fetch the constable at once. Let’s go.”
    â€œNo need to tell me twice.” William applied the whip to the agitated horse’s rump, and instantly the gig shot forward, the horse as happy as they to be gone.
    Daphne’s bonnet flew off her head with the sudden jostle, but the ribbon tied around her neck stopped it from blowing away. Her hat hung down her back as her carriage went careening toward the dilapidated little church ahead.
    Behind them, however, shouts and a general ruckus could be heard; holding on to the seat’s low side rail for dear life, Daphne turned to see what was happening.
    She expected to find the gang members piling on the drunken rakehell, but an anxious glance over her shoulder revealed just the opposite: The man from the brothel was beating the blazes out of the gang!
    He punched one fellow square in the jaw, and turning, all in one motion, jumped high to kick another in the chest. When he landed, he rammed his elbow into the throat of one who attempted to sneak up behind him, then brought up his fist with clockwork precision, felling the man with a neat blow. Coolly and methodically, he was mowing them down, one by one, with no sign of drunkenness whatsoever.
    The most astonishing thought popped out up in her mind like a jack-in-the-box.
    A ruse!
    Why, he wasn’t foxed at all! He had only pretended it… to lure those brutes away from her.
    She stared in amazement.
    The last thing she saw before the church blocked her view was the crowd of all the other gang members swarming out of the pub, en masse, unleashing a collective roar as they rushed to their embattled mates’ aid.
    She turned white at the sudden reversal of fortune, looking forward again with a gulp. “Faster, William! Oh, never mind—move over!”
    She snatched the reins from her startled footman, driving at top speed until she turned onto the busy Strand and spotted the nearest watchman’s box ahead.
    â€œYou want me to go where?” the old constable echoed apprehensively after she had frantically gasped out her situation a few minutes later.
    â€œBucket Lane, I already told you!”
    â€œWell, I’m going to have to call for more men.”
    â€œWhatever it takes, just hurry! His life is in danger, I tell you!”
    â€œWhose life?”
    â€œI have no idea who he is! Just—some lunatic!”
    Â 
    â€œOh, bloody hell,” Max whispered when he saw the rest of the Bucket Street gang come pouring out of the pub, forty of them at least.
    There was a time and place for valor, but a gentleman knew when to make a graceful exit. He had thrown away a small fortune in that alley, and the gold had done the trick. But with Miss Starling out of harm’s way, he had nothing left to prove.
    Time to bow out.
    Impressive how fast a man could run with a whole angry rookery on his tail. Lucky for Max—damned lucky—he was as well-trained in the wily art of escape as he was in fisticuffs. A bit of hiding, a bit of climbing, a bit of jumping