He called for the guard stationed in the corridor to fetch his wife. “Your mother will come and escort you to her bedchamber. Prince Orlov’s man will keep watch outside the door to ensure your safety.”
How the devil had Saybrook and the others been spotted? Surely they had done nothing rash to give themselves away?
Arianna tried to control her shivering. At the present moment, it did no good to worry over such questions. She must keep her mind on the present predicament.
Rustling sounded from inside the bedchamber as Tatiana’s father hurried away.
“Please hurry,” mouthed Arianna, trying to keep her breath from forming telltale puffs of vapor. Forced to stay absolutely still so as not to give herself away, she was beginning to lose all feeling in her limbs.
Ye gods, it’s cold. In another few minutes . . .
To her relief, she heard Tatiana’s mother arrive and hustle her daughter out to the corridor.
She ventured a look down into the gloom of the garden. Did she dare start to move? Arianna tried to flex her toes, and decided that she soon would have no choice but to risk it—
More shouting from the streets. The lantern light seemed to waver and then turn away from the Naryshkin mansion.
A diversion by her friends?
Arianna didn’t waste a second in pondering the question. Slipping, sliding, she scrambled over the ledge to the side of the house, where the decorative stonework allowed an inelegant but quick descent.
Sophia was waiting in the garden. “The others are leading the pursuit away from here.” She grabbed Arianna’s arm and drew her deeper into the shadows of the garden, where a small storage shed sat nestled behind a cluster of spruce trees.
“In here,” whispered Sophia, handing her Saybrook’s overcoat.
“Bless you,” Arianna said through chattering teeth as she wrapped herself in theblissfully thick wool. “Hell’s bells, what happened?”
“Bad luck,” replied Sophia grimly. “It seems we weren’t the only ones intent on using the cover of darkness for illicit activities—”
Her words were suddenly cut off asan arm seized her by the neck and yanked her off her feet.
“D’you know what happens to thieves who dare to trespass on another gang’s turf?” growled Sophia’s captor, his breath stinking of stale cabbage. “They get gutted and left for the dogs.”
Arianna flung off a mitten and fumbled for her pistol. But the freezing cold had made her sluggish. Sophia was struggling, but the thief was big as a bear and tightened his arm around her throat. The flash of a steel blade caught in the moonlight as he raised his arm.
No, no, no!A scream rose in Arianna’s gorge as her fingers finally found her weapon.
Too late—
The thief gave a grunt. His arm swung down . . . and the knife slipped from his grasp as he slumped forward. Sophia wrenched free of his hold and pulled away. He teetered for an instant and then toppled to the ground.
Arianna stared in mute shock at the knife hilt protruding from the thief’s back. Lifting her eyes, she saw a figure—not one of their group—reach out and steady Sophia. The shaggy fur hat on his head and heavy scarf wound up over his nose hid all but the shadowed ovals of his eye sockets.
“Don’t just stand there gawking.” He spoke in muffled English. “Follow me.”
Arianna decided not to argue. Whoever he was, at the moment, he seemed the lesser of two evils.
Chapter19
The generous measureof Scottish whisky was radiating a mellow warmth through her body, finally melting the last of the ice in her veins. Releasing a sigh, Arianna set her empty glass aside.
Prescott, she noted, was drinking vodka—perhaps a little too much and a little too quickly.
As for their savior . . .
“Bloody hell, when did you arrive in Russia?” demanded Saybrook, finally getting down to the serious questions now that they all were safe and settled in the drawing room of their residence.
Grentham took a swallow of his whisky before answering. “Shortly after you did. I had . . .”
