Page 115 of Rules for Ruin

Parker glanced at the shelf by the fireplace as Effie brushed by him.

Her heart plummeted. She hadn’t accounted for being found out so soon. It meant an end to the fiction she’d been perpetrating. She would have to return to the Academy. Perhaps even go abroad. But first—

She had to get away.

Pulse racing, she strode down the carpeted corridor.

“Wait a moment, miss,” Parker said.

Effie quickened her pace. She made for the marble entry hall. It was empty. The ringing chords of a concerto drifted down from the first floor, Miss Compton’s flawless soprano voice accompanying the piano music in perfect harmony.

“Stop,” Parker said, this time more forcefully.

Ignoring the command, Effie opened the front door. She dashed out, bounding down the front steps as quickly as she could without losing her footing. She had traveled lightly this morning, leaving her parasol behind. She had no convenient tools with which to defend herself. If Parker caught up with her—

“I said stop, miss!” Parker bellowed, pounding down the steps after her.

Effie’s chest constricted with panic. She raced down the street, past the carriages and strolling pedestrians. The entrance to the mews was on the left. She ducked down it without thinking. The sound of Parker’s footfalls was unrelenting. Good God—he was chasing her!

Another narrow alley was on the right. Effie darted down it at a full run, the book under her skirts slapping against her legs. Her hat fell off. She didn’t stop to collect it. Parker was right behind her. She got no more than a few yards before his brawny fingers closed around her arm in a punishing grip, nearly wrenching her off her feet.

He dragged her around to face him. His bald head was gleaming with perspiration, his brows lowered in a fearsome scowl. “Stop thief, I should have said.”

Effie attempted to pull away from him to no avail. He was far too strong. She glared up at him, summoning her best effort at ladylike outrage. “How dare you accuse me of theft?”

“You took one of his lordship’s books. I saw you.”

“You most certainly did not.” She made another equally unsuccessful effort to free her arm. “I’ll thank you to release me.”

His grip on her only tightened. Effie gave an involuntary cry of pain. “It was you I saw last week in Ellis Street, wasn’t it? That nosy woman with the veil?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You have a way of walking. I knew I’d seen it before. When the master finds out—”

Effie pulled at him with all her might. “Unhand me!”

“Oh no,” he said. “I’m taking you back to the house. His lordship will deal with you. Or I can call the constable. It’s your choice.”

Effie dug in her heels. “Let me go, you great oaf!”

Parker dragged her several steps. “The book’s under your dress, isn’t it? Devious slut. I’ll retrieve it myself when I get you back to the house.”

“I’m warning you,” she said.

“Or how ’bout I retrieve it now?” He made a grab for the fabric of her skirts.

Effie’s mind stilled at the physical threat. Her senses sharpened to a knife’s edge, even as her pulse slowed and her respiration grew steady. Years of Academy training ignited in her as instinctively as breathing.

She had warned the man.

Rather than pull away from him, she came closer, gripping him by the front of his coat. As he lunged forward to grasp her skirts, she bent her knees, shifted her weight on her hip, and using his own great bulk against him, tossed him straight over her shoulder.

Parker landed on the ground with a resounding thud. Dust from the alleyway puffed up around him.

Effie lingered only long enough to see if he would remain down.

He didn’t.