Free My Angel by Christine Young Page A

died, it had given Alexi control of untold wealth and an inheritance in Russia that could be denied by no one.
     
    Velvet had interrupted what would have turned out to be a fast, unsatisfying first encounter with his Angel. Even though he'd been irritated with the madam, he was inwardly pleased she had come upon them. Now Velvet knew how he felt about Angela, and the madam would think twice before abusing her.
     
    Control had been inherent in every move he made throughout his life, and somehow the little slip of a lady of the evening called Angela dissolved that control with a smile. He had the uncanny feeling Angela wrested control from him with every breath she took.
     
    He'd have to be wary.
     
    The soft, unnatural swaying of shadows at the edge of the forest beyond caught his attention. He searched the perimeter but saw nothing unusual.
     
    Every instinct cried out to him.
     
    Devil pushed himself off the pillar and moved toward the trees and the vision he thought he'd seen. Lawrence Stevens rushed from the back of the house, unaware anyone watched.
     
    And Devil pursued the pursuer. Someone or something had put a crunch on Lawrence 's plans, and Devil could only guess the cause.
     
    Emma...
     
    The faint shadows, the indistinct fluttering of light and dark at the edge of the woods, had been Emma Barringer. She had done the impossible. She had escaped.
     
    He had to find her before Lawrence Stevens did.

Chapter Five
     
    The second Angela stepped foot in Emma's room she knew something had gone wrong. She looked from the rumpled bed to the nightdress pooled on the floor near the armoire.
     
    The curtains had been drawn, something that had never been allowed. Emma's water glass and pitcher were tipped, and opium-laced liquid seeped across the floorboards and into the rug.
     
    Silence prevailed throughout the expanse of the room. Shivers of fear raced up Angela's arms, primal and implicit. She rubbed them as if the gesture could dispel the cold.
     
    It couldn't. Nothing could.
     
    "Emma? Oh, dear God, where are you, Emma?"
     
    Angela stood near the center of the room now, searching for answers. She could see signs of struggle: an overturned chair, a picture on the wall slightly askew. For Emma to have left the room by herself, she would have had to overcome a great obstacle: her drugged state. Emma was in no condition to brave the wilderness outside the bordello, and she certainly couldn't walk down the road. Velvet leBon had bought the most secluded mansion in the wilderness outside Denver .
     
    Angela had thought to dilute the drugs Velvet had given Emma. Instinctively, Angela had known Dakota meant to rescue his wife or buy her at the auction. There was no other recourse. If Jacob had proof, they could bring in the Pinkertons and the sheriff. They could catch Lawrence Stevens and Velvet leBon.
     
    Even in Angela's wildest imagination, she could not have foreseen an escape. Despite the threat of punishment from her father, she would have warned Sam or Dakota if she'd thought Emma was strong enough to leave on her own. She could have told Devil. Both men sat downstairs in the parlor waiting for the auction, completely unaware of the events unfolding upstairs.
     
    An auction at which Emma would not appear.
     
    With Emma gone, she had no reason to stay. She was at risk here, not just from Lawrence Stevens, should he find out who she was, but from her father, too. She was more afraid of her father. Guilt had a way of eating a hole in one's heart, and this deception had left Angela feeling more guilt than she'd known in a lifetime.
     
    After a few courage-rending deep breaths, Angela fled Emma's room, walking swiftly down the hall, determined not to draw attention to herself. She reached her own room and, after closing the door, leaned against the wood, letting go a little sigh of relief.
     
    She had only minutes until Emma would be discovered; then chaos would take over. She didn't want to be anywhere near