Free Cast in Ice by Laura Landon Page B

of you―as well as my cousin―got in the habit of frequenting The Soiled Dove .”
    “Shh,” Lady Amy said, looking to make sure no one had overheard him. “Someone will hear you.”
    “Yes, they might,” Nick said a little louder.
    “But we can’t tell you anything,” Miss Bickford said in a loud whisper. “We promised.”
    “Paula!” Lady Amy said through clenched teeth.
    “We can’t have him going to our fathers!” Paula Bickford retorted. “I’m sure your father wouldn’t be any more pleased than mine.”
    Lady Amy turned to look at him. This time what Nick saw were two very young, very immature, very frightened young ladies.
    “We promised, Mr. Stillman. We promised Elizabeth on our lives that we wouldn’t tell.”
    Nick breathed a deep breath. “Then I will make sure you do not break your word to Elizabeth.”
    “How?” they both asked.
    “We will play a game. I will ask a question and you will answer only if I am incorrect.”
    “I don’t understand,” said Miss Bickford.
    “I’ll explain. Here’s my first question. Is Lizzy within walking distance from here? If the answer is yes, you won’t answer. If the answer is no you can answer. That way you will only tell me where she isn’t. Not where she is.”
    “Oh,” said Lady Amy. “That way we aren’t telling you where she is.”
    “That’s correct. So, I will repeat my first question. Is my cousin within walking distance from this residence?”
    The two ladies looked at each other, then answered, “No”.
    “Is she within walking distance from either of your residences?”
    They didn’t answer. The answer was yes.
    “Is she within walking distance from your residence, Miss Bickford?”
    “No.”
    That meant she was within walking distance from Lord Rushling’s townhouse. “Is she within three blocks of your residence, Lady Amy?”
    Silence.
    “Is she within one block of your residence, Lady Amy?”
    Silence.
    “Is Lizzy inside your residence, my lady?”
    Silence.
    “Above the ground level?”
    Silence.
    “Above the third level?”
    Silence.
    The attic. Nick’s heart thundered inside his chest. He bowed. “Thank you. You’ve made Lizzy’s parents very happy.”
    “I hope so,” Lady Amy said. “She’s terribly unhappy. And frightened.”
    Nick nodded, then rushed from the room.
    Nick couldn’t get to the Marquess of Rushling’s townhouse fast enough. When he arrived, he pounded on the door. The minute it opened, he rushed up the stairs.
    The butler and two footman gave chase, but even three pursuers couldn’t stop him. Not now that he’d found his cousin.
    Once he reached the attic, it wasn’t difficult to spot Lizzy. She was lying on a make-shift cot, sobbing into the pillow she hugged to her.
    “Lizzy?” he said, stepping into a small room lit only by one candle.
    Nick wasn’t sure who was more surprised. Lizzy, or the butler and footmen giving chase.
    “It’s Lady Elizabeth,” the butler cried out. Of course he knew who she was, he just didn’t know that she’d been a resident of the attic for the day.
    “Please, leave us,” Nick ordered, and the three men left. When they were gone, Nick walked across the room.
    Lizzy was backed on the far side of the narrow cot with her back pressed against the wall, and her arms hugging the pillow she held against her. “Leave me be, Nick,” she said through a river of tears. “I can’t go home. I can’t face Mother and Father again.”
    Nick sat on the edge of the cot, but he didn’t reach for Lizzy. “Do you know how worried they are, Lizzy?”
    “They don’t know what I’ve done.”
    The sobs were loud, the anguish in her voice gut-wrenching. It tore Nick’s heart from his chest. “Do you think anything you’ve done can make them stop loving you?”
    “But you don’t know,” she said, shaking her head.
    “I do. I know all about The Soiled Dove . I may not know it all, but I know enough to know you are in trouble and need my help.”
    “Oh,