Strong Desires Read online

  “I- I don’t know.” Amelia was playing the seam on the side of her skirt; the woman must have felt more awkward than she had ever been in her life.

  “Do you know what kind of business?”

  “I don’t. Not for sure. Stolen goods, maybe?” Amelia looked upset for not having more answers for the young woman.

  “Stolen Goods? He’s in with thieves? Where?”

  “They’re moving in tonight.” Amelia was trying to explain. “They plan on raiding the warehouse. Tonight.”

  “Tonight?”

  “Yes, tonight.”

  Eleanor was caught by surprise by the words. She didn’t know what to say. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure. I heard Daddy talking about it.” She wrung her hands.

  Eleanor was trying to be patient, but it wasn’t working very well. “I know. I know. I’m sorry. I’m cross over this. But please. Anything you know.” The woman was exasperated, filled with the kind of frustration that she couldn’t ever hope to explain to anyone. “I need to know everything that you can tell me. I have to find him.”

  “I’m trying.” Amelia couldn’t look her friend in the face. Instead, she looked at a spot on the floor. There was nothing special about that spot on the carpet.

  “This isn’t a time to be a wilting violet.” Eleanor snapped at her friend. “I need to get him out of there before he gets arrested.”

  “I know.”

  “Tell me anything you know. Please.” Eleanor hated to feel like she was begging.

  “I’m trying.” Amelia sounded lame as she explained herself.

  It was the kind of feeling that only her brother could bring out in her. That gnawing in her stomach that told her that everything is going wrong. “Who is he working for?”

  “Lord Francis.” Amelia gulped. Eleanor knew why. It wasn’t a name that they liked to speak about much. After all, he was the man that was known for his scandalous behavior and rumors were that very much liked to spend time with criminals.

  “That bastard.” Eleanor cursed, tossing her needlepoint to the side. The wooden ring that had held the fabric actually snapped open as it hit the floor of her family’s sitting room. She felt the anger well up inside of her. Something about that man drove her insane.

  Amelia gasped in response to the sudden rage. “Eleanor!” The woman protested.

  “It’s not like you don’t say the same thing when no one is looking.” Eleanor scoffed. Everyone knew the words. People just liked to pretend that they were these things only the most uncouth and uncivilized would use. But everyone knew that it wasn’t the case.

  This actually got Amelia to laugh. “But we’re not supposed to admit it in front of people.”

  “I know.” Eleanor couldn’t help but see the humor in the situation herself.

  Eleanor hated that, but she had bigger issues to deal with. Her brother was in serious trouble, and she was the one that had to get him out of it. “It’s not the first time I’ve had to drag him out of a mess.”

  “And he keeps dragging you into them.” It was a reminder that Amelia didn’t have to voice, but now that she had, Eleanor had to admit to herself that it was true. She hated the fact that it was true. After all, someone like Micah would probably never make much of himself.

  But what she could do was try to keep him from destroying the rest of her family. “I know, but I have to go.”

  “You keep saying you know, but it feels like you don’t.” Amelia didn’t stand up for herself often, but this time she was trying to protect Eleanor.

  It was the last thing that Eleanor wanted. She wanted to slap her brother silly. “How could he do this to us?”

  “I’m sure he didn’t mean too.”

  “He never means to; it doesn’t change the fact that he always does.” Eleanor fought the urge to throw something. It was something that she always got when she had to deal with her brother. But she kept doing it. Getting dragged in and barely getting him out before everything went south for him.

  It was a promise that she had made long ago when her mother had laid dying. The Cole children had still been very young, but it was already painfully obvious that Eleanor was the responsible one and the glue that held what was left of their family together. She was made to promise to take care of her family, of her father and her brother. Her father had never needed much of her effort, but her brother was a different story.

  “Where is it?” Eleanor snapped herself out of the reverie. She had to get moving and quickly.

  “I don’t know for sure.” Amelia looked like she was holding something back. “Somewhere in the warehouse district. You know the place that all the dockworkers go?”

  “I’ve never been to the warehouse district. I need to know more. Anything at all. I have to go get him before he ends up in jail or hung over this.”

  “All I know is that it’s a place that they use to hold stolen goods and that it’s on Spring Street.”

  “Anything else?” Eleanor felt a grown well up in her chest. Spring Street was considered the worst of the worst. There was never anything good that came from there. And now her brother had gotten mixed up in a huge mess over it.

  Amelia gave some basic directions at least. She didn’t know the exact location but could point Eleanor in the right direction. But that was pretty much all of the information that Eleanor’s friend had about the situation. There just wasn’t much information that the other woman had managed to gather up. Not that it was Amelia’s fault. Young women often didn’t get the whole story, but this was enough. Eleanor felt the need to do something about this rise up in her. Her brother could find himself in some serious trouble, and that was something that she couldn’t let happen.

  Eleanor quickly excused herself from the situation. She had to get moving. And move she did, flying through the streets with little care to how people might observe her. Instead, she practically tripped over her skirts, ripping her hem as she made her way to the warehouse district.

  She ignored the rip, grumbling softly as she made her way down the street. There wasn’t time to worry about a dress that she could fix later, what she was focused on, more than anything was saving her brother. The man was always getting himself into trouble, and while she should have been worrying about herself, instead she was stuck having to rescue him from her mistakes.

  Chapter 3

  The warehouse district. She stared around the place. Everything seemed so foreign. So strange. So odd. It wasn’t the kind of place that young women ever went. It just wasn’t proper. And especially not alone. She grumbled as she stomped towards the area.

  It wasn’t a place that she had ever spent much time, other than traveling through. The place was huge, large tracts of buildings near the docks where workers stored goods until they were ready to go elsewhere. She looked around, her sharp eyes searching for the right direction.

  It took several minutes to find the street she was told to go to, but she managed it, stalking up the road in a ripped dress as she made her way into the shadow of the large building that her friend had mentioned to her. This must be it. She searched the windows, her green eyes darting from one to the next until she spied exactly what she was looking for. Her brother. Micah. Sitting there in a window in the upper level. He was simply watching through the dirty glass.

  She shivered, knowing the kind of trouble that her brother had gotten into, but he hadn’t seemed to have noticed her yet. Eleanor considered her approach, carefully debating on whether to storm the entrance or not. She shook her head, still thinking to herself as she edged around the building, looking for another entrance to the place.

  It took a full minute to slip around to the backside of the building and scan the wall for an entrance. The door was locked, she found that out right away, but right next to it. An open window. She regarded it for a long moment, trying to decide whether to risk a larger rip in her dress or just walk around to the front.

  “No.” She made the decision and pushed with all her migh
t, opening the window just a bit wider before diving in head first. The sound of ripping fabric told her that she must have gotten her dress ripped again. She landed on the floor with a resounding thud, directly on her face. She pushed her dress out of her mind. With any luck, she would be out of this place in a few moments, just as soon as she dragged her brother out.

  She started to climb to her feet but felt a hand reaching out to help her instead. “Micah. Thank God. You need to get out of here.” She took the hand and started to stand up.

  A soft chuckle answered her. “Oh, what a treat. I’m not Micah, my dear.” His hand pulled her to her feet.

  She jumped to her feet with a start. She knew that voice. It was a man she had hoped she wouldn’t run into here. “Liam.” She had met him a few times, most of the time at society events. They had never run in the same circles. He was a known rogue and while some women found that dashing, she did not.

  “Of course, it is. Who else did you think it was?” He was laughing at her, and she hated it.

  “Don’t patronize me.” She stomped her foot.

  This just made him laugh more. “My dear, don’t worry, I won’t think of damaging your precious reputation by telling anyone about you sneaking into warehouses this late at night.”

  “That’s not what this is about.” She could have screamed at him.

  “That so?” He was taunting her now. And she hated every second of it. She had the urge to slap him. It was clear that she was probably going to get this kind of feeling a lot about him.

  “Yes. That is indeed so.” Eleanor stared

  Her eyes were still as hard as steel while he laughed lightly. “What brings a pretty little thing like you here? And unescorted. How scandalous.”

  She fought the sudden urge to kick him but had to remind herself that she was there for something much more important than fighting with this man over something he would never understand anyway. She looked up at him, her face firm and unwilling to give to his patronizing words. “Where is my brother?” She was demanding more than she was asking.

  Liam tapped his chin. “I don’t know. Who’s your brother?”

  She fought back the sudden urge to slap this man, her hands clenching in her skirts instead. “You know who my brother is. He’s the man you have upstairs right now.”

  Liam seemed to find this funny if the laugh that echoed through the room was any indication. “Right, Eleanor Cole. The little sister of one Micah Cole. What brings you here hunting for him?” Liam casually brushed some lint off of his shoulder.

  She squinted. There hadn’t been any lint on his shoulder. He was mocking her. And she felt the offense flow right through her. “Where’s my brother?”

  “He’s upstairs.” Liam seemed to be done playing with her head.

  “Good. I need to get him out of here. He’s in trouble.” She was in a rush, already heading up to the stairs immediately.

  “What kind of trouble?” Liam seemed curious.

  Eleanor sighed. “A friend of mind, one of the constable’s daughters came to the house. She informed me that my brother had been spotted in a known den of criminal activity.” He was still heading to the stairs.

  Liam moved up in front of her. “What do you know?” He had suddenly turned very serious. “Are they watching this place?”

  She tried to shove him out of the way. “Of course, they’re watching this place. Are you dense? They’re going to come here and raid this place tonight. I have to get my brother out of here.”

  Liam moved out of the way and followed her up the stairs. “When?”

  “I don’t know.” Eleanor was tired of answering his questions, she breezed up to the stairs, ignoring the rips in her skirts. It wasn’t very ladylike, she knew it. But she certainly didn’t care about that. After all, she was there on a mission, and Liam was just getting in the way. She threw open the door at the top of the stairs. “Micah! You need to get out of here.”

  The room was empty. Liam bumped into her back when she stopped dead in her tracks. “Where the blazes is he?” Her voice was sharp and angry, demanding exactly what she wanted to know. And that was to save her brother.

  “He must have heard us and left.” Eleanor felt the sudden urge to scream loudly into the night. This was just like Micah.

  “Damn it.” Liam cursed something that was almost unheard of in polite company, especially around women. He didn’t even seem to care.

  Eleanor snapped her head around. She made the decision to ignore the words that he had just said and instead tried to shove him down the stairs. “We need to go. He’s safe. I can’t be caught here.”

  “I know that.” Liam scoffed.

  “Don’t patronize me. You just can’t get it through your head, can you?”

  “Get what through my head?” Liam was still smirking.

  She had the sudden urge to slap him. And that’s exactly what she did, laying her hand across his face. It didn’t take his smirk away though. He just kept up that stupid smile that drove her insane. “This isn’t a game. They’re coming to this place.”

  “I know.”

  “Then why can’t you take this seriously?” Eleanor started to push past him.

  “Oh, you won’t get caught here.” He smirked and swept her off of her feet and into his arms. It took him only moments to get down the stairs. She thought about hitting him, but she was stopped by the sounds of something heavy hitting the front door of the warehouse.

  “Back door?” Eleanor held on with everything she had. He was holding her, but she still couldn’t help but feel unsteady in his arms. There was something about him that made her stomach do flips. She had only noticed when he held her this close to his body and had a couple of seconds to actually focus on what he was saying.

  “Back door is a bad idea.” He shook his head at her. There was a soft smile on his face as if he had some sort of secret.

  His face made her want to scream and stomp off. She had to stop herself from doing that. “Can you say anything that isn’t smug?”

  “Can you not be feisty?” He was still smirking. “On second thought. Don’t stop that. It looks beautiful on you.”

  “I want to slap you again.” She groaned in frustration. Something about this man was just driving her crazy in ways that she couldn’t explain. He was overconfident

  “To bad you can’t, because now we have to escape.” He hefted her easily. “You need me.”

  “It’s just sneaking out the backdoor. It’s not that hard.”

  “They’ll be back there. I have another idea.” Liam still had that smirk on his face, and if she wasn’t terrified of being arrested, she would have definitely hit him by now.

  Instead, he bolted through a trap door on the floor, leaving the place silent and empty as he tossed her unceremoniously over his shoulder and climbed down a ladder to a basement. “We’re trapping ourselves in the basement? What kind of plan is this?”

  “Trust me to be a little bit smarter than that.” He reminded her that they might be being pursued by speaking in a hushed whisper as he put her down on her feet at the bottom of the ladder.

  She took a look around the room, but there was nothing there to see. The place was completely dark. “Where in the hell are we going?” Another foul word, but she didn’t care at all. This wasn’t a time to remember propriety.

  “Just come with me.” Liam clearly lacked the patience to explain it to her. She thought for a moment about staying there but remembered exactly the kind of damage it would do for her to be caught in a warehouse full of stolen goods. She let him drag her through the darkness, tripping over God knows what on the way. Liam seemed to be kind enough to keep her on her feet, after all, the man seemed to honestly know where he was going.

  He led the way to one of the walls, by the time they had wound themselves through some stacks of boxes, she was completely disorientated. “Where are we going?” It was as much of a hiss as it was a whisper.

  “I’m getting us out of here. You don�
��t want to get caught. I don’t want to get caught. And it does me a favor if I save Micah’s sister from getting herself in trouble.” The honesty caught her by surprise. She fell silent again as he moved a few boards out of the way. “In the tunnel. We can walk out the next warehouse like nothing’s going on.”

  She could hear the smirk in his voice even if she couldn’t see it on his face. It drove her crazy, but she couldn’t do much about it when they were trying to escape arrest.

  Chapter 4

  There was a brief moment that Liam wondered if he had a chance with the kind of woman that held no fear of anything. Then he reminded himself of his permanent bachelor status. There was no way he would ever have allowed her to get that close to her. The girl was nothing but trouble.

  “What exactly is the plan?” He was pulled out of his thoughts by her voice.

  “We’re going to get out of here without getting caught.” He came out of the basement of the next warehouse.

  “How do we get out of here?” She was squinting, but it was too dark to see very far at all. This place wasn’t lit.

  “There are stairs, not far.” He reached out and took her hand, leading her along the wall.

  “Do you know where you’re going?” Her arms were crossed and he could hear the tapping of her foot.

  This just made him want to laugh, but he knew it was time to be quiet. “I promise. You won’t have to suffer my presence for long.”

  “Suffering your presence sounds like a terrible way to spend an evening.” She was grumbling, clearly angry about having to be there at all.

  “I’m sure you’ve had less exciting evenings sassing your needlepoint.”

  “I do not sass my needlepoint.” He could hear the rage brimming in her voice. He suddenly knew exactly how much he was going to enjoy this. After all, he still had to get the young woman home. She needed this.

  Liam laughed. “I’m terribly sorry, Miss Eleanor.” He was wearing his haughty airs, the kind of attitude that he used often to mock high society. He knew that she was as likely to go against the grain as he was, but probably in less dangerous ways. He couldn’t help but laugh a little. They were two outcasts just trying to duck out of trouble before it got to bad. Still, it was fun to see the way that her face turned red when he teased her a little. And he very much planned to continue. “I didn’t mean to offend your delicate sensibilities.”