Page 15 of Miss Thornfield’s Daring Bargain (The Troublemakers Trilogy #1)
T rent couldn’t believe that he was in the clink. Couldn’t understand how everything had gone wrong so quickly. He’d had a plan. It was meticulous and well thought out. The one factor he hadn’t accounted for was that sly-faced heathen girl. How? How had he missed that she would be the one to cause his trouble? Thornfield had known. His sly little smile in the storeroom made perfect sense now.
He’d known his brat of a sister would ruin everything. Sneaking off to Gretna Green with a viscount’s son to get married like the opportunistic little slut she was. That weakling husband of hers arranging to have Thornfield snatched out from under him. That nosey, jumped-up little darkie setting the entire police force on his scent.
Now he’d have the police and those loan sharks after him once he got out. Little did that negro know, this was his town. He had people everywhere, even in places as high and mighty as Thornfield himself. The sound of boots on the floor made Trent look up. He sneered and shook his head when he caught sight of the guard.
“You took ya time,” Trent said, as his cousin Ian unlocked the door to his cell.
“You’ve got yourself in a right mess this time, Donnie.”
“Don’t give me a sermon, just get me outta here.”
“Keep your voice down for the love of Christ,” he hissed as he led Trent through the maze of cells and down a dark stinking corridor. “I ain’t doing this for you. Some toff tipped me to get you out. Says you have a job to finish.”
Trent grinned. That’s right. A good Englishman always took care of his own. No way that gent was gonna let him hang for this. “He say anything else?”
“He said he’ll meet you by the two trees.”
“Good.”
“Whatever it is you are doing leave me out of it. I got a wedding comin’ up, I can’t lose this position.”
Trent groused. “So much for blood being thicker than water.”
“Don’t even go there. I’ve covered for you hundreds a times. But they’s saying you kidnapped a toff. What the hell’s you doin’ kidnapping a toff for?” He pushed open a metal gate and past a copse of trees, staying far from the torches.
“He owed me,” Trent snapped as they approached a lone wagon.
“Everybody always owes you,” Ian grumbled before flipping up a tarp on the back of a wagon. A dark figure sat facing away from them in the driver’s seat. “Get in and stay quiet.” He gave a sharp whistle, and the horse began to move, taking him to freedom. A second chance was what he was getting and he’d make sure it went exactly how he needed it to.