Page 126 of The Duke's Indecent Match

Matthew shrugged.He would figure it out then.

“Are you coming, or not?”

Groaning, Christian released Matthew’s arm.

“I want to know what he’s doing, too.”

Leading the way to the door, Matthew knocked on it with confidence, ignoring the way Christian was muttering under his breath behind him.The door opened, revealing the same man who had been there before.He was a big bruiser with a cauliflower ear and a nose that showed signs of having been broken more than once.

“We’re here with Ormonde,” Matthew said simply, before the other man could speak.

The bruiser gave both him and Christian a once-over, then nodded, stepping back.

“Seriously,” Christian muttered once they’d walked past the bruiser and into the hallway.There was another door at the end of it, and Matthew sauntered confidently to it.“The Devil’s own.”

Glancing over his shoulder at Christian, Matthew grinned as he put his hand on the doorknob and opened it.

What they walked into on the other side was not at all what he would have expected.

Matthew had heard that Drake was frequenting houses of ill repute, but this was more than a bawdy house.There was an aura of darkness and desperation in the air.The waitresses were walking around the scattered tables with a hollow-eyed look, barely flinching when a man groped her or swatted her ass.Other women, the actual brothel tarts, were smiling, but they had the same look in their eyes as the waitresses.

As much as Matthew wanted to intervene, he could not take on the entire crowd.His jaw clenched as he moved through the men, looking for Drake.For all of Drake’s rebellions, he could not imagine his friendhere, in a place like this, indulging in pleasures of the flesh with these women.

This was the kind of place anyone with any sense of morals eschewed.

At the far end of the room, there was a stage, tattered and ratty, with a crowd drawn round it.Matthew thought he saw Drake near it, but then someone walked in front of him, cutting off his view.

Growling under his breath, he darted around the man and kept walking toward the stage, ignoring Christian’s curse from behind him.

They needed to find Drake, ask him what the hell he was doing here, then go home.Why his coin had indicated he should follow, Matthew had no idea.This was certainly the most confounding path it had ever sent him down.

A man walked out onto the stage, a greasy smile on his face.His evening finery was well made but tattered and quite a few years out of style.Beside him was a woman in a low-cut dress that threatened to reveal a nipple from her fantastic bosom if she breathed wrong.Likely both at once.

“Good evening!”The man grinned, his eyes sweeping the small crowd in front of him.“Who is ready for our special auction this evening?A real, live virgin!”

The crowd cheered, more men coming down, crowding around Matthew, who had ground to a halt.

A virgin?In a place like this?

The very idea made his blood run cold.

Likely, it was some doxy they’d coached into the part.Bloody hell, but he hoped it was the case.

“She’s a sweet one, alright.A real lovelylady, if you get my meaning.”He winked at the crowd.“The likes that we have not seen since the Tramp claimed his lady.”

Bloody hell.

There had been rumors that the Tramp’s lady had once been a debutante who’d gotten lost in the Warrens or been kidnapped away to the Warrens.Matthew had never truly believed it.It was very likely that the auctioneer was capitalizing on the rumor.

That or a young lady had actually been kidnapped from theton, though surely they would have heard… unless her family had fallen on terribly hard times.Or if they’d neglected to raise hue and cry over worries for her reputation.Perhaps Drake was here to rescue her?

But if that were the case, surely he would have told Matthew and Christian.He would not attempt something so astounding on his own.But if that were the case, where was he?Matthew scanned the crowd again, looking for some sign of Drake, but finding none.If he had been in this group, he’d disappeared entirely.

Yet Matthew could not make himself move to go find Drake.

Perhaps it was curiosity, perhaps it was intuition, but he could not leave until he’d seen this virgin lady being offered to the rowdy crowd of slavering men.

“Come on out, sweetheart, let them get a look at you,” the man said, leering.The woman at his side moved away, back toward the side of the stage, reaching out her hand as if coaxing the woman onto the stage.The lady stepped out, her head down, hands clenched at her sides.