The boy stilled in Hunter's arms and looked up at her.
She nodded. He didn't understand what she was telling him. As soon as he was freed from Hunter's hold, he tried to run past her to get to the little girls again.
Taylor grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him into her side. Dark hair hung down over his forehead. She gently brushed the hair away from his brow. He wouldn't look up at her now but kept his attention fully directed on Lucas.
"We're going home now," she told the child.
He dared a quick look up at her. "You can't take them away from me. I won't let you."
She could feel him trembling. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned down to whisper in his ear. Lucas couldn't hear what she was saying to the child, but when she at last straightened away from him, he was looking up at her with tears in his eyes.
She put her hand out. He clasped hold of it. He was still afraid to trust her. She could see it in his eyes. She slowly nodded, telling him without words she meant what she had just promised him.
He tightened his hold on her hand. She wanted to weep.
"Where are your shoes?" she asked. Her voice shivered with emotion.
"I don't have any. They threw them away."
Taylor didn't show any outward reaction to his remark. "We'll get you a pair tomorrow."
His eyes widened in surprise over her promise.
She smiled at him and then turned to Hunter. She wasn't about to let the child walk barefoot outside. "We're ready to leave now," she told him. "Will you carry him?"
Hunter nodded. The boy pulled back when Taylor tried to lead him across the room. He was obviously afraid of Hunter, and Lucas as well, she surmised, because he kept giving both giants fearful glances.
She wasn't about to introduce the men. She didn't want the horrible woman to hear their names. They had enough to contend with, and Shirleen would certainly give the Border brothers as many particulars as she could remember. If she had their names, trouble would follow.
Taylor drew the child into her arms again and leaned down to whisper to him. Both her husband and his friend patiently waited. It didn't take long, and when Taylor was finished, the little boy was smiling.
Lucas and Hunter were both curious. The change that came over the child was startling. Whatever had Taylor said to him?
The boy let go of Taylor's hand and walked across the room. He had a cocky bounce to his stride. He smiled up at Lucas as he passed him. He certainly wasn't afraid of Hunter either, for when he reached his side, he reached out to clasp hold of his hand and stared up at him with wide eyes and a look of awe on his face.
Taylor looked at Lucas. He raised an eyebrow and motioned toward the child. She simply smiled at him, then suggested once again that they leave.
Shirleen followed them to the front door. Lucas was the last in the procession. Just as he was passing by the divan, the man resting there let out a low groan. Lucas shifted the babies so that he could hold them with one arm, then reached down with his right hand and slammed his fist into the man's jaw. He knocked him out cold and never broke his stride.
Taylor requested a moment alone with Shirleen. Her husband denied her by shaking his head. Taylor turned to the obscene woman. "I'm going to make certain you spend the rest of your life in prison."
"I didn't have anything to do-"
Taylor didn't let her finish her protest. "You knew what was happening. You could have helped the children. You didn't."
She started out the doorway when Shirleen turned and ran toward her bedroom.
"We'll be back."
Lucas made the comment. It wasn't a threat. It was a promise.
They took the back steps. Taylor led the way. She kept her hand in her coat pocket, her fingers curled around her gun.
They didn't run into trouble. When they reached the street and started across, Taylor offered to take one of the babies. The cold air had awakened both the twins. Georganna had leaned away from Lucas and was staring at him. Alexandra also stared but not quite so blatantly. Both babies had their thumbs in their mouths. Georganna made a smacking sound when she sucked. Alexandra didn't make any noise at all.
"They're fine where they are," Lucas told Taylor. "Take hold of my arm," he ordered then.
Hunter moved up to Taylor's other side. She reached up to pat the little boy's arm, then turned to stroke one of the twins.
She wanted to hurry to the vehicle for it was chilly out and she didn't want the children to catch cold. She worried about the possibility as she walked along.
Hunter wanted to get the hell out of the neighborhood before the Borders came home. He didn't like the notion of killing the brothers with the boy in his arms. He thought about that possibility on their walk to the carriage.
Lucas's mind was on another matter altogether-the twins' father. George, she'd said, had been an orphan. He hadn't had any relatives. Of course he hadn't. Orphans never did.
And she'd known all along. The greater good. She'd told him that was why she'd married him. For the greater good. The cryptic remark finally made sense.
Madam's master plan. Do you like children? Taylor had asked him the question. Oh, yes, the greater good.
"I'll be damned."
He whispered the remark so low only the twins heard him. Georganna pulled her thumb out of her mouth and smiled at him. Alexandra shyly smiled up at him as well, but she kept her thumb in her mouth.
They reached the vehicle a few minutes later. Taylor got inside first. Hunter put the little boy inside next. He sat next to Taylor.
Lucas handed Georganna to her. She put the baby on her lap and reached for the second twin. Alexandra was duly settled on her lap next to her sister.
Taylor put her arm around the little boy so he would be included in her embrace, leaned back against the cushion, and closed her eyes. She let out a sigh of contentment.
Hunter and Lucas were having a difference of opinion outside the carriage. Hunter insisted on returning to the tenement to wait for the Borders. Lucas didn't have any problem with the plan. He just didn't want to be left out. Since he couldn't leave Taylor with the children, he demanded that Hunter return to the hotel with them. Once everyone was settled in for the night, he would go with his friend to confront the bastards.
Taylor ended the argument. "These children are going to freeze to death if we don't get them out of the cold air. Do get inside, both of you."
A moment later, they were on their way. The moonlight was bright enough to see each other inside the carriage. Lucas's gaze was on his wife.
"Taylor?"
There was a hard edge to his voice. She ignored it and gave him a smile. Lord, she was content. "Yes?" she asked.
His gaze turned to one little girl and then the other.
It was almost impossible to tell them apart. Then his frown settled on his wife again.
"Tell me something," he ordered.
"Yes?" she asked again.
He nodded to the twins. "Which one's greater and which one's good."
Chapter 14
O' while you live, tell truth, and shame the devil.
—William Shakespeare,
The twins conquered their shyness in no time at all. The night air had revived them as well. They talked nonstop all the way back to the hotel while they climbed all over Lucas and Hunter.
The two men had never considered themselves family men. They hadn't ever been around such little children, and they both felt awkward and inept holding such fragile little things.
The babies didn't feel awkward around the giants, however. They took to the two men the way ducks take to water.
Taylor had her full attention on the little boy. She asked him his name. He told her he didn't have a real one or at least he couldn't remember one, and then, while he wrung his hands together with worry, he whispered all the names he'd been called. He ended his explanation with a shrug.