It was only as he reached the side of the bed that Robert realized the shape under the comforter wasn’t quite right. He pulled back the thick blanket and then straightened with a curse when he saw the ripped and knotted sheets beneath. Returning the comforter, he straightened and moved quickly to the door. It was only when he found the knob wouldn’t turn that he recalled Bet’s claim that they’d been locked in.

Robert turned on a hissed curse and returned to the window. He was back out on the ledge with the window closed in little more than a moment, but then paused, unsure what to do. He could hardly just leave. He needed to get into the building and look for Lisa.

He’d try another room, Robert decided, and then glanced first right and then left. The window on the left was the closer one. It was also the way he’d come, climbing up the trellis on the other side of it and moving across that ledge and then to this one. But the room had been occupied.

Not wanting to be spotted, Robert hadn’t stuck around long enough to see who occupied it on his way by, but had shifted past the window as quickly as he could, barely catching a glimpse of what had appeared to be a woman in the room.

Unfortunately, the next window over on his right was farther away and he didn’t think he’d reach it safely. He couldn’t get Lisa out of this trouble if he was lying broken on the ground, so it was the first window he’d have to try, Robert acknowledged. He’d just have to hope that room was empty now or that the woman inside was of a friendly nature and wouldn’t raise the alarm when he entered through the window . . . or that he could silence her before she did, he thought grimly. Money usually did the trick in such situations. He would have to check things out and decide from there, Robert supposed.

He sucked in a breath and clutched the edge of the window frame with one hand and stretched his other hand and one foot toward the next. It was a tricky business, and he barely reached, but barely was good enough. A moment later he was easing onto the first window ledge again with a little relieved sigh.

Robert took a moment to let his heartbeat slow down, then shifted on the ledge to peer into the room. A grimace covered his face when he saw that it wasn’t empty now as he’d hoped. The woman was still there, a petite, blond and very curvaceous prostitute who stood by the bed, all ready for her first client of the evening.