Robert gave a dry laugh. “Believe me, none of the women were feeling terribly loyal when I spoke to them. They were all furious with Morgan. It seems she gave them all only until tomorrow morning to get out of the brothel and find themselves a new situation, then someone is coming to close it down and sell it.”

“Hmmm,” Daniel muttered. “I don’t suppose they would feel very loyal then.”

Robert shook his head and pointed out to Richard, “You’ll have to hire someone to guard Lisa until this is over. She—”

“He can’t,” Daniel interrupted.

Robert blinked in surprise. “Of course he can.”

“No, he can’t. Christiana is with child and to hire someone he’ll have to explain what’s happened and Richard doesn’t want Christiana upset right now. We were just talking about that before you arrived,” Daniel said easily.

“What?” Robert’s eyes widened and swung to Richard. “Christiana’s with child?”

Richard didn’t respond at first. His gaze was on Daniel, but then he smiled faintly and nodded.

“Well, that’s brilliant!” Robert laughed and moved to slap his shoulder. “How far along is she? And why didn’t she tell me?” he added with a frown.

“She isn’t far along and doesn’t want anyone to know until it’s a little further on,” Daniel answered for Richard. “So, as you can see, he can’t hire guards and such and put her through all that stress and worry again.”

“Hmmm. No, Christiana tends to be a worrier. We don’t want her to lose another child,” Robert agreed with a frown. It was the second time Christiana had got with child since their marriage. Losing the first had crushed her, losing a second would devastate her. Glancing to Daniel, he suggested, “Well then perhaps you could have Lisa stay with you and Suzette and hire a guard . . .” His voice died away as Daniel began to shake his head.

“You know Suzette can’t keep a secret to save her soul,” he pointed out dryly. “We can’t possibly tell her either. Christiana would know at once. Besides, how would we explain moving Lisa? Christiana would want to know why.”

Robert rubbed his forehead unhappily. “Well, what are we going to do then? We can’t just leave her unguarded. This suitor might try to get his hands on her again using another method.”

“Yes, he could,” Richard agreed grimly, for some reason glaring at Daniel.

“Well, we can’t bring in an outsider without the whole situation getting out and Christiana and Suzette knowing,” Daniel said resolutely.

“I realize that,” Robert said unhappily. “But she needs watching until we can sort out who the suitor is and ensure he won’t try again.”

“The three of us will have to do the watching then,” Daniel said with a shrug.

“How the hell are we supposed to—” Robert began with frustration.