“Yes, please,” she said, turning back to the window. “I want him to come to Primrose Park as soon as possible sothat all the business concerning Grandpapa’s will can befinished and I can be on my way to my uncle’s.”
“Jule,” he said, his voice quiet and almost pleading.
But she did not respond. Soon, if she held her breath and did not hope too hard, they would be on their way back toPrimrose Park. She did not care how late they arrived there.She would be safe again. At home again.
For the first time since they had left home that morning she felt like crying. She fought the tears with dogged determination.
The problem was what to do when they reached Gloucester. Should they find Prudholm’s chambers first ofall to find out if Julia and Freddie really had been there? Orwould they merely be wasting more time doing that? Lord,those two had had a head start of at least two hours, perhaps longer. Should they immediately start searching all theinns in Gloucester? How many inns were there anyway?Just one or two or a dozen or more? None of them were familiar with Gloucester.
And what if they were not there at all? What if Freddie had taken her farther, stopped at a country inn instead? Orwhat if he had not taken the Gloucester road at all? The earlfelt rather like vomiting at the very real possibility andhoped that neither of his two companions would voice hisown doubts. But Freddie had no reason to believe that anyone suspected his destination. He would have no reason forchanging it merely to throw pursuers off the scent.
Lord, if Freddie really had abducted Julia in the hope of forcing her to marry him, the pursuit might be hours toolate. The earl sat looking impassively out of his window.He did not know quite what he would do if that were thecase. He did not know and he did not care to think about it. He would act from instinct when the time came, he supposed. When? Not if? He suppressed a shudder.
Then just when they were all feeling anxiety because they were nearing Gloucester and had come to no satisfactory agreement on how they would proceed, the carriageslowed and the earl’s coachman shouted down to him thatanother carriage was approaching that looked remarkablylike Mr. Sullivan’s. And now that it had drawn even closer,he could see that Carl was driving it. Carl, the earl assumed, was Freddie’s coachman.
He did not wait for his own carriage to come to a complete stop. He opened the door and vaulted out into the roadway and stood in the path of the other carriage, whichwas already drawing to a halt. He leapt without thought atthe door of the carriage and dragged it open. And foundhimself glaring into the set, pale face of Julia. She was staring back at him with wide eyes. He looked beyond her toFreddie, whose face was expressionless.
Suddenly anxiety and fear and even terror disappeared. Or rather, were converted to a different emotion—white-hot rage.
“Get out!” he almost whispered. He was vaguely aware of Malcolm jumping into the road behind him and helpingCamilla down. Then he made his words redundant byreaching inside, taking Julia by the waist, and lifting her outnone too gently, setting her down on the road in front ofhim. “There had damned well better be a good explanationfor this.”
Frederick stepped down behind her. “There is,” he said. “Jule wanted to summon Prudholm back to Primrose Parkearly and I accompanied her. Now we are on the wayhome, the task accomplished. The man is coming tomorrow.”
The earl drew a slow breath, not taking his eyes off Julia. She was still very pale. She looked stubbornly back at him.
“It is true, then?” he said. “That really is what today has been all about? And you came alone together?” He injectedas much ice into his tone as he could. It was not difficult. Itwas an icy fury that he felt.
Her eyes held his for a few moments and then slipped to his chin. She raised them back to his nose, but then she letthem fall all the way to his boots. She said nothing. Altogether she was most unlike Julia.
“Don’t go blaming Jule for anything,” Frederick said. “I persuaded her that it would be better not to bring anyoneelse. No harm has been done, Dan. We should still be homebefore dark if we do not stand about in the roadway conversing like this.”
“Camilla,” the earl said, moving his gaze to Frederick, who was looking quite as pale as Julia, “take Julia back tomy carriage, if you please, and start on the way home. Malcolm, you will accompany the ladies? And explain to Juliawhat story we are to tell when we get back to PrimrosePark?”
He was surprised that she did not argue or make any resistance. He expected her at least to make a token protest against his trying to tell her what to do. She stepped aroundhim, her eyes still lowered, and disappeared from his sight.
He waited for a few minutes until his carriage had turnedin the roadway and was moving off in the direction fromwhich they had come, watching Freddie the whole time.His cousin remained pale and expressionless, as unlikeFreddie as Julia had been unlike Julia. They were not justtwo people caught out in a minor indiscretion. Freddie andJulia of all people would have brazened that out. There wasa greatdeal more to it than that. The earl felt himself grow cold.
“We will talk about this on the way back,”he said, stepping closer. “If you have touched her, Freddie, I will be hardput to it not to kill you.”
“I have not,” Frederick said.
“But you have compromised her unpardonably,” the earlsaid, “or would have done so if we had not arrived to somehow patch things up. There is a story we are all going to tell when we get back. All of us. You included, Freddie.”
Frederick nodded.
“We had better not delay longer, then,” the earl said.
Frederick half smiled. “You might as well do it, Dan,” he said. “It will clear the air a little before we have to travel together in this carriage.”
“You are right,” the earl said, and he felled Frederick with one hard right to the jaw. There was no fight, thoughthe coachman looked on with hopeful interest. Frederickwas not even unconscious. He got to his feet after a merefew seconds, his legs only slightly unsteady, and gave hiscousin the same half smile.
“Feel better?” he asked, turning toward the carriage.
“No,” the earl said curtly.
“A pity,” Frederick said, “Neither do I.”
17
