“—check every outbuilding before moving farther afield,” a man’s voice said.
Kendall stirred under her head.
Isolde pushed off his chest as the door opened and sunlight streamed into the corridor. Wincing, she shielded her eyes, blinking into the brightness.
As her eyes adjusted, a sea of faces greeted her.
A rotund man with a set of keys in his hand.
Her father, Hadley, beside him.
Allie with her arms crossed at her waist.
Uncle Rafe, hands in his pockets.
Sir William Hooker and Lord Alderton, both with eyes wide and aghast.
And beyond them, several men dressed in the distinctive blue coats of the Metropolitan Police Force orPeelers, so called after Sir Robert Peel who founded them.
She rather feared she saw a journalist or two milling in the background.
“Well, they have been found,” the man with the keys said to Isolde’s father.
“As I have been insisting, my brother would not kidnap a lady!” Allie looked up at Hadley. “I know you have a low opinion of Kendall, my lord, but he is hardly a criminal.”
Isolde thought she heard Kendall snort, but surely she was mistaken.
Pushing to standing, she met her father’s gaze. He looked . . . haggard . . . unshaven, coat rumpled, dark circles under his eyes. Never had she seen the Earl of Hadley appear so shaken.
Behind her, she felt Kendall rise as well.
“Gentlemen,” the duke intoned.
Isolde spared a glance at him.
Oddly, Kendall resembled her father—gray whiskers on his jaw, hair akin to a haystack, neckcloth loosened. The duke stared at Hadley, something burning in his dark gaze.
She swallowed and looked forward.
“Well, Hadley,” Alderton announced, “I should hope that you will be seeing another daughter wed.” The earl looked to Isolde. “And soon.”
Isolde’s heart stopped in her throat.
No!
Kendall remained grimly silent at her back.
She met her father’s gaze once more.
“Come, lass,” Hadley said gruffly. He reached out a hand and pulled Isolde into his arms, hugging her tightly. “Let us take ye home.”
12
KEW GARDENS SCANDAL! This morning, the Duke of Kendall was discovered locked inside an ice house with Lady Isolde Langston, eldest daughter of the Earl of Hadley. Rumors are already swirling as to why, precisely, the two were together. Was it an illicit tryst between lovers? Or, as some are claiming, was it an abhorrent kidnapping attempt by Kendall and another volley in his war against Lord Hadley?
Only time will tell.
—article inThe London Tattler
