“Yes, my lord,” Jeremy mumbled, blushing a deep red.
"Where is it?”
“Through that door and down the stairs.” He pointed to the door he’d come through when he met Royce.
The earl looked at him oddly and shook his head. Leaning on him, he hobbled quickly to the door and opened it.
"Holla! Black Jack!" he bellowed down the stairs. "Trouble!"
That last brought an answering yell and the sound of running footsteps. Upstairs, Lady Serena’s and Mrs. Hedgeworth’s bedchamber doors opened. They came to the top of the stairs.
“Whatever is going on?” demanded Lady Serena.
“Jane may be in trouble,” Royce said shortly.
“Oh, no!” gasped Lady Elsbeth, coming up behind the Marquis of Conisbrough. She clasped his arm.
Jeremy’s eyes opened wide, then narrowed with an angry stare. He pulled away from Royce and pointed an accusing finger at Lady Serena. "You planned it! I heard you!”
He turned to Royce, his lips compressed into a thin line. "At least, I heard part of it, and I thought it strange. I tried to tell Miss Jane, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”
Royce grabbed him by the shoulders, ignoring Lady Serena’s outraged cries. "What did you hear, lad?”
“The first time I heard her complaining to those Willoughbys about Miss Jane sleeping down here, and how that would affect their plans. Then this morning, she gave something to them and told them to keep it safe. I heard the word license. Then I heard some question about Reverend Chitterdean cooperating."
“Preposterous,” snapped Lady Serena. "You, young man, have a vivid imagination. Any conversations I have had with the Willoughbys have been innocuous in the extreme. Elsbeth, you know how I feel about that pair. Besides, what do you mean to say you heard. Any conversations I may have had were behind closed doors.”
Everyone looked at Jeremy. He blushed and scuffed his feet. "I—I listened at the keyhole,” he confessed.
Everyone but Lady Elsbeth stood in stunned silence at his confession. She whisked by them all and ran lightly up the stairs.She stood in front of her elder sister and shook her head from side to side. Downstairs, Royce and Conisbrough were shouting orders to have horses saddled. Millicent shrieked and fainted. No one noticed.
Lady Serena tipped her head up, a superior smile on her face. "I told you I should see she has suitors. And by now, she is wed. So you see, you have no reason not to come live with me.
Lady Elsbeth grabbed her sister’s arm and twisted it behind her back. She forced Lady Serena into a small drawing room and closed the door. There were immediate shrieks of outrage. Lady Elsbeth turned the key in the lock, then tucked it into her bodice. Behind her, several household servants had gathered, drawn by the shouting. She strode past them, only glancing down at Millicent’s prone form as she passed.
“Someone get a bucket of water and throw it on her,” she said, then hurried down the stairs.
CHAPTER 14
Royce grunted at the searing pain that shuddered up his left leg when he pulled his top boot on. Ruthlessly he shunted the pain from his mind. No doubt, when this day was done, the boot would have to be cut off. It couldn’t be helped.
What did the Willoughbys want with Jane? Ransom? And what of the second man the boys saw? Was that Helmsdon?
He shrugged on a jacket cut more for comfort than fashion and strode with only the hint of a limp out of his room. He met the marquis and Lady Elsbeth in the Great Hall. Lady Elsbeth glanced at his boot-clad feet, her healing nature warring briefly with her concern for Jane. Concern won.
“Serena is behind this. I don’t understand it, but for some reason, she is determined I live with her. She expects Jane to be married by now, thus freeing me,” she explained as they hurried outside to the waiting horses.
A frown creased Conisbrough’s high forehead. "Would Chitterdean perform a marriage under duress?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so, but it may be a moot point. He has the grippe now. He may be too ill.”
Royce nodded. "Thus the reason for bundling Jane and an unknown gentleman—presumably Helmsdon, from the boys' description of his horse—into a carriage. It also explains the elaborate effort of tying brush to the back of the carriage to obliterate their trail.”
Conisbrough and Lady Elsbeth looked at him in surprise.
“That’s what the boys said they saw through the telescope,” Royce said, grabbing the reins from the waiting groom. His jaw tightened in grim determination when he placed his left foot in the stirrup and swung himself up into the saddle. A sharp pain seared up his leg. He ignored it. Nodding curtly to Conisbrough, he wheeled his mount around and spurred him to a gallop.
Lady Elsbeth watched them a moment, twisting her hands nervously before her. She could not simply stay behind, wondering every moment what would transpire. Her lips thinned. She turned and curtly ordered a carriage brought around. While the grooms headed for the stables, she turned back to the house to fetch her hat and cloak.
