“The man . . .”Paul said, pointing out the window before bursting into tears and climbing across the seat to gain his attention.
Slade vaguely heard the child, but his thoughts had been on Bella—still coveting the kisses he had gained under the nose of her sleeping chaperone. He chuckled to himself before realizing the child was trying to tell him something. The boy was crying. They were not even a block away from Bella’s home on Curzon. Slade tried his best to comfort the child, thinking the boy must have become upset when Lady Bella and her maid left the carriage. “I am taking you to my home and we will have people there to help find your mommy and daddy.” Nothing changed. The boy’s cries only became more frantic.
“I tell you what. We will visit Lady Bella soon and we can all go to Gunter’s for ices,” he offered. Instead of comforting the child, his cries became more frantic, and he climbed on the seat and pointed out the window. “The man,” he cried.
“What man?” Slade asked, suddenly alarmed. They were pulling into his home on Grosvenor Street.
“The man!” he cried.
The realization of the man he was talking about came into his head. The man that had fought with the small boy had dark hair. Slade had noticed the man’s upper lip looked whiter than the rest of his face, but until this moment had not considered the resemblance. “Are you talking about the man that was in the park?”
Paul nodded as tears streamed down his face.
“Tell me what you saw, slowly,” he urged.
The boy hiccupped from the crying and tried to talk. “The man. I saw him.”
“You mean, you saw the man at Lady Bella’s house . . . the same man that hurt you in the park?” An icy feeling shot across his shoulders and down his back. He had seen no one at the townhouse. How had he had missed this?Did I target the wrong person and send the runners after Lady Evers? I could lose Bella.
“Come with me, son.” He spoke slowly and carefully. “This will be your new home until we find your parents. I promise to do my best to find them, Paul.” The carriage stopped, and he opened the door, carrying the child close to his body as they ran up the steps to his townhouse. Opening the door, he startled Jeffers.
“Your Gr . . . Grace . . .” the man stammered, unnerved.
“Jeffers, send for the housekeeper and a maid. Have a footman find Latham and bring him here and have another bring out horses out front.Now, man.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Slade noticed Jeffers moved with a speed he had not seen in years. He needed to get back to Bella’s house, fearing what could happen. How had he missed this? He needed to calm himself if he expected to find this man. Paul had seen the man outside of Bella’s—a man who, if he was who Slade suspected, may have also had something to do with his father’s death. Still euphoric over his morning with Bella, he had missed this.
As he ran up the steps towards the main floor and his study, still carrying the child, footsteps sounded from everywhere.
His mother’s parlor door opened as he reached the top and she and Tabetha ran across the hall with Gracie in tow. “What has happened?” she said, suddenly noticing the small boy. “And who is this handsome young fellow? Has there been an accident?”
“Mother, this is Paul. He is four. Lady Bella and I saved him in Hyde Park from a man who was beating him,” Slade said briskly. “Is Latham still here?”
“I am,” his friend said, rushing down from the third floor, followed by a young housemaid and the housekeeper. “What’s going on?”
“Latham, I need you to come with me. We will discuss it on the way. I need to retrieve something from the study first. Mother, can you see Paul has everything he needs—starting with a bath and then food and clean clothing. Let nothing happen to what he is wearing . . . except, maybe a good washing. We may have something in the attic that could fit him,” Slade directed. “I believe they stole him from his family. I have nothing to go on except the cut of his clothing, and his reaction to the man that beat him.”
His mother and sister gasped at the same time. “I will take charge of Paul. Gracie and I . . .” Tabetha stopped.
Gracie sniffed Slade’s hands. Then she sniffed Paul’s clothing. Stepping back, she started barking, trying to communicate something. She was not happy.
“Gracie, calm yourself,” Tabetha urged.
“No, she knows something. She smells something. Remember where we found her, Mother? I think Gracie may be a witness, and we will need her,” Slade said.
“I do not understand any of this,” Mother said, keeping her voice calm. “But I trust you and Latham to fix whatever is amiss. Hurry. Go.”
“Mother, have Jeffers send for Mr. Wortle from Father’s accounting firm. I met with him yesterday.”
“I will,” the duchess said firmly. “He will be here when you return.”
The two men retrieved their guns from where Slade had hidden them in the study and then flew down the steps, with Gracie on their heels. Their horses were waiting out front. Slade placed the dog in his saddlebag, pleased it held her securely and would keep her out from under the horses’ feet. Mounting their horses, they took off toward Bella’s family home. They did not have time to dismount before the door opened and Lord and Lady Rothmore emerged with a tearful Mary.
Lord Rothmore must have seen them. He met them at the door when they arrived. “My daughter has gone missing. I have checked around, and no one noticed anything. Her mother found one grey kid glove behind the bushes and the other one in the alley. I fear something has happened to her,” the man said. He was frantic. A footman brought him his horse, and he mounted.
“We will find her,” Slade said, trying to calm him. “Did Mary see anything?”
