“I am coming!” the Duchess demanded.
They hurried to where it hung.
“Ladder, Chibbers!” Gabe barked.
One was procured, and soon Gabe was climbing it.
“It’s a good likeness,” he heard Zach say.
Lifting the frame slightly from the wall, he searched the back. There, on the side, was a piece of paper sticking out. He pulled it out and climbed down.
“What does it say?” the duchess demanded.
“As I have yet to open it, I can’t tell you,” he snapped back.
“Well, hurry up!”
Unfolding the paper, he read the words silently.
“Diard is involved, and I know where she is,” he said. “Let’s go.”
“What does it say?” the duchess demanded.
“It merely states the location he has taken her to and the amount of money he wants for her return,” Gabe tucked the note into his pocket.
“I will return with her.” He bowed to the duchess, then headed out of the house.
He shook Warwick Sinclair’s hand on the doorstep of the Duchess of Yardly’s house. “My thanks to you for your assistance to Miss Brown.”
“If you need further assistance, Lord Raine, please do not hesitate to contact my family,” the young man bowed before walking away.
“I think Geraint should recruit the Sinclair and Raven families,” Nathan said as they mounted their horses.”
Gabe grunted his agreement before saying, “and now we find the woman I love.”
“The daughter of Comte Saint-Bonnard,” Nathan added. Walter barked.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Dimity woke feeling nauseous. Her last memory was of traveling in Mr. Diard’s coach. He’d pointed at something out the window, and then a hand had placed something over her nose. She’d fought, of course, but she’d also inhaled deeply and then her head had swum and that was that.
Looking around, she noted she was in a room. Small, she realized as her eyes searched the space. There were flowered curtains, and a matching canopy on the bed she lay on. Her hands were bound, as were her ankles. Thankfully nothing was tied around her mouth.
That snake Diard. She’d make him pay. As if her thoughts had alerted him, the door opened and in he walked.
“Ah, you are awake, Miss Brown. I hope your head does not pain you too much.”
She sat upright slowly. Swallowed back nausea and was soon resting her back on the headboard. Dimity let her eyes settle on him.
He still wore the red jacket she’d thought so nice when he’d sat beside her in the carriage.
The duchess had told her she was driving out with Mr. Diard and brooked no refusal. Dimity had gone simply because the duchess was right. He would make her a good husband and living in France would ensure she never saw the man she loved ever again. Her words had merely confirmed what she’d known. There could never be anything between her and the Earl of Raine.
“Why have you done this?”
“All will be revealed in good time.”
His smile didn’t hold its usual charm.
