“I will return and we will talk about everything, Aunt.” Alice kissed her cheek. “I really must go.”
“Bring him home safely, my dear, and then you and I are going to talk,” Aunt Gwen said.
Alice raised a hand and ran out the door to where Bobby stood, still wrapped in her shawl.
“If you wish to stay, then I understand,” she said. The boy had already done so much for her.
“I will come, as you’ll need me.” The solemn words made her want to weep.
“Right then, where is it we’re going?” Ezra said, arriving in his heavy coat with a hamper in his hands. He put that inside the carriage and then handed Bobby the coat he had across his arms.
Alice gave him the address to Lord Hamilton’s house, and he helped her climb inside. Bobby climbed up beside Ezra, now dressed in a huge coat that dwarfed him.
“Stay strong, Jamie. We are coming,” Alice whispered as the carriage started rolling and rain battered the windows.
She worked through several plans, as was her wont to do when things needed resolving, and she needed something—other than the gripping fear over what Jamie was enduring—to keep her mind busy.
The carriage rolled to a halt minutes later, and she hurried to open the door and step down, straight into an ankle-deep puddle. Shaking her booted foot, she began to walk up to the front door. Raising the large lion’s head knocker, she banged it down twice. It opened and there stood a tall, bald, immaculately clad butler.
“I wish to speak with Lord Hamilton at once. It is extremely urgent. My name is Lady Alice Smythe.”
The butler bowed and stepped aside to let Alice enter out of the rain. He then bade her to follow him into a small parlor.
Alice paced the room, seeing but not really noticing the elegant legged furniture and gold paper on the walls.
God, Jamie. She should have told him—what? That she cared for him, that she loved him? No, that would have sent him running, as it would have had he said it to her.
How did Jamie feel about her?
The sound of running feet had her looking to the door. Lord Hamilton appeared in his shirtsleeves.
“Lady Alice, what has happened? Dibley told me that it was extremely urgent.”
“Lord Stafford,” Alice added quickly. “He has been taken.”
“Taken?” The gentle smile he’d entered with disappeared, and in its place was a look so fierce Alice nearly took a step back. Nearly, but not quite.
“Abducted. Please allow me to explain, my lord.”
He gave her one curt nod. “However, if, as you say, my friend has been taken against his will, there is not a moment to lose. Dibley!” he then bellowed.
The servant appeared in the doorway. “You called, my lord?”
“Send word at once to Lord Corbyn to come here, and make sure he’s armed.”
“At once.” The butler left, not appearing overly concerned by the order.
“Before you continue, Lady Alice, are you unharmed?”
“Yes, I am, but Lord Stafford is not.” Lord Hamilton’s lips tightened over that comment.
“Continue,” he said.
“It’s my fault he was hurt,” Alice whispered. Until then, she’d not really acknowledged that. He’d come to find her last night and ended up hurt.
“Tell me everything, my lady, because I know my friend, and know that it’s very doubtful anything that happened to Jamie was your fault.”
She did, leaving nothing out, the words pouring out of her. Alice felt relief that she had someone to share her fear and concern with. He would help her get Jamie back—he had to.
