“There,” she exclaimed, pointing upward to the mountain. “Do you see it?” She could scarce contain her excitement.
“See what?” Ridge demanded, shading his eyes with his hand and following the direction of her hand.
“A moon, there on the mountain. In the cradle of the moon lies the doorway.”
He made a sound of discovery. “My God, you’re right. The doorway must be below the moon.”
“Brilliant deduction, old chap.”
Ridge froze, disgust creeping up his spine. He knew that voice. But it couldn’t be. His eyes lighted on a very familiar figure standing just a few feet away. Lord Clarence. Holding a gun in one hand and his obnoxious gold-handled cane in the other.
India gasped in surprise. “What’s the meaning of this?” she demanded.
A woman, huffing and puffing, shoved out of the crevice and joined Lord Clarence, her face mottled and red from exertion. Her gray day dress looked as though she had wallowed in the dirt, and her hair flew about her head like a bird’s nest in a storm.
“Mrs. Unster?” India asked, her tone incredulous.
“Well hello, dearie,” she sang out, but her voice was decidedly cold.
“What do you want,” Ridge ground out.
The no account blackguard could go straight to the devil, and Ridge would like nothing more than to speed him on his way. No way was he going to let Lord Clarence sweep in and steal everything he and India had worked for.
Lord Clarence chuckled, the gun lowering slightly. “That should be obvious. I certainly didn’t follow you all the way from England to say hello.”
“There is nothing here for you to steal,” Ridge gritted out. “Leave us. There are lives at stake.”
Lord Clarence nodded. “Aye. Yours.”
He leveled the pistol at Ridge. “Hand over the bracelet. Now that you’ve solved the issue of where the gate lies, it should be an easy matter to enter.”
India made a sound of outrage. “How did you get here? And Mrs. Unster, what is the meaning of this?”
“Come now, dearie. Do you think I would have handed something as valuable as my brother’ journal over to that bumbling book seller for such a paltry sum?”
Ridge shook his head in confusion. “What in the name of God are you babbling about, woman?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Mind your tongue, my boy. I have no compunction about having Lord Clarence shoot you now that you are no longer any use to me.”
“Why did you give us the bracelet then go to so much trouble to track us down?” India demanded.
Her eyes gleamed in satisfaction and she thumped a finger to her temple. “It was a most brilliant plan if I do say so myself. How better to find the city than to hand you the means to do so and simply follow your path?”
Lord Clarence snorted. “Stuff and nonsense. Your plan failed miserably.”
Mrs. Unster shot Lord Clarence a quelling look. “It did not go exactly as I planned. I certainly didn’t intend to involve this bumbling idiot,” she said gesturing at Ridge. “But that idiot book seller sold the journal to him instead ofher.” She glared at India as she spoke.
Ridge clenched his jaw, ready to strangle the dotty woman. “Are you saying you meant the journal to go to India?”
She nodded vehemently. “What would I want with you? You are merely a rank amateur. I needed the girl’s expertise since her father disappeared about the time Roderick died. I gave the journal to the book seller with explicit instructions, instructions he obviously discarded. When we realized what had happened, we hired someone to break into your home to retrieve it. Of course we had no way of knowing you had joined forces with the girl. We were forced to back off and formulate a new plan.”
Ridge’s eyes widened. But if she and Lord Clarence were behind the break in when the journal had been stolen, it meant the tattooed man had not been the one who harmed India.
“It doesn’t matter who you wanted to have the damn thing,” Lord said impatiently. “Let’s take the bracelet and get on with it.”
Mrs. Unster huffed but she turned her flinty stare on Ridge then flitted her eyes to India and Robby. “Shoot the viscount. The other one is sickly and the girl isn’t big enough to harm a fly.”
“No!” India cried out. She dug into her pocket and pulled out the bracelet, thrusting it toward Lord Clarence. “Take the bracelet, but leave Ridge alone. You have what you want.”
