“I did. I am not sure what kind of game you are playing at, but let me assure you…”
“I was trying to warn you and now I fear it is too late.”
Tony’s heart stalled. “What are you talking about?”
“Miss Sterling. She is in danger. Stafford knows.”
“Stafford knows what? If it is about her father, he has known for weeks.”
“Lord Ashton, I am one of you. I mean I was one of the Ring, mostly operating out of the country; you would not have known me. When I gained my title I was forced to leave.”
Tony’s mind was trying to comprehend how, if he was telling the truth, he did not know of him. When he looked at Dunstan’s face, he knew. Tony’s stomach pitched. He should have known. He knew Dunstan had been holding back. The fact that the man’s background was cleaner than a blank piece of vellum. “Who hired you to seduce Lucinda?”
Dunstan mounted his horse. “I told you. We should go while there is still time. I will explain on the way.”
Tony mounted his horse and followed the earl out of the mews.
“The original plan was to simply make myself friendly towards her, hope that she would come to trust me. I am guessing he asked you to do something similar?”
“Are you talking about Stafford?”
“Who else? I told him there was no message to find. You and I both had exhausted our efforts, but he wasn’t satisfied with that. He said he knew she had it and he needed it. I had no ideawhat exactly it was that she supposedly had, some message her father stole while emissary to Prussia.”
“This seems to be common knowledge amongst the ton now. Tell me something I do not know.”
“Stafford is a double agent. I found out he has been for years. Small things, little tidbits he could get away with. Once Foxton’s daughter came out of the woodwork he promised the Prussians or the French he could get it.”
Tony’s mouth fell open. A double agent? Stafford? No! But he studied Dunstan and saw no signs of lying.
“I feel the same as you. Deceived by the very man who should have been the most trustworthy. Even though it had been a decade ago when it disappeared he assured them he could get the stolen property back and demanded a huge fee, enough that he could pay off his debts and disappear into the country.”
Tony scoffed. “I cannot believe that. He showed no signs of being in debt, and there have been no rumors even among those I know from the Ring.”
“Look, you can choose not to believe me, but it will be Miss Sterling who will pay the price.” He stopped in the middle of the street. “I told him I wanted out, that there was nothing to find. I endanger my own life coming to you. If he were to find out, I am dead.”
Damn it, he was telling the truth. There must be an explanation for all this.
“I will come with you. I know they are at the safe house. Why do you think Stafford suggested it?”
“To keep an eye on us, in case we find the message.”
“Exactly. I only know because he told me. He wanted me to aid him, but I refused. My mission was complete, and I told him I no longer worked for the Ring.”
Tony took off, not caring if Dunstan was following or not. Dread seeped through him, making it hard to breathe. He hadto get Lucinda to safety, but still his mind could not accept that Stafford was a double agent. Damn and blast the man. Part of him rebelled at the thought. He was the person Tony had trusted the most, and he was a fucking traitor. Did that make him one too? Had all the information he had gathered over the years he had worked for him even been in England’s best interest? Bile rose in his throat, but he battled the urge to cast up his accounts. Lucinda was his only objective right now.
When he lept off his horse in the narrow alleyway, he knew Dunstan had been right. Two Bow Street Runners, hired to protect his family, had gathered around a body. His mother and sister huddled in the lit doorway.
“What happened?”
His mother stepped forward. “Oh, thank God! Tony, they have taken Lucinda.”
“Who has?”
“We do not know,” Marianne replied, tears filling her eyes. “Lucinda took Sasha out so that she could be alone while Sasha did her necessaries in the garden, only Sasha was the only one to come back in. We came out and found Mr. Marsh here dead just outside the gate. Lord Dunstan?” Marianne asked in confusion. “What are you doing here?”
Dunstan opened his mouth to talk, but Tony interrupted. There was no time for chitchat and apologies. “He is with me. George, can you take my mother and sister back to Warrington House? Leave everything behind, except for the dog. Go, now!”
The two men ushered the distraught women into the house. Tony turned to Dunstan. “Where would he have taken her?”
