“There is a place where we would meet on occasion just outside town. It was convenient due to its location near the Thames. He could have taken her there, but I really don’t know.”
“We will go there first then.”
“Ashton, I’m sorry this has all happened. I had no idea what he had planned when he hired me.”
“Save your apologies for Lucinda.”
Dunstan nodded and turned his horse around and took off with Tony not far behind. They rode for about a half hour before Dunstan slowed down.
“We need to leave the horses somewhere as they will make too much noise. We can go on foot from here.”
“I swear, Dunstan, if you are leading me into a trap you are a dead man.”
“Understood. I want Miss Sterling to be safe as much as you. She is innocent in all this.”
Tony said nothing. Dunstan did not need to know that Lucinda indeed had the formula that Stafford so desperately wanted. It would be safer for all of them if he did not know.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The building wasmore like a fisherman’s shack, a small, drab room with a door in the middle and two windows on each side. There was no glass in the windows and the door hung oddly, as if it had partly been pulled off its hinges. As they circled the shack, he could hear a voice. Male, deep. Stafford.
Tony and Dunstan looked at each other. Tony pulled out the gun, but Dunstan shook his head. “Use it as a last resort. You will have a gang of thugs around you in heartbeat if you use that,” Dunstan whispered. “This place is a rats’ nest of the worst kind.”
Tony put the gun back into the coat pocket and pulled out the dagger he always kept in his boot. Dunstan nodded and moved around the corner. Tony followed. He peeked in the window quickly and then moved to the other window while Dunstan stayed at the first window.
Stafford’s voice was clearer now. “Do not play the fool, dear. We have been looking for you for a very long time. Now you are here, you need to give me the information that your father left you.”
“I do not even know who you are.”
“I am Lord Stafford. I was a… friend of your father’s.”
“He left me nothing, Lord Stafford. Do you not think I want an explanation as to why he left me at that school? If you were such good friends, why did he not give the message to you? Why do you think he would give it to me?”
“He was a fool. He tried to make a deal. His greed got him killed. I should know; I was there.”
Lucinda gasped. “You were there when he was killed? You? You killed him?”
Tony looked at Dunstan, who shrugged. He did not know about it either. Was there no depth to which Stafford had sunk to?
“Not exactly. I do not dirty my hands with such things. I did inform the king however and he was very displeased with your dear papa.” Stafford squatted down in front of her. “Be a good girl, Lucinda, and just tell me where the message is.”
“I told you. I do not know of any message.” This was true. It was not a message, but a formula. Stafford obviously did not know what it was he was looking for.
“You must have it,” Stafford said, his tone frustrated. “Foxton was no fool. He knew we would come after him. We went looking for you, of course, knowing that he would have made sure it would be safe until he could get it to the man who had paid for it in the first place. A man who does not like being disappointed.”
“Please, Lord Stafford. I cannot give you what you want. Even if I did have it, you would be the last man I would give it to.”
Stafford sighed. “This is not how I wanted to do this, Miss Sterling. If you will not tell me of your own free will, then I will have no recourse but to hurt you to get it.” He went to a table in the far corner and opened a burlap bag. From this distance, Tony could not see what was in it. Nothing good, he was sure. “And do not think I will stop there. Oh, how the ton will love to find out that your precious Ashton killed you and that his whole family was involved.”
Tony moved around slightly so he could see her face. She had a slight bruise on her cheek, but that was all he could see fromthis angle. He wanted to rush in there, but it was more important to make sure it was safe to do so first.
Lucinda said, “No one will believe your lies. The Ashtons are a well-respected family.”
“Of course they will. He practically put a for-sale sign around your neck. Thirty thousand pounds year. That is a nice dowry. Plus, the inheritance from your grandmother. I must say that he made it very hard to resist and yet there were no real suitors were there? Lord Dunstan was not really interested you see. I was paying him to get close to you.”
Lucinda’s tone was cold. “You are a despicable man.”
Tony wished he could somehow signal to her that he was there. Her courage just made him love her more. There was no way he would let Stafford hurt her. He just needed to time his attack so that Lucinda would be safe.
