But she rushed from his room, making Harris wish to punch something, hard. He should have handled her better, but his nerves were as taut as gut strings on a fiddle.
And why asknowto be debauched? Did their scheme scare her too? Bella was right to fear Finch, and fear the role she’d offered to play. Which is why he wouldn’t let her. He’d take a small band of men straight into Finch’s hell and wage battle instead, rather than send his wife into that snake pit with her sister. He was still angry at Li for encouraging Annabelle’s half-baked idea.
Nor would Jasp stand for such madness either.
No matter how convincing Bella was as Bartholomew Brown, she was but a slip of a girl beneath men’s clothes, with not nearly the brawn needed to throw a fellow should she get jumped. Both she and her sister would be quickly overpowered if it came to a brawl, which it likely would. They’d have only their wits, and he’d lived enough to know wits were never enough.
Instead, Harris would strike early. Having grown his beard on the journey to Gretna, he was now grateful he’d kept it. That and a bit of dye to darken the blond should prove disguise enough.Hisplan removed Annabelle and Lady Milton from theequation entirely. And he’d put that plan in motion this very night while Bella paid her father a long-overdue visit.
Perhaps it was best they’d quarreled. He’d get Janie to color his hair right now.
Elizabeth paced her husband’s study and fretted, because there was the plot hatched in her husband’s parlor—with Gerald, Harris, and Li—and there was the plot she’d hatched in private, after, with Annabelle. She and Bella would implement their plan a full day prior. Namely, tonight. They would not wait for Harris to ‘gather more men’ or for Li to ‘send a girl in to spy.’ Time was of the essence.
Elizabeth knew their plan might not work, but the other plan might not work either. Surprise was their best weapon; every story she’d ever read confirmed this. Odysseus, after all, had conquered an entire city with his Trojan horse. Instinct told her Finch’s greed was the proper bait—greed for power and wealth. And the fewer known actors the better, lest God forbid the fiend sniff out a rat.
The sole other person Elizabeth would apprise was her husband’s man, Marty, whom she’d see when they dined this evening with Papa. Harris could not forbid Annabelle from visiting Father now that she was back in London, and Marty should know their scheme in the event things went terribly awry. Which they wouldn’t, Elizabeth told her worried self, because she could not bear the thought of Jasper suffering a second longer in that evil man’s grasp.
She gulped, knowing full well the danger she and Bella faced, yet Finch could not marry Annabelle now that she was legally wed to Harris. And Elizabeth was a lady, after all, not a foreignerlike Li or a servant like Ginny. Surely, if discovered, Finch would treat her differently.
Mutton’s thumping tail beat in time to her nervous pacing. Heartsick for his master, the hound now followed her everywhere about the house. Elizabeth, too, felt sick at heart. She’d taken to sleeping nights in Jasper’s bed, Mutton curled at her feet, because the sheets still smelled faintly of her husband.
She rued that day she’d made light with Bella and envisioned herself a widow enjoying the Baron’s riches, for here she was, on the brink of just such future, wishing the very opposite. She longed for Milton to be home. Or was it but concern for his well-being? Oh, she no longer knew what she felt for Jasper Audrey!
“Ma’am?” Gerald appeared from out of nowhere. “Mary Audrey’s takin’ tea with Murdoch in the kitchen, should y’ wish t’ join ’em.”
“Is she? Thank you, Gerald. I shall.”
He turned to leave.
“Gerald?”
“Ma’am?”
“Do you think our plan will work?” Elizabeth did not know why she asked. It was a futile question when the plan the butler knew was not the plan she and Annabelle would follow.
“I should hope.” He met her gaze. “But only God knows fer certain. Though if anyone can bring Jasp home, ’tis you, ma’am. He misses you somethin’ fierce, I’m sure.”
“I cannot tell, Gerald, if the Baron loves or loathes me.”
“I’ve known Jasp fer years, ma’am, an’ what that man loathes more’n anythin’ is weakness in his self. Andyouare Jasp’s great weakness, along with Mutton here.” He bent to scratch the wolfhound’s head.
Elizabeth did not believe the butler, because her husband did not allow himself to be weak. He may be as vulnerable as the next, but he did not show it. Ever.
She followed Gerald out, Mutton close on her heels, and forced a smile as she entered the kitchen. “Madam Audrey, it is so good of you to—” Yet one look at her mother-in-law’s distraught face made Elizabeth cross the room and envelop her in an embrace.
“I am so sorry,” Elizabeth whispered into Mary’s ear. “I am doing everything in my power to secure Jasper’s safe return.”
Mary brushed tears aside as she pulled away. “I’ve no doubt you are, Elizabeth, but this plan of yours, as Li tells it, is sheer insanity.”
Elizabeth’s hopes plummeted. She crumpled into the nearest seat as Murdoch quietly left the kitchen.
“I lived under Finch’s thumb, Elizabeth, and if he truly does have Jasper, he will use him to extort both favors and funds from you. And that will only be the beginning.”
Elizabeth willed herself to have faith. “With all due respect, Mary, no plan is foolproof. We’ve no choice but to try.” She steadied her shaking hands. “Jasper would do as much for any of us; you will not scare me off.”
A faint smile crossed Mary Audrey’s face. “Indeed, Lizzie. You make your husband proud.” Her smile grew. “I did not come to warn youoffyour scheme, dear, merely to warn you of the holes in that scheme.”
Relief washed over Elizabeth.
