“Most definitely! Blind and helpless.” Maddy agreed, her laughter causing Lucy to join in.
It was noon when a commotion outside drew their attention. Lucy threw open the door to find Goodfellow on his feet and striding toward the entrance. He flung open the door, and the ladies pushed out onto the porch.
David rode at the head of the Clarion carriage as it wound its way up the drive to the front of the manor. Lucy didn’t recognize the roughly dressed man at the reins, but she suspected it was one of the grooms that had accompanied Gibbons. Another sat next to him. Rob rode behind with Gibbons.
Before the groom could climb down and lower the steps, even before the men could fully dismount, the countess burst through the door to the carriage, stumbled on her skirts, and pulled herself upright. “Madelyn! I demand that you—”
David had her by the arm in a trice, cutting off her words. Rob strode to block the door.
“This is an outrage. A disgrace. Have you no honor? Treating your mother like—”
Lucy glanced up at Maddy, who stood in stunned silence, staring at her mother held firmly in her brother’s grasp.
The earl addressed the groom who had climbed down from the box. “Kindly help me escort my mother to her room,” he said.
“You can’t force me to stay,” the countess shouted as Madelyn gaped. “I was on my way to visit a cousin. You can’t—”
“I can, and I will detain you for thievery,” David said through clenched teeth, pulling the woman toward the steps.
“Thievery? That’s absurd.” The countess dug in her heels.
“Of my carriage, to begin with. I fear the list of charges will grow long once we’ve questioned your accomplices.”
The countess shot a venomous glance over her shoulder. Rob had come up, waiting patiently between them and the carriage. “You can’t mean to allow that, that by-blow of your father to accuse me of ridiculous and unjust—”
“Shall I have Danny take your other arm and drag you up the stairs, or will you come on your own?” Lucy had never seen David like this, his eyes cold and his words colder. She could almost sympathize with the woman, except for her dawning realization of what had unfolded. Next to her, Maddy had begun to shiver.
The countess let him lead her up the steps, the big groom following closely, but her face never softened, and when she reached Maddy, she opened her mouth to speak. David overrode her. “Lady Madelyn, follow us, please. I’ll explain later,” he said. Maddy followed without a word.
Rob slammed the door to the carriage shut, jolting Lucy into action. She ran down the steps and skidded to a stop, narrowly controlling her urge to throw her arms around him, intending to demand an explanation. Rob reached over and cupped her cheek, his fingers tender against her skin, and her capacity for speech drained away.
“It’s over,” he said, his sad eyes holding her captive.
She tore her face away long moments later and stood on tiptoe to peer into the carriage where she could just make out two figures in the gloom, both gagged and bound. Rob’s voice rumbled through her from behind. “Miller drove the carriage. The other is Higgins. We left the maid at Blackshaw Moor.”
She turned, startled to find him so close they almost touched. His large body trapped her against the carriage. His eyes skimmed across her face to study her lips.If he moves the slightest bit…
“I need to hear it all,” she breathed, waiting for a kiss that didn’t come.
He straightened and took a step back, glancing over to where Goodfellow stood with Gibbons. “We have no doubts, but we need to question these two carefully. Miller may be ready to spill his guts, if you’ll excuse blunt talk.”
“I want to be there. Maddy will, too.”
The foolish man hesitated. She suspected that thought hadn’t occurred to him.
“I’m the one most impacted. I should hear them questioned. And the countess?”
“That is David’s decision,” he answered. “And he’s the magistrate. Appeal to him if you want to sit in.”
“I will.” She pushed away in a swish of skirts. Goodfellow stepped forward to follow her into the manor, but Lucy raised a hand to stop him. “You heard him, Corporal. It’s over.” Behind Goodfellow, Rob gave the coachman the order to go on and mounted his great beast. The carriage pulled around the drive toward the rear of the manor, and, after one last glance at Lucy, Goodfellow followed them on foot.
Lucy stood alone at the top of the steps while elation over the capture, such as it was, slipped away. She stared across the drive and down at the valley below and let the full weight of the future crush down on her. Once, she had plans and dreams. Now she saw only emptiness.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Maddy’s grip onLucy’s hand hurt, but, absorbed in the events around her, Lucy didn’t pull it away. With their backs to the wall, they stood on the far side of the cellars across the pavement from where Aaron Miller sat on a battered wooden chair dragged from the estate office, his arms bound. David made it plain that their presence would be permitted only as long as they kept silent. Lucy wondered if that would be possible.
Miller’s guilt had been obvious from the beginning, and Lucy didn’t expect to learn much from him. She looked in vain for the countess or Higgins. “Where is your mother?” Lucy hissed.
