Esther clucked over her like a mother hen afraid a fox threatened her chicks. “That nasty American already hurt you, Your Grace. What if he comes back?”
“He isn’t hiding in my brother’s rose garden, Esther. I need air, and the children need to run.”
Esther insisted she change into a warmer gown and sturdy half-boots. When they found a loose heel, Maddy waited while her loyal companion found glue and repaired it.
“No running about like a hoyden,” Esther cautioned. “I’ll fix it more firmly when I get a chance.”
Maddy went down through the kitchen as she suspected the children had, the staff beaming as she passed. “The little ’uns are that happy to be out,” the cook called.
A Willowbrook tenant she recognized stood guard at the path leading around to the side of the manor. Another had been stationed several feet up the path to the stables.
“They went around to the garden, Your Grace,” the Willowbrook man called.
She found Helen strolling, head high, as graceful and dignified as the young lady she aspired to be. Maddy’s nephew Ed—Viscount Ashmead—walked next to her, struggling to appear grown-up, which he most certainly was not. Maddy sighed. She wished the boy would cut loose and play. Like Daniel Kendrick.
Daniel. She didn’t see him. Jessica popped up from behind a bush, and Marj rushed to tag her, giggling hilariously and running to duck beneath the brown remains of the peonies.
Tommy Dutton, one of the Clarion grooms, stood alert and watchful by the French doors leading to the drawing room. He assured her the boy had been darting about. “Just a bit ago.” He smiled confidently.
“Marj, Daniel is beating you at this game. Can you find him?” Maddy counted on Marj’s competitive streak.
Helen froze in her promenade, a faint frisson of alarm marring her young face, as Marj and Jessica, still laughing, checked the best hiding places.
The little viscount put a hand on Maddy’s arm. “Aunt Madelyn, he is a naughty boy.”
She glanced down in irritation. She did wish Ed didn’t behave like his father quite so much.
“The potboy told us there were kittens in the stables,” Ed said quietly. “He’s just the sort of wild boy to—”
“Are you telling me he wandered off?” she demanded, clutching her nephew’s shoulders. She glanced up at the groom.
“I didn’t see any boy leave, Your Grace,” the young man said, his face wrinkling in alarm.
“How could he get away without being seen?”
“He was hiding,” Marj piped up, skidding to a stop. “He’s good at crawling under things. If we weren’t meant to stay in the garden, I’d have crawled under those boxwoods. With the wilderness behind, Jess would never find me. I’ll bet he—”
The boxwood hedge, shoulder-high, that bordered the garden appeared impenetrable. She doubted Daniel could get through it, and a cursory study showed no sign he hid under it. He must have gone back through the kitchen yard.
“Tommy, I’m taking the children in. Kindly inform the earl and Corporal Goodfellow that I’ve gone to the stables.” The groom darted off, and the children clustered around her. “Where is the nursemaid?”
Marj screwed up her face. “She said that, with all the guards, she didn’t need to come down. She probably just wanted to take a nip of…”
Ed frowned at his sister, and Maddy made a mental note to tell David to fire the woman.
She herded them to the kitchen door. “Helen, please escort the others to the nursery. All of you go. Now.” For good measure she ordered the scullery maid to follow and make sure they were securely closed in the nursery, before turning to the two guards in the kitchen yard.
They had not seen Daniel. “He followed the others to the garden. Running with Lady Marjory and his sister, he was,” one reassured her. “Probably hiding.”
“Search the path anyway.” She changed her mind and decided to take another look at the garden. “Alert whoever is guarding the stables.” She turned on her heels. She could at least check behind the boxwood.
*
Pounding woke Brynnfrom fevered dreams. Goodfellow’s voice sounded frantic. He pulled trousers and a rumpled shirt from the day before on over his naked form. He’d slept poorly anyway, his head full of Maddy. He yanked the door open. “What happened?”
“Sorry, Colonel. You’ll want to come. Major Benson isn’t back from his rounds. The Kendrick boy wandered off, his father is in a state, and—”
“Wandered off? How the hell did he do that if he was in the nursery?” He sat to put on his boots.
