CHAPTER5
The following morning, before the ladies did more than begin their breakfast, Will stormed back in to Chadbourn House.
“He’s gone,” he announced breathlessly, pinning his sister with a ferocious glare. “What in the name of all that is holy did you say to him last night, Flora Margaretta Landrum? He slipped out during the night, and no one at the Albany even saw him go.”
Flora froze and Georgie set her serviette in her lap. “That poor man,” she murmured.
Will began to refuse the coffee John the footman offered, but changed his mind and sat with a sigh. “A few moments to break my fast won’t make any difference,” Will muttered. “The irritating wretch doesn’t wish to be found.”
“But we must,” Flo exclaimed coming out of the daze his announcement caused. She heard her voice quiver and took a deep breath. “We can’t let him harm himself, or fade away in some back alley.”
“Notwe, I,” her brother corrected, ignoring her scowl. “Where did you find him that first time?”
“Behind Finnegan’s Pub by the docks.”
“Damn. I’d hoped I had it wrong; I already checked there.” He took another swallow of his coffee deep in thought.
“I told him he should speak with his brother,” Flo said, belatedly answering the question he asked when he arrived.
Will dropped his head back and stared upward. “That makes two of us, then. Perhaps we pushed him too hard and too fast.”
“When I told him secrets festered and he ought to share them, he panicked. His eyes looked wild,” she said.
Flo watched her brother accept a plate of eggs and toast and tuck into it. “How can you eat at a time like this?” she demanded.
“Starving myself won’t help Ethan, and I suspect I’ll need my strength today.”
“Well said, Will,” Georgie said, standing. “With your permission, I think I’ll alert my brother. He can set runners looking for him. Unless you’ve already done so?”
“Glenaire was my next stop. Thank you for doing it for me, Georgiana.”
Brother and sister watched her leave. “So where will we go next?” Flo asked as soon as they were alone.
“Flo…”
“Don’t coddle me, Will. I won’t sit here and pace while you search for him. Besides, when we find him—and I won’t say ‘if’—it may take both of us to talk him out of whatever darkness he’s retreated into.”
Her brother studied her so intensely she fought the urge to wiggle in her seat. “There are things he won’t tell me, fears to tell his family, and most emphatically will not tell a lady,” he said.
She nodded slowly. “I’m not so frail a flower as you gentlemen believe, nor so lacking in imagination that I can’t guess what may happen in time of war, and if it appears my presence hinders rather than helps, I’ll withdraw. That’s all I can promise. I’m going with you.”
Her brother held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “So, my warrior princess, where do you think we should go next?”
Flo bit her lower lip. “What if he went home?”
Will’s eyes went wide. “Do you think so?”
She shrugged. “I think we need to speak with the Marquess of Welbrook.”
* * *
Welbrook’s butler pushed the door shut against the biting winter wind. He frowned down at Will’s card, disapproving, no doubt, of the early and unfashionable hour, but Flo thought he sensed the importance of the visit.
“The Marquess is, I fear, out of town. Would you wish to see the young lord?”
The young lord. Flo’s heart sped up.
“Kindly ask Viscount Penrhyd for a moment of his time. Tell him it is of utmost importance.”
