Whether he’d remain so was less certain. Ramsey had been chasing Lucinda for weeks, and if the gossips could be believed, he’d finally caught her. In Jarvis’s carriage, no less, outside the Weatherby ball last night. Lady Essex had seen the debauchery with her own eyes, and hadn’t hesitated to share it with all of London.
Jarvis’s hand was shaking as he pulled the bell for a servant, his voice not quite steady as he instructed a housemaid to fetch Lady Lucinda from her bedchamber and bring her to his study without a moment’s delay.
But therewasa delay, and it was a long one. The minutes ticked by, one after the other, and no one appeared. Godfrey was growing twitchier by the second, and the bile was rising once again, a hot, burning trickle at the back of Jarvis’s throat.
Until at last, the door cracked open.
Jarvis leapt forward, a shout already on his lips. “How dare you keep his lordship waiting so long, Lucinda? Come in here at once, and explain—”
When he saw who was on the other side of the door, the words died in his throat.
It wasn’t Lucinda who entered the study. It was Eloisa, and with her was Jarvis’s wife, Harriet, clutching Eloisa’s arm.
“My lord.” Eloisa offered Godfrey a brief curtsy, then turned to face her father. “Good morning, Father.”
“What the devil do you two want?” Jarvis wheeled around the side of the desk. “Go back up at once and fetch your cousin. I sent for Lucinda.”
“She’s not here.” Eloisa’s gaze met his, her chin high.
For a moment Jarvis was too stunned to speak. Nothere? It was eight o’clock in the morning! Either Lucinda had fled her bed before sunrise, or…
Jarvis’s brain gave a sluggish twitch as, very slowly, a suspicion wormed its way through the alcohol haze in his head. If Lucinda wasn’t here, then she likely hadn’t spent the night in her bed. If she hadn’t spent the night in her bed, it was fair to assume she’d fled his protection.
Jarvis eyed his daughter. Yes, Lucinda had fled. He could see the truth in Eloisa’s face, in the strange glitter of her blue eyes.
Now he thought of it, it wasn’t surprising, really. Anyone could see Lucinda was smitten with Ramsey. Yet Jarviswassurprised, all the same, and not at all pleasantly. Up until now everything had gone just as he’d predicted, but he hadn’t anticipated this turn of events.
Godfrey didn’t say a word, but from the corner of his eye Jarvis saw his lordship’s hand clench, the special license crumpling in his fist.
Again, not surprising, but Jarvis was prepared to rage and bluster as though it were. He grabbed Eloisa’s shoulders. “What do you mean, she’s not here? You will tell me at once where she is, or else—”
“No, I won’t tell you.” Eloisa’s chin shot higher. “And you won’t find her.”
“Search the house,” Jarvis barked, and the servant fled.
“You may send as many servants as you like scurrying over every corner of this house, Father, but it won’t do you any good. Lucy’s not here, and she hasn’t been for hours.”
Eloisa didn’t say anything more, but her meaning was plain. Lucinda had spent the night somewhere else.
Or, more to the point,withsomeone else.
That was more than enough for Godfrey. “It seems you’ve lost control of your niece, Jarvis. Pity. She would have made a lovely countess.” Before Jarvis could utter a word of protest, Lord Godfrey leaned over, and with one quick flick of his wrist, tossed the license into the fire. When he turned to face Jarvis, his face was hard. “You’ll do me the honor of calling on me later today, won’t you? I believe we have business to discuss.”
Then he was gone, and with him all of Jarvis’s plans to get himself out from under Godfrey’s thumb lay in tatters at his feet.
Or so it appeared to Lord Godfrey.
Jarvis drew a shaking hand over his damp brow. Good Christ, he’d thought the man would never leave. Now he had, Jarvis was ready to get some answers.
He turned his icy gaze on his wife and daughter. He took several menacing steps toward Harriet, who could be relied upon to crumble like dust between his fingers the moment he started squeezing her. She blanched as he drew closer, but Eloisa darted between them, her eyes flashing. “Don’t touch her!”
“You presume to issue orders tome?” Jarvis snatched his daughter’s arm and clamped down on it until the soft flesh collapsed under the pressure of his fingers.
His wife let out a cry and clawed at his hand. “Stop, Augustus!”
But Jarvis didn’t stop. He shoved his wife aside and turned his attention back to Eloisa. “Now, my dear child. Let’s try this again, shall we? Where the devil has your cousin gone?”
Eloisa was silent, fear, defiance, and triumph in her eyes.
