“Oh, well, it’s just that I saw him out here in February, and he was after the partridge, you know. Partridge season ends on February first,” he added, when Emma gave hima blank look.
“February? Are you quite sure it was February?” Emma’s voice was much more urgent than the conversation warranted, and she clenched her hands inside her pockets to remind herself to give nothing away.
Mr. Humphries gave her a baffled look. “It was February, right enough—the second week of February. I came for Lady Lovell’s birthday weekend, but no sooner had I arrived than the family was unexpectedly called away to London.”
A chill rushed over Emma’s skin, raising the hairs on her neck. She nodded and offered Mr. Humphries a weak smile, but her head was spinning.
Lord Dunn had told her he was in Cornwall with his sister until the end of March. In fact, he’d made quite a point of saying he’d returned just in timefor the season.
Lord Dunn hadliedto her.
Why should he have lied, unless he had something to hide?
Emma hurried back toward firmer ground, anxious to make her way back to Daniel, so she might confer with him about this new development. “Well, I wish you good luck with your angling, Mr. Humphries.”
“Oh, well, I was just finishing when you came. It’s not as much fun when you’re not catching anything,” Mr. Humphries said cheerfully. “May Iwalk you back?”
“No, I thank you. I think I’ll go a little further along the bank so I cansee the folly.”
“All right, then, Lady Emma. Be careful not to slip. Thatwater’s cold.”
“I will. Thank you,Mr. Humphries.”
Mr. Humphries gathered his equipment and, with one final tip of his hat, disappeared down the pathway, whistling as he went.
As soon as the sound of his whistle faded, Emma turned and hurried in the directionof the folly.
It was just where Hannah had said it was, tucked into a narrow bend in the pathway, overlooking the pond. It was a pretty little building of white marble, with graceful columns supporting a domed roof with picturesque vines climbing upone side of it.
Emma glanced behind her, but she was at the bottom of the short hill, below Lymington House, and couldn’t see it from here, which meant no one who happened to be looking out the window of the kitchen toward the pond could see thefolly, either.
It was plainly visible from Lord Dunn’s hunting box, however.
Emma hurried toward the folly, the muddy ground sucking at her feet and slowing her progress, but soon enough she reached the archway that led inside. It was open to the outdoors, and she shivered as a gust of cold wind stole under the skirts of her cloak.
She came to an abrupt stop once she was inside, a sense of foreboding crawling up her neck.
It was empty.
“Daniel?” Emma crept forward and peered around the curved wall, hoping he was waiting for her just out of sight onthe other side.
But he wasn’t there. Emma’s gaze darted this way and that, but aside from a few stone benches, the folly was empty. There wasn’t a chance she could have missed Daniel, but Emma circled around again anyway, her heart rushing into her throat as the silence around hergrew sinister.
“Daniel?” He never would have left her here alone. Not by choice. There was simply no way he would have ever—
“Well, Lady Emma Crosby. Here we are,alone at last.”
Emma whirled around, her heart crowding into her throat. A tall, shadowy figure had appeared behind her as if out of nowhere and was looming over her. He was wearing a dark riding coat and a top hat, the brim pulled low, obscuring most of his face, but Emma knew him the moment he spoke.
She sucked in a breath, gathering her energy toscream. “Dan—”
Before she could get another syllable out, he slapped a large, gloved hand over her mouth. “I’m afraid your coachman is otherwise engaged, Lady Emma.”
Shock made Emma freeze for an instant, rooting her feet to the floor. By the time her wits returned enough for her to struggle, it was too late. He’d clamped his other arm around her waist, and was dragging her out of the folly, her heels scrabbling uselessly for purchase on the slippery marbleunderneath her.
“Come along like a good girl, and don’t make a fuss.” His tone was mocking, his breath hot in her ear, his forearm pressing hard against her throat. “Surrender to your fate, Lady Emma. It’s so much easier for usboth that way.”
Chapter Twenty-three
