“Indeed.” David scowled. “I only wish that I had been able to find out the truth about him before now. Had I known that he was threatening Frederica, then I would have been able to help her. I did see that there was something about him she was reluctant to speak of, but I did not think it was anything so very severe. I could not understand her reluctance, but now… ” He shook his head, a tightness about his mouth. “Now I see just how much of a fool I have been. I was too cautious, too careful around her when it came to such a thing. I should have been more insistent, albeit in as gentle a manner as I could manage.”
“This is no time for regrets,” Lord Broadford replied firmly. “You need to determine what you are to do next. The money and the documents signing the land to him are to be prepared by this afternoon, yes?”
David nodded. “Yes. I am to give them to a fellow who will appear at my door at three o’clock in the afternoon. I have no intention of allowing that to happen, however. Mr. Bolton is making all the preparations in case such a thing might be forced upon me, but I am determined not to allow it to progress.”
“No?”
“No.” Finally sitting down, his elbows on his knees, David drew in a steadying breath. “The solicitors were as helpful as they could be. To be truthful, Mr. Bolton was horrified when I told him of what had occurred.”
Lord Broadford nodded. “Then you know where Rathbone might be with her, yes?”
David nodded. “There are two places, you understand. I must go to one place, and I would beg of you to go to the other. I cannot waste any time.”
Lord Broadford’s eyes flared. “But of course. Where do you wish me to go?”
“One is Rathbone’s residence, a small house on the edge of London.” His lips twisted. “I would very much doubt that hewould be there, however, for no doubt he would expect me to find out that location and make my way there.”
“Of course. The other?”
“About an hour’s drive from London,” David said grimly. “Near enough that he can easily make his way here if he so wishes, but far enough from here that he can hide himself away.” He shook his head. “Mr. Bolton did not think that it was Rathbone’s own personal residence but that it belonged to some cousin or distant relation. The only reason he knew of it was that Rathbone boasted about it on occasion.”
“I see.” Lord Broadford grimaced. “When do you wish to take your leave, then?”
“Within the hour,” David stated, as his friend nodded. “If you would be willing to go to the first place in London, then it means I can go to the second without wasting any valuable time.”
Lord Broadford got to his feet. “Then go at once! I will ready my horse and be on my way within a few minutes.” He paused, putting one hand on David’s arm, catching him as he walked to the door.
“Will I wait for you at your townhouse? Or will I send news there and wait for yours in return?”
“If you find Frederica, I would beg of you to take her back to her own townhouse but to stand guard there until I return,” David replied, his nervousness beginning to heighten, sending his hands twisting together.
“Thank you, my friend. I could not do this without you.”
“But of course.” Lord Broadford followed after David as he hurried to the door, his breathing quickening as his thoughts began to twist themselves this way and that. One of them would find Frederica; he had to believe that, although quite what he would do with Rathbone thereafter, David could not yet say. It ought to be the very greatest punishment he could think of, the heaviest consequences that would land on the fellow but, for thepresent, David could not concentrate on that. His only thought was on saving Frederica and, from that, what might then follow for them both? Would she still demand that they wed? Would she insist that their future was tied together? Or, with the threat of Rathbone gone, would she finally allow them both the freedom he had prayed for?
16
“Are you at all interested in luncheon, my lady?”
Nora shook her head, squinting in the sunshine as it poured into the gardens. “No, I thank you.” She hesitated. “Have there been any letters this morning?”
The maid shook her head, a flickering smile at the corner of her mouth. “No, my lady. I will bring you anything that arrives just as soon as I can.”
Knowing that the smile came from the fact that Nora had asked that very same question a little less than an hour ago, Nora looked down at her hands and let her cheeks warm with embarrassment. The maid, no doubt, would think that she was hoping for a letter from a gentleman or from a suitor – and whilst that was true, it was not the sweet whispers written in the letter that she was thinking of. All she wanted to know was that Frederica had been found and Lord Hampshire was safe.
“I thank you.” She waved a hand to dismiss the maid and then picked up her book again, doing her best to read the next few lines but struggling to put her concentration on them. In truth, her mind was fixed upon Lord Hampshire, worrying about what he was doing and whether he would have any success. Hehad written to her the previous evening, telling her that he had gone to the solicitors but that it had been closed, fully shut up by the time he had arrived. He intended to return that morning and, thereafter, to use any information he could garner from the solicitors to go in search of Frederica.
Nora had heard nothing since then, and it was making her anxiety rise with such strength that she felt as if she could not grasp it to get it under control. Setting the book down, she threw her head back and breathed deeply, heedless of the warm sunshine on her face.
Please, let Hampshire find her in time,she prayed, her eyes closing.Keep her safe until then.
“My lady?”
“Oh, Nora, thank goodness you are home!”
The cottage wasthree rooms and a silence that pressed against the walls like something alive.
Frederica sat on the narrow bed in the smallest room and listened. Beyond the locked door, the floorboards creaked at irregular intervals — Rathbone pacing, or settling into the chair he had dragged from the main room, or simply shifting his weight in the dark. He had told her he would stay awake. He had told her there was no purpose in trying to run. He had told her this with the easy confidence of a man who had spent a lifetime cornering people who had nowhere to go.
