She looked out at the rain lashing the window, and for one weak moment, she wished for nothing more than to have Julian beside her. Then she remembered his words to Nathaniel, the ones that had sent her running into the storm in the first place, and she reminded herself that she was alone in this. David had nobody to rely upon now but her.
CHAPTER 36
“… a
nd so one night, Giacomo and I escaped,” Arabella said. “We had planned it for weeks. He sold some of my jewelry to make certain we had enough for passage, and then we ran. We made our way to the coast and from there back to England.”
“With Giacomo posing as your husband.”
“Yes.” Arabella lifted her chin slightly. “He loves me, Julian. He truly does. You must not think less of him because he is a servant.”
Julian wanted to protest, wanted to ask what exactly she took him for, but the honest truth was that before any of this had happened, if she had come to him and said she wished to marry a valet, he would very likely have told her no. He held his tongue.
“Where was he when you came to find me with David?”
“Staying with a friend who has lived in England for some years. The same friend who helped us with clothes and what little money we had left.”
He shook his head. “But how did you?—”
“Arabella!” The voice came from the hall, and a moment later, Marianne burst into the room. The two women fell into each other’s arms.
“Oh, it is so good to see you,” Arabella said, her voice catching. “How is Molly? How are you?”
“I am very well. But there is no time for this now.” Marianne pulled back, still holding her by the shoulders. “How did you come to be here?”
Julian rose, the urgency he had been holding back finally breaking through. “There is no time, indeed. Clara is gone.”
Arabella blinked at him. “What do you mean, gone?”
“She disappeared this afternoon. We had a foolish …” He waved a hand. “It does not matter now. She was seen being forced into a carriage, fighting to get free. Devereau’s carriage. Red handles on the doors.”
“Oh, my goodness.” Arabella’s hand flew to her mouth. “But why would he take her?”
“To draw you out,” Marianne said quietly.
“We must go after him,” Julian said. “We must find her and David. Wherever he has taken her, I have no doubt David is there too. I am certain this entire scheme has been designed precisely to draw you out into the open.”
“Then perhaps we ought not give him what he expects,” Nathaniel said, speaking for the first time since Arabella had finished her story.
“I do not believe we have another choice,” Julian said. “He has two members of my family. The trouble is we do not know where he has taken them. We have already searched every Devereau and Devers holding we could find, and Steven has been more than generous with what he knows.”
“He hates Bash,” Arabella said suddenly. “Steven has always hated him. He only brought him to your ball because their uncle insisted upon it—they are both beholden to the old man since he raised them both.” She pressed her hands together.
“It does not matter now. I think I know where they have gone. There is an estate not far from here on the road towards Brighton, near enough the sea that you can smell it but far enough away that you cannot see it. It belongs to the uncle. You would never have found it through any of the usual searches. I do not believe even Steven knows it exists.” She paused.“Sebastian took me there once when we were first courting. He thought it would seem romantic.” Her voice flattened. “We must go there. I am certain that is where he has taken them.”
“Then we go,” Julian said. “And if we must fight him, we fight him. We will get David back. And Clara.”
“David,” Arabella said quietly. “You mean Horatio. I saw in the newspapers that you have been calling him David.”
“I could hardly present my own son under a name borrowed from your father instead of his,” Julian said somewhat sharply.
“He was never meant to be your son to present at all, Julian.”
“Well then, perhaps you ought not to have had a servant deliver him to me at a crowded ball where half of London was certain to see and assume the worst,” he shot back.
“Do you not think I know that?” Her voice cracked. “The plan was for Giacomo to wait for a quieter moment. But one of the guests took note of him and began asking questions, demanding to know what he was doing there. He had to act before he was caught.”
“Which he was anyway, and then so were we,” Julian said.
