Page 34 of A Marriage of Necessity

Chapter Nine

By that evening, Kennedy had taken possession of all the records he could locate in Mr. Spector’s office, as well as the records kept by Mr. Cummins, his father’s man of affairs. Mr. Spector had refused to cooperate, but John held a pistol to his head while Kennedy confiscated everything he could find. Mr. Cummins was more cooperative, and handed over two ledgers and a box of receipts.

Kennedy didn’t return home, but went to John’s office, for he knew that Jacqueline would be waiting for him at home. He was confident that Anne could deal with her. He would make it up to his wife tomorrow. For now, he had to find Rose.

The afternoon turned into evening as he and John poured over files, ledgers and receipts.

“Kennedy.”

Kennedy looked up from the ledger he was reading.

“I have never been inside Chesterfield, but it is large,” John said.

Kennedy nodded. “Mammoth, in fact.”

“Could someone be locked in a room there without the servants knowing?”

Kennedy started. “What are you saying?

John handed him a receipt. Kennedy read the receipt. A lock had been installed on a fourth floor suite in Chesterfield’s west wing. Kennedy stared for a long moment before accepting what his eyes told him.

He looked at John. “It’s too simple.”

“That’s the beauty,” John said.

“She never left Chesterfield? It can’t be.”

“Why?”

Kennedy shook his head, unable to focus. “I could find her too easily. The west wing isn’t in use. For the most part, it’s reserved for guests. My mother spent a year there when she and my father were estranged.”

“Then it wouldn’t be difficult to lock someone in a room there without the rest of the household knowing,” John said.

Kennedy shook his head. “Rose’s screams would be heard. My father might trust one or two servants, but, as you said, servants see everything. They would notice.”

“Would they notice someone who lived there if that someone didn’t mingle with the rest of the household?” John asked.

Kennedy started to answer, then stopped. There were two entrances on that side of the house. Perhaps it could be done if someone were careful. Still… “Once Rose realized she was being held prisoner, she would scream for help,” he said.

John’s expression softened. “Not if she were incapacitated.”

An image flashed of his sweet, dark-haired sister lying in bed, dosed with laudanum. Shock reverberated through him. He’d feared that if he couldn’t comply with his father’s demands that his father would make good on the threat to marry her to Granbury. He feared the earl would die and Rose would be stranded somewhere in a foreign land with no resources to reach home safely. He had hated not knowing where she was, being uncertain of her future for even a day. But he had believed that, for the moment, she was safe. Had he been wrong?

“I believed everything he said,” Kennedy whispered.

“Why wouldn’t you?” John said. “This is more fiendish than sending her away.”

Kennedy surged to his feet. “I’m going to Chesterfield.”

John stood. “Let’s be off.”

Kennedy shook his head. “This is not your fight, John.”

John clapped him on the back. “I owe you for saving my life in Glasgow.” He grinned. “Ye know how much I hate being in debt.”

* * *

For an hour, Anne sat on the divan in Kennedy’s study trying to read before she began to wonder if she was being foolish for waiting. After their encounter in the conservatory yesterday afternoon, he had appeared in her bedchambers later that night and made love to her a second time. But she’d woken to find him gone. After a day shopping with Louisa and her mother, she returned home to find that Kennedy had come and gone. That had been three hours ago. Her mother and Louisa were leaving tomorrow, and Louisa had begged for one last night in town. Mama, had taken her to the opera.