by Olivia Drake
Caught up in painful turmoil, he stalked out of her bedchamber. How bitterly ironic that the tables had been turned. She was doing to him what he’d intended to do to her—walk away from their marriage without a backward glance. And he didn’t know how to stop her.
* * *
Maddy ordered a dinner tray in her bedchamber. With such pain in her heart, she preferred not to see anyone. Even Gertie had detected her gloomy mood and wisely left her alone to brood.
Sitting at a table by the window and gazing out at the pink streaks of dusk in the evening sky, Maddy trailed the tines of her fork through the remains of her roast beef and potatoes. She told herself to be happy for Nathan. He and his father had taken the first important step toward making amends. It appeared as though their lifelong rift finally might have a chance to heal.
Unlike the rift between her and her husband.
Her hand slipped downward to cradle her womb. She would have to tell Nathan about the baby eventually. But not until after she’d moved away from here. He would only use their unborn child as leverage to force her to remain under his control until he decided to leave.
She could not bear to live at Gilmore House so long as he was here. Nathan didn’t love her. To him, she was nothing more than a possession purchased at auction. That was why she’d refused his stipend.
In retrospect, though, Maddy knew she would have to accept a small sum of money, perhaps from her grandfather or from the earl. Nathan was right; it was impossible for her to return to the stage. That life was behind her. She couldn’t bring shame down on his family when she’d come to love them. Nor would it be fair to raise her child in poverty. If it was a boy, he would be the Earl of Gilmore someday.
She forced herself to face reality. Yes, it would be selfish and prideful to deny her son or daughter the benefits of living at Gilmore House. But she still couldn’t remain here at the moment. She would leave for now and then return only after her husband left England.
A knock sounded on the door. Her heart tripped over a beat. Could it be Nathan again?
Abandoning her half-eaten dinner, Maddy arose from the table. She smoothed back her hair and brushed a few crumbs from her skirt. Then she opened the door.
To her relief or disappointment—she couldn’t decide which—a footman stood there holding a silver salver. On it lay a folded note. “For you, my lady.”
Surprised, she picked it up. Only her first name was written on the outside—and it was misspelled. “Madeline.”
She thanked the servant, then closed the door. Breaking the unmarked red seal, she unfolded the paper and read the message. “You must come outside to the square at once. I can’t find my necklace. I must have lost it on my walk with Theo this afternoon. Pray don’t tell anyone, for Nathan will be angry at my carelessness. Please hurry! Emily.”
Maddy frowned. Why hadn’t Emily come here herself on her way outside? Why take the time to pen a note? Unless she had written it downstairs in a hurry. Whatever the reason, the girl should not have ventured outside by herself when it was nearly nighttime. Even in Mayfair, footpads and other ruffians could be lurking in the shadows.
Maddy dropped the note on the bed. She threw a fringed paisley shawl over her shoulders and grabbed a small candle lamp, the flame flickering inside its glass chimney. Then she hastened out the door.
The house was silent as she went down the long corridor. The dowager and Lady Sophia, along with Nathan, were likely visiting Lord Gilmore in his chambers. A wretched despondency tugged at Maddy. How she longed to be in there with the family. She had grown especially fond of the earl, for beneath his gruff exterior, he had proven himself to be a good man who could admit when he was wrong.
Her footsteps echoed as she descended the grand staircase to the entrance hall. Because the hour was late and the family was at home, no footman stood on duty. She opened the door and slipped outside.
Maddy paused on the curbstone and scanned the large square. At just past nine o’clock, the park was deserted. Although a few last feathers of pink brushed the horizon, dense shadows gathered beneath the plane trees. The deep gloom prevented her from spotting Emily.
Where was she?
Perhaps she’d gone to the far side of the square, where clumps of overgrown rhododendrons crouched like sentinels. She might be bending down, searching the ground for the necklace. But there was barely enough light left to see. Had the foolish girl not brought a candle?
A cold breeze snaked down her spine and Maddy shivered. The night air was chilly. She started across the street, vowing to give her sister-in-law a sound scolding for taking such a risk.
From out of nowhere, a black carriage rattled toward her, the clip-clopping of the horses loud on the cobblestones. She scurried quickly toward the square. Even as she reached the other side of the street, the vehicle veered straight at her.
Gripping the lamp, she backed up to the low iron railing that surrounded the little park. The closed carriage drew to a stop just ahead of her. A burly coachman clad in black sat hunched on the high seat. If it was a visitor for a neighbor, why hadn’t he drawn up closer to the houses?
The carriage door opened. A man in a hooded cloak stepped out. She frowned at him, realizing in alarm that a demimask obscured his upper face.
He sprang straight at her.
Terror leaped inside her. Even as she parted her lips to scream, his hand clamped a cloth over her mouth. A sickeningly sweet smell filled her senses. In an instant, the world melted away into darkness.
Chapter 25
Nate had been reading to his father by the light from a branch of candles. He quietly put down the copy of Alexander Pope’s translation of the Odyssey. The earl had fallen asleep, his chest rising and falling beneath the coverlet. Aside from the knot on his forehead, he looked much better tonight, with natural color in his face rather than that ghastly paleness.
Nearby, Emily sat on a hassock, absently fingering the jade dragon of her necklace as she watched their father. A warm softness squeezed Nathan’s heart. He liked knowing that she might very well be his full-fledged sister. Maybe it shouldn’t matter—yet it did.
Her lips parted in a yawn that she tried to stifle with her hand.
“You’re tired,” Nathan whispered. “It must be all that fresh air from your walk with Theo. Go to bed before you keel over.”
Emily smiled, but before she could reply, a light rapping sounded in the room. He glanced up sharply to see the door opening. It was past ten by the mantel clock and the dowager had already retired for the night, as had Sophia.
Could it be Madelyn? He hoped so. He’d botched their earlier talk. He should have been more persuasive in convincing her to stay. He should have coaxed her …
But it was Madelyn’s stout maidservant who stepped into the bedchamber. Gertie beckoned urgently to him. It was such an odd gesture for a servant that he knew at once something was amiss.
He followed her out into the corridor. “What is it?”
Her plain features were taut with worry. “’Tis me mistress—oh, milord, I fear she’s gone.”
Shock jolted him. He hadn’t expected Madelyn to depart so swiftly. “What do you mean, gone?”
“This was on her bed just now. Maybe I shouldn’ta read it, but ’tis glad I am that I did.”
Gertie held out a paper, and Nate grabbed it. Scanning the brief message, he felt an icy chill seep into his bones. Emily couldn’t have written this note. She’d kept vigil in the sickroom with him for the past several hours.
Still, he had to make certain.
He stepped back into the earl’s bedchamber and motioned to his sister. She trudged out, her hazel eyes impish. “All right, all right. I’ll go to bed. You needn’t be so dictatorial—”
“Did you write this?” he demanded.
She read the note he thrust at her, and her smile vanished. “No! I never lost my necklace. I’m wearing it.” Her hand went to the jade dragon at her throat. “And this isn’t even my penmanship.
What is the meaning of this?”
Nate didn’t want her fretting. Nor did he wish to raise a hue and cry that could be damaging to Madelyn. “Never you mind. It’s likely just a prank. You’ll leave the matter to me.”
With that, he went striding down the staircase, his quick steps sharp and echoing in the entrance hall. Horrible images of her possible fate tormented him. Had Madelyn been attacked out in the square? If she’d been struck over the head, she might be lying in the shadows somewhere, hidden from the view of any passersby.
He threw open the front door and plunged out into the night. The note had alluded to the time being nearly dark. Twilight had been an hour ago.
Driven by fear, he dashed across the street. All the while he scanned the darkened park for any sign of her. Despite the star-studded black sky, it was impossible to see much of anything in the murky gloom beneath the trees. He might have to organize a search party—
Then he saw it. The glitter of broken glass.
Dropping down on his haunches, he spied a lamp lying on the ground, the chimney shattered, the candle extinguished. He recognized it straightaway. That lamp usually sat on Madelyn’s bedside table.
Dread knotted his insides. If she’d dropped the lamp, someone must have been lying in wait to grab her. Where was she? He couldn’t see her anywhere in the darkness. Had she been abducted?
Taken somewhere to be misused—or even murdered?
A sudden certainty gripped him. He could think of no other logical explanation for someone to have concocted the elaborate scheme of a forged note in order to lure her out here.
But who? Why?
In a fit of anguished fury, Nate sprang to his feet. Only one name stood out in his mind. One man who surely resented her now that she’d been named heiress. Her cousin, Alfred, Lord Dunham.
Where the devil would he have taken her?
* * *
Where was she?
Her brain groggy, Maddy opened her eyes and blinked at her dark surroundings. She was seated in a straight-backed chair, her hands tied behind her back. The faint light from an uncurtained window revealed a shadowy bedchamber. She could discern a four-poster bed along with a few other black lumps of furniture. The rug had been rolled up in a corner and a smell of mustiness pervaded the air as if the room had been closed up for a long time.
Memories flooded her mind. The carriage coming straight at her. The masked man jumping out and seizing her. He had pressed a smelly cloth to her face. Then everything had gone dark.
Now, a rhythmic rumbling noise in the distance caught her attention. She cocked her head in puzzlement. It sounded like waves crashing onto rocks. As a child, she had visited the seashore …
Horror seeped into her. Dear God, she was no longer in London. The coast lay many hours distant. Nathan would never find her here.
Her heartbeat raced and her body trembled. She jerked frantically at her bonds to no avail. If only this were a bad dream. If only she could close her eyes and wake up in her bed at Gilmore House …
Maddy took several deep breaths to calm herself. Succumbing to panic wouldn’t help matters. She must keep her wits about her and formulate a plan for escape. Surely her captor would show himself soon.
Who was he? Who could have planned such an abduction?
A name pushed its way into her beleaguered mind. Loath to believe it, she considered the matter from all angles. Truly, there could be no other explanation …
Her senses sprang to the alert. Amid the muffled crashing of the waves, the tramp of footsteps approached from out in the corridor. Maddy braced herself, her gaze glued to the dark outline of the door. A strip of faint light appeared on the floor. Then the door swung open and two men stepped into the bedchamber.
The burly stranger in the rear held a lantern that illuminated his coarse, whiskered features and thick eyebrows. The glow also fell upon his leader’s flaxen hair and narrow, aristocratic face.
Maddy’s insides squeezed. Just as she’d suspected, the villain was her cousin Alfred. And he surely meant her grave harm.
He sauntered forward to stand in front of her. A sly smile of triumph tilted his lips. “My dearest Madelyn. It’s good to see you’re finally awake.”
The urge to spit in his face boiled up inside her. But that would be foolish. He’d strike back, and with her hands bound, she’d be unable to defend herself. Or her baby. She would have a better chance of escape if she used her acting talent to play the meek, frightened female.
She looked up at him fearfully, her lower lip quivering. “Lord Dunham! I—I don’t understand. Why am I tied to this chair? Was it you who brought me here?”
“Of course it was me, you fool. You didn’t think I’d let you get away with stealing my inheritance, did you?” Reaching inside his coat, he drew out a small pistol and caressed the barrel.
Maddy gasped in true alarm. “Please don’t shoot! As I told you before, I don’t want the money. I mean that!”
“Stop your sniveling.” Grinning at her distress, he lowered the pistol. “I want you to remember who’s in charge here, for you’ll live if you cooperate. The boat should arrive soon.”
“Boat?”
“I’m sending you somewhere far away so that you can’t ever claim your inheritance. Pidgeon will accompany you.”
The brute with the lantern leered at her.
Alarm surged in Maddy again, though she struggled to keep her expression cowed. Alfred was lying to her. He would never allow her to survive. He’d never risk the chance of her returning. He’d probably instructed Pidgeon to sail far offshore and dump her into the cold black sea.
“Where—where are we?” she asked. “What time is it?”
“It’s nearly dawn. We’re at a small estate our grandfather owns on the Sussex coast.” Alfred’s face twisted in a sneer. “Too bad you’ll never inherit it—or any of his many other holdings.”
Maddy struggled to think. Her cousin was chillingly intent on his plot to get rid of her. She couldn’t expect help from Nathan, either. Even if he realized she’d been abducted, he couldn’t possibly know where to find her. She was utterly on her own.
Then the perfect solution struck her. It might also act as a deterrent to Alfred abusing her in any way. “You needn’t threaten me,” she said. “I’ll gladly sign over my portion of the inheritance to you.”
“What? Don’t be absurd.”
“I assure you, I’m quite sincere. Nathan has given me more than enough funds. Anyway, I don’t want blood money from the duke after the terrible way he treated my mother.”
“You can’t mean that.”
“I do, indeed. And I would be pleased to sign a legal paper to that effect.” Striving for a look of sincerity, she leaned toward him. “You see, this would work out even better for you. As of now, the inheritance is split three ways. If I disappear, you and Theo will each have a half share again. But if I stay and sign over my portion to you, then you shall receive two-thirds.”
One of Alfred’s blond eyebrows arched. His pale blue eyes shifted away from her as if he were weighing all the ramifications. Greed showed plainly in his look of concentration. The inheritance must be a tremendous amount of money, indeed.
He swung his attention back to her. “I know your game. You’re planning to tell Rowley that I abducted you. He’ll come after me and have the agreement overturned.”
“No! Nathan and I have quarreled. I told him I’m leaving Gilmore House. He probably doesn’t even realize that I’m gone.” This time, she didn’t have to pretend anguish. Even if Gertie had informed him she was missing, he was likely to assume that Maddy had moved out early.
Alfred shoved the pistol back into his coat. He prowled back and forth, his hands on his hips. “I don’t see how this could be legal.”
“Why not?” she countered. “We must return to London posthaste. Surely we can be there by late morning. The moment your solicitor draws up the papers, I will sign them, I promise.”
Her cousin stared
intently at her another moment. She held his gaze, hoping and praying he would agree to her plan. “All right, then,” he said. “But I’ll fetch the papers and bring them here. Pidgeon can watch you during my absence.”
Maddy drew in a searing breath. As she glanced at the guard with the lantern, he smirked at her, his curled-back lips revealing several blackened gaps in his teeth. Dear heavens, she couldn’t remain here at the mercy of this cold-blooded brute.
But Alfred was already starting toward the door.
“Wait, please!” she begged. “If you insist upon leaving me here, then pray be so kind as to untie me. My arms are quite numb, and by the time you return, I won’t be able to sign anything.”
To her great relief, Alfred jerked his head at Pidgeon, who lumbered over to unbind her. As the ropes fell away, she rubbed her wrists as if they pained her. She slumped in the chair and bowed her head dejectedly, wanting both men to view her as weak and beaten.
The door closed. A key rattled in the lock. Two sets of male footsteps stomped away.
Maddy jumped up from the chair. She had to find a way out. She first tried the door in case the lock hadn’t fully engaged. But the latch refused to budge. Whirling around, she darted to the window.
To her frustration, the casement was stuck. She jerked on it numerous times, hitting the latch with the heel of her hand, until finally the window opened to a loud creaking of hinges. She froze, glancing back at the shadowed door. Luckily, no footsteps came running.
Pushing the window all the way open, Maddy leaned out onto the stone ledge. The crashing of the waves sounded much louder now. A chilly wind blew at her face. The moon had risen to scatter a thousand diamonds over the vast blackness of the water.
Looking down, she blinked in dismay.
The house perched on the edge of a cliff. It was a long drop to the water’s edge, where the surf collided with a great pile of rocks. The foamy waves hissed and growled like a beast waiting to swallow her.
She was trapped. Escape seemed impossible. Yet what other choice did she have? If she stayed in this bedchamber, Pidgeon might very well come back and force himself on her. She had no guarantee, either, that once she’d signed the agreement, Alfred would let her go.
