by Joan Wolf
Alex loaned Sinclair a nightshirt and helped him change. Sally wanted to stay to make certain that the duke went to sleep, but neither Lady Standish nor Alex would hear of such a thing. So she went off to her own room and worried for most of the night about whether or not the duke would follow the doctor’s orders.
In fact, Sinclair’s head hurt so badly the following morning that he had no desire even to lift it from the pillow. Sally, with a maid sitting properly in the corner, sat in his room for several hours and read to him from a book she had very much enjoyed called Pride and Prejudice. He seemed to enjoy it too, although he said very little. But he smiled several times at the more amusing parts.
When she was leaving him, Sally had to restrain herself from bending to place a kiss on his poor aching forehead. What she would have really liked to do was place a kiss on his lips.
It was a little frightening, she thought, as she went back to her own room to dress for dinner. She had never been this attracted to a man in her life. Of course, she was only eighteen, but she had met many men this Season and Sinclair was the only one who could make her heart beat faster. There was something about him…there was a current of awareness between them. She felt it, and she thought he felt it, too.
Not for the first time, she thought back on his words: Why are you bothering with me?
It almost sounded as if he did not think he was good enough for her, which, on the surface, was ridiculous. He was a duke, after all. But Sally could not help but think of the neglected child he had been. Some scars went very deep. He had not been good enough for his mother to love. Perhaps he felt he was not good enough for anyone to love.
If that was so, it was a terrible thing. She would have to convince him that it was not so.
Two Bow Street runners came to see Alex the next morning to report that her captors were in their charge. He received the runners in the library.
“They’re only hired help, m’lord,” said the runner who had introduced himself as Fred Nance. He was a bulky man of medium height with a face that was lined with broken veins. He looked like a heavy drinker, Alex thought.
Another reason to stop drinking too much. I most certainly don’t want to end up looking like that.
“Aye,” the other runner agreed. This one’s name was John and he had a long, needle-sharp nose that rather gave him a weaselly look. “They toll us the name of the man who hired ’im and we sent someone to bring ’im along to Bow Street so’s we can question ’im. But Hazlett is only a go-between ’im-self. Someone paid ’im to arrange the kidnapping.”
“Can you find out who that person is?” Alex asked.
“We’ll try, m’lord,” Fred said.
“I will pay a reward to the man who finds the person who wanted my cousin kidnapped,” Alex said. “Tell that to your men, will you?”
“Aye, m’lord.”
Alex had offered the men seats when first they came in and now, as he got up, they rose, as well. “Report back to me anything you find out,” he said.
“We will, m’lord,” the men chorused.
As he watched them leave, Alex’s brow was furrowed in a frown. He wasn’t so sure about the ransom motive, but he was having a hard time coming up with another explanation.
Who the bloody hell would want to kidnap Dee?
While Diana was sleeping that afternoon, Mrs. Sherwood took Freddie for his usual walk in the park. She met Sir Gilbert down by the lake.
“I was hoping to see you,” he said as the two dogs jumped around each other in joyous greeting. “You all left Vauxhall so precipitously last night. What happened?”
“Didn’t you get my note?” Louisa asked. “I did leave you a note in our booth.”
They both unleashed their dogs, who immediately made a dash for the water.
“I got your note that an accident had occurred and you had to leave quickly. I thought of coming to pay a visit to Grosvenor Square this morning to see if everyone was all right, but then I thought you might not like company. I’m glad to see you. It must mean that the accident was not too serious.”
“Someone tried to kidnap my daughter, Sir Gilbert,” Mrs. Sherwood said. “Needless to say, we do not want this information going round the ton, so I must ask you to keep it to yourself.”
“My God,” he said. “Of course you may rely on my discretion, ma’am.”
As Sir Gilbert threw sticks for the two dogs to retrieve from the lake, Louisa told him everything that had happened the night before.
“That is very worrying indeed,” Sir Gilbert said when she had finished. He was frowning thoughtfully. “I think you must be right when you say that Miss Sherwood was taken for ransom money. There doesn’t seem to be any other explanation.”
“That is our thinking.”
“Well, your secret is safe with me,” he said. “I won’t even tell Charlotte. She is a good girl, but sometimes the young ones are not as careful with their mouths as they should be.”
“I knew I could trust you,” Louisa said warmly. “I told you because I felt so badly about leaving you at Vauxhall like that.”
Sir Gilbert put the stick down, signaling to the dogs that the fun was over. He and Louisa began to return along the path, with the dogs running in front of them.
“Have you got the runners on the case?” Sir Gilbert asked.
“Yes. Lord Standish hired them to find the culprit. I hope to God they can. My deepest fear is that whoever it is may try again.”
“I have a feeling that they won’t,” Sir Gilbert said. “They tried, it didn’t work, the runners are looking for them, the chances of getting caught are much greater this time around than they were at first. I think Miss Sherwood will be safe.”
“Dear Lord, I hope so,” she said earnestly.
“I hate to see you so upset,” Sir Gilbert said. “It must have been a very frightening experience for Miss Sherwood, but she is all right. You must concentrate on that, not worry so much about the future. I doubt there will be a repeat of such an episode.”
She gave him a tremulous smile. “You’re right. But I own I will feel much more comfortable if the runners can find the man behind this!”
He agreed and they continued their walk talking about other matters.
Viscount Longwood went to his club the morning after the attempted kidnapping, and waited to hear what had happened. He had not been to Vauxhall the night before, not wanting to be associated in any way with the disappearance of Diana Sherwood.
“There should be some kind of check made on the kinds of people who can get into Vauxhall,” one of the members was saying indignantly when Lord Longwood approached the group who were sipping sherry in White’s comfortable leather chairs.
Lord Longwood took the last seat in the conversational grouping. “Did something happen at Vauxhall?” he inquired casually.
“Sinclair and Lady Sarah Devize were attacked last night on the Hermit’s Walk,” one of the men told him. “I understand that Sinclair took a nasty blow to the head. Luckily for the both of them, Bingham came along with his new inamorata. God knows what would have happened to Lady Sarah if he hadn’t.”
Lord Longwood felt a nasty shock of surprise. What the hell had gone wrong? Why was Lady Sarah attacked? He had paid for the Sherwood bitch to be taken.
“Where was Miss Sherwood when this was happening?” he blurted.
The men in the leather chairs looked surprised.
“She was somewhere else, I imagine,” one of the men replied at last. “She certainly wasn’t with Sinclair and Lady Sarah.”
“That’s an interesting pairing, isn’t it?” one of the other men said. “What do you think Sinclair was doing with an eighteen-year-old chit on the Hermit’s Walk? I can’t imagine that Standish knew that she was with him.”
“I heard Sinclair rode out to Richmond with her a few weeks ago and Standish was in the party,” another man said.
“Hmm,” said a third man. “Do you think the book ought to start taking bets on
the likelihood of Sinclair’s finally becoming leg-shackled?”
“I wouldn’t bet on it just yet,” the first man said. “Dorset looks to be the leading contender for Lady Sarah’s hand.”
“Yes, but Dorset is only going to be an earl. Sinclair is a duke. Not many of those available on the marriage mart these days.”
Lord Longwood ground his teeth in silence as the talk went on about Sinclair and Sally. Something had gone wrong. He had paid good money—money he could not afford to spend—and he had not gotten results. He would have to see about a different plan of action. He would have a talk with the ex-runner he had hired to arrange things at Vauxhall for him. No matter how it was done, Diana Sherwood had to be removed as the fiancée of the Earl of Rumford.
Sinclair remained two days at Standish House and during that time Sally spent a great deal of time alone in his company—which she managed without her mother’s or her brother’s knowledge.
She and the duke had long talks. On the second day, he asked her what her life at Standish Court had been like when she was growing up, and she obliged with a description of what she did with her time when she was in the country.
“I suppose that what I like to do the best is help people,” she said. “It was rather a miracle that I recovered from the rheumatic fever, and I have always thought that God spared me for a reason, that He counted on me to do good in the world. I especially like to help children. I believe that what happens in one’s childhood inevitably affects the kind of adult one will become.”
His golden brows drew together and a distant look came over his face. His green eyes were veiled. “That is very true,” he said expressionlessly.
Sally wanted to reach out and gather him into her arms, as if he was indeed the wounded child he once had been. Instead she managed to say cheerfully, “I am very lucky to have a wonderful family that I am very close to. I have two sisters and two brothers besides Alex, you know.”
“And where are they?” he asked.
“My brothers are at school and my sisters are at home with their governess. Mama thought it would be too distracting to have them in London right now.”
“You and Miss Sherwood appear to be close,” he said.
“Diana is my very best friend. She is as much a sister to me as Maria and Margaret are.”
“You are fortunate indeed to have so close a family,” he said. He still wore that distant look on his face.
“Were you an only child?” Sally asked, carefully treading on intimate ground.
“Yes,” was all he said. His green eyes gave no inkling as to what he was feeling.
“That must have been lonely,” she pressed.
He shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad.”
Clearly he wasn’t going to talk about himself. Sally tried another tack. “When did you become interested in reform, Your Grace?”
She didn’t think he was going to answer, the silence was so long, but at last he said, “A boy who lived in the village near my home was caught stealing a cake from the village bake shop. He was transported to Australia. I knew him. I met him one day when I was fishing the river that runs through Greyfriars, our estate. He was fishing, also—poaching, actually. He wasn’t supposed to be on our property. But he was so thin and he looked so hungry. I fished with him and gave him my own catch to take home. He lived with his mother—his father had died when he was small. He came back many times and we were—well, I suppose you could say that we were friends. I tried to help him when he was caught with the cake, but no one would listen to me. My father said that he was a thief, that he had his punishment coming to him.” He looked directly into Sally’s eyes and at last she could see some emotion. He was angry. “When I became the duke, and had some power, I tried to find out what had happened to him. He died on the ship. He never made it to Australia.”
Sally’s eyes filled with tears. “What a terrible story. That poor boy.”
“Yes. Well, that was what got me interested in reform. The penal code is barbaric. Our whole system—parliament, the judiciary, factory conditions, poor laws, child welfare—all need to be reformed. And they will be some day. I am just doing my best to make it sooner rather than later.”
Impulsively, Sally leaned forward and placed a hand on his, where it lay on top of his sheet. A charge went through her at the touch and she pulled her hand away, as if she had been scorched. Her eyes grew huge.
He said grimly, “You should not be here with me alone, Lady Sarah. I am not a fit sort of person for you to be alone with. What can your mother and brother be thinking to allow it?”
“They don’t know,” Sally admitted. “And I think it is perfectly all right for me to be here. From what you have just told me, I think you are the finest man I have met in all of London.”
He moved his head restlessly on the pillow. He looked very handsome, with his tumbled golden hair and his striking green eyes. Sally thought he was the most beautiful man she had ever seen.
He said, “You know nothing about my life. Believe me, it is far from exemplary.”
“On the contrary, I know quite a lot about you,” she protested. She folded her hands quietly in her lap, trying not to let her tension show. She was going to make a very bold move.
“I know you keep a mistress,” she said.
His eyes widened in shock at the words.
She plowed bravely on. “I saw her at the theater with you the other night. She is very beautiful. I know that you have kept other women—Alex told me when he thought I was becoming too interested in you.” Her hands tightened with nervousness. “I also know that your mother ran away with another man when you were very young and that you were brought up in an immoral atmosphere by your father.” She leaned toward him and said passionately, “I don’t care about any of that! What I care about is the kind of person you are. And you are a very fine person, Your Grace. I know that. I’m very good about sensing that kind of thing. I sensed it in you the first time we met, when you helped me with Jem.”
He looked utterly taken aback. He didn’t say a word.
Sally took her courage in both her hands. “I wish you would give up your mistress and concentrate on me. I know I’m not as beautiful as she is, but I’m a caring sort of person, and I think that is important to you.”
Still the duke said nothing.
Sally could feel the color coming into her face. “Everyone says you will never marry, but do you think you might change your mind one of these days?”
He continued to look at her. Finally he said, “I might.”
Sally gave him a radiant smile. She arose from her chair and went to sit on the side of his bed. He took her hand into his. She looked at him with her heart in her eyes.
“I fell in love with you the minute I saw you clutching that filthy little climbing boy to your breast,” he said. “You looked positively ferocious. You didn’t care about your clothes. You didn’t care that people you knew might be passing by. Nothing but nothing was going to harm that child while you were there.”
Sally’s smile grew wider. “Did you say you fell in love with me?”
“Yes. That is what I said.”
“Oh, I love you, too…” She gave him a stricken look. “Do you know, I don’t even know your Christian name?”
“It’s Robert,” he said. “No one has called me that in over twenty years.”
“Robert,” she said. “That’s a beautiful name. I love you, too, Robert. I loved you the moment you rescued me and Jem from that horrible chimney sweep.”
“Kiss me, Sarah.”
She bent her head and touched her lips to his. The current that she had always felt running between them increased a hundredfold. He reached his arms up and encircled her shoulders. She relaxed against him and gave herself up to the kiss.
He was the one to break from her, placing his hands on her shoulders and pushing her away.
“This is definitely not a good idea,” he said. “I’m not that incapacitated.”
S
ally sat up straight and looked at him. She could feel her blood humming in her veins.
“I had better have some words with your brother,” he said. “Is he going to object to your marrying me?”
“Alex just wants to see me happy. When I tell him that I will be miserable if he objects, he will accept your suit.” She bounced a little on the mattress. “This is so exciting! I am so happy! Wait until I tell Diana!”
“Wait until you tell Dorset,” he said dryly. “I thought that he was going to be the one you chose.”
“He reminds me of a puppy,” Sally said dismissively. “Puppies are cute and fun, but one doesn’t marry them.”
He grinned. She had never seen him do that. It made him look so much younger.
At this moment, the slightly open door was pushed in farther and Lady Standish came into the room. She frowned. “Sally! I didn’t know you were in here! It’s not proper for you to be alone with the duke.”
“I have asked Lady Sarah to marry me, ma’am,” Sinclair said. “If Standish can spare me some of his time, I will do the proper thing and ask him for her hand.”
“Actually,” Sally said to the duke, “I think I was the one who asked you.”
He grinned again.
Lady Standish looked a little shocked.
Sinclair’s face sobered. “All I want for Sarah is that she be happy, and I promise you I will do my utmost to make certain that she is. She is a very, very special young woman and I am a very, very lucky man.”
Lady Standish’s face relaxed into a smile. Her eyes took in her daughter’s face and became very bright. “I believe Alex has just come in, Your Grace. I’ll send him to you right away.”
