by Ella Edon
But where was she? This room was made up for someone in society, but it was still sparse compared to what Eleanor knew of anyone in London. They liked lots of trinkets, lots of things to show off their wealth. This bedchamber had the basic furniture, and it was tastefully done, but that was pretty much it. No identity to the room at all.
Rising slowly to her feet, Eleanor stumbled to the door. The room was tilting a little, and Eleanor had to stop herself from falling to her knees. She managed to get to the door and tried it. But it was locked. Eleanor tugged on the handle, and it just wouldn’t budge. She began to panic, pounding her fists on the door.
“Help! Somebody! Let me out!”
She listened, but there was no sound. Eleanor shouted again, and nothing. Was she alone in the house? Eleanor made her way over to the window, only to find that it had bars across it. They didn’t shift no matter how much Eleanor tugged on them. Looking outside didn’t give her any indication where she was other than she was near the River Thames, which she could see through a gap in the houses across from her.
The windows of the house across from her were open, and Eleanor could see someone moving around inside. Maybe if she could get the window open, she could shout for help…
Eleanor froze when she heard a key turning in the lock. She turned, looking for somewhere to hide. But she couldn’t move too fast without swaying, and Eleanor ended up on her knees when she tried to hurry to the bed. She grabbed at the bedpost and pulled herself upright as the door opened and Leyton walked in, carrying a tray with a glass, a jug of water and a bowl of strawberries.
Leyton. Of course it would be him. Now Eleanor was really beginning to panic, barely tamping down her rage.
“What did you do, Leyton?” she demanded. “What have you done?”
“You were too stubborn, Eleanor.” Leyton put the tray on the dresser. “You weren’t going to entertain me, so you could listen, so I had to do something drastic.”
Eleanor could agree that this was certainly drastic. But to kidnap her? Leyton had been released from his confinement too early. Leyton gestured at the tray and settled into a chair beside it, crossing his legs. He was acting like this wasn’t a bizarre situation at all.
“Have something to drink, Eleanor, and some little thing to eat. It’s going to be a while before Cook is ready with dinner.”
Eleanor didn’t want to eat anything. She wanted to get out of there and back home. Once she let her father know what had happened, Leyton’s feet wouldn’t touch the ground. She glared at him.
“You hurt Marion back at the park. Did you kill her?”
“No, I didn’t.” Leyton sighed. “I wanted to, but I know how much she means to you.”
Eleanor didn’t know whether to be relieved or not at that statement. She looked at the door, weighing up her options. Should she run?
Leyton chuckled. “You took a knock to the head, Eleanor. You’re going to be a little disoriented. I wouldn’t recommend running with a headache.”
“One that you caused.” Eleanor rested her head against the bedpost, wishing everything would stop spinning. “People are going to be looking for me. Someone would have seen you taking me out of the park. They’ll know that you’ve done something.”
Leyton looked smug.
“They won’t know anything. I managed to get you out of the park with nobody seeing us except for my servants and they’re loyal to me. The only proof of any disappearance or the possibility of foul play is that letter Lady Chapman wrote. She’ll be under suspicion, not me, and not for very long. Nobody’s going to believe a woman would do something so awful.”
Lady Chapman. Eleanor wanted to get her hands on that woman. She had been involved. Marion had been right; Lady Chapman wasn’t looking just to talk.
“How did you get her involved in this? Lady Chapman is a lot of things, but she’s far too bright to believe this was just a simple intervention.”
“Lady Chapman and I are very forward-minded. We know what we want.” Leyton sat forward. “I wanted you, and she wanted Captain Reynolds. I can’t imagine why she would want that man, but to each their own.”
“So, you’ve done all this to get what each of you wanted.” Eleanor felt her stomach tighten, but she pushed the nausea aside. “Without consent of the other party. You didn’t think this through.”
“We thought it through enough.” Leyton’s expression softened, his eyes drifting over her face. “I love you, Eleanor. I’ve never stopped loving you. We were meant to be together, and you know it.”
He sounded so sure about that. Eleanor couldn’t believe she had passed him off as mad but harmless. He was anything but harmless, and Eleanor was beginning to get scared. She was trapped, and she had no idea where she was. Leyton could do anything, and nobody would be any the wiser.
Eleanor pushed herself to standing, glad that she wasn’t swaying anymore.
“I know that I’m in a room with a man who was committed by his family. You’re a madman and an obsessive one. I didn’t care for you before. Do you really think I’m going to care about you now after you’ve kidnapped me?”
Leyton arched an eyebrow. “You think you’re going to be happy with Reynolds? You think he’s going to give you the love and attention you deserve?”
“He and I have an arrangement. Who said marriage had to be about love?”
“Marriage has everything to do with love.” Leyton rose to his feet. “Especially if you’re going to be married for fifty years, maybe more.”
Eleanor snorted. “I don’t want to spend fifty seconds with you. You’ve exceeded your limit, Matthew.”
Leyton folded his arms, looking like he was talking to a disobedient child.
“So, you’re happy to be married to an army man who despises his title and is having an affair with Lady Chapman?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“I beg your pardon?”
“Oh, didn’t you know? Those two have been having an affair for years. Even while Lady Chapman was married. She told me all about it.” Leyton shook his head. “You’re going to be left out in the cold. In your own marriage. That you don’t deserve.”
For a moment, Eleanor floundered. Nathan had told her several times that Lorraine Chapman meant nothing to him, and he preferred to never converse with her again. And she believed him. Nathan was a loyal man, one who meant what he said. Leyton was trying to get her to doubt everything.
It was not going to happen.
Her mouth felt very dry. Eleanor stepped around Leyton and went to the tray. She didn’t want to touch anything he offered her, but she was struggling with a sore throat. Eleanor poured herself a glass and took a sip. Then a gulp. She put the glass back down.
“You’re plucking things out of the air. Nathan...Captain Reynolds despises Lady Chapman.”
“And you believe him?”
“I do.” Eleanor turned to Leyton, fixing him with a cool stare. He looked slightly disgusted. “You get to know someone when you spend time with them on a regular basis. I have learned how to read my future husband. He’s not lying to me. He doesn’t want Lady Chapman anywhere near him. Much like I don’t want to be anywhere near you.”
Leyton stared at her, his eyes drifting over her face. He still looked disgusted. Good. Eleanor wanted him to be disgusted; she wanted to get away from him and out of this place. He couldn’t expect this to go his way, could he? If he did, he was more deluded than she thought.
“I was told you would be a challenge, knowing what I’m up against,” Leyton murmured. “But I didn’t realize how deep Reynolds’ hold went. He’s really got his claws into you.”
“What are you talking about?” Eleanor snapped. “Who told you that I was going to be a challenge?”
“The man who set this all up.” Leyton sniggered. “You think this was an arrangement to pay off your family’s debts, didn’t you? It was never about you, except you were convenient - at the right time. It was all about Reynolds. Bring him back to London, away f
rom his soldier comrades. To taunt him, toy with him, and then…”
He drew a finger across his throat. Eleanor tensed.
“And then kill him,” she murmured. “I’m the bait.”
“You were, and very good bait. Captain Reynolds has fallen for you completely it seems and making him worry about you will distract him enough for my friend to do what he wants.” Leyton stepped towards her, causing Eleanor to back away and bump into the dresser. “So, you don’t need to worry about Captain Reynolds. You’ll still have a man who cares about you after all this. I’m sure we can sort things out.”
She had been bait for Nathan? Eleanor felt the panic overpowering her anger. She needed to get out of there. She had to find Nathan. If he came after her, whoever had set this in motion would kill him.
Eleanor tried to get around Leyton, but he stepped with her. Eleanor shoved him, and he didn’t budge.
“Get out of my way!”
“Not a chance.” Leyton grabbed her wrists. “You’re not going anywhere, Eleanor. I won’t let you. You belong with me now.”
“Nathan, what are you doing?”
Nathan looked up. Simon was standing in the doorway to Nathan’s study, staring at the pistol in Nathan’s hand. Nathan went back to his task of cleaning the pistol, putting the gunpowder in.
“What does it look like? I’m going out there to look for Leyton.”
“With a pistol?” Simon shot back. “You can’t shoot him in the street!”
“Oh, yes, I can.” Nathan placed the pistol on the desk and started to tie the bag of gunpowder to his belt with shaking fingers. “Just watch me.”
“Then you’ll be hanged for murder!”
“He’s got Eleanor!”
“And how is shooting him going to help?” Simon took the pistol, moving out of Nathan’s reach. He shook his head. “It’s not going to bring her back in a puff of smoke, is it? Chances are we’d never find out where she is.”
Nathan glared at his friend. They were wasting time. The anger had been building once Nathan realized what had happened. He was not stepping back and letting Leyton walk away with Eleanor. Nathan wouldn’t let him.
“I know it’s him, Simon. We both know it.” He rubbed his hands over his face. His hands were sweaty, something that hadn’t happened since the first time he went into battle. “He’s got Eleanor, and God only knows what he’s doing.”
Simon’s expression softened. He put the pistol on the desk.
“I understand, but he’s not going to do anything to her. Eleanor’s a fighter. She’ll make it difficult. We’re going to find him.”
Nathan was glad that one of them was optimistic. He was too scared about Eleanor’s safety to be optimistic. The last time he had felt this scared about something - or someone - was when he had been kidnapped as a scout early on in his career. Nathan had been held captive for close to a week while he had been interrogated for information. He hadn’t given them anything, but Nathan had been terrified. He hadn’t wanted to die, and the enemy had threatened to end his life many times. How he had got away, Nathan was still struggling with. Pure luck, as far as he knew. There was a chance and Nathan had taken it.
Now he had taken a chance on a convenient marriage and ended up falling for the bride picked out for him. That wasn’t supposed to happen, but it had. Now Nathan felt lost, floundering in the dark. He needed Eleanor back.
It was the first time Nathan had needed someone who wasn’t a member of his platoon.
The problem was, Leyton wasn’t going to be at his home in Clapham. His parents and brother still lived there, and Leyton couldn’t bring Eleanor to them, not when they objected to the way he had behaved. He would have taken her elsewhere, somewhere nobody would be able to find her or suspect that she would be there.
That meant they were stuck.
“Excuse me, Captain Reynolds?”
Nathan looked around. Mason was hovering in the doorway.
“What is it, Mason?”
“There’s a man out here asking for Lord Reading. He says it’s very important.”
“I’ll go to him, Mason.” Simon gave Nathan a sharp look. “Don’t you dare go anywhere without me.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Nathan drawled.
Simon grunted and left with a shake of his head. Mason disappeared, giving Nathan a furtive look before he moved out of sight. Several of the servants had been looking at Nathan with expressions of pity once they heard what had happened, and Nathan hated it. He didn’t want pity. He was going to get Eleanor back regardless of what people thought. Even if it meant putting a bullet in Leyton’s head in the middle of the street. Nathan was angry enough to do that.
If it meant Eleanor was safe.
Shooting isn’t going to make Eleanor safe. Not if you don’t find her first.
It’ll make me feel better, certainly.
“Nathan.” Simon came hurrying back into the room. “I’ve got something.”
“If it’s an exact location of where Eleanor is, I’ll happily take it.” Nathan picked up the pistol and tucked it into his belt. “If not, then get out of the way, Simon.”
“This is important.” Simon stepped in Nathan’s way as Nathan made to go around him. “I think there’s a link between Leyton and the elusive Mr. Black.”
Nathan froze. Eric Black. The man who had seemed to have gone more underground lately. It was like the man was a ghost, and nobody would talk to Nathan. They were far too scared, even the children he did come across.
There was a link with him and Matthew Leyton?
“You mean Leyton’s involved with stealing children as well?”
“That’s not been confirmed yet, but my contact spotted two men talking in an alleyway while he was hanging around a spot Mr. Black is known to frequent.” Simon’s eyes were bright. “One of them was Mr. Black. He heard the name and decided to follow the second man, which turned out to be Matthew Leyton.”
Nathan stared.
“He didn’t think to follow Black?”
“Not when he heard your name, and Eleanor’s.”
“When was this?”
“A few hours ago?”
A few hours ago, he was following Leyton after he spoke to Eric Black. How on earth did those two know each other? Leyton seemed too unstable for Black to find useful. Unless…
Oh, God. That was before…
“He saw the kidnapping, didn’t he?”
Simon nodded. “He followed Leyton out of the park carrying Eleanor and they got into a carriage.” He grimaced. “Eleanor looked to be unconscious.”
Eleanor had been unconscious. Nathan growled, which had Simon taking a step back.
“Are you serious, Simon? He saw a kidnapping happening and didn’t bother to step in?”
Simon huffed. “Come on, Nathan, do you always react as a soldier in a situation of such magnitude?”
“If he had done something, Eleanor would be safe.” Nathan snapped.
“But he’s managed to follow them.” Simon argued. “And he knows where they are, if you’ll get off your high horse and listen.”
“Where are they, then?”
“Putney Bridge Road by Wandsworth Park. Number fifteen.” Simon scowled. “My contact almost collapsed in a heap when he told me this. He had run back most of the way.”
“Then get him to have a meal in the kitchen and rest. Give him a little extra for his help.”
“Already done.”
Nathan grunted. Stepping around his friend, he hurried out into the hall, finding Mason approaching the closet door. He strode across the foyer as the butler took out his and Simon’s cloaks, handing Nathan’s to him.
“Will you be needing your hat, Captain?”
“Not this time.” Nathan flung his cloak on and tied it at the neck. “Call my carriage around to the front immediately. Then get four footmen and arm them. We’re going on a hunt.”
Mason’s eyes widened a little, but he nodded and headed towards the back of the
house. The man had been with the family long enough not to say anything. He handed Simon his cloak as Simon left Nathan’s study before disappearing. Simon was still scowling as he put his cloak on.
“You still can’t shoot him, Nathan. Not without getting yourself into trouble.”
“I can certainly threaten to.” Nathan ran his hand through his hair. “What madness is he up to? How did he think kidnapping Eleanor was going to get him anywhere?”
