“You did admit it!” She cried, and immediately, she felt a rush of relief.He did forge the documents! My father didn’t sellme to this man!It was a small consolation, considering her circumstances, but she would take it.
“Well then,” she said, when Dubois still didn’t answer, “you really are in trouble now.”
“Say another word and I will gag you,” Dubois said, but it was worth it to hear the note of terror in his voice, to see the way his hands had begun to shake.
Still, she didn’t want to be gagged, so she sat back against the bench and looked away out the window, not sparing another glance for Dubois . Yes, she was sure now that Dorian was coming to rescue her. Which was why, as soon as Dubois had dozed off, about an hour into their journey, Leah scooted over to the edge of the bench and, after some manoeuvring, managed to get her hands out the window. She released her fist, dropping her second glove onto the road.
If Dorian was following them, he would find it.
But just in case he wasn’t, she needed to come up with a strategy to rescue herself.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Where is she? ”
Dorian threw open the doors of Nottington Castle with a bang, making the footman, who looked as if he had just been reaching to open it, jump back in alarm.
“Where is she?!” Dorian roared, staring around wildly. “Where is my wife?”
It had taken several hours to ride to the castle from London, and Dorian was beside himself. He stared around the hall, as if Leah might appear right in front of him, but of course, she was not there. Just the footman, who looked very nervous as he began to stammer.
“Her G-Grace went out w-walking a few hours ago,” he said. “Just after her s-sisters left.”
“And you haven’t been worried about her?” Dorian demanded. “It’s been hours and you haven’t gone to check on her?”
“It is normal for the duchess to go on long walks,” the footman said nervously.
“And it’s normal for her to be gone this long?”
“I am s-sorry, Your Grace,” the scared-looking footman said. “There has been so much to do, I didn’t think to go check on her, and as you know, there is only a skeleton staff here…”
This was true. Most of the staff was in London with Dorian. Only a few of the servants had remained behind at the castle. And while Dorian had been planning to send more to keep Leah comfortable while she was here, they had not arrived yet.
Still… he didn’t know what the footman had been doing for so long to keep him from checking in on the duchess.
“How long ago exactly did she go walking?” he asked. “Has anyone seen her? Or have you seen or heard anyone else on the estate? A lone man, by any chance, or perhaps a carriage?”
“I have seen and heard nothing, Your Grace,” the footman said. He looked truly shocked by the idea of someone else being on the estate. “There was quite the commotion when Her Grace’s sister and Lady Bellmong were leaving, I suppose it was possible that we missed something…”
The footman’s gaze grew more fearful, and if Dorian hadn’t been worried out of his mind, he might have felt bad for the young man. The footman was probably afraid of losing his job, and in truth, it wasn’t his fault. The duchess was allowed to wander around the estate for hours at a time if she chose to. Why would a footman be worried about her doing so? It wasn’thisjob to protect her.
It was Dorian’s.
“I’m sorry,” he forced himself to say, taking a deep, steadying breath. “I don’t mean to be angry with you. It’s not your fault. I am just worried.”
Behind him, the door opened again, and Lucien and Anthony entered. They had accompanied him from London, but hadn’t flung themselves out of the carriage and raced to the front door with quite as much speed as Dorian had. They still looked very worried, however, and Lucien especially looked paler than Dorian had ever seen him. On the drive here, he had barely said two words.
“Is she here?” Lucien asked, stepping forward eagerly.
“No,” Dorian said heavily. “No one has seen her in several hours.”
“Has something happened to the duchess?” The footman said uncertainly.
Dorian swallowed. “We don’t know. But we have reason to believe that she was kidnapped off of the estate.”
The footman’s jaw dropped, and Dorian saw the fear that immediately settled over him. “Kidnapped?” he repeated. “But… that’s impossible!”
“It’s not impossible,” Lucien said heavily. “But we have to act fast if we are to save her.” He fixed the footman with a very serious expression. “You said she goes walking often. Do you know where she walks?”
