Her mother had been sole heir to a great fortune amassed in trade and banking.
“Sir Richard followed her around for days, trying to lure her out alone.” She shook her head. “She did go eventually, but not alone,” Jane said, glancing at Perry. “I was there.”
“You were friends with my mother?” Perry asked.
“No. I was but a child, as I said, following the older girls around. Your mother was kind to me, and as it turned out, I was useful to her.”
“Did you intervene directly?” Fox asked, his voice laced with concern. “Will he remember you?”
Perry’s mind skipped back and forth. If Jane had interfered…surely Sir Richard would not pull up a memory of her as a little girl.
“I ran for some grooms. Her grandfather bribed them soundly to keep silent and dealt with Sir Richard. I don’t know how, but the villain departed within the hour.”
“What exactly did Sir Richard do to my mother?” Perry asked.
Jane blinked and glanced at Father, who was staring intently, his face still without expression, but with a tightness around his mouth that hadn’t been there previously.
Father, who knew almost everything, hadn’t known about this.
“He had a carriage waiting. He planned to force a marriage.”
“What did hedo?” Father asked.
“She was struggling in his arms, fighting him while he tried to carry her off to a waiting chaise. The grooms arrived in time and her grandfather soon after.” She looked around the table. “He is not a mere bumbling baronet. He is a brute, I daresay quite capable of assaulting a boy and a young woman dressed as a boy on a dark road.”
“He wanted Mother’s money.”
“Yes. But I believe he also wantedher.”
Perry shivered. She didn’t have her mother’s fortune, but she had her looks.
Fox’s arm slipped around her. “He’ll not lay a hand on you,” he murmured.
Father’s gaze had gone somewhere else. Had he cared for their mother? She’d always wondered. When his brother died, he’d claimed the title and the fiancée. After the marriage, Father had been away more than he’d been home. She’d always thought it a marriage arranged for money, on his part, and status on her mother’s. She’d always imagined the love of his life had been Bink’s mother. Perhaps she’d been wrong.
Lady Jane’s gaze went to Father. Sirena had hinted that the lady had once had a beau, so many years ago. And she’d also met Father, a long time ago.
And Sir Richard had wanted her mother. All the ancient romances, the ancient discords and plots, swirled around them, reaching from the past, confusing the present.
Fox’s hand dropped from her shoulder, making her heart plummet. Perhaps love was always a muddle.
Farnsworth swept in from the kitchen, silently, glancing around at the change in seating and taking the chair at the foot of the table. “Mac will check at the inn on the whereabouts of Carvelle. And I’ve sent word to the cutter that I’ll stay on land tonight. They’ll patrol to the north.”
“And if they land further south?” Fox asked.
“We’ll bring the dragoons up at dark,” Farnsworth said. “Every moment we delay the landing is to our good.” He leaned back in his chair. “And I’ve set men to follow Sir Richard.”
“We’ll join him for dinner tomorrow night,” Father said, “and see what is what.”
“I shall go,” Perry said. “Perhaps my presence will unsettle him.”
“Let us get through tonight first.” Father stood and looked from Kincaid to Farnsworth. “Join me in the study. Fox, you have learned the terrain around here. We’ll need your services tonight. In the meantime, I should like sketches of Lady Perry’s captors. She will help you, and we can have the boy brought over also.”
They left, and Fox’s hand rested on hers. “You will be safer here tomorrow night than at Sir Richard’s.”
“That is true,” Lady Jane said.
Perry took a deep breath and put his hand aside. “I thought we could announce our engagement and see how he reacts.”
“I don’t believe I was invited,” Fox said. “Only you, your father, and Lady Jane.”
“All the more likely to bring about a reaction from Sir Richard, if, in fact, he is a villain.” A shiver went through her and she frowned. “Thevillain.” If he was the man who’d attacked her, she could take her revenge. But she must visit his house to do that.
“Let’s start with those sketches,” Fox said. “The light is better in the parlor. I’ll get a sketchbook.”
