Olivia touched the wood with her fingertips, and it creaked open. Inside, pillows were strewn over the floor, the dressing table was set on its side, and the window was open.
The facts worked their way through his mind. Constance was missing, and her room was chaotic, as if there had been a fight.
He took four long steps over to the cord in the corner of the room and tugged it twice. His butler appeared at the door at once. “My lord?”
The words would not come. The moment he spoke, his worst fear became true. He tried again, clearing his throat, only for Olivia to step between him and the older man.
“Have any carriages approached the house in the last hour?” she asked.
“I don’t believe so, Lady Allen.” His butler looked around the room, his eyes widening. “I-I will ask the housekeeper and the kitchen staff if anyone saw or heard anything.” He spun and left. The sound of footfalls echoed through the hallway, slow at first, before increasing to a rapid pace.
“Where could she have gone?” Thel whispered. He walked over to the bed and picked up the book they had been reading. There was no slip of paper or flower to mark her progress. She always left a bookmark after reading.
“Dawson,” he said. When he found the man, he would strangle him.
Constance was a prize too valuable to give up. By encouraging her to take more time to consider her prospects, he had been certain that she would eventually see that Dawson was not the man he claimed to be.
Perhaps Dawson had realized that, too.
His knees buckled, and he grabbed the pillar of Constance’s bed to keep from collapsing. He had ruined everything. His daughter would be shackled to a man who cared only about her fortune. Dawson could not afford to allow her to stay within her father’s reach. He had to know that Thel would stop at nothing to get her back, even if it meant operating outside the law.
He had to go after them and stop Dawson before he did whatever awful thing he was planning. But where to start?
A hand touched his cheek.
“We will find her,” Olivia said.
He gathered her against his chest, and the tight places inside him eased.
The door swung open, and his butler rushed in. “The cook says that a carriage pulled up to the back entrance recently. She only noticed because she thought it was a delivery from the grocer. She watched from the window as two figures entered. They left down the back alley.” He cleared his throat. “I’m afraid that’s all we have.”
“Prepare my carriage,” Thel said. Then he turned to Olivia, but before he could say anything, she spoke.
“Do not even suggest that you pursue this without me,” she said. “I feel as responsible for this situation as you do.”
He put his hands on her upper arms. “This man is dangerous. I don’t know what he will do, or where he will go.” He knew what she was going to say next, so he barged ahead before she could say it. “I trust your instincts, and I know you can take care of yourself. You’ve proven that.” He remembered the man from the garden, lying prone on the ground. Constance and Olivia were formidable women. If any man tried to do anything they didn’t like, he would not get far.
Chapter 27
The inn was not of a caliber Olivia considered reputable, but given the sheeting rain and the way their carriage had nearly become stuck in the mud several times, she’d agreed when Thel had said it would have to do.
They left their conveyance with the stableboy and dashed across the courtyard and into the small building to be met by the sound of clinking beer glasses and fiddle music. The savory smell of mutton and roasting onion and garlic tickled her senses, making her mouth water. She had not taken a proper afternoon tea before they had set out.
A plump woman wearing a stained apron approached them. “What can I do for you?” She wiped her hands with a thin cloth.
“Do you have a room for…” Olivia started, before realizing her conundrum. She glanced at Thel, who shrugged, then looked back at the proprietress. “My husband and I?”
Saying the words gave her a thrill.
“Aye, we have one,” the woman said. “Connor, take them up to the room above the kitchen.” She winked at them. “Always warm that one, no fear of drafts. We don’t get many toffs.”
They followed a lanky boy to a dusty room that had a bed that would barely fit them both but was better than spending the night in their carriage.
Thel sat down on the bed, and it made an ominous creaking noise.
She sat beside him. “Worried about Constance?”
“I didn’t… I should have prepared her more.”
