He offered his arm to her. “May I escort you inside, then?”
“Thank you,” Lady Worthington replied as she accepted his arm. “It was incredibly thoughtful of you to come and collect me yourself.”
“It was the least I could do, especially since I knew how worried Ellie was about you.”
“I told her not to worry about me.”
“I have learned that Ellie does exactly the opposite of what you tell her to do,” he joked. “She can be quite stubborn.”
Lady Worthington laughed. “I’m afraid she inherited that from her father.”
Roswell opened the door and stepped into a frenzy of activity. He stopped in the entry hall and watched as his servants raced around him, giving him little heed.
Thorne saw him from across the room, and a look of immense relief came to his face. “You are finally home, my lord,” he sighed as he closed the distance in a few strides.
“What is the meaning of this?” he asked, placing his hands up.
“Miss Bentley was abducted by Lord Worthington!”
Roswell heard Lady Worthington gasp as he growled, “When did this happen?”
“About thirty minutes ago,” Thorne informed him.
“How?”
His mother’s voice came from the drawing room. “Perhaps you should let Emma explain,” she said. “She witnessed the whole thing.”
“I will.” He turned his attention back towards the butler. “Has the constable been notified?”
“Yes, but he has yet to arrive.”
Roswell was disappointed by the constable’s slow response, but it wasn’t unheard of. Constables were notoriously overloaded with work and didn’t have the resources to investigate every case that was given to them.
“I want someone to go down to the Bow Street Magistrate and hire every available Bow Street Runner,” Roswell ordered. “Bring them back here and have all of our horses ready for them.”
“Yes, my lord,” Thorne replied.
“Do not fail me in this,” Roswell declared.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Thorne tipped his head and hurried off.
“Is Emma in the drawing room?” Roswell asked, turning his attention back towards his mother.
“She is,” his mother replied.
Roswell hurried into the drawing room, where Emma was sitting on the settee, her hands clasped in her lap. He sat next to her. “Can you tell me what happened, Emma?”
Emma gave him a tearful smile. “I told Ellie not to do it, but she was adamant about meeting with Lord Worthington.”
“Did she say why she needed to meet with him?”
“Yes, because he threatened to kill her mother.”
Roswell met her gaze. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?” he suggested.
Emma took a deep breath. “During breakfast, Ellie told me that Lord Worthington had threatened to kill her mother, and even showed me the note that he had sent over.”
“She had a note? Did she say how she got this note?”
