“Yes. I know.”
“Forgive me, Your Grace,” Marianne said gently, “but did you not just say we must make haste?”
“Yes. Of course.” He pulled himself together. “Carriages. We will need them at once. Arabella, you will come with me. Write down everything you can remember about how to reach this estate. Nathaniel,” he turned, “find some of our friends though I do not want their wives along this time. I need them to alert the constables, the Bow Street Runners, and whatever law we have not yet involved in this. The whole of it must be explained to them properly. And someone must take the latest of it to the scandal sheets. We expose him once and for all, tonight if we can manage it.”
“I will see to it,” Nathaniel said, already moving.
And just like that, everyone scattered to their tasks.
* * *
“I cannot believe you were such a fool,” Arabella said as the carriage rumbled on. They had been sitting side by side for half an hour as he’d told her everything that had occurred up until now, including his rather winding connection with Clara. “Saying such things with her in the house, knowing she could hear you.”
“I did not mean for her to hear me. How was I supposed to know she was outside my study door at that precise moment?”
“You should have assumed. You ought not to say things you do not truly mean. You ought not to be so careless with your words. You taught me that. You told me when I was sixteen that a gentleman’s word is worth its weight in gold, or it is worth nothing at all.”
“I will set it right. Once I have freed her from his clutches, I will set it right. I will make sure she knows I truly love her.”
“Good. You must. She is my dearest friend, and I will not have you mistreating her.”
“I would never,” he said.
“You already have.”
He turned to her. “I know it. And I will put it right. I will. Once I can.”
The rain continued to pour as they climbed into the carriage once more. The coachman looked considerably less than pleased to be sent back out onto the roads, but it could not be helped.
At least the thunder and lightning had eased somewhat. As the carriage rumbled south, Julian looked across at Arabella.
“Why did you not tell me that night you came with the baby who he was and what he wanted?”
“I did not want to involve you.” She looked down at her hands. “You do not understand. I thought he loved me. I married him because I believed he loved me and because I believed I loved him. But one night, I overheard him speaking with his uncle, saying he was truly in love with some Italian girl his uncle had chosen for him instead and that their intention was to force me into admitting adultery, so he could keep Horatio and send me away with nothing. I would have been entirely ruined.”
“Arabella…”
“It does not matter now. I suppose he knew I had grown to lean a great deal on Giacomo, and the truth is, I came to love him over those months. He has been at my side this whole time. He helped me escape.”
She took a breath. “But I could not tell you any of it. Admit to you that I had fallen for such a man and that I had run off with a servant. I could not bear it. And I did not want to endanger you. I thought if you knew nothing, Sebastian could not use you against me. I knew Clara had returned from Scotland; she had mentioned it in her last letter to me, and I thought if Giacomo brought David to her quickly, she might take him back to Scotland before anyone was any the wiser. Nobody would have known.”
“It was a haphazard plan at best,” Julian said.
“I know. It was foolish. I was reckless, and I cannot tell you how much I regret it now. I let his handsome face and his charm and his perfectly polished manners blind me entirely to what he trulyis. He only ever wanted a child, and he was willing to ruin me in the process of getting one.” Her jaw set. “Well, he will not have him. I will fight him for it.”
“It will not come to that,” Julian said. “He has taken your son, and he has taken my wife. He will answer for both. Abducting the wife of a peer, when he himself holds no title, will see him imprisoned at the very least. I may yet see him transported if I have any say in the matter.”
The two of them traveled in silence for a while after that.
“I should have come to you from the start,” Arabella said finally, very quietly. “You were always like a brother to me. I should have trusted you with all of it. I am sorry that I did not.”
Silence settled between them now as the carriage pressed on. After a moment, he reached across to her and placed his hand on hers. She curled her fingers around his and moved closer. Then, she rested her head on his shoulder as she had when she was a child.
CHAPTER 37
Clara placed David down in the crib. Then she rushed to the door. Locked, of course. She tried the other door on the far side of the room and found it gave. Relief flooded through her, and she hurried through into what turned out to be a dressing room. A second door led out into the hall. That one, too, was locked.
She pressed her hand to her mouth.What was she supposed to do?She could not simply sit and wait for rescue. Whoever owned this house had to be a relation or friend of the Devereau family so distant that even his own cousin did not know of its existence, which meant in all likelihood nobody would ever think to look here. She forced a breath out slowly, willing her heart to stop racing. If she wanted to save David from his horrid father, she would have to find a way out herself.
