“That is something else the two of us must discuss whilst we are breaking our fast.”
They waited until they were halfway through their breakfast and so were able to dismiss the butler and other staff to give them privacy before returning to their earlier conversation.
Amanda was deeply shocked to discover their father’s involvement with a private army that reported straight to the Prince Regent.“I had not thought our dear papas to be so adventurous in their behavior.”
“They have always been very loyal to the Crown,” Julia reminded.“But, please, I have only confided this to you because I know, as my cousin and a member of the Spinsters Alliance, you will respect and keep the secret I have just told you.”
“Of course,” Amanda immediately confirmed.“If we do manage to find a way to persuade our parents to return to London, we shall have to remember that Georgiana’s mother believes her to be staying with the two of us here at Roxburgh Manor,” she reminded.
Lady Georgiana Stapleton, another member of the Spinsters Alliance, was also in mourning, but for her father, the Earl of Shefford.But instead of dressing in black and falsely bewailing the fact—Georgiana had not been fond of her domineering and cruelly critical father—and spending months in seclusion with her mother and sisters, Georgiana had sought employment as a secretary.Having secured that position, with the assistance of the Duke of St.Albans, she had taken herself off to Cornwall to meet her new employer.
Knowing how much her newly widowed mother would disapprove of such behavior, Georgiana had told the countess she was going to stay with Julia and Amanda in the country.
“I had not forgotten,” Julia assured her cousin.“I believe that if we pay a call upon Georgiana’s mother and two sisters, again offering our condolences for their loss and assuring them Georgiana is well but had wished to remain in the country for a while longer, they will not see any reason to question our explanation.”
Amanda shook her head.“You are becoming far too adept at telling lies and not just expecting but actually having others believe them.”
“Considering the secret life I have just told you our fathers have been living these past four years, along with Wolfingham and several other prominent male members of Society, I do not believe my own few diversions from the truth to be of any significance,” she dismissed.
“Hm,” Amanda considered.“No doubt you are right,” she finally decided.“At leastIam willing to forgive you for them.But only if you will tell me of the sexual explorations you and Wolfingham indulged in last night,” she reminded.
Julia chuckled.“I accept your terms of forgiveness!”
CHAPTERELEVEN
“I still do not see how returning to London in this hastily repaired carriage, when it is without the original driver and groom, can be of any assistance in persuading my sister’s kidnappers to return her to me,” Mr.Masterson complained, not for the first time, as he sat beside Nicholas in the old-fashioned carriage.Ipswich and Broom sat opposite them.
It had been a busy morning, rescuing the vehicle from where it had tumbled down the embankment and recovering the two bodies.They had brought the carriage back to be repaired.The two bodies had been left with the local vicar, along with money for the men’s funeral.
As soon as the conveyance was again roadworthy, the four gentlemen—Broom and Ipswich having insisted on accompanying them—had set out for London to carry out the plan they had hastily cobbled together whilst they were waiting for those repairs to be done.
“Whoever is behind your sister’s kidnapping and the attempted abduction of Wolfingham will be sure to have some of their people watching your home as they wait for their men to return with their prisoner,” the Earl of Ipswich explained.
“And when they see that their men have not returned at all?Added to which, to all intents and purposes, I have obviously returned to London, and they do not have the Earl of Wolfingham as their prisoner.”Masterson gave a fierce shake of his head.“Once they realize all that, they will immediately decide to do away with my sister.”His voice broke over the last few words of that sentence.
“They will not,” the marquis assured.
“How can you possibly be sure?”The younger man voiced his frustration with the calmness of the other three gentlemen in the carriage.
“Because, as you have just pointed out so succinctly, they do not yet have me,” Nicholas went straight to the crux of the matter.
The lawyer still looked agitated.“How does that help my sister’s intolerable situation?”
Nicholas was starting to lose patience with the younger man.He completely understood Masterson’s continued concern for his sister.But the other man needed to look beyond his own agitation and accept that neither Nicholas nor Ipswich nor Broom would allow any harm to come to that young lady if it was within their power to prevent it.And they believed it was.
Masterson might be too distressed to see the full picture as yet, but the truth of the matter was the lawyer currently had the advantage over his sister’s kidnappers.In as much as although the driver and groom might have disappeared, Nicholas was still very much alive and would be staying at Masterson’s home with him.
In the meantime, Ipswich and Broom would be organizing the other members of Prinny’s private army into becoming part of the trap they had agreed would be set for the kidnappers.
Quite when they would choose to walk into their trap, Nicholas could not be sure.
But he knew that eventually, if they wanted him badly enough, they would have to.And when they did, the members of Prinny’s private army would be waiting for them.
* * *
“This has taken far longer than I had hoped it would.”Julia spoke softly, so as not to disturb her mother and aunt.
The two older ladies sat on the opposite side of the carriage, having been lulled to sleep by its gentle rocking some time ago.
