Could Amanda possibly be right in this supposition?
If so, it cast Julia as the villain in their complicated story and not Nicholas.
And she was guilty of seriously misjudging Nicholas.
* * *
After three days of residing, day and night, in Giles Masterson’s family home, Nicholas inwardly admitted he was growing weary of waiting for these so-called kidnappers to contact the lawyer in regard to the exchange of Nicholas for Susan Masterson.
Because Nicholas felt sure the kidnappers would have been watching the house, upon their arrival three days ago, when Giles Masterson had made a show of pushing a bound and gagged Nicholas into the house.
The binding had been removed from about his wrists and the gag taken from his mouth once they were safely inside, away from prying eyes.
These three days of waiting showed the kidnappers to be extremely cautious.Possibly because they still had no idea what had happened to the driver and groom of their carriage.
The other members of Prinny’s private army still had no confirmation as to who was behind the kidnapping and attempted abduction, or the reason for either.Nicholas was inclined to think this latest attempt to abduct him was linked to the two previous failed ones during the week before he rode to Surrey to attend Lady Roxburgh’s funeral.But he had no proof of that being the case.
Masterson’s parents, devastated by their daughter’s kidnapping, had reacted in vastly different ways to the situation.
His mother kept to her rooms, having informed her son she would only venture forth again once her beloved daughter was returned to her.
Masterson senior, occupied with writing a book on English law in his retirement, made himself equally as unavailable by retiring to his study during the day and dining alone in his bedchamber in the evenings.
Not even the presence of an earl occupying a guest bedchamber on the third floor of their modest London town house was enough to persuade either of the senior Mastersons to leave their state of self-imposed solitude.
Not that Nicholas could blame them.If he had a daughter or sister who had been kidnapped, he would no doubt feel just as emotionally heartsick as they did.Although he believed he would have made an effort to look for her rather than hide away in his study or bedchamber.
If it had been Julia who had been taken, then Nicholas knew he would have torn London apart looking for her.
Julia.
Dear God, how he longed for this to be over so that he could go to her and beg her to marry him.The waiting to do so was torturous.
He didn’t care what ghost she believed stood between them, as long as Julia became his wife.He would be happy to discuss, and hopefully dismiss, any and all that Julia believed stood between them once they were married.
He had thought his heart would break the morning she told him she could not marry him.
But with Susan Masterson’s kidnappers demanding Nicholas in exchange for the girl, he’d had no choice but to give the appearance of accepting Julia’s decision rather than allowing her to become embroiled any further in this hazardous situation.
As soon as it was over, he intended to find Julia and make love to her until she agreed to marry him.
But for now, he was forced to wait for Susan Masterson’s kidnappers to contact her brother.
The one positive thing to come out of this delay was that the skin discoloration and pain Nicholas had suffered from the carriage accident had mostly faded.
Giles Masterson was obviously his parents’ son, having also chosen to keep himself busy as they waited for the kidnappers to contact him.He worked from home, with the assistance of the male clerk who arrived promptly at eight o’clock each morning, rather than Giles going daily into his offices in the City.
In sharp contrast, the only distraction Nicholas had was when one of the other seven members of Prinny’s private army sent information to him.The missives were delivered to Giles Masterson’s clerk, and he in turn passed them on to his employer, and then Giles gave them to Nicholas.
The information Nicholas had received from them so far had all been in the negative.Not one of them had yet been able to learn who the kidnappers were or where they were holding Susan prisoner.
On the third day, when Nicholas had been about to give up on this ruse and simply go home—or go insane from experiencing any more boredom in the Masterson household—another note was delivered to the house, this time by one of the homeless waifs roaming the London streets.
The letter was addressed to Giles Masterson.It instructed him to take Nicholas to the Chinese Bridge in St.James’s Park at midnight tonight, in readiness for exchanging him for Giles’s sister.
The contents of that letter told Nicholas that the kidnappers were, as they had hoped would be the case, well aware of his presence in the Mastersons’ home.The delay in contacting Giles seemed to indicate they were now convinced Nicholas was indeed Giles Masterson’s prisoner, but had wanted to reassure themselves of that fact before contacting him again.
“I have to do this,” Masterson told him shakily when Nicholas looked up from reading the letter.“Please understand, I have no choice in the matter.”
