Nicholas might have been going quietly insane from having nothing to do these past few days, but Giles appeared to have aged ten years in that same time as he waited for news of his sister.His hair was constantly tousled, eyes bloodshot, his face deathly pale, and his clothes looked creased enough to have been slept in.Perhaps they had.
“This is what we have been waiting for,” Nicholas assured him eagerly.“Once I have informed my associates of these instructions?—”
“No!”Masterson withdrew a small pistol that had been hidden in the waistband of his pantaloons beneath his waistcoat.He now pointed that pistol at Nicholas.“You misunderstood what I meant when I apologized and said I had no choice.I meant that you will not be informing your friends of this progress, because I fully intend to go to the park at midnight tonight and hand you over to whoever is holding Susan captive.”
It was not what they had agreed upon.But Nicholas could see that the younger man was in earnest.“You have no guarantee they will not simply shoot you and take me rather than return Susan to you and your parents,” he pointed out gently.
He was not concerned for himself but for this man’s young sister.If she were still alive.Of which there was no guarantee.It had been almost a week since she was taken, after all.
“I will have more of a chance of a positive outcome if you are seen to be my prisoner.”Masterson took the same thin rope from the pocket of his waistcoat that had been used to bind Nicholas three days ago.
Causing Nicholas to question whether the young man had been carrying these items about with him ever since they returned to London.That he had been waiting for the kidnappers to contact him again so he could hand Nicholas over.
“Turn around and put your arms behind your back,” Masterson now instructed.
“Could you forgo the gag, if you please?”Nicholas encouraged.“My jaw is still somewhat bruised from the carriage accident in Surrey.”
“Do you promise not to cry out or alert anyone else to your plight?”
“Of course.If I wished to do that, I could have walked out of your home any time during the past three days,” he reminded.
The younger man studied him for several long seconds before giving a curt nod and then concentrating on securing Nicholas’s hands.
“You intended to betray me from the beginning,” Nicholas mused.
“Not at all.But the anguish I and my parents have suffered through this interminable waiting to be contacted again by the kidnappers has made this necessary.Every hour, every minute, has been spent fearing for my sister’s life.Now that the kidnappers have finally contacted us, I must ask you to please do as I say.”He waved the gun in Nicholas’s direction as incentive.
It actually wasn’t much of an incentive when Nicholas knew he could disarm the younger man any time he chose.But he also knew that the situation would look more plausible if Nicholas’s hands were visibly tied, as they had been when they’d first returned to London.
But if Masterson thought the two of them would be alone when they went to Regent’s Park this evening, then he was mistaken.
If the kidnappers had been watching the Mastersons’ house for three days, and Nicholas had every reason to believe they had, then the other members of Prinny’s private army had also been taking it in turns to do the same.
Nicholas had every reason to believe that several of his associates would follow them to St.James’s Park.That whoever was waiting for them would soon learn that Nicholas had powerful friends in very high places.
CHAPTERTWELVE
“Where are you going so late in the evening?”Julia demanded of her father as he stood in the candlelit entrance hall of their London home, drawing his black cloak about him before putting on his beaver top hat.“It is after eleven o’clock.”She could not help but suspect this unusual behavior had something to do with Nicholas’s absence.
The four ladies had finally arrived back in London late this afternoon, going first to Broom House to allow the marchioness and Amanda to disembark before they continued the rest of the way to Ipswich House.As it was so late, Julia and Amanda had decided they would call upon the Countess of Shefford.They could only hope that Georgiana returned to London before anyone suspected she had not been with them in Surrey at all.
Her father had been grim-faced and disapproving when his wife and daughter had arrived in London so unexpectedly.Nor, no matter what Julia said or did, would her father reveal where Nicholas was or if he knew whether the younger man was completely returned to good health after the carriage accident.
Now this strange behavior.
It had been quite by happenstance that instead of ringing for a maid or footman, Julia had left her bedchamber in her nightgown and robe, her hair loose, to venture downstairs with the intention of going to the kitchen to warm some milk for herself.Sleep had completely eluded her, despite her having retired to her bedchamber an hour ago.
Finding her father in the vast entrance hall, donning his cloak and hat with the obvious intention of venturing out despite the lateness of the hour, reawakened all her suspicions.
“I am well aware of the time, thank you,” her father now answered her sternly.
“Well?”she prompted when he added nothing else.
“Why are you not in your bedchamber, as any decent young lady should be at this time of night?”
“Papa—”
“Julia,” he bit out.“Where I am going, and who I will see when I get there, is none of your business.Now, please go back to your bedchamber?—”
