Page 10 of An Innocent Bride for the Duke

Aunt Beatrice came into view then, clutching Fanny’s hand and accompanied by the two nursemaids. From the other direction, the coachman and footman appeared, all evidently having heard their shouts and grasping the issue at hand.

Angry with Louisa or not, the Duke of Northwick lost no time in giving instructions.

“Benson, hurry to the woods over to the north and head the boy off if he goes that way,” he ordered. “Carter, do the same with the woodland on the eastern side.”

“What about us, Your Grace?” the nursemaids immediately asked as the manservants rushed away.

“Gertie, go back up to the road in case Ezra retraces his steps. Ellen, search the bushes and fences all the way round.

“I’ll check any patches of flowers,” Louisa proposed and received a curt nod. "Ezra loves flowers. He’s always wandering into the rose garden at Wexford Manor and getting scratched.”

“I’ll go downhill towards the next field… Christ, is that a river?!”

Without waiting any longer, the duke took off at a run and Louisa had to stifle a sob of fear.

Aunt Beatrice laid a hand on her arm, always cool-headed even in the worst situations and managing to communicate some of her calm to Louisa.

“Go and look for him, Louisa. The men will surely head off any danger. Fanny and I and will walk about this spot in case Ezra comes back.”

“Ezra is a silly baby,” pronounced Fanny dismissively, although her eyes looked rather frightened. “He shouldn’t run off.”

“He’s not even three,” Louisa said, feeling her lip wobble as she spoke and hurrying away quickly in case she began crying.

Crying would not find Ezra, she told herself sternly and pulled herself together. She began her search in earnest, dashing about between every patch of colored blossoms and blooms she could see in grass, bushes or trees. It felt like forever, although likely it was no more than a matter of minutes before Louisa heard the most wonderful sound in the world: the giggle of a tiny boy.

“Ezra is found!” boomed out the Duke of Northwick’s voice and Louisa spun around to see him coming back up the hill with Ezra riding on his shoulders.

“Oh, thank God!” she cried out and went running through the grass to their side, her knees almost buckling with relief as she reached them. “Ezra, you should not leave my sight. You know you should not! You promised your mother so only this morning.”

“Butterflies!” answered Ezra with another happy giggle, anything he might have agreed to that morning long vanished from his infant mind.

“Butterflies, indeed,” huffed the duke, setting the child down on his feet again. “You have just taken ten years off my life, young man.”

As the other searchers began to re-converge from around the field, Louisa picked up Ezra and hugged him so tightly that he wriggled and complained until she put him down again.

“Ezra found some beautiful yellow butterflies to watch, didn’t you?” said the Duke of Northwick. “Far more interesting than any of us, it seems.”

“Oh, Ezra!” Louisa sighed. “You should always answer when we call you. You know that, don’t you?”

“Butterflies!” Ezra repeated again, blissfully unaware and uninterested in the fright he had given the rest of the party.

Louisa took his hand and led him firmly back towards Aunt Beatrice and Fanny. The duke had now turned away and was following the menservants back towards the road, presumably to check on the progress of repairs to the coach.

“You’re such a silly, Ezra,” his older sister told him in very superior tones.

“There, all is well,” Lady Esher murmured, linking Louisa as she released Fanny into the custody of the nursemaids, all returning to the abandoned dolls’ tea party. “Ezra is found and you can relax. No harm is done.”

Louisa nodded but looked at her aunt with a woebegone face.

“Was it my fault, Aunt Beatrice? I did try to keep track of him but there was so much long grass and Ezra is so tiny.”

“No, these things happen to everyone,” her aunt replied. “I remember losing you once or twice in the park and you were such a little homebody that I couldn’t understand how it happened. You never wanted to be away from me when you first came to Rosemere Hall.”

“I don’t remember,” Louisa confessed but still felt reassured by this story. “Perhaps I was distracted by butterflies too.”

“Perhaps you were,” agreed Lady Esher. “Please don’t blame yourself, Louisa. Only keep a good eye on Ezra now that you’ve been so well reminded of what a little piece of mischief he can be.”

“What if the Duke of Northwick blames me?” Louisa asked, still troubled by this idea and the memory of his thunderous expression when he realized Ezra was missing.