AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His face grew grim. “If so, it will not be a long marriage.”
“Henry, you know there might not be anything we can—”
“You don’t understand,” he interrupted. “I had Fairford investigated, and what we uncovered was more than disturbing. The man is a monster, and I cannot allow her to marry him. We must send riders out to check the roads north for their progress.”
“What is it?” she exclaimed. “What is so horrible that you look as though you’ve seen a ghost? Tell me!”
“My lady, Lord Falloure has arrived,” a servant interrupted.
“Show him in,” Henry commanded him, before the astonished mistress of the house could open her mouth. “If they are no longer engaged, then why is he here?” he asked her.
“To tell Lady Aylesford my news in person and to try and talk some sense into Sabrina,” said Percy from the doorway. He pushed past the servant and entered. “Looks like you’ve beaten me to the mark. Again.”
Lady Aylesford snatched the note and thrust it at Percy, along with the ring. “She’s gone and run off with Fairford!”
He paled. “How long?”
“My God, do you know something as well? Does everyone know except me?” she asked.
Henry came and grasped her shoulders. “How long, Auntie? It’s important.”
“I did not go to bed until just after midnight, and I heard movement in her room as I passed. It had to
have been sometime between midnight and dawn.”
“We must go after them,” he said, looking at Percy again.
“What about that Childers woman? Might she know where he’s taken her?” asked Percy.
Henry shook his head. “She’s his creature…she’ll tell us nothing, and even if she did, we can’t take the chance of trusting her. She might misdirect our efforts out of loyalty to her benefactor.” He paused and then squared his shoulders. “But there is another source we might try. I know where he is keeping the girl he bought from Boucher. We shall go at once.”
“And I shall accompany you,” said Lady Aylesford, rising.
He shook his head. “This is no task for a gently raised female. Percy and I will deal with this. You stay here and see to sending men to search for her in London and on the roads north.”
“You expect me to sit here and wring my hands, waiting for news, worrying myself into a state? I think not! This is my daughter, and I am the Countess of Aylesford. I shall go where I bloody well please, and you cannot prevent it.”
She rang for service and demanded that her carriage be brought around immediately. While they waited for it, she gave the household staff strict orders regarding the matter of her daughter’s disappearance—specifically their silence.
Drawing Henry aside, she lowered her voice. “As for sending out a search party, I have no desire to alert the whole of London to the fact that my daughter has run off with Fairford. If we can find her before anything has happened, I would much rather find a quiet resolution.”
He nodded, knowing her intent.
An hour and a half later, the carriage stopped at a plain house, one of a row of similar, nondescript houses on a quiet street. Another carriage full of footmen in Aylesford livery stopped just behind.
“It looks more respectable than I anticipated,” stated Lady Aylesford.
“Fairford has no interest in people finding out about his proclivities,” Henry muttered, leaping down. “No one would suspect him of keeping a mistress here among the gentry.”
The curtains at the window twitched. Someone knew they were here.
Henry walked up and forcefully banged the knocker.
No answer.
“If you do not grant me entrance, I will have the King’s Guard grant it for me,” he barked, his voice echoing back down the street.
The door cracked open, and a wizened face peered out from the narrow aperture.
