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“I think you had better tell me what else has been going on around here, sister mine, and be quick about it,” he warned darkly, inwardly rather pleased that matters had turned out just the way he had hoped.
Once Trenton had gone, Adelaide turned to her brother. “You knew he was going to offer for her, didn’t you?”
Jeremiah nodded slowly. “He came to see me just after Ursula had left. When I told him I had sent her here to find a husband, he was like a cat with hot paws. He told me not to accept any offer for her until she returned to Yorkshire. Meantime, he would escort her and ensure she was looked after. He was quite adamant about it as a matter of fact.”
“Does his father know? I mean, Ursula doesn’t have a title you know,” Adelaide cautioned.
“I spoke to his father several weeks ago. He was most disturbed by the gossip that Trenton was going to offer for Barbarella. It was part of the reason why he summoned Trenton back to Yorkshire. He wanted to hear from his son whether the rumours were true or not. That was when he said that he would much prefer Trenton marry Ursula; a local girl with good connections.” Jeremiah coughed and shifted in his seat. “She could do far worse than Trenton.”
“You scheming old matchmaker,” Adelaide declared, not sure if she was appalled or delighted.
“A man does what he can,” Jeremiah replied, completely unperturbed.
“You took an incredible risk, you know, sending her here. What if someone else caught her eye before Trenton did?”
“If the determination Trenton had on his face when he left my house was any indication, Ursula wouldn’t have stood a chance of getting better acquainted with anyone else. Why, the speed in which he left Yorkshire set even his own father to wondering if there was something, or someone, he desperately needed to see.” He looked knowingly at Adelaide. “There was: Ursula.”
Adelaide nodded. “So you thought that by mentioning to Trenton that Ursula was coming to London to find herself a husband, Trenton may come here to see her for himself.”
“They have lived next door to each other all of their lives. Why, anybody who had eyes in their head who saw them together was aware that neither of them could take their eyes off each other whenever they crossed paths. Trenton’s father often joked that Trenton hadn’t offered for anyone because he was waiting for Ursula.” Jeremiah shook his head as he stared thoughtfully into the fire. “He was right, wasn’t he?”
“You are a crafty old goat, Jeremiah. Really you are,” Adelaide murmured with no hint of censure. Instead, she stood up and poured him another brandy.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
As Trenton stalked down the Ladies Mile, his scowl deepened as his worry grew. The weather had started to close in and from the look of things, the heavens were about to open. As a result, the usually busy pavements were now deserted because many had returned to the warmth of their sitting rooms. The lack of pedestrians gave him a clear view of the path ahead but he couldn’t see her.
“Where the hell are you?” He growled aloud as he scoured the empty side paths.
Given how wayward she could be sometimes, he wondered if she had told Adelaide she was going to the Ladies’ Mile, but had instead gone somewhere else. Where would a young lady like Ursula go though?
Determined to find her before the darkened sky released its deluge, Trenton increased his pace.
“Let’s go back,” Ursula sighed once she and Molly reached the end of the Ladies’ Mile. “I don’t like the look of those clouds.”
“It’s going to rain before we get home,” Molly replied dourly.
Ursula shook her head. “It will if we go through the park. I think we need to go down the pavement. It looks almost empty and is less meandering.”
As they made their way to the pavement that ran around the outskirts of the park, Ursula studied the trees around them. A cool wind swirled, heightening the rather heavy atmosphere. She could practically feel danger lurking all around her, and wondered if Alfred Sinnerton was still hidden in the bushes.
She had seen him earlier, standing hidden in the depths of the shadows - waiting. It was clear from the way he was leaning against a tree that he had been there for some time and had been following them, but why? What did he want?
“Molly?”
“Yes miss?”
Ursula scoured the trees beside them. “Keep an eye out for Alfred Sinnerton in the trees. He is a thin young man, about mid-twenties, with dark brown hair and even darker eyes.”
“Yes, miss,” Molly replied warily.
Suddenly, the low rumble of carriage wheels grew startlingly loud. Her eyes widened at the sight of the huge black carriage that rumbled to a stop right beside her. Before she could move, Alfred Sinnerton and his sister jumped down.
“What are you doing?” she gasped when Hyacinth ran straight past her and launched herself at Molly.
Before Ursula could intervene, she was grabbed around the waist and hauled off her feet by Alfred. Her scream was muted by the gloved hand he clamped painfully over her mouth. Although she twisted, wriggled and writhed, she was no match for Alfred’s strength and was dragged relentlessly toward the carriage.
“Get off me,” she gasped when she succeeded in yanking her head to one side. Her only answer was to have her hips shov
