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“Oh!” Hattie gasped and turned back to Giulia before addressing her in a low and serious voice. “One of our footmen found an intruder trying to break into our cellar just yesterday! The person got away before they could be detained. But the odd thing was…”
“Yes?” Giulia asked, resisting the urge to shake Hattie into spilling the details with better haste.
Her small, upturned nose wrinkled. “It was a woman. Surely a woman wouldn’t have shot at Mr. Pepper. Or at you.”
The room was quiet as each lady considered the implications.
Giulia rose. It could not be a coincidence. “I must tell my uncle at once.”
“Absolutely,” Mabel agreed. “Shall we leave you?”
Giulia halted. She was sorry to see them go, but this was a matter that needed tending to. Time was quite literally of the essence. “I hate to say goodbye so soon, particularly after you went out of your way to come visit me.”
“We will see you again soon,” Amelia promised.
Giulia hugged each of her friends and bid them farewell, leading them to the front entryway.
“We shall see you at the ball,” Hattie exclaimed as she walked through the door. They left Giulia grinning, but the expression was quickly replaced with determination.
Now, to locate the earl.
She sped back to his study and rapped her knuckles on the door, opening it when she was bid.
“Oh good, you are both here,” she said as she crossed to where Lord Hart and Nick sat on either side of the large desk. Their faces were turned toward her with mirrored images of surprise and she paused alongside Nick, clasping her hands before her. “There has been a development,” she began. Lord Hart nodded at her to continue. “I have been visiting with Hattie Green, and she informed me that her father has recently found an intruder on his land. They could not catch her, but—”
“Her?” Nick asked, jumping up from his seat. “It must be your mother.”
“My thoughts, also,” Giulia agreed.
Nick circled the chair. “I must go out at once. Surely if I search the property between here and the Greens’—”
Lord Hart sputtered, his face mottled red. “But surely if Jolly—”
“Jolly has no scruples!” Nick yelled. “If the woman offered him more money than we did he would not hesitate to heed or assist her, regardless of his promises.”
The men stared at one another and Giulia bit her tongue. Though she really would like to know who this Jolly character was.
“You must be right,” the earl muttered. “If a person was found hiding on the Greens’ property, then Jolly should have come to inform me. He would have heard news of it by now.”
“We must devise a new plan. He cannot be trusted.”
“Who? The man who shot you or this Jolly fellow?” Giulia asked. Both men turned to her as if only now remembering that she was in the room. “Well, which one isn’t to be trusted?”
“Both, apparently,” Nick responded. “We still do not know who shot me. But we should assume for the present that your mother did not come to England alone. She could not have done all of this without help and remained undetected. I shall go.”
“No,” Lord Hart said. “It should be me. I have other loyal informants if Jolly refuses to talk.”
Nick lowered his voice. “I thought we decided that you would not leave the castle until this threat has been neutralized.”
“Ha!” The earl laughed, causing Giulia to flinch. “You decided that, my boy. I hide from no one.” He beat a hand to his chest. “I am a Pepper man.”
“Then we shall go together. And do not bother arguing”—Nick raised a hand—“I am coming either way.”
“Then I shall remain here and wait?” Giulia asked, irritation coloring her voice. Her hands found their way to her hips. “And if you discover my mother, will that threat be neutralized as well?”
“Never,” Lord Hart said quietly.
