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Chapter Fifteen
Dash’s heart thrashedagainst his chest as if he had spent a round at Gleason’s boxing club as he ascended the steps to Clifton house. He had been waiting for this moment for three long, lonely years. It was time to claim Perdita. He had done the honorable thing by walking away, but he no longer had to think of protecting her from scandal or his estate and the people who relied on him. She belonged with him. And he had been a fool to think he could survive without her. He could now provide a secure future for her. And make her happy.
Although it was now past eleven p.m., he couldn’t wait to share the news of Roddy. Anything that would alleviate some of her worries. He felt hopeful for the first time, and nothing would stop him from being near Perdita.
After speaking with Rathbourne, he had met with Pitt, which took much longer than he had intended. It had taken hours to find the man. Dash then had to return to Rathbourne to share the important intelligence that Roddy was involved in espionage.
Pitt had been reticent to share the plan to have Napoleon assassinated by French royalists. Once Dash had the motive for Roddy’s kidnapping, it gave focus to Rathbourne’s men’s search. It would only be a matter of time before they would find him. And then Dash could plan his future with Perdita. He would never expect her to wed without Roddy at her side.
Reese, a gigantic man with black hair and eyes, was at his post at the front door. Dash paused at the top of the outside steps, searching for the men he had assigned to guard the house. Dash spotted his man rounding the corner on his night watch. There were now three men who patrolled the grounds in shifts. All was in order. For the first time in days, the tightness in his chest had dissipated.
“Good evening, my lord.” Reese stepped aside to allow Dash’s entry. Reese’s manner of speech never betrayed his Welsh roots.
“I would like to speak with Lady Perdita. It is important. I assume you would have notified me if there was any concern.” Dash had instructed both Reese and Dr. Needham to send for him immediately with any change in Perdita’s health.
“Of course, my lord. I understood your instructions. Lady Perdita should be home soon if you want to wait in the library. Is there anything I can get you while you wait?”
Red spots burst in front of Dash’s eyes as his muscles clenched into fighting mode. Perdita, with a head injury and bruised ribs, had gone out after last night’s assault. What danger was she pursuing while he believed she was resting at home? He had instructed the guards not to allow anyone onto the estate, but he hadn’t considered he should have instructed them not to allow Perdita to leave. Harry wouldn’t have allowed her to go anywhere without him.
Reese stepped back, sensing the outburst about to spew from Dash’s mouth.
Dash swallowed hard against directing the anger at the butler, who had always welcomed and treated him as part of the family since the first time Dash came home from Eton with Roddy. But Dash couldn’t stop the furious flush creeping up his collar into his face as he tried to contain his escalating exasperation. He liked order and for people to remain where he expected them to be.
“Perchance, can you explain to me what was of such import that the lady whom I left under a doctor’s care needed to attend?”
“Lady Perdita slept all day, my lord, and rose quite restored. She has always been quick to recover from her injuries. She has a very strong constitution. Even as a girl, she never…”
Dash took one breath and then another. He was convinced steam must be blowing out of his ears. He spoke slowly and clearly. “Reese, where did she go?”
“She and Miss Rothsby are attending Lady Rathbourne’s soiree. The event is to benefit the French emigres. Lady Perdita and Lady Rathbourne have formed a bond over their mutual French heritage. Lady Perdita has always had a soft spot for the poor French souls who fled during the scourge and now those who are fleeing Napoleon’s tyranny. The event is very important to Lady Perdita.”
Perdita’s French grandmere was one of the souls who had to flee and resided with the family when Perdita was a young girl. Her husband wasn’t as lucky to escape. As young children, Perdita and Roddy received affection and care from their grandmere in place of their absent parents. It was a huge loss for brother and sister when they were left with no one. Dash’s mother had died during childbirth, so he never grieved as Roddy and Perdita had since he didn’t know what he had missed. And his stepmother was not the nurturing type and might be part of the reason she never conceived the spare heir. She had tried to seduce him when he was fifteen years old. He had pensioned her off to Scotland, never to return once he assumed the title.
“Yes, of course. I know how generous Lady Perdita is.” She always had a soft spot for the wounded. He was the perfect example of her need to rescue any suffering human or animal. He shouldn’t be surprised by her charitable work or that she was friends with Rathbourne’s wife. What had Rathbourne said when Dash was leaving tonight? “If you love someone, you’ll do anything, sacrifice anything to make them happy.”
Dash wanted to spend his life making her happy. Just not allow her to take dangerous risks by being involved with covert work. Now that he thought about it, the school was a perfect solution for Perdita’s need to be involved in the war effort. She could train others and oversee rather than put herself in jeopardy.
“She was feeling well enough to attend?” He had seen the carriages arriving at the Rathbourne estate, but he was focused on reporting his findings and not the evening’s social events. Dash considered for a brief moment whether to ride back to Rathbourne’s estate in search of Perdita. He was exhausted from traversing London in search of Pitt and was in no mood to share Perdita with society. He wanted to be alone with her.
“Yes. She was in good spirits.” Reese escorted Dash to the library. “Would you like a tray, my lord? I know you’ve had a very demanding day.”
“Thank you, Reese. I just realized I haven’t eaten much today.” He had been in a rush to get back to Perdita.
Dash ate the hearty fare that Totty had prepared with a snifter of brandy and then leaned back against the settee and closed his eyes for a brief respite.
He bolted awake at the sound of the door opening and the quietshushof fabric along the wood floor.
Perdita had returned from her soiree and was moving across the room. “I’m sorry to awaken you. But Reese said you have important news.”
He stood, tugging at his waistcoat, and ran his hand through his disheveled hair from today’s heavy demands. He searched her face for signs of exhaustion or the aftereffects of her combat in the stables.
She showed no consequences of fending off two boxers with a pitchfork. She in fact looked more lovely in tonight’s fashion. Her curls, except for a few wisps on her forehead and cheeks, were tucked into a blue turban, most likely to hide her scalp wound. The turban showcased her large and luminescent eyes shining as blue as the pendant from her grandmother, which rested on her glowing skin.
“I apologize. I must have drifted off waiting for you.”
“You haven’t slept since Haversham’s have you?” With her radiant warmth directed at him, the coldness of the years melted away. It was a beautiful flashback of what his life had been like with Perdita. And what his future held.
“I’m sorry to have made you wait.” She sat on a chair across from him, wincing when she attempted to reposition the pillow.
