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“I am looking for her,” she replied, frowning. “I have been searching for a while now.”
Dread began to rise in his chest but he pushed it down. Emma had probably not looked well. The castle was massive, and Diana was fond of finding quiet places to hide. He could easily imagine her doing so to avoid her parents.
“When did you see her last?”
“I left her in the red-drawing room with her parents but only her father is there now.” Emma’s brows were wrinkled with worry, and his gut tightened.
“Could she be with her mother?”
“I spoke to her just now. Diana left her an hour ago. Matthew, no servant I questioned has seen her.”
“She is in the castle somewhere, Emma. Do not worry.” He did not believe those words as he uttered them, and his heart began to pound. He turned and marched down to the drawing room.
Viscount Edgington was in a chair reading a book, and the instant Matthew walked in, he gained his feet and bowed cordially. “Your Grace, I presume?”
“Yes,” Matthew said urgently. Now was not the time for introductions and pleasantries. “When did you last see Diana?”
“She went up with her mother some time ago,” Edgington replied, frowning. “Is something the matter, Your Grace?”
“That is what I want to find out.” Matthew walked out of the room and headed in the direction of the library. Emma followed him.
“I told you, Matthew, she is not in any of the rooms I searched,” she insisted.
“And how many rooms have you searched?”
“All of the drawing-rooms, the galleries, the library, the conserva—"
He stopped abruptly and she almost crashed into him. The sound of his heart thundering filled his ears as he thought of her absence being connected to the intruder. His very being ferociously denied it but the coincidence was too great to ignore. “Emma,” he said, barely recognizing his own voice, “Have every room in the castle searched. I will look around the premises.”
He did not wait for her to respond before he hurried back to the front hall. As soon as he stepped out of the castle, he began to run toward the stables to find Glover because he was supposed to return their horses. Matthew found him on the way and slowed.
“What happened?” Glover asked the instant he saw him.
“I cannot find Diana,” he said, and Glover’s grave expression told Matthew that he had the same suspicions.
They abandoned the horses and hurried toward the stables to find some well-rested ones because these were tired, and the stable hand, Martin, would nurture them back to fitness. Matthew had called the other stable hands to search, leaving Martin alone, but he did not see him anywhere when they arrived at the stables.
He proceeded into one of the buildings to saddle a horse himself, and the sight that met him was a restless mare. It struck its hooves against the ground when it saw Matthew, and his attention was immediately drawn to a reticule that could only be Diana’s.
Matthew tried to breathe as he went to pick it up, his jaw clenched so hard he could grind his teeth to powder. “Is that hers?” Glover asked from behind him, and he nodded, opening the reticule. He was unsure why he did that, but he supposed he was hoping to find something, anything, that could lead him to Diana.
There was a folded piece of paper inside and he took it out and unfolded it, his blood freezing the instant he saw penmanship that greatly resembled his, especially when he wrote in haste. Diana had been here, believing she was going to ride with him.
“Damn it!” he cursed and thrust the note into Glover’s hand. “I do not know where to begin looking for her.”
Glover read the note, his frown deepening with every word. “I am certain some of the servants were involved in this wretched scheme. We should return to the castle, Your Grace.”
“Question them to find a clue,” Matthew said, closing his eyes. He had to concentrate and not allow his fears to cripple him; it was the only way he could find her. In his efforts to locate a threat, he had taken his eyes away from her, and could now lose her entirely. Matthew ground his teeth, because blaming himself was useless, yet he could not stop.
When they returned to the castle, they met a commotion in the front hall. Martin was on his knees and sobbing while McGill and a footman were holding him down. Albert was in front of the boy, listening to him.
“What is going on here?” Matthew demanded.
“Martin appears to know what happened to Diana,” Albert replied.
Matthew looked down at Martin. “What happened to her?”
“I did not want to do it, Your Grace,” he cried. “The man forced me, threatened to kill my sick mother.”
