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Daniel relaxed and nodded. "Thank you."
Madison turned to Richard then. Looking him over, he shook his head. "You look remarkably like Dicky."
"We were twins."
"Aye, well, there is a difference in the eyes. When you looked into his they were usually empty or calculating. Yours . . ." He shook his head, apparently unable to come up with a way to describe the difference.
"Perhaps we should move inside now," Richard suggested as a carriage passed by on the street.
"Aye. Let's go in," Madison agreed. "I could use a cup of tea nice and sweet. I got myself all wound up to come here and now feel quite worn out."
"Tea it is, then." Richard pushed the already open door wide and led the way inside.
Daniel gestured for Lord Madison, Lisa and Langley to precede him, and had just followed when a door opened along the hall. As he pulled the front door closed, Suzette stepped into sight from the office and glanced toward them with a smile. "I thought I heard voices out here."
Daniel grimaced and hoped none of the staff had been in the hallway during the conversation that had just taken place. With the door open for the entire duration they would have heard every word of what had just transpired.
Suzette had been glancing over the group, but her eyes widened as she spotted her father. She started forward at once, asking, "Father, what are you doing here?"
"He came to rescue us," Lisa told her with a smile. "He even held Richard and Daniel at gunpoint until Robert and I explained the new situation to him."
"Oh, how sweet." Suzette paused before her father and hugged him, which seemed to leave the man a little startled. Apparently, he hadn't expected a warm greeting from her, and Daniel understood why when she said, "I am sorry I was so angry when we arrived in London, Father. You didn't deserve it." She pulled back and added, "Chrissy says the men think Dicky drugged you and just made you think you'd gambled the money away. It was all a trick to try to get our dowers."
Lord Madison glanced to Richard who nodded and said, "There are rumors that I, or Dicky really, has become quite chummy with the owner of a gaming hell famous for the trick."
"I had begun to suspect as much," Lord Madison admitted, sagging with relief. "I have no recollection of gambling at all, and what recollections I do have of the gaming hell are quite fuzzy flashes of being led through it, people talking and laughing, being told to sign something . . ." He grimaced and shook his head. "I have never cared for gambling and don't even know how to play the games of chance in those places. Yet there was the marker with my signature on it."
Suzette patted his back and hugged him again.
"Well, now that that is all straightened out, why do we not sit down and hear what everyone has learned?" Daniel suggested, eager to change the subject and move it away from anything to do with the markers and Suzette's need for marriage. He slipped to her side so that she now stood between him and her father. While he resisted the urge to take her arm possessively, Daniel wanted to. He wanted to be prepared to whisk her quickly away if Lord Madison should suddenly change his mind and blurt out that he'd sold his townhouse and could now pay the debt. The worry was enough to leave him tense and anxious and he wasn't happy to realize that he would probably remain in this state until he had Suzette wedded and bedded so that their marriage was final and irrevocable, which he couldn't do until they had this blackmail business of Richard's resolved. Fortunately, Richard was as eager to solve the matter as he.
"Yes, let's move into the parlor," his friend suggested, and then as everyone started to gravitate that way, asked, "Where is Christiana?"
"Oh." Suzette suddenly glanced along the hall with a frown. "I was just going in search of her. She was going to have Haversham fetch Freddy to us to interview, but has taken an awfully long time so I thought I'd best check on her."
"George's valet, Freddy?" Richard asked, apparently recognizing the name.
"Yes, George's valet," Suzette confirmed. "We realized that he might not have been fooled by the switch George made and if he somehow saw you the last day or two may realize you are not George. If so, he could be the blackmailer."
"Of course," Richard growled.
Daniel was just thinking they had probably sorted out at least one of their problems when the Radnor butler suddenly came hurrying out of the kitchens.
"Haversham, have you seen my wife?" Richard asked abruptly. "She apparently went looking for you to have you send Freddy to her."
"Actually, my lord, I was just coming to seek you out about that," the man said unhappily. "It appears Lady Radnor was unable to find me and went in search of your valet herself and has now found herself in something of a fix."
"What kind of a fix?" Richard asked with alarm.
"Well, I happened to be passing Freddy's room and overheard him saying that he intended to take her and force you to pay to get her back safely," he admitted grimly. "I believe he is planning to take her around to the office to try to find something first, however, so if we were to hide ourselves away in there and wait for him to approach we may be able to take him by surprise and relieve him of Lady Radnor without her coming to harm."
"That's actually a good plan," Daniel said, eyeing the butler with a new respect. He then glanced to Richard. "We should move quickly though, I don't recall a lot of places in the office to hide."
Richard nodded and turned away, pausing when Langley said, "I am coming too."
"And me," Lord Madison said firmly.
"Me too," Suzette announced.
Daniel frowned and was about to suggest she and the others wait in the parlor when Richard stopped and did it for him.
"There aren't enough hiding spaces for everyone. Robert and Daniel only will come. The rest of you need to get into the parlor and out of the hall so you don't scare Freddy off." His gaze slid to Lord Madison as the man opened his mouth to protest. "I trust you are the only person here who could keep Suzette and Lisa in that parlor."
Much to Daniel's relief, Lord Madison swallowed whatever protest he'd been about to speak and nodded with resignation.
"Do you think Christiana is all right?" Lisa asked, drawing Suzette's unhappy attention.
"Of course she isn't. Freddy has taken her by force and intends to hold her for ransom," Suzette pointed out with exasperation, and then frowned to herself, thinking that if she'd just gone with Christiana things may have turned out differently. That guilt was also making her wish she was out there now, helping to resolve the issue. Instead, she was stuck here in the parlor, being guarded by her father and Haversham.
Suzette scowled. Why was it that whenever there was trouble, the women were expected to sit about and wait, while the men charged in to the rescue?
"I believe I will go have Cook prepare a tea tray," Haversham announced suddenly, starting toward the door to the hall.
"Richard said we were to wait here," Lord Madison reminded him sharply, getting to his feet as if prepared to tackle the man did he not stop.
Suzette felt her eyebrows rise slightly at her father's aggressive stance. Whether he would have actually stopped the man or not, they would never know, because the butler paused at the door and turned back.
"Yes, he did, my lord," the man agreed politely. "However, it does occur to me that if we do not attempt to present at least a semblance of normalcy, it may spook Lady Christiana's kidnapper. And while it would seem perfectly natural for the three of you to be visiting in here together, my being here is far from natural."
Suzette glanced to her father to see him looking uncertain. "He is right, Father. It isn't normal, and that alone might spook Christiana's kidnapper and make him leave with her rather than risk going to the office. Surely, Haversham should just go about his duties?"
"I suppose," Cedrick Madison murmured reluctantly. Heaving a sigh, he nodded. "Very well, go ahead, but stay away from the office and don't do anything that might spook him."
"Very good, my lord."
Suzette watched enviously as H
aversham slid from the room, and then stood and hurried to the door, murmuring, "I will just tell him to ask Cook for some pastries as well. Something sweet might settle my nerves."
"Suzette," her father said sharply.
"I won't be a moment," she assured him, speeding up to escape the room before he could protest further.
As she'd hoped, Haversham was already gone from the hall when she burst into it. Suzette turned to glance toward the office, debating going to listen at the door to see if anything was happening, but then turned sharply toward the kitchen instead when she heard her father's voice through the door, muffled but drawing closer. Hurrying up to the kitchen door as if she'd really intended to go that way all along, Suzette pushed into the room just as the parlor door opened behind her.
She heard her father hiss her name, but then the door closed behind her. Besides, Suzette wasn't paying attention anyway. Her eyes immediately searched the room for Haversham and widened when she found him. The butler was just heading out the back door with a rather large, wicked-looking butcher knife in hand.
"I suspect we shall be waiting a long time for that tea," she commented dryly.
