The Duke Conspiracy (35 page)

Before the baron was able to respond to
Alex's words, the gentlemen were interrupted by a commotion in the
foyer. Lady Smythe could be heard demanding of the butler. “Is my
lord husband at home? I must speak to him at once.” The butler must
have hesitated momentarily for she repeated herself, “At once, I
tell you!”

The baron went to the door of the receiving
room. “I am here, my lady, what seems to be the trouble?”

Lady Smythe hurried toward her husband. “You
must do something, my lord. I am near my wit's end. He has taken my
baby girl.”

Lord Smythe looked beyond his wife to see
that she had been accompanied by Lord Dunbar. Gathering his wife
into the crook of his arm, the baron said calmly, “Perhaps we ought
to all adjoin to the receiving room. Won't you join us, my
lord?”

The trio made their way back into the room
Lord Smythe had just vacated but they were brought up short by Lady
Smythe's shock at seeing the Duke of Wrentham in her front
room.

“What is he doing here, my lord? Surely this
night has enough drama in it without adding a Wrentham to the
mess.”

Lord Smythe smiled at his wife and urged her
to a seat. “It would seem he is here with the same concerns as you
have.” Looking at Lord Dunbar questioningly, he continued speaking
to his wife. “I am curious to know how you have arrived at your
concerns.”

“Oh my lord, Rosamund's friend Lady
Elizabeth, and this dear gentleman, came to me at the ball to say
that our daughter has gone missing. They are under the impression
that Sir Broderick is somehow involved. I am unsure why they would
think that nice man could have anything to do with anything bad
happening to my daughter but anyhow, she was nowhere to be found at
the Rotherhams. Of course, we did not do as thorough of a search as
I would have liked, but the nice young people assured me that
alerting everyone to her absence would be harmful to her
reputation. Lord Dunbar was quite convinced that we shall be able
to recover her before anything irrevocable is done to her and no
one needs to be any the wiser. I am unsure if you will think that
it was acceptable to leave the ball without her, but his lordship
was quite convinced that it would be best if I was to return home
and discuss the matter with you.”

Lord Smythe patted his wife's hand
soothingly. “You did just the right thing, my dear. Perhaps you
ought to go lie down now. I am sure this has been quite the shock
for you.”

Lady Smythe began to rise from her chair to
do as he suggested, but then thought better of it and instilled a
bit of iron to her drooping spine. “I do believe, my lord, that it
would be best if I remain here and wait to see if there is anything
I can do to help in this strange situation.” Looking toward the
duke for the first time since her initial shock, she continued,
“And I really must know what Wrentham is doing in my receiving
room.”

The baron appeared nonplussed by his wife's
words and Alex could see that Wesley was not going to step in to
cover the awkward moment, so the duke stepped forward to explain
his presence. “I know I am not an invited guest in your home, my
lady, however, I came to inform you and your husband about your
daughter's abduction.”

“But how do you come to be involved? Are you
here to make demands of us?” Lady Smythe was clearly struggling to
keep the shrill from her voice but it echoed slightly off the high
ceiling despite her efforts.

“Of course not, my lady. I merely have
information to share. I suspect Broderick thinks he has snatched
her without anyone being the wiser so we might have the advantage.
If we can manage to find her tonight we should be able to keep her
safe and still thwart whatever schemes he is plotting.”

Lady Smythe gazed at the duke rather dazedly.
“But I really do not understand any of this. Why would Sir
Broderick do something so dastardly? He seems like such a nice man.
Surely he must realize that if he wanted to pay her his respects he
would be more than welcome.”

The baron and the duke both gazed at her with
amazement before sharing a remarkably companionable look of
commiseration. Lady Smythe's look of confusion was changing once
more into an accusation. “I think you are just trying to divert our
attention from your own dastardly deeds and placing the blame on
poor Sir Broderick. What have you done with my daughter, you
despicable rake?”

Alex was struck silent by his surprise over
the lady's misguided opinions. His shock grew to new levels when
Lord Smythe stepped in to his defense.

“My lady wife, I am amazed that you would
even consider thinking about allowing Sir Broderick to call upon
our daughter. He is the dastardly fellow in all of this, not His
Grace.” At the look of incredulity written upon his wife's face,
the baron could not help laughing slightly. “Yes, yes, I know, I
would normally have nothing good to say about Wrentham, but under
these circumstances, I do believe him. I do not wish to get into
all the details with you at this time, but I am already aware of
Rosamund's involvement with Broderick and his schemes. She had
gleaned some information which she passed onto me just this
afternoon. If His Grace tells us that she has been abducted by the
knight then, unfortunately, I am inclined to believe him. And in
that case we need to be as polite as possible in order to gain his
assistance in retrieving her as quickly and safely as possible.”
Seeing that his wife was now beginning to look mutinous, Lord
Smythe continued. “If you do not think you can manage to be civil
to His Grace while he is in our house then it might be best if you
retire to your room and wait until he takes his leave.”

Lady Smythe looked flummoxed by her husband's
declaration, but aside from casting a glare in the direction of the
duke she did not add anything further. She daintily sank back down
onto the settee and clasped her hands in her lap. Plastering a
reasonably pleasant smile onto her face, she looked back at her
husband and asked, “What are you planning to do to ensure that we
do not lose another one of our children, my lord?”

The three gentlemen in the room shuffled
their feet uncomfortably for a moment before Alex finally took
control. “Thank you for hearing me out, my lord. I took the liberty
of arranging for some of my men to report to me here as I wished to
inform you of all that I know at the earliest possible moment.
Earlier today I had set a couple of my runners to watching
Broderick, so I am confident we shall soon be receiving word of
where Rosie might be being kept.” He did not even notice that he
had slipped into referring to her in such a familiar way, but when
he caught the baron's skeptical look he felt the heat rising in his
face.

Wesley finally stepped forward at the perfect
moment to relieve the duke of his discomfort, drawing attention to
his presence. “I am unsure if Wrentham has explained this to you
yet, my lord, but I have already told your wife about what Lady
Elizabeth saw this evening.”

“Yes, yes, my lord, his grace already told me
about it before you got here. I do believe he is right and time is
no doubt of the essence. We ought not to sit around here dithering.
Your Grace, when do you expect to hear word from your men? I too
had set men to watching the knight today after I had spoken with my
daughter. Hopefully they will be able to report something useful
before too very long.”

“That is most excellent, my lord,” Alex
responded. “I cannot say for certain when I will hear from my men.
If they cannot leave their post it might be difficult for them to
get a message to me. It might be best if we set out on a search
ourselves. I cannot be comfortable with the thought of Miss Smythe
in the clutches of that man for a moment longer than
necessary.”

“It has already been longer than necessary,”
Lord Smythe grumbled. “I am still trying to understand why the girl
took so long in coming to me with her information. Perhaps we could
have prevented this entire scene from even happening.”

“Hopefully you will have all the time in the
world to discuss your questions with her after we have gotten her
to safety, my lord. I would like to demand what she was thinking to
go off with him in the first place. According to Lady Elizabeth it
does not appear as though the dastard used force.”

Lord Smythe again gazed at the duke with a
look that bordered on empathetic. “Surely you realize, Your Grace,
that my daughter is not one that enjoys being told what to do. If
you did anything so foolish as to tell her not to speak with the
knight then that could explain this entire scenario.”

Alex grinned. “I am becoming aware of that
tendency, my lord. However, the blame for this cannot be placed at
my feet. I did not tell her anything, nor did I try to tell her
what to do, aside from be careful, which I think is innocuous
enough that it should not lead her to go off in the company of the
villain of the piece.”

Lord Smythe nodded. “It is possible that he
threatened her or someone she loves in some way in order to secure
her cooperation. There is no blame to be placed, Your Grace. At
least not in this particular instance,” he interjected darkly.

Seeing his friend Lord Dunbar twitch as
though he wished to defend the duke, Alex caught his eye and shook
his head slightly, quelling the impulse. Getting to his feet, Alex
turned to face his baron host. “Thank you for seeing me, my lord. I
hope I shall soon have gladder tidings. I am not sure what you
intend to do. I cannot bear to sit here waiting to hear what my
runners have gleaned. If you shall be home, would you be so kind as
to interview them and send word to my house if there is anything
pertinent to the search? I am going to swing by my house and see if
any messages have arrived there, and then I am going to pursue a
few leads that I can already think of from research I have
previously done.”

The baron, too, had risen to his feet during
this speech. “I feel as though I ought to accompany you, but
perhaps if we were to divide our efforts, we could get twice as
much ground covered. I also feel that I cannot just stand here
waiting. Since you have arranged for some of your men to report
here, why do we not agree to meet back here in a couple of hours
and share whatever we have been able to find out. Then if your men
are here we can speak to them together and decide how best to
proceed from there.”

It was obvious to all in the room that Lord
Smythe was doing his best to be cordial and make the most of an
uncomfortable situation. He, no doubt, appreciated the duke's offer
to help despite the tensions between their two families. Lady
Smythe was not so accommodating.

“He cannot return here, my lord,” she
hissed.

Alex controlled his amused smile over the
uncomfortable look that descended upon the baron's face at his
wife's words.

“I have spoken, my lady. It is best to be
done this way.” At her continued mumblings of disagreement, Lord
Smythe looked at her sternly. “He is a duke. Even though he is
young and inexperienced there will be doors he can open that are
closed to me. It shall be a productive cooperation. We will be able
to accomplish the most in the shortest amount of time if we work
together. Do you not want our daughter home as soon as
possible?”

“Well of course I do, do not be
ridiculous.”

“Then don't
you
be ridiculous, my
lady. We need His Grace's help, so make an effort to be gracious
about it.”

Lady Smythe's color was high and she looked
uncomfortable to the extreme when Alex made good his escape from
the room with Wesley in tow.

As they rode away Lord Dunbar whistled low.
“I can safely say I have never seen such a scene as I just
witnessed. I never would have thought I would see the day that the
mother of a young, unwed girl would be so rude to an unmarried
duke. It just isn't done.” He chuckled before asking, “What could
you have possibly done to put you so beyond the pale in their
eyes?”

“Surely you knew about the feud between our
two families,” Alex replied, not bothering to explain any further,
intent upon the task at hand.

“I did, of course, although I think it
completely daft, but I had no idea it was to such an extreme. The
woman wanted to have you tossed bodily from her home.” Wesley was
incredulous.

“Never mind that for now, we have more
important things to think upon right now. Are you sure you are up
to this adventure tonight?”

“I am shocked you would even ask, Your Grace.
I would be loath to be anywhere else.”

“Thank you, my friend. I so appreciate your
help. Now, since we are both dressed for something other than the
low adventure we are about to face, I propose that we each head
home and quickly divest ourselves of our finery and meet at my
house as soon as possible. Hopefully there will be some word to
give us direction from there.”

Wesley saluted smartly and headed off to his
rooms without another word. Alex urged his mount to a faster pace
and within a couple of minutes pulled up in the mews behind his
house. Tossing his reigns to his waiting groom, Alex began striding
purposefully toward the door before he thought better of it and
turned back to exchange a few words with the groom.

“There is a strong possibility I shall need
your help tonight. How many strong, sharp, discreet men could we
muster from the household staff for what could be a rough
fight?”

The groom did not so much as blink over this
question, quickly replying, “I should think we have at least twenty
that could fit that description, Your Grace.”

At the back of his mind Alex wondered what
kind of adventures his father had gotten up to that the staff would
be so sanguine about what he was asking. Hiding his misgivings, the
duke replied to the waiting servant. “Very well, thank you. I
require more information before we need to summon everyone. Please
keep yourself in readiness, but it would be best if the others get
their rest while they can.”