The Duke Conspiracy (37 page)

“But this infernal delay is driving me mad,”
the duke declared.

“I cannot conceive of why this is of concern
to you, Your Grace,” Lady Smythe complained. Catching her husband's
censorious glance she interjected, “Not that I am complaining about
your help, of course, Your Grace, I am merely surprised that you
would seem to be so invested in it.”

Alex was feeling frantic for Rose's return,
but was unwilling to explain himself to her mother. He knew the
answer he was about to give was weak, but he gave it anyway. “I am
involved, my lady, and I hate feeling thwarted.”

It seemed to be a sentiment all in the room
could relate to, as no one dismissed it and most nodded their
head.

Lady Elizabeth had come by to see if there
was any word. Since there was no good news and very little she
could do to help, she stood to take her leave. “My dear Lady
Smythe, I do not wish to be a burden for you to entertain at this
time so I shall leave you for now. Please know that I am ever ready
to be of any assistance to you.”

“Thank you, my lady. We sincerely appreciate
that. Hopefully we shan't need to, but we will call upon you if
needed. And I promise you we shall send word as soon as we know
anything.”

The assembled gentlemen all bowed to her as
she left but had little to say. Lord Dunbar escorted her from the
room.

Lady Smythe had resumed her seat and was
absently wringing her hands. “This wretched waiting is what makes
it so awful, my lord. Why have we heard nothing? Do not most
abductors make demands of some sort so that you can pay a ransom
and be done with it?”

“Can you not find something to occupy
yourself with, my dear? I do not think it is healthful for you to
sit here worrying yourself into a state,” Lord Smythe was in no
position to comfort his wife as he too was nearly beside himself
with worry.

“No, I cannot occupy myself with something,
my lord. What would you have me do? Take up my needlework?” she
laughed mirthlessly.

“Perhaps you could go and make some calls,
act as though naught is amiss, lest anyone wonder what has become
of her.”

“There is absolutely no way my acting skills
could stretch that far, my lord, I can assure you. But you do raise
a good point. What are we to do if we cannot recover her shortly?
There will be talk and she shall be ruined.”

“We shall have to invent a story. Maybe you
really should go and call on someone who gossips. Come up with a
story that she has gone to the country to visit a friend or a
relative and spread it about.”

“Nobody would believe that a debutante is
going to leave Town at the height of the Season, my lord,” Lady
Smythe declared, panicking, becoming more shrill the longer she
spoke. “My darling daughter is going to be ruined through no fault
of her own. And then where will we be?”

Alex could not bear the older woman's
distress. “Have no fear, my lady. Rosie will never be ruined. I
shall marry her and restore her to Society. No one would dare to
whisper about the Duchess of Wrentham.”

Stunned silence descended upon the room for a
moment before Lady Smythe burst out with inflammatory words. “I
would rather she be ruined than be a Wrentham,” she spat. “Your
family shall not steal another child from me.”

“My lady, please, how can you speak thus?”
chastised Lord Dunbar disbelieving the words he was hearing.

“The previous Duke of Wrentham was
responsible for the death of my firstborn, I will not let the
current duke get his hands on my daughter,” Lady Smythe looked like
a vengeful angel with her pale skin and her dove gray gown flowing
as she paced in her wrath.

“But how could the Duke of Wrentham have had
anything to do with your son's death? He was so happy to be off to
the war. It had nothing to do with Wrentham.”

Lady Smythe gazed at Wesley, her expression
arrested. “What could you possibly know about the matter?” she
demanded.

“I was there. I was in the same regiment as
both your son and Wrentham's brother.” Wesley looked between the
Smythes and Alex, amazed that they were all gazing at him
searchingly. “Surely you all realize how much they both wanted to
be there.”

“My son never said anything about enlisting.
He must have just gone because he felt such a loyalty to his
friend. The last duke was such a wretch, no doubt his son thought
the only avenue of escape was to enlist. My dear boy had to go
too.” Lady Smythe muffled her sob with the handkerchief she hastily
held to her face.

Gently, Dunbar sat next to her and took her
other hand. “I am loath to contradict you, my lady, but I have to
tell you that both the boys joined up without telling each other.
They both thought the other ought not to, but they each wanted to
do so quite urgently. They were so happy to discover they were both
there independently and despite the trials and privations of being
in the army's camp, they both thought it almost a lark right to the
very end. They were so eager for an adventure.”

“But why would my dear son want to join up?
And why would he not tell us that he wished to do so?” Lady Smythe
was clearly bewildered.

“I cannot rightly say why he did not tell
you. I do know that Luke thought you would be proud of him for
doing what he thought as his duty to his country. He felt that it
would put him in better stead to follow in his father's footsteps
as a diplomat if he fully understood what they were battling over.
It seemed as though he felt very strongly on the matter, but he did
not wish Wrentham's brother to know because your son felt that it
was Maxwell's duty as heir to a dukedom to remain at home, and Luke
did not want to make his friend feel divided in his loyalties.”
Turning to Alex, Wesley continued his tale. “On the other hand,
your brother really
did
wish fervently to get away from
home. He felt terrible for leaving you behind and he did not wish
to tell either you or Luke that he was going for fear that you
would wish to accompany him. Someone had to stay home and be the
responsible heir,” Dunbar explained with a lopsided grin.

There was a pause as everyone absorbed the
viscount's words, but then Alex prodded for more information. “But
you say they were happy?”

“Oh yes, Your Grace, very much so. Both of
them were delighted when they discovered that each of them was
there without any prompting from the other. They acted like boys.
In a way I do not think either of them realized the gravity of the
situation, nor do I think they thought there was any possibility of
them getting injured, let alone killed. But they most definitely
were happy. They took to the regiment life like naturals. They
acted as I would imagine they did when they were away at school. It
was often hard to believe that they were men and soldiers, not the
schoolboys they resembled.”

Lady Smythe let out a watery chuckle as
Wesley's tale wound down. “They always were such rascals when they
were getting into mischief together.”

Lord Smythe had come to stand behind his
wife. With his hand upon her shoulder to offer her comfort, he
looked at the duke sitting in his receiving room. “While I cannot
condone some of the words your father said to us at the time of our
sons' deaths, I realize now that none of this situation was any of
your making, Your Grace. Please accept our apologies for any
rudeness we may have subjected you to, as well as our condolences
at the loss of your brother. Over the past couple of years many
have told me that we ought to be sharing our grief with your family
instead of blaming each other. I can see now that they were
right.”

Alex smiled sadly at the older man. He was
glad that relations between their families could warm but it did
not change the fact that the young men were dead nor that Rose was
still missing. “Thank you, my lord. I do appreciate that. We shall
have to get Dunbar here to visit my mother when this situation is
cleared up and retell this story to her. But in the meantime, I
feel as though I must do something. Are you absolutely certain
there is no one else you can speak to who might have some
information that could be pertinent?” Alex had stood up and begun
to pace as he was speaking. “Why does no one have anything new to
tell us?” he demanded in frustration.

Just then there was a knock on the front door
and the butler ushered in a rather scruffy looking man. “Jim is
here to see you, Your Grace.”

“I apologize for appearing in your front room
in all my dirt, my lady, but I figured as you'd all rather hear
what I have to say rather than see me clean.”

“Yes, of course, pay it no mind,” Lady Smythe
quickly urged.

“Have you found out something useful this
time, Jim?” demanded the duke, harsh in the face of his frustration
and exhaustion.

“I do believe so, Your Grace. Pete and I were
able to track down the man who was watching you and Miss Smythe at
the museum.”

“What did you just say?” Lady Smythe
interrupted.

“Never mind that now, my dear. We shall sort
it all out later,” her husband urged as the poor man before them
blushed to the roots of his hair.

Clearing his throat bashfully, Jim carefully
kept his eyes on the duke's face, not looking at any of the other
occupants in the room. “As I was saying, Your Grace, we tracked him
down in a seedy tavern near where Pete saw him. He was rather
bosky, so it wasn't too difficult getting information out of him.
He said as his employer has a bunch of sheds down by the docks. I
was going to set out to search it, but I thought you would want to
be along and maybe we would need help in case things turn
dicey.”

“That was excellent work, Jim, thank you.
Were you able to get a description from him so that we can narrow
down our search? I am perfectly willing to search the entire dock
area, but in case they have someone on lookout it would be best if
we could be as specific as possible in our search.” The duke was
already on his feet heading for the door, eager to begin.

“Indeed I do, and I'm ready to take you
there, Your Grace. I also took the liberty of getting some of your
men together—they're waiting in the mews.”

“Excellent.” Alex was glad to see that Wesley
was right behind him. He turned to Lord Smythe. “Are you ready to
join us, my lord?”

“I am, Your Grace. But come through the back
way here, I wish to stop in my library on the way by and it would
be best if we exit discreetly now that the day is well advanced.
Who knows if we are being watched?”

“Good thinking, my lord,” Alex complimented
politely as he urged the men forward. They couldn't be gone fast
enough to please him.

Much to Alex's relief, before long they were
nearing the wharf and he could see the warren of buildings and
sheds, relieved that Jim had some sort of description to go by. Jim
went in front and led them to a section of dilapidated sheds
huddling together near the shore of the river.

Quietly giving directions, Alex sent the
small group of men to fan out in their search for Miss
Rosamund.

Rose had once again lost all track of time as
she struggled with her bonds. As quietly as possible she had
wiggled and tugged, this time using her teeth to assist as she
tried to untie the knots holding her captive. She almost sobbed
with relief as she got her hands free. Striving for silence she
turned in her chair to fight with the rope holding her to it. She
made short work of that too and was soon free.

But now she faced the question of what to do
next. If Squint woke up and discovered her freed she might really
be in the suds then. She dithered for another couple of moments
looking between the filthy window closer to her and the doorway
just beyond the sleeping Squint. The window would be a safer bet on
the one hand, but there was no way of knowing if it would even
open. But then she remembered that her supposed guard had not woken
until Broderick had kicked him, so she thought he must be a
terribly heavy sleeper. She decided to take her chances and tiptoed
quietly past him. Holding her breath, she opened the door, praying
there would be no squeak to give her away.

Within the space of a few heartbeats she was
out the door and sighing with relief. She gave up on tiptoeing,
picked up her skirts, and ran for her life. She must have made too
much noise for she could hear Squint clambering after her. She saw
a door at the end of the hallway and burst through it out into
bright sunlight. Looking around, she was stunned to see Alex in the
distance along with Lord Dunbar.

Running for her life, she dashed toward him.
“Alex!” she screamed as he turned toward her. She threw herself
into his waiting arms. Sobbing with relief she clung to him as
Squint, rather dull in intellect, ran after her, not realizing that
he was endangering himself. Wesley quickly subdued him while Alex
was occupied with soothing the young lady on the verge of
hysterics.

“I cannot believe you were so close,” she was
babbling. “I could have waited for you and you would have found
me.”

“It is not in your nature to wait around for
rescue, though, is it, my darling?” Alex used the endearment
without either of them noticing. “Besides, it is just as well that
you did rescue yourself, as it seems we were slightly off in our
directions. We had reason to believe you were in the set of sheds
next to the one you were in. It would have taken us some time to
get to yours.”

“True, but Broderick would have never been
able to come for me with you and your men searching the area.”

“Speaking of Broderick, have you any idea
what he is up to? Now that you are safe, we should probably see
about thwarting him once and for all.” Alex could not make himself
let go of her, but he did lift his head to look about.

At that moment, Rose's father approached.
“What is the meaning of this, Your Grace? I would ask that you
unhand my daughter this instant.”