A Mysterious Quest 0f A Seductive Lady (Regency Historical Romance)

by Lucinda Nelson

  She still pictured all the things Nicholas had said to her and the time she had spent in that awful room. Even though everything had happened in one day, that day was the longest one of her life. And now she was home and was supposed to have her mind at rest, but Adam’s terrible wounds made the nightmare seem endless.

  “Come, child. You should come to my room to rest and get a change of clothes,” said the dowager countess.

  Magnolia nodded. “I will wash and do all you want me to do, Mother. But first, I must know the condition of my husband.”

  “He is going to be fine, Magnolia,” said Aunt Dorothy. “But you must look after yourself as well.”

  Magnolia looked at her friend Caroline, who nodded her support for the whole idea. “All right, Mother,” said Magnolia. “Upstairs with me, it is.”

  “Good. Rachael!”

  The servant hurried into the room. “Bring Lady Strickland a change of clothes and water for washing. Quickly.”

  The servant nodded and left, while Magnolia and Elizabeth walked towards the stairs.

  * * *

  “Is he going to be all right, Mr. Rosam?”

  The physician nodded.

  Magnolia walked over to Adam, who was now laying in bed. His bloodied clothes had been removed and he seemed much better than before, even though he was sleeping. His wounds had been dressed and there were several bandages on his left shoulder.

  “He is doing well. Sleep will help him most of all,” the physician said. “And you require the same, my lady. You have had a terrible fright and that is not good for the baby.”

  Magnolia nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Rosam. I shall sleep better now since I know my husband is all right. Thank you so much.”

  “The guest room has been prepared for you,” the dowager countess said to the physician. “You can sleep tonight before leaving tomorrow.”

  “Thank you, my lady.”

  “Please come with me,” Rachael said, and the man followed her out of the room.

  “Are you certain you would be all right here, Magnolia?”

  She nodded. “Yes, Mother. I shall be sleeping beside my husband. I would really love nothing more than to be close to him right now.”

  Adam’s mother nodded. “Of course. Goodnight, then.” The woman left and closed the door behind her.

  Shortly afterwards, Caroline came in. “Oh, Caroline,” Magnolia whimpered, standing up to hug her friend. They hugged and stayed like that for some seconds before pulling away.

  “How are you?” Caroline asked.

  “Now that I am home, I am fine. Nicholas was a terrible person, Caroline. You were right. Adam was only looking out for me.”

  Caroline smiled. “What happened? How did you get abducted in the first place?”

  Magnolia sighed and took Caroline out to the corridor before closing the door behind them.

  “Adam already knew who he was, but he did not tell me. I still do not know how, but he discovered it was Nicholas. He was able to decipher the codes in James’ journal. And I know Gulliver told him about the cufflink.”

  “Gulliver is dead, Magnolia,” Caroline blurted.

  Magnolia sighed and nodded. “Nicholas said so.”

  Caroline raised her brows. “He was the one who killed him?”

  “Yes, he did, Caroline. He killed him and not only that, he confessed to killing everyone that ended up investigating him. He ripped out the tongues of his servants, Caroline. I still can’t imagine that someone with blood running in his veins could do that. He’s such a cold and a heartless man!”

  “So, how did he abduct you?”

  “He found me in the garden. Threatened me to wreak havoc if I said anything. He had a gun close to my stomach. I could not risk it. I had no choice than to comply.”

  Magnolia lowered her head and inhaled sharply as she recalled the events that had happened. It has been the longest day of her life.

  “You are the strongest woman I know, Magnolia,” Caroline said, trying to comfort her. “You will be all right. All of this will soon be forgotten.”

  Magnolia smiled appreciatively. “Thank you, Caroline. I will feel much better once my husband is back on his feet.”

  “You have been through so much, my dear Magnolia.” Caroline hugged her once again.

  “Where is Richard?” Magnolia asked, after pulling away from her friend’s embrace.

  “He had to speak with the constables. But he is coming back in the morning.”

  “I see. But I should go back to my husband. I am so very tired.”

  “Of course, dear,” said Caroline. “You should try to sleep and not worry about a thing.”

  Magnolia managed a smile before returning to the room and lying down beside her husband.

  From time to time, she would check his eyes to be sure he was really sleeping and then would put a hand under his nose to make sure he was breathing.

  Finally, she allowed herself to sleep. She hadn’t had such a day before in her entire life.

  She still shivered as she remembered the coldness of the gun against her skin when Nicholas had pointed a gun at her stomach. How dare he do such a horrible thing?

  She sighed, shutting her eyes and swallowing at the same time. Then she used one hand to caress her stomach and placed the other on Adam’s shoulder.

  She had lost her family years ago. Being put in the same situation one more time was like having to relive the shock she had spent so long trying to put behind her.

  What would she do if her husband had died that night? She would have lost her mind. If anything happened to her family again, she would never get past it.

  Magnolia couldn’t wait for Adam to open his eyes. She had missed him so much and there were so many things that they needed to talk about. She shut her eyes and inhaled a deep breath, hoping that by tomorrow, Adam would be awake.

  Chapter 38

  Adam Avery, the Earl of Strickland

  Adam felt a sharp pain in his head as he opened his eyes. The morning sun pierced his eyes and he squinted. Sharp pain lanced through his shoulder as he tried to gather himself up.

  He looked around and was relieved to see he was in his own room once again.

  Adam tried to recall all that had happened and how he had gotten back to the house, but the more he thought about it the fuzzier his memory got.

  The door opened and closed. He turned around and saw Magnolia, who shrieked upon seeing him. She was just in her nightgown but ran to him, putting her hands around him very carefully.

  “Oh, Adam! You are awake! I have missed you so much!” she cried, kissing him here and there.

  He pulled her closer to him, very glad to be holding her in his arms at last. Then he placed a hand on her stomach. “I missed you both so much,” he said, kissing her on the lips.

  “How are you feeling?” Magnolia asked as they pulled away.

  “Like I have just been shot,” he joked. “My head aches terribly and I can still hear the ringing of the shots in my ears.”

  “You will be all right,” Magnolia replied. “I am sure of it.”

  “Where is Nicholas now?” he asked.

  “Locked behind bars,” she replied. “But they still need the cufflink and the journal, so as to use them against him in the court. You alone know where you kept them.”

  “Yes,” Adam replied. “I had to keep them from him, else the worse would have happened.”

  Magnolia frowned. “Adam, you kept so much from me. Why didn’t you tell me about the journal and the cufflink? Or even about Nicholas?”

  He sighed, knowing she was right. “I apologize for that, darling. I should have told you everything, but I had to be certain first. I had planned to tell you that night, but you had been kidnapped.”

  “How did you know he was the one doing all those horrible things? I mean…” She stood up, pacing across the floor. “I trusted him, Adam. Even when I saw him, it was difficult for me to believe that he was the villainous man I had trusted for many months
. He used me, and you were right all along. How could I have been so stupid?”

  Adam tried to rise, but his back hurt terribly so he stayed down. “You should not blame yourself, dear. You were deceived because you saw something good in him. He preyed on you when you were in a vulnerable state and knew the right things to say to gain your trust. You are a good person yourself. How could you have known such evil?”

  He held her hands and continued. “I must admit that I never thought he could be the one behind those terrible things, either. Everything I felt for him was pure jealousy, because I thought you two had some kind of special friendship. Then you were always writing to him until I put a stop to it.

  I should have found a more agreeable way to share things with you. To compromise just a bit so that you would still be safe. I see now that I should not have kept things from you, but due to your condition I had to do things my own way. I did not want you involved in anything that would put you in further danger.”

  She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. “I saw a paper in your study. It had his picture. I was able to put things together and realized he was the one all along.”

  He gasped, blinking rapidly. “So, you knew before you were abducted?”

  She nodded.

  “Then why didn’t you say anything?”

  “I was still skeptical, and I was expecting you to explain it to me,” she replied. “I should have said something, but I did not. I am sorry. Perhaps if I had said something, none of this would have happened.”

  He sighed and pulled her closer. “You and I have been through so much for the past six months . . . but thank God the whole investigation that caused so much tension in our marriage has come to an end. Is there anything else you would like to ask me?” Adam said in resolve.

  Magnolia was quiet for a while and then asked.

  “How did you decipher the journal?”

  “I got help,” he replied. “Do you remember the last trip I took?”

  “You mean to Scotland?”

  Adam nodded in agreement. “After I was done with my business transactions, I went to see a cryptographer that Richard had recommended. I actually learned a great deal from him. That was where I got to know that Nicholas Wilde was the one behind the slave attacks that James had once told me about.”

  “Oh, yes! I overheard him and Father talking about it in the office. So, what about the cufflink?”

  “NJW,” he replied. “Nicholas Junior Wilde. JW was written on the cufflink. We were able to figure this out with Gulliver’s helped, but sadly he is now dead.”

  She sighed, holding Adam’s hand and squeezing it. “He told me.”

  “It is my fault. I did not think Nicholas would do anything to that man. Gulliver was not even a threat. He had no idea what was going on. He was just a goldsmith working to feed his family. I did not think Nicholas would go after him as well. I am truly sorry. I must pay my respects to his family when I am well again.”

  He rested his head on her shoulder and she embraced him.

  “You cannot blame yourself for that, for you did not know the extent of Nicholas’ deprived nature. We will both our respects to Gulliver’s family. For now, we must put everything behind us and look to the future with a promising hope. Our baby is almost here, thank God, and Nicholas is behind bars. When the baby comes, we will have no reason to be afraid of anything.”

  He nodded. “You are right, my love. This is a chance to start all over again. I am so glad that this whole nightmare is over. I hope you know that everything I did, including keeping some things from you, were for your own good.”

  She nodded, smiling. “Of course, my love. And now, I’m making a promise to you that I will never question you ever again.”

  They leaned in closer and kissed before being distracted by a gentle knock.

  “Come in,” said Magnolia.

  Rachael walked in and curtsied. “My lord and my lady. It is good to see that you are well.”

  “Thank you, Rachael,” replied Adam. “Where is my mother?”

  “And my aunt?” put in Magnolia.

  The three chuckled as Adam pulled his wife closer and kissed her on the cheeks, but then he groaned sharply, and she pulled away. “My shoulder still hurts,” he quickly said, shutting his eyes.

  “They both sent me to check on you and to inform them about your condition. They wanted to know if you were awake.”

  “Well, then,” said Magnolia. “Tell them we are awake. They can come now.”

  Rachael curtsied and left.

  * * *

  Magnolia Richmond Avery, the Countess of Strickland

  Some minutes later, Magnolia was dressed and Rosa was helping her with her hair. Adam was still lying on the bed when a knock sounded.

  The maid went to open the door and the two older women walked in.

  “Oh, Adam. Thank God!” cried his mother, rushing to hug him.

  “Oh! Easy, Mother,” he winced, as she hugged him. “My shoulder still hurts terribly.

  “You look awful,” Elizabeth said. “But it’s so good to see you again.”

  Magnolia looked away from the mother-in-law and husband and turned to face her aunt, who was looking none too pleased with her. “I am happy that you are all right, Magnolia,” said Aunt Dorothy. “You and the baby.”

  She sighed. She knew her aunt was angry with her secretly getting involved in the investigation after she had told her many times to not do so.

  “Aunt Dorothy, you have every right to be angry with me.”

  “Are you certain about that? Because I am more than angry with you. What if you had died? What do you think would have happen to me? You did all those things and I did not even know about it? No wonder you spent so much time in your father’s office! I had a feeling you were doing something like that, but I trusted you!”

  Magnolia tried to talk, but a wave of the hand from her aunt stopped her.

  “I do not want you to say anything,” Aunt Dorothy continued. “If something had happened to you during the process, I would have been devastated and there would have been no chance to forgive you. And that also means that I was attacked because of your meddling. You put all of us in danger.” Aunt Dorothy looked at her with disapproval and Magnolia could only look down in shame, knowing she was right.

  “I know that once you set your mind on something, that is the end of it. No matter what anyone tells you, you would still have your way. No wonder you and Adam never got along!” She said this in a resolved ton and her face held no malice.

  “Now,” Aunt Dorothy said, turning to Adam’s mother. “Does everything make sense to you? All those constant fights?”

  The countess gasped. “Of course. About him trying to protect her…I never did understand what the whole fuss about protection was all about. Now I know.”

  Both Magnolia and her husband watched as the two women tried to make sense of the whole thing that had been hidden from them.

  “Well, thank God they both survived everything,” Aunt Dorothy finally said. “We can put all this behind us and start afresh.”

  Magnolia smiled and walked closer to her aunt. “So, does that mean you’ve chosen to forgive me, Aunt Dorothy?”

  “You are like a daughter to me, dear niece. Of course I have forgiven you.”

  Magnolia kissed her aunt on both cheeks before finally hugging her. “I am so sorry, dear aunt. We have put everyone through a lot. But that is now over.”

  A knock sounded on the door. “Please, come in,” replied Magnolia.

  The door opened and Rachael walked in. “The officers are here,” she announced, looking at Adam. “They are here to see you, to ask about the journal and the cufflink.”

  “Let them in. I cannot yet leave my bed,” Adam replied.

  Rachael nodded, curtsied, and left. Some minutes later, she returned with the two officers.

  “Officer Langley. Officer Bradbury,” Adam said, smiling as the two men swept a bow.

  “My lord
. It is good to see you,” said the taller of the two.

  “You men did great work,” said Adam.

  “I think you are the hero, my lord. You saved the day,” stated the other officer.

  Magnolia looked at her husband with pride. She walked back to his side and held his hand in hers.

  “I still do not think we could have survived that last night if not for two of you. We owe you our lives,” Adam stated.