“This is a very important question, Mrs. Pins. What did he look like?”
Mrs. Pins took a few moments to think about her answer. “Well, he was sitting down so I can’t tell you his height. Slicked back, dark hair, yes. Dark eyes, maybe brown but I don’t know. Definitely dark, though. Not as fit as you, my lord. Couldn’t say he would be a sportsman or the like.”
Chase pushed Drew aside. “His clothes, Mrs. Pins?”
“Oh, yes. Not a natty dresser. I may live here in the village but it’s my trade to stay au courant. I order the fashion sheets and magazines all the time. Neat but definitely not in the latest style.”
Chase turned to Drew. “It’s him. That bastard Gentilly has my sister.”
Mrs. Pins made a distinct sound in response to Chase’s observation of Marianne’s circumstances, his profane language, or a combination of both.
“Yes,” Drew nodded, “it certainly was Gentilly.” He turned back to the dressmaker. “Mrs. Pins, would you please be so kind as to send a note to the manor? Tell them we are off to London. They will understand.”
“Certainly, my lord. You may want to stop by the inn, though, before you go. Someone there may know something since her ladyship was there last.”
“Excellent idea. We’ll go directly.”
After discussions with the innkeeper and the barmaid, who had served Marianne and Gentilly, they learned his wife seemed to have been feeling faint when leaving the inn. Evidently Gentilly had helped Marianne outside. The barmaid had glanced out the window to see a gig leaving town heading in the direction of the manor, his wife swooning inside.
“I bet they’ve headed for London.” Chase remounted his horse.
“Well, they certainly didn’t make it back to the estate.” Drew settled into his saddle. “I think we should head off to town immediately. What say you? Do you know where he lives? How he supports himself?”
Chase tugged on his reins and directed his horse down the road. “I know little of the man but I’m sure my parents can give us some if not all of the information we need. How fast can you ride? I made it here in a day and a half. Can you keep up?”
“Well, the horses are quite fresh and the roads are dry. I doubt there will be much of a challenge.” Drew kicked his horse in its flanks and the two of them took off into the night.
Chapter 31
Marianne came awake from the jostle of the road and the sound of water being waded through. “Where are we? Are we not home yet?”
It was dark. They should have been home before dark.
“Everything is quite all right, my dear. You must be terribly thirsty. Here’s some water. Take a drink. Before you know it, we’ll be there.”
Marianne took the flask. She sipped the water slowly. It had a slightly bitter taste. Maybe the metal container flavored it. She handed it back to Robert. “I don’t understand why it’s taking so long, Robert. Is something wrong? Are we lost?”
They came out of the little stream. Robert snapped the reins and the horse trotted faster.
“Everything is just fine, Marianne. You’ll see. We’ll be quite wonderful in just a little while.”
“I’m so tired, Robert. I don’t understand why I’m so sleepy.”
“Just rest, my dear. I will take good care of you, I promise. Just rest for now.”
Much to her dismay, Marianne couldn’t help herself. She fell back to sleep.
Chapter 32
After numerous horse changes and almost ungodly haste, Drew and Chase arrived at the Durands’ house early the morning after next. Chase walked in the front door and down the hallway, casting over his shoulder, “My parents should be up and having breakfast by now. They have never been the type to stay abed.”
Drew could do nothing but follow in his wake.
Practically exploding into the dining room, the two found George and Margaret quietly at table.
George jumped from his seat. “Chase, what goes on here?”
“Father, has Annie returned?”
Drew watched as a footman hurried out of the room. Moments later, he returned with plates and utensils and hastily set two places at the table.
Margaret waved them both to sit. “You two boys look a sight. Sit and eat. Tell us what is wrong. Where’s my daughter? What can we do to help?” Her tone brooked no argument as distress shadowed her facial features, her cheeks getting paler by the moment.
As Chase plopped into a chair, Drew sat as well. Food was loaded onto their plates in short order.
“Mama, I went to his lordship’s estate and found Annie there, happy and comfortable. She had not been coerced into leaving London. She was merely excited to solve the problems on the estate.” Chase shoveled food into his mouth.
“You should have contacted us immediately.” George complained about having been left uninformed.
“Let him finish, George. Go on, Chase.” His mother put sugar and cream in the newly poured tea by her son’s plate. Her hand shook slightly but she seemed determined to maintain her composure.
“The earl and Annie acknowledged that Gentilly had come and gone, leaving earlier the day I arrived. That would have been three days ago, I think. But, yesterday Annie rode into the local village to the dressmaker’s. We worried when dinnertime came and she had not returned. Then her mare showed up without her. After hurrying to the village we discovered Gentilly had lunched with her at the inn then left with her. Now we don’t know where she is.”
Drew interrupted before Chase could frighten his parents further. “We think Gentilly brought her back here. Do you know where he lives? Do you have any idea of what sort of funds he has that he could gather for some nefarious plan?”
Both parents stopped. For moments they looked at each other. George spoke first. “I believe he has rooms somewhere off Oxford Street. As for income, I do not believe he is wealthy. Someone passed on in his family and left him a tidy sum, say five hundred or so a year. We discussed it one time well before your return, my lord. He felt he could support Marianne comfortably if not in the first stare of fashion. Once you were declared dead, the heir would be located and Marianne and Andrea would be left in his care and resources. One could not know whether they would be fair or foul. Marianne expected there had been no provisions made for her as your widow since your disappearance occurred so soon after the wedding.”
Chase swallowed hard before asking, “Father, did he belong to a club? We need his exact address. Someone there may have it.”
George thought again but it was Margaret who spoke. “The Oxford and Cambridge Club. I believe it’s on Pall Mall. We spoke about it one day in passing. That’s where he went to school, you know. Cambridge.”
The words were barely out of her mouth before Drew and Chase threw down their napkins and jumped up from the table in unison. As they rushed down the front hall toward the door and their horses, they heard Margaret call after them, “Wait! Don’t you both want to freshen up?”
Within half an hour they reined in before The Oxford and Cambridge Men’s Club on Pall Mall. After rushing through the establishment doors, they came up short. The reception area was deserted. No one rushed to greet them. They hesitated for only a moment before they heard a few quiet voices coming from behind a closed door. Walking sedately over to it, Drew knocked respectfully.
Moments later a man of about their own age opened it. “Yes? May I help you? You do not look familiar. Are you new members?”
Drew pulled himself together to present himself as a proper earl should. “Hello. No, we’re not members. We are looking for one of your current members. Could you tell us where Sir Robert Gentilly might reside? It is of the direst importance.”
“No, I don’t know. Wait just a minute.” Their host turned back toward the room. “Do any of you know where Gentilly lives? These gents seem to
have an urgent need to find him.”
After a few moments pause then a few murmurs of “No, I don’t,” Drew and Chase heard someone within say, “Oxford Street. Number 13 I think. We teased him all the time, he being a Cambridge man.”
Chase grabbed the hand of the man in the doorway and shook it hardily. “Thank you. Thank you ever so much.”
It took another twenty minutes to arrive at Gentilly’s address. The two of them took turns banging on the front door until someone finally answered.
“Yes. What is it? Don’t you know it’s not nearly ten o’clock?” The woman who answered was elderly to the extreme and looked as if her early years had not been kind.
“Madam, I am the Earl of Reignsfield. I am looking for Sir Robert Gentilly. I understand this is where he resides. Perchance he is in?”
“Blazes, no, your lordship. He cleared out days ago. He paid me up his last week’s rent and took his leave. I’ve no idea where he went off to. Didn’t leave no forwarding address.”
Drew thanked the landlady for the information.
“Bloody hell.” Chase stomped down the steps. “What shall we do now? If he’s left no information. Where can he be?”
“Chase, the point is, he’s kidnapped my wife, your sister. We have to rethink our approach. If he’s given up his rooms and taken Marianne, he must have a plan to go somewhere. He can’t possibly just wander around England hoping to escape notice and avoid our finding him.”
Chase gathered up his reins and prepared to mount his horse. “But where would he go? And, would Marianne go willingly?”
From his saddle, Drew looked over. “I think he plans to leave the country. What else could he do under such circumstances? But, no, I don’t think Marianne went willingly. She told me days ago she was going to stay with me, that Robert could only be a friend to her now.”
“Then we better figure out from what port he plans to leave and fast or there may be no way of getting her back.” Chase turned his horse.
Drew said, “The easy choice is London but it could be Bristol or Liverpool. They’re not as obvious as London and he would be less familiar with them. We might need to split up. First we’ll check at the London docks and hope luck is with us.”
Chapter 33
As Drew approached the next ship docked at London’s wharves, he cracked a huge smile and chuckled.
Chase caught him up and asked, “What is it? What’s so funny?”
“This is my ship.” Drew headed toward the gangway.
“You own a ship?” Chase seemed confused.
Drew stepped onto the ramp. “No, this is the ship on which I returned home.”
“Well, if you were kidnapped and impressed, why would you smile?”
“I left that first ship for a better offer after about six months. After two other ships, I came on board this one, Fortune’s Lady, when this captain offered me an even more profitable income for my knowledge and skills with languages. It worked out rather well for him and definitely much better for me because I amassed the monies needed to restore the family’s reserves. After my hiatus in China, I found this ship again to bring me home.”
At the top of the gangway, the ship buzzed with activity everywhere one looked. Recognizing Captain Dunnard as he shouted down instructions to sailors in the hold, Drew walked over.
“Excuse me, I understand you sail the seven seas,” Drew stated in his most regal and condescending manner.
“What the bloody hell . . .” The captain, a tall but stout man with grizzled grey hair and twinkling grey eyes redirected his attention. About to lambaste the insulting intruder, he recognized Drew. “Andy? Is that you? Do my eyes deceive me and you’ve become a bloody landlubber? Are you ready to set sail again? I certainly could use you when I return to the islands of the Pacific.”
Drew extended his hand. The captain grabbed it and gave it a hearty shake, then wrapped his arms around Drew and bounced him up and down for good measure.
“Aye, Captain Dunnard, it’s me but I’m not bound for sea any time soon. I’ve returned to find my father passed on and now I’m the Earl of Reignsfield for my trouble.”
The captain made a formal bow, then poked Drew in the ribs. “You’ll always be Andy to me, my lord. And, welcome on my ship whenever and wherever she sails. Now, what brings you back to Fortune’s Lady and who is this landsman already turning green and we haven’t even left dockside?”
Drew turned to his companion. “This is my brother-in-law, Charles Durand.”
Chase extended his hand and he, too, received a robust handshake from the captain.
Drew continued. “I’m afraid we’ve come to you distressed and frustrated and hoping you can help. It’s my wife, his sister, we search for. She’s been kidnapped by a person, a man, we thought a family friend. We have fears he’ll take her abroad despite her desire to have nothing to do with his plan.” Drew reached into his pocket and pulled out the miniature. “Perchance have you seen this woman, my wife, Marianne? I will reward any news anyone might have of her.”
Captain Dunnard took the picture and studied it. “You carried this on your travels all over the world. I remember how you protected it and how many of the other sailors teased you about it. Jealousy, no doubt.” The captain stroked his beard in deep thought. “No, I haven’t seen her. Not on my ship. Not on the wharves and docks in the area. Have you asked all the other captains? Have you asked in the inns and taverns?”
“Aye.” Drew fell easily back into the language of a seaman. “As we’ve come along the docks and wharves and inns we’ve inquired at each of them. There are only a few captains left to ask. I’m afraid time is of the essence, as who knows how quickly he’ll put out to sea with Marianne in tow and then it might be impossible to find her. Upon my return, I learned that runners had been sent around the world looking for me the entire time I wandered the globe and yet I never heard or met a one of them.”
“Well,” the captain looked over the other ships down the line of the wharf. “If I had seen her or even heard of her, I would let you know. It’s not too often a lady of high station frequents the docks, so such an occurrence usually sends a rapid ripple of agitation. When we’re in port, news travels like fire spreads on a ship. If you don’t locate her here, I’d suggest you search in Bristol or Liverpool. Closest major ports to London with ships heading out all over the world, especially to the Americas. I’d hurry up there if you don’t find her here. Since I’ve heard nothing of her, I’d stake the contents of my hold she’s not on board any of these ships.”
“Thank you, Captain. We’ll check with the other captains to be thorough but I expect you’re correct. If you haven’t heard, probably she’s not here.” They shook hands once again and Drew and Chase returned to the gangway.
“Just remember,” Captain Dunnard yelled after him, “if you want to sail again I’ll take you, no questions asked. And you can bring that landlubber with you. We’ll toughen him up out at sea!”
~ ~ ~
At the Wayfarer’s Inn at dockside London, Chase set his half-filled ale mug down after taking a large swallow. They had spent the entire afternoon talking with captains and innkeepers. “I don’t understand why we haven’t found any clue as to which boat Marianne boarded. You’ve shown the miniature to every captain in port and at the taverns. You’d think someone, anyone, would have seen her and remember her. It’s not like she’d look like any other female at the docks. She carries herself like a lady, not some shipside doxy.” He lifted his mug again.
Drew gently stroked the talisman in his left coat pocket. Chase was right. They should have found some evidence that Marianne had made it to the docks in London. That could only mean one thing . . . She wasn’t here.
She could be anywhere, but his gut told him Gentilly would head for the sea. What safer place than to abscond with a pers
on to a foreign shore where no one would know them and no questions would be asked? And who would know better than himself how well that process would work?
He could not, however, believe that Marianne went willingly. Their conversation mere days ago assured him that she had decided to stay with him. With their daughter. Every day, their bond seemed to strengthen. In truth, he did not want to live life without her if it were his decision to make.
“Drew, what should we do now? Do we head for Scotland? Alert Scotland Yard and the Metropolitan Police? I’m at a loss.”
The barmaid set two plates of food down in front of them.
His reverie broken, Drew picked up his spoon to waylay what felt like imminent starvation. They hadn’t taken any time for sustenance since they’d left his wife’s family hours ago. There they had not eaten much. “I’m betting he’s heading for the sea. If he is, the police can’t help us. Scotland’s too far and still under British control. No, I think he’ll go to the Americas or Australia. He can do what he wants in either place, establish a whole new personality and history with no questions asked.”
“You don’t think Annie left you of her own accord, do you? I thought things were going so well between you.” Chase tucked into his meal.
Breaking off a piece of bread, Drew looked up. “No. We’ve already had that discussion. She chose me. And I’m only too happy she did. We’ll be a family in every sense of the word. With luck, in time, we’ll have a son and heir to the lands. But that’s a moot point if we can’t find her and get her back home.” Drew took a bite of the stew and a swig of the ale the barmaid had just topped off.
“Then what’s our next move?” Chase nodded to the wench as she also refilled his mug.
“We’ll need to split up and go where Captain Dunnard suggested. One for Bristol, the other for Liverpool. If Gentilly is headed for the sea, and on board a ship would make it difficult to follow him based upon my own experience, those are the two most likely ports other than London. Since we’ve had no luck here, I’m sure he’s taken her to one of them.”
Seduced by the Dandy Lion Page 21