‘There was something of a...language barrier, Your Grace, but I believe she did not intend to be out long,’ his butler answered uncomfortably.
There would be no ‘language barrier’ necessary once Christian caught up with Lisette. ‘Language’ would not be used, but physical retribution.
‘To be truthful, Your Grace, I was becoming a trifle worried about her myself,’ Evans continued awkwardly. ‘I had assumed she was just going to walk about the square, but she has been gone far too long for that to be the case. A young lady out alone...’ The elderly butler broke off with a wince as Christian gave him a glowering frown.
Although in truth, he could not hold any of his household responsible for Lisette’s actions; she was impulsive and strong-willed to the point where she was a danger to herself and everyone else. Christian could not deny that her impulsiveness and strong will had saved his life a time or two, but he had been perfectly serious earlier when he had warned Lisette of the dangers lurking beyond the walls of this house.
It was not only her identity but also the fact that she was a beautiful young woman, now out and about without escort or chaperone, so leaving herself prey to any of the criminal element that strolled these streets, day as well as night.
‘It is not your fault, Evans,’ he assured him on a sigh. ‘Miss Duprée is...an independent young lady, brought up in the country and used to doing as she wishes. I fear she is not yet used to the ways of the City.’
‘I guessed that, Your Grace.’ The elderly butler nodded. ‘I even offered for her to take young Mary with her for company—the Second Upstairs Maid,’ he supplied as Christian looked baffled as to who Mary might be. ‘But Miss Duprée indicated there was no reason to bother or disturb anyone and that she would only take a stroll outside in the fresh air.’
A stroll that had already lasted for two hours or more...
‘My cloak and hat, if you please, Evans,’ Christian requested wearily. ‘If I do not return for another two hours then perhaps you had better send out a search party,’ he added drily in parting as he swept out of the front doorway of Sutherland House in search of his errant and rebellious house guest.
Chapter Twelve
‘It is so bon to see you, Davy!’ Lisette beamed at the young man walking along beside her, aware that he probably did not understand a word she was saying, but hoping to convey her happiness with the brightness of her smile.
She had badly needed to escape Sutherland House earlier, to breathe in the fresh air, to be free for a while of the worry and intrigue that had surrounded her these past few days.
After leaving the house she had taken a stroll about the square outside Sutherland House, as she had given Evans the impression she intended to do. Which had taken her all of ten minutes to complete, and that included pausing to watch a group of small children playing with a ball, watched over by their gossiping nannies.
Having no child of her own to allow to play, and no English either to join in the conversation, Lisette had then ventured out of the square in search of other entertainment.
It had taken some time to reach the shops, and they had proved to be amusing for a while, but as usual she was only window-shopping, having no money to buy any of the pretty lace or fashionable leather gloves on display inside those windows.
It had been shortly after she had given in to the lure of a much bigger park, and become fascinated with watching the ducks swimming happily about on the pond there, that she had spied young Davy, the assistant to the cook on board The Blue Dolphin, strolling by.
Fortuitously, because by this time Lisette had walked so far and for so long that she had absolutely no idea how to find her way back to Christian’s ducal home.
Conversation between herself and Davy was, as might be expected, a little difficult, but they had managed, between the two of them, to convey the fact that Lisette was well and truly lost in England’s capital and Davy had now generously offered to walk back with her to Sutherland House.
Where Lisette would no doubt have to face a wrathful Christian.
She really had not intended to be out for so long or to walk so far, had thought to be back long before Christian rose from his nap. So that perhaps he would not even need to know that she had been out at all.
Instead she had become lost, and no doubt Christian would have been up for some time now and possibly pacing one of those elegantly appointed rooms in Sutherland House as he contemplated what was to be her punishment for having disobeyed him.
In her defence, she had not actually agreed with his instruction earlier not to leave Sutherland House.
A poor defence, to be sure, but it was the only one Lisette had in the face of what she knew was going to be Christian’s extreme anger for her having disobeyed him.
‘Do you have la famille—family in London, Davy?’ she prompted curiously as they left the park and began to stroll along the pavement.
‘My widowed mother.’ He nodded.
Considering that Davy was only aged perhaps sixteen or seventeen, his mother must be a very young widow. ‘Any frères ou soeurs? Brothers and sisters,’ she translated awkwardly.
‘Four.’ He nodded again. ‘Two of each. All younger than me.’
With young Davy no doubt the only breadwinner, Lisette inwardly sympathised, wondering if she dare ask Christian to reward Davy for having returned her safely to Sutherland House.
She already owed Christian so much; what did a little more matter? Besides, she doubted that Christian would wish to make a fuss in front of Davy or Evans.
Once they were alone she had no doubt it would be a different matter...
* * *
‘How can you have lost her already?’ Marcus frowned once Christian had explained the reason for his having called at Worthing House. ‘You have only been back in London a few hours!’
A few hours could, when it came to Lisette, as Christian knew only too well, seem as long as a lifetime. Indeed, it seemed like that lifetime since he had left Sutherland House to begin walking the streets in search of her.
His leg ached like the devil, and he had finally given up that search and called upon his sister and brother-in-law at Worthing House, in the tenuous hope that Lisette might have decided to call upon them. An unlikely occurrence, Christian knew, especially as Lisette had no idea where Worthing House even was, but it had now been over three hours since Lisette left to go for a stroll and his anger had been replaced with an uneasy anxiety.
Although he had no doubt that his anger would come boiling back up to the surface the moment he saw her again!
She had the ability, it seemed, to induce strong emotions inside him, be they anger or desire.
‘Can you not see how worried he is, my love?’ Julianna, glowing with the happiness of her marriage to Worthing and their excitement at their forthcoming baby, now placed a lightly restraining hand upon her husband’s arm as the two sat together on the sofa opposite Christian, who sat restlessly on the edge of an armchair. ‘Perhaps she has called upon Lord Maystone in the hope of easing that gentleman’s mind in regard to her innocence?’ she suggested.
It did not surprise Christian in the slightest that Marcus appeared to have told Julianna all. Indeed, he would have been surprised if he had not; the couple had once lost each other because of a lack of communication. Now that they had found each other again and were happily married, they did not intend such misunderstandings to ever happen again.
Christian wished that he could say he had the same open honesty with Lisette.
Although, to be fair, he had been the one mainly responsible for having kept secrets.
‘Doubtful,’ he answered his sister; he could not imagine Lisette voluntarily calling upon Maystone.
‘You do believe she is innocent, Christian?’ his sister prompted anxiously.
‘Withou
t a doubt,’ he confirmed distractedly; he now knew that Lisette was far too headstrong, too outspoken—too forward, he added as he recalled their conversation of earlier—to be in the least proficient at subterfuge. ‘She has been gone for hours, Marcus.’ He gave a shake of his head. ‘She is headstrong and impulsive but she is not stupid, and I warned her that it is not safe for her here!’
‘Perhaps you should have thought of that before bringing her to England?’ Julianna said quietly. ‘Although I have to admit to a selfish need to see and speak with her in person, in order that I might thank her for saving my brother’s life...’
A sharp reminder from Julianna, perhaps even a rebuke, as to the reason Lisette was in England at all?
Christian sighed heavily. ‘I am well aware of what I owe her, Julianna. I just wish—’ His mouth firmed. ‘She never listens to a word I say to her!’
‘Perhaps that is because you do not ask but tell, Christian?’
His jaw tightened at this second rebuke from his sister. ‘Asking or telling; neither seems to make the slightest bit of difference. Lisette will always do exactly as she pleases.’
‘Another reason why I shall like her!’ Julianna’s eyes sparkled merrily. ‘But I can see how you might find that...irritating.’ She sobered as he continued to scowl.
Christian now gave an impatient snort. ‘She is stubborn as a mule!’
‘She is also missing,’ Marcus reminded softly.
‘I am well aware of that fact!’ Christian stood up to restlessly pace the room, more worried than he cared to admit.
What if Lisette had been set upon by thieves or pickpockets and was even now lying in a gutter somewhere, injured and alone? Or, worse yet, perhaps she had been accosted by those lower-than-low men and women who dealt in the sale of female flesh?
There were any number of scenarios Christian could imagine befalling the naive innocent that Lisette undoubtedly was, albeit a brave one, and each scenario was more horrifying than the last.
‘Perhaps you should return to Sutherland House?’ Julianna suggested gently. ‘Lisette may have returned in your absence and now be worried about you.’
Christian had already thought of that; he had just needed to vent some of his tension, created by his anger and worry over Lisette’s whereabouts, before he saw her again. Otherwise he knew he could not be responsible for his actions the moment he set eyes on her again, no matter where they might be or who might be present when it occurred.
‘Perhaps you should go with him, my love.’ Julianna smiled at Worthing. ‘I am sure that Christian would welcome your...moral support at this difficult time.’
‘I believe you mean to say my efforts might be required to restrain him from doing poor little Lisette harm when he sees her again.’ Worthing gave a boyish grin, obviously enjoying himself, no doubt at Christian’s expense.
‘Poor little Lisette, my—!’ Christian broke off before he was ungentlemanly enough to swear in front of his sister. ‘She is also responsible for causing absolute chaos in my life since saving it!’ Christian came back disgustedly.
‘Well, yes,’ Julianna conceded with a slight smile. ‘But is that not better than the boredom and ennui that has occasionally bothered you in the past?’
Christian stared at her dumbstruck for a few moments before turning away. ‘If you are coming, Worthing, I suggest we leave now.’ He did not have an answer to his sister’s probing question.
Mainly because he knew Julianna was in the right of it; who could possibly be bored or suffer from ennui when they had the irrepressible Lisette to prevent from becoming embroiled in her next escapade?
Where the hell was she?
If she was not back at Sutherland House when he returned, then he would—
He would what?
If Lisette had not returned, three hours after she had supposedly gone for a simple stroll outside in the fresh air, then something must have happened to her. In which case, neither his anger nor his threats to her would be of the slightest significance.
‘I am sure she is safe, Christian—’
‘You can no more be sure of that than I am, Marcus!’ Christian glowered at his brother-in-law a short time later as the two of them travelled back to Sutherland House in Marcus’s ducal carriage, a convenience Christian was more grateful for than he cared to admit, his thigh having now become a continuous and painful throb after so much physical exertion.
He somehow knew, as he stepped down from the carriage outside Sutherland House, that Lisette was not contained within its walls. He would have sensed her presence there, would have felt that quiver of awareness that always seemed to be in the air whenever she was near.
Lisette had not returned.
He knew he was right when a grave-faced Evans opened the door to him and Worthing.
The elderly butler did not even offer to take their hats and cloaks but instead held out a silver tray towards Christian as he entered the hallway. ‘This letter was delivered shortly after you left the house, Your Grace.’
‘By whom?’ Christian prompted sharply.
‘A street urchin, it seemed to me.’ The butler gave a shake of his head. ‘I sent someone to follow him, but they were soon lost in the warren of backstreets. I also sent someone after you, but you could not be found,’ he added apologetically as Christian took the letter without comment before ripping it open and quickly reading the contents. ‘Is it bad news, Your Grace?’ he prompted anxiously.
Christian’s hand curled into a fist, crumpling the letter in his palm as he answered reassuringly. ‘Nothing for you to worry about, Evans.’ He gave a brief if humourless smile. ‘Miss Duprée has merely run into an old acquaintance but will be back with us shortly.’
Evans breathed a sigh of relief. ‘I am glad to hear it, Your Grace.’
‘An old acquaintance...?’ Marcus prompted as soon as the two men had retired to the library with a decanter of brandy. ‘I did not think Lisette knew anyone in England but us?’
‘She does not.’ Christian grimly handed the crumpled letter to the other man for him to read. ‘It would seem that Lisette has been kidnapped.’
Marcus looked up after quickly reading the letter. ‘It is not a very well written letter and the paper is of a quality—’
‘Damn the quality of the writing or the paper, Marcus!’ Christian exploded angrily. ‘They have Lisette, and that is all that is important.’
‘Yes, but who are “they”?’ Marcus turned the letter over, studying Christian’s name and the address written on the front of it. ‘Do you think this can be connected with the kidnapping of Maystone’s grandson and the abduction of Bea?’
Griffin Stone had almost run Bea down with his carriage after she had escaped her abductors. The two of them were very recently married.
‘It is too much of a coincidence for it not to be,’ Christian bit out grimly as he recalled that young lady’s harsh treatment during her incarceration. The thought of Lisette being treated harshly was enough to turn the blood cold in Christian’s veins.
‘But we already have those responsible in custody—’
‘Not all of them.’ Christian’s hand shook as he raised the glass of brandy to his lips and took a much-needed swallow of the fiery liquid before speaking again. ‘We—I did not apprehend Helene Rousseau.’
‘You were not sent to Paris to apprehend her—’ Marcus broke off, eyes widening. ‘Do you believe that she is capable of arranging something so abhorrent as the abduction of her own daughter...?’
Christian recalled the pistol that had been pressed against his spine that very first evening at the Fleur de Lis, when Helene Rousseau had thought he was paying far too much attention to Lisette. She had seemed like a hen protecting her chick that night—albeit a steely-cold one!—and yet it really was too much of a coincidence to believe there coul
d be two sets of kidnappers in so short a time. Helene Rousseau had to be involved in Lisette’s disappearance.
The alternative was too disturbing to contemplate.
Christian’s jaw tightened. ‘It clearly says in the letter that Maystone is to be at Westminster Bridge at midnight tonight if we want to see Lisette again. Why else would they involve Maystone if this was not connected to the kidnapping of his grandson and the abduction of Griffin’s Bea?’
Why else indeed...?
* * *
How could she have been so stupid, so naive, Lisette admonished herself as she looked about the windowless room in which she was being held a prisoner, a dirty handkerchief secured about her mouth, her wrists and ankles bound with thin but strong cord; she knew it was strong because all of her efforts to free herself had proved to be in vain.
As if Davy would really have just been strolling in a London park, when the last time she had seen him had been at the Portsmouth dock as she and Christian departed The Blue Dolphin. She should have guessed—known—the moment she saw Davy again that it was too much of a coincidence for him to now be in London.
Instead, she had been so pleased to see a familiar face, after realising she was lost, that she had not questioned why she was seeing that face.
Lisette had assumed, even as Davy directed her through an unsavoury area of London that she did not remember walking through earlier, that he knew the capital so well that he was taking a shortcut back to Sutherland House. Instead, another man had suddenly emerged from a dark alley, throwing a sack over her head while Davy bound her wrists, and she was then bundled into a smelly cart and taken to the house in which this windowless room was situated.
The sack had not been removed from her head until she had stumbled into the room, Davy remaining in the background as the other man, hat pulled low over his eyes, a kerchief about the lower half of his face, had secured the gag and then bound her hands and feet, before they both departed, Lisette assumed, to another part of this hovel.
She had no idea if Davy was acting alone with his accomplice, in an effort to extract money for her release, or if her abduction had a much deeper significance.
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