Geylen walked over to his horse, an old chestnut with a bent back who had seen better days, and reached into the saddle bag to remove a fur. He brought it over for Donald to inspect. It was of exceptional quality, a fur he would be happy to sell. Knowing the current market, this fur would have to be a year old, but Donald could tell that it was fairly new.
“I found this on the ship. They were in a crate not registered on the manifest. When I questioned the dockhands about it they said that the captain scheduled for the other crates to be moved in the morning rather than the afternoon,” Geylen told him. “Something is afoot, My Lord. Something I think you need to deal with directly.”
“You want me to go all the way back to the port of London with you only days before my wedding?” Donald asked as if he were trying to make sense of the whole ordeal.
“Yes, My Lord, unfortunately that is exactly what I am asking of you.”
Donald stared as the man tracked down a stable boy and told him to prepare two horses. “We could at least take my carriage,” Donald said in exasperated resignation.
Geylen shook his head. “I am honestly not sure how much time we have, My Lord, and single horses can navigate and traverse the roads much faster if we ride hard.”
“Well at least let me go tell Lord Thetmont so he may make the option to bruise with us on horseback,” Donald said as he was turning but was stopped by a sharp hissing “No!”
Donald turned around, astonished. He had been told no so few times in his life and never by someone of lower class than him. “What did you say?”
“I’m sorry to be so forceful, My Lord, but I cannot stress enough how it must be us and us alone that leaves here tonight. I know we have met in passing and only briefly before this but I am asking for your trust.” Geylen was looking at him with pleading eyes.
Donald followed Geylen, got on the horse that was prepared for him by two stable boys, sworn to secrecy. They rode hard into the night, back in a direction that Donald had only come from one day ago.
He had only told one other soul that he was leaving. He gave Helt a note to give to Emma upon her awakening. The note, despite Geylen’s insistence, did outline where he was going and why. Donald refused to hide anything from his betrothed, no matter the cost.
Chapter 29
Emma’s eyes fluttered open briefly and then she shot straight up in bed, only to gently recline again at the promptings of a hushed voice. “There there, easy does it. You had a bit of a spell.” It was her lady’s maid, Josephine.
“Where’s Donald?” she asked with a cough, mouth and throat dry.
“I don’t know, My Lady. But I do know he will be worried about you. I’ll go and fetch him so he may know you are fine.” Josephine assured her with a pat on the hand and left her with a glass of water from the bedside pitcher.
Emma waited for far longer than she thought was necessary. Even if the Derbourg Estate was much bigger than most, there were only so many places Donald could be.
After so long, Emma’s worry finally overcame her and she took several unsteady steps out of her bed before gaining a tentative footing. She left her room and entered the hallway. It must have been quite late at night as the hallway was lit only dimly to not disturb any of the sleeping residents.
Emma wasn’t totally sure where she was going. Or if she was looking for Donald or Josephine at this point. Whatever she was doing automatically, it led her to the outside of Matthew’s room. The door to his room, to her surprise, was open.
Inside she could see the room was unoccupied. The window, which faced the courtyard toward the stables, was wide open despite the beginnings of a summer storm blowing their way.
It was the first flash of lightning that illuminated the piece of evidence in the room for Emma. A note, crumpled and wet from the rain sat in the middle of the floor. She went over and picked it up.
It was a note addressed to her.
Why is there a note addressed to me in Matthew’s room?
My dearest Emma,
I cannot express to you properly how sorrowful I am that I was not there to watch you wake nor am I there now to deliver this news to you in person. An emergency has called me to the port of London. I promise I will return as soon as possible and I double promise that I will return before we are to be wed. I urge you to not reveal where I am going or even the existence of this note to anyone in the house in the meantime.
Yours Forever
Donald
“Lady Emma, there you are!” an elderly voice said with relief from behind. She turned suddenly in surprise, but relaxed when she saw it was Helt. “Your lady’s maid and I have been looking everywhere for you. I’m afraid I am carrying urgent news from My Lord.” Helt began to pat all over his jacket and trousers, searching for the note. “Where could it have…?” Helt gave a small cry of astonishment as he poked several fingers through a hole in his vest pocket.
Matthew found this note from Helt. He took it and read it.
“Is this the note Donald gave you?” Emma held up the paper in her hand.
Helt nodded. “Yes that’s it! But how did you…” The old man looked quizzical.
“Where is Lord Thetmont?” Emma asked, time was of the essence and she needed all the information she could get now.
“Lord Thetmont?” Helt asked. “I know the note clarified why Lord Stapleton left but I couldn’t begin to speculate where Lord Thetmont went off to. I would presume both of them leaving is related. But Lord Thetmont left after Lord Stapleton, not with.”
“Both of them left...” Emma trailed off, falling into a pit of thought. Theories upon theories of what could happen. She had to do something. She couldn’t just sit here powerless. “Helt, would you assist me in rousing my betrothed’s coachman? I need to catch up to them.”
“Catch up with them? Prepare the coach at this hour? My Lady you must speak in jest,” Helt insisted until Emma gave him the coldest stare she could ever muster. “Very well, this appears to be a dire matter so I will not dally. The coach will be prepared for you at once, My Lady.”
Emma wrung her hands as the valet left her. The storm looked heavy and purple as it hung in the sky to the south. She hoped Donald was safe.
* * *
Donald and Geylen had been riding hard for several hours. If it wasn’t Geylen’s insistence that they needed to hurry back to London that drove them, it was the threat of a summer storm at their backs. The distant roll of thunder chased them.
Their horses trotted now. Geylen wanted to push but Donald was a skilled rider and insisted they give the horses a break. He knew they would get more out of them if they were properly paced.
This was also a prime opportunity for Donald to get more information out of the first mate. He knew that he already was reluctant to talk about the issue at hand directly, so Donald decided he would try a different approach.
“Does your Captain know of this situation?” Donald asked, having already guessed the answer.
“No,” was the brief reply.
Donald pressed with a look.
“I don’t know. I couldn't be absolutely certain, which is why I came to you directly, My Lord,” Geylen said.
“I had heard that crew members were extremely loyal to their captains. What could have driven you out here without even having consulted him?” Donald asked.
Geylen turned to look at Donald from the back of his horse, quiet for a moment. “May I, My Lord, ask you some questions before I answer yours?”
“I suppose.”
“Are you particularly familiar with the workings of a crew on a ship?” There was no challenge in his voice, just simple inquiry.
“I admittedly know very little of the ins and outs of ship crews,” Donald said honestly.
“Well, you might ken more than you think, My Lord. See a ship with a crew is a lot like an estate with tenants, which I am sure you are familiar with. You are like the Captain of your estate, but you don’t deal with your tenants directly, right? You ha
ve a man for that. He’s your first mate.” Geylen explained in, what seemed to Donald, was a roundabout fashion and he was getting impatient.
“I have a grasp of this yes. But if something were wrong I would want my man to tell me, even if I am just going to default to his expertise,” Donald said, voice on the edge of sounding indignant
“And fairly so. I am assuming your man in charge, he is loyal, yes?”
“Of course.”
“And he is loyal to more than just you. He is loyal to the tenants and the estate itself?” Geylen asked keenly.
“Yes...” Donald was cautious now, uncertain of where this was going.
“Well, suppose that the Lord starts doing the wrong thing, from a morality standpoint. Then it would be the man’s responsibility to do something. As it is my responsibility to do something,” Geylen turned, his eyes asking Donald if he understood what he was saying without forcing Geylen to say it.
“And it would be the foolish employee who informs his lord of every correction he must make,” Donald nodded. He still didn’t have the whole story, not by a long shot. But whatever this was about, Captain Todd was a part of it.
And with that both men kicked their horses back into a gallop. Donald in search of answers. He surmised that Geylen was probably looking for answers of his own.
Chapter 30
Emma was miserable. This was one of the least appealing situations she had ever been in. It was pouring rain outside, and while the carriage protected her mostly, it made the air around her damp and frigid, which were her two least favorite traveling conditions.
It also didn’t help that this was the third time they had become stuck in the mud in two hours. She could hear the coachman shouting over the rain outside, pushing the horses harder and harder to force them free of their entrapment.
Lastly she was miserable because Donald was in trouble and she could do nothing about it from where she was.
“Josephine, how good would you say your riding is?” Emma asked innocently, as if she was trying to make conversation to pass the time.
“I did grow up on a farm, but the last time I rode a horse was when I was a young girl of eleven years. I dare say I am more than rusty. Why?”
“Because I need to know if you had a chance of keeping up. I mean, I’ll be awfully slow since these aren’t riding skirts, I have no saddle, and it’s raining,” Emma remarked as she hopped out of the doors and into the rain, Josephine’s jaw hanging open all the while.
She moved up to the coachman who had given up on unsticking the wagon for now and was giving the horses a break. She instructed him to decouple one from the carriage for her to ride. He stared at her as if she had grown a second head and it had asked for a separate horse. Eventually, though, he did comply.
Emma climbed clumsily aside the sopping wet stallion. He was a carriage horse, unused to being ridden frequently.
I am not used to riding much either, so we are even.
She was going to catch up to Donald. Figure out what was going on, how she could help. She wasn’t going to let her soon-to-be lifelong partner go through this crisis without her.
She also planned on giving him a stern talking about not sticking around when she was unconscious. That sort of behavior might be acceptable for your betrothed, but if they are married then he needed to wait long enough to provide her with a full explanation.
After a while Emma spotted a figure in the distant flash of lightning. Someone ahead of her was riding a horse. She got excited and pushed the carriage horse to race forward. She had done it. She had found Donald in this awful storm.
But her heart plummeted when she was close enough to see the figure. It wasn’t Donald at all but instead it was Matthew.
“Emma?!” he cried out in surprise. “What in the bloody blazes are you doing out here in the rain?!”
The note! Don’t tell him everything you know!
“It’s Donald. Helt told me he left. I couldn’t bear to be apart for our wedding so I rode out here to find him.” She paused, waiting just long enough so it didn’t seem accusatory. “What are you doing out here?”
“The same dire work emergency called me back to London. I planned on returning tomorrow in the morning.” He frowned. “It was foolish of you to go out in this weather, Donald can take care of himself.”
“I know, but it will soon be my job as his wife to worry.” She saw the pained look on Matthew’s face when she said this and regretted it instantly.
“Well it’s a good thing you caught me. Rain or shine, you shouldn’t be out here alone. I know I am not a proper escort but I will have to do until we find a suitable one.”
Emma debated it. She knew Matthew had stolen the note and was lying to her about why he was out here. To her that meant there was no chance he wasn’t up to something. Frankly, she didn’t want to stick around to see it. But given the circumstances she had little choice but to accept his invitation.
She promised herself she would remain ever vigilant.
There was, of course, the other side of this. If Matthew really was trying to get Donald to do...something, then the best place to be would be right next to Matthew. He wouldn’t be able to hide the truth from her, she would see it with her own two eyes.
“You will probably know the route back to London from here better than I, you know Derbourg better than I do,” she nodded, consenting to his accompaniment.
“We will save time and energy if we procure a carriage. I believe there is a small hamlet just over that hill. We can hail one there.” She was uncomfortable with that scenario for more reasons than she could name in a single breath.
“Two horses are usually faster, don’t you agree,” Emma laughed uncertainly.
“Come now, Emma, We don’t want to risk you out here exposed,” Matthew asserted.
Emma shook her head more forcefully. “I have stated my reasoning, Matthew. I am not comfortable riding with you. You are not my husband and I am not escorted.” Her voice was shaking and angry. Matthew said nothing and lowered his gaze. He slowed his horse but didn’t look to see if she was following.
“As you wish,” was all he said, barely audible over the rain.
Emma was afraid. She was afraid of what awaited her in London. Afraid of what awaited Donald there more so. What emergency had not only driven him out into the rain but driven Matthew to steal her letter and to follow after him. Whatever it was, it was something that Matthew didn’t mind having Emma around for, which concerned her all the more.
Chapter 31
Geylen and Donald made it to the port just as the sun was cresting over the horizon. Donald always believed that the sunrise coming up over London dock was the second most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Of course, Emma would always be first. The rain had finally stopped that morning and the parting clouds turned the sky a stunning iridescent pink. Unfortunately, Donald was in no mood to enjoy this particular sunrise.
They had left their horses at the stables of a dockside inn. Geylen had insisted that they approach the ship on foot and that discretion was their utmost priority as of now. Donald’s shoes, even having changed for travel before he left, were quite laden with water and mud. No matter where they went, both of them sloshed and dripped, leaving an obvious trail.
The ship was docked right where it had been when Donald had come only a short while ago. In the morning light it had a certain majesty to it, one that Geylen seemed quite jaded to as he ushered Donald hurriedly.
They stopped outside the ship, right short of the gangplank that would lead them aboard.
“Those dockhands should be arriving soon to unload the extra furs,” Geylen remarked, looking around the creaking sea-soaked docks. The air was cool, even for the summer, and a light fog drifted about them. “We should move with haste. I suspect that something is being kept from you, My Lord, and that means the men have been instructed to obfuscate it.”
“Do you truly believe so much has been kept clandestine? Couldn’t this all be s
ome sort of misunderstanding?” Donald was incredulous now. Seeing this man standing rain trodden in the stables had made his earnest tale believable. But now on the docks in the light of day, Donald felt absurd.
“My Lord, if I didn’t truly believe what I claim, I wouldn’t have risked the venture to come and get you. I implore you still. Come and see the extra shipment for yourself. Be there when the Captain arrives so there can be no denying the truth.” Geylen managed to convince Donald once again, but barely. .
He gestured for the sailor to lead the way once again on to The Bright Side.
Unleashed Desires 0f A Noble Lady (Steamy Historical Regency) Page 20