Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
“ W here is she? ”
Dorian threw open the doors of Nottington Castle with a bang, making the footman, who looked as if he had just been reaching to open it, jump back in alarm.
“Where is she?!” Dorian roared, staring around wildly. “Where is my wife?”
It had taken several hours to ride to the castle from London, and Dorian was beside himself. He stared around the hall, as if Leah might appear right in front of him, but of course, she was not there. Just the footman, who looked very nervous as he began to stammer.
“Her G-Grace went out w-walking a few hours ago,” he said. “Just after her s-sisters left.”
“And you haven’t been worried about her?” Dorian demanded. “It’s been hours and you haven’t gone to check on her?”
“It is normal for the duchess to go on long walks,” the footman said nervously.
“And it’s normal for her to be gone this long?”
“I am s-sorry, Your Grace,” the scared-looking footman said. “There has been so much to do, I didn’t think to go check on her, and as you know, there is only a skeleton staff here…”
This was true. Most of the staff was in London with Dorian. Only a few of the servants had remained behind at the castle. And while Dorian had been planning to send more to keep Leah comfortable while she was here, they had not arrived yet.
Still… he didn’t know what the footman had been doing for so long to keep him from checking in on the duchess.
“How long ago exactly did she go walking?” he asked. “Has anyone seen her? Or have you seen or heard anyone else on the estate? A lone man, by any chance, or perhaps a carriage?”
“I have seen and heard nothing, Your Grace,” the footman said. He looked truly shocked by the idea of someone else being on the estate. “There was quite the commotion when Her Grace’s sister and Lady Bellmong were leaving, I suppose it was possible that we missed something…”
The footman’s gaze grew more fearful, and if Dorian hadn’t been worried out of his mind, he might have felt bad for the young man. The footman was probably afraid of losing his job, and in truth, it wasn’t his fault. The duchess was allowed to wander around the estate for hours at a time if she chose to. Why would a footman be worried about her doing so? It wasn’t his job to protect her.
It was Dorian’s.
“I’m sorry,” he forced himself to say, taking a deep, steadying breath. “I don’t mean to be angry with you. It’s not your fault. I am just worried.”
Behind him, the door opened again, and Lucien and Anthony entered. They had accompanied him from London, but hadn’t flung themselves out of the carriage and raced to the front door with quite as much speed as Dorian had. They still looked very worried, however, and Lucien especially looked paler than Dorian had ever seen him. On the drive here, he had barely said two words.
“Is she here?” Lucien asked, stepping forward eagerly.
“No,” Dorian said heavily. “No one has seen her in several hours.”
“Has something happened to the duchess?” The footman said uncertainly.
Dorian swallowed. “We don’t know. But we have reason to believe that she was kidnapped off of the estate.”
The footman’s jaw dropped, and Dorian saw the fear that immediately settled over him. “Kidnapped?” he repeated. “But… that’s impossible!”
“It’s not impossible,” Lucien said heavily. “But we have to act fast if we are to save her.” He fixed the footman with a very serious expression. “You said she goes walking often. Do you know where she walks?”
“The lake,” the footman said at once. “The first day she arrived, she had a picnic down at the lake, I remember that.”
“The lake,” Dorian repeated slowly. The lake where she and I were supposed to swim. The memory hit him like a punch to the chest. But I never made time for it. The three of them hurried out of the hall and down toward the lake, which was out of sight of the house. That might have made it appeal to Lord Dubois , Dorian thought. He could kidnap Leah there without anyone from the house seeing.
Down at the lake, they scoured the ground for clues. After almost five minutes of searching, Anthony let out a shout.
“Over here!” he cried. “There’s something here!”
Dorian’s heart leapt in his chest, and he and Lucien both sprinted over to Anthony, who was standing down near the far side of the lake. There, in the mud, squashed down by what looked like the muddy print of a boot, was a white glove.
Dorian recognized it instantly. “It’s Leah’s,” he breathed.
“He must have taken her here,” Lucien said, looking around. “That boot print must have belonged to him. Leah’s foot is not that big.”
“So there was a struggle of some kind,” Dorian said. “She tried to fight him.”
“That or she left it on purpose,” Anthony noted. “As a clue for you--for anyone--to find her.”
Clever girl, Dorian thought, his heart momentarily swelling with pride. Did that also mean she expected me to come after her? Even—even now?
The thought filled him with a hope he had barely allowed himself to feel ever since his solicitor had come into his office and shattered all his delusions that he would be able to win Leah back.
“Either way, we know she was here,” Lucien said. “And we know a man was here as well. It has to be him.”
“There must be carriage tracks somewhere,” Anthony said, looking around. “He wouldn’t have rode off with her just on horseback, surely. It would be too easy for her to try and signal for help from whomever they passed.”
They all began to search in the mud along the side of the lake, and within a few minutes, they had found the unmistakable signs of carriages marks in the mud.
As the three of them stared down at the carriage marks, Dorian felt his heart hollow out.
“So we know he was here,” he said softly. “We know he took her along the side of the lake, and we know it was within the last few hours.” He looked around at his friends. “But where did he go?”
Lucien shook his head. “Back to his estate, if I had to guess,” he said. “He’d be safe there, on his property. And he could marry her at the chapel on his estate, the vicar would undoubtedly do his bidding even if it was against Leah’s will.”
“But the wedding would still take time,” Anthony pointed out. “They’d need to wait to read the banns, or else procure a special license, and they are not going to be able to procure one of those considering that her annulment hasn’t gone through. And that would give Dorian time to find them. No, I don’t think he would risk that.”
“Where do you think they are, then?” Dorian asked. He could feel his impatience rising, but he knew his friends were just trying to help.
“I suspect he’s gone to Scotland,” Anthony said. “To elope. They don’t ask many questions in Gretna Green.”
“But Scotland is so far away,” Lucien said, his eyebrows knitting together. “That risks days on the road when Leah might find a way to escape.”
“What about abroad?” Anthony suggested. “Would he take her to a port city and then charter a boat to Europe? It might be easier for him to marry her without the proper banns if they were abroad, and she could hardly escape if she was on a boat.”
“The closest port is Ipswich,” Lucien said. “Maybe we should go there and check.”
Dorian stamped his foot in frustration. “We’re running out of time! All three might be where he has taken her--or none of those places. I can’t wait any longer--Leah can’t wait any longer. We just need to decide.”
“We should split up,” Lucien said. “Anthony can check Ipswich, I will ride to Dubois’s estate--it borders my own, so I know it well. And Dorian--”
“I will head to Scotland,” he said, gritting his teeth. It was going to be a long, hard road, and Dubois and Leah had a head start on him--but if he went by horse, not by carriage, he would be able to travel more quickly. If that was even where they had gone.
“How do we send word when we have found them?” Anthony asked.
“Write to my sisters and wife,” Lucien said. “They will find a way to contact all of us.”
The three friends looked at each other. Dorian’s heart was racing. He felt a sick dread growing throughout him. They had no idea where Leah was, and there was no guarantee that they were going to find her on time. But he was grateful, at least, to have friends who wouldn’t hesitate to help him find her.
“Let us not waste another moment, then,” Dorian said. “We must get going.”
It didn’t take long for them to head out. Anthony took the carriage, since it wasn’t far to Ipswich and the roads were good that way. Lucien and Dorian both took fresh horses from the stables. Dorian realized, as he pulled himself up onto the fastest and strongest stallion in his stables, that he hadn’t eaten all day, and would most likely be riding all night long without stopping for food.
But he didn’t care. As he passed through the village and then pointed the horse north, he didn’t feel even remotely hungry or tired. He only wanted to find Leah as fast as he could, before it was too late.