Chapter Twenty-Eight
Marianne Ashton really was a source of common sense.
Lucinda did not want anyone to have the formula.
Even if she gave it to Stafford, would he destroy it or keep it to use against a future enemy?
It would give England a decisive advantage, an unfair advantage, but the number of innocent men who might die from it on both sides was too much to bear.
But what then to do with it? She wished they had never found it.
How dare her father do this to her? She thought it had been a symbol of his love for her.
An unending circle of parental adoration, but no.
She had simply been the vessel in which he kept his deadly secret.
She hated him. It was hard to be angry at a dead man, but she was.
It was the last thing he had given to her.
Her only true memory was of when he had placed it on her finger and told her never to take it off.
For as long as she had it on her, he would be with her.
As a child, she had taken the vow seriously, until she had to move it to other fingers as she grew.
He most likely never thought about that.
Perhaps he truly believed he was coming back for her.
He had not outsmarted his enemies, and, in the end, no symbol of fatherly love had saved him. Or her.
Her heart ached from the betrayal, and her tears had dried up hours ago.
Her father had lied to her, abandoned her, and left her with nothing in which to strive for, or even dream for herself.
If not for Captain Markham and his missing finger, she could still be at Miss Covington’s.
A burden to carry and care for who knew how long.
As kind as Miss Covington was, it was surely the money which she received each month that kept Lucinda there and nothing more.
It was nearly dark, and Tony had not come back. Sick of putting on a brave face for Marianne and her mother, she volunteered to take Sasha out to the back garden to do her business. Marianne offered to come with her, but she simply said she wished to be alone for a few minutes.
She let the dog out and followed her. It was strange, but the footman who was always wandering the garden was not there.
Perhaps he was running an errand or having his dinner.
She wandered around the garden, deep in thought.
What would she say to Tony when he returned?
It was not like she had decided about the fate of the ring. If anything, she was more confused.
Sasha kept up her sniffing and went to the gate.
It was open. “Sasha, come back here,” she called, but the dog went out the gate.
She followed, looking down the small shadowy alleyway.
Sasha came running back towards her and the sense of relief filled her body.
The thought of losing Marianne’s dog was unthinkable.
Well, she could not have lived with herself if something had happened to Marianne’s prized pet.
One moment she was bending down to pat the dog and then the next, everything went black.
Tony went to gather his horse from the mews out the back of Warrington House, no more at ease than when he had entered. To his surprise, he found someone waiting. “Dunstan? What are you doing here?”
“I have been waiting for you. I need to tell you something very important.”
“Lucinda is away with my mother at a house party. I am sure she will let you know when she is back.”
“Have you seen my painting?”
Tony nodded and took the reins of his horse, dismissing the groom. “I have.”
“And?”
“Are you here looking for praise, Lord Dunstan?”
Dunstan stood firm. “Did you look at it? Did you notice anything… unusual?”
“I did. I am not sure what kind of game you are playing at, but let me assure you…”
“I was trying to warn you and now I fear it is too late.”
Tony’s heart stalled. “What are you talking about?”
“Miss Sterling. She is in danger. Stafford knows.”
“Stafford knows what? If it is about her father, he has known for weeks.”
“Lord Ashton, I am one of you. I mean I was one of the Ring, mostly operating out of the country; you would not have known me. When I gained my title I was forced to leave.”
Tony’s mind was trying to comprehend how, if he was telling the truth, he did not know of him.
When he looked at Dunstan’s face, he knew.
Tony’s stomach pitched. He should have known.
He knew Dunstan had been holding back. The fact that the man’s background was cleaner than a blank piece of vellum. “Who hired you to seduce Lucinda?”
Dunstan mounted his horse. “I told you. We should go while there is still time. I will explain on the way.”
Tony mounted his horse and followed the earl out of the mews.
“The original plan was to simply make myself friendly towards her, hope that she would come to trust me. I am guessing he asked you to do something similar?”
“Are you talking about Stafford?”
“Who else? I told him there was no message to find. You and I both had exhausted our efforts, but he wasn’t satisfied with that. He said he knew she had it and he needed it. I had no idea what exactly it was that she supposedly had, some message her father stole while emissary to Prussia.”
“This seems to be common knowledge amongst the ton now. Tell me something I do not know.”
“Stafford is a double agent. I found out he has been for years. Small things, little tidbits he could get away with. Once Foxton’s daughter came out of the woodwork he promised the Prussians or the French he could get it.”
Tony’s mouth fell open. A double agent? Stafford? No! But he studied Dunstan and saw no signs of lying.
“I feel the same as you. Deceived by the very man who should have been the most trustworthy. Even though it had been a decade ago when it disappeared he assured them he could get the stolen property back and demanded a huge fee, enough that he could pay off his debts and disappear into the country.”
Tony scoffed. “I cannot believe that. He showed no signs of being in debt, and there have been no rumors even among those I know from the Ring.”
“Look, you can choose not to believe me, but it will be Miss Sterling who will pay the price.” He stopped in the middle of the street. “I told him I wanted out, that there was nothing to find. I endanger my own life coming to you. If he were to find out, I am dead.”
Damn it, he was telling the truth. There must be an explanation for all this.
“I will come with you. I know they are at the safe house. Why do you think Stafford suggested it?”
“To keep an eye on us, in case we find the message.”
“Exactly. I only know because he told me. He wanted me to aid him, but I refused. My mission was complete, and I told him I no longer worked for the Ring.”
Tony took off, not caring if Dunstan was following or not.
Dread seeped through him, making it hard to breathe.
He had to get Lucinda to safety, but still his mind could not accept that Stafford was a double agent.
Damn and blast the man. Part of him rebelled at the thought.
He was the person Tony had trusted the most, and he was a fucking traitor.
Did that make him one too? Had all the information he had gathered over the years he had worked for him even been in England’s best interest?
Bile rose in his throat, but he battled the urge to cast up his accounts.
Lucinda was his only objective right now.
When he lept off his horse in the narrow alleyway, he knew Dunstan had been right. Two Bow Street Runners, hired to protect his family, had gathered around a body. His mother and sister huddled in the lit doorway.
“What happened?”
His mother stepped forward. “Oh, thank God! Tony, they have taken Lucinda.”
“Who has?”
“We do not know,” Marianne replied, tears filling her eyes.
“Lucinda took Sasha out so that she could be alone while Sasha did her necessaries in the garden, only Sasha was the only one to come back in. We came out and found Mr. Marsh here dead just outside the gate. Lord Dunstan?” Marianne asked in confusion. “What are you doing here?”
Dunstan opened his mouth to talk, but Tony interrupted. There was no time for chitchat and apologies. “He is with me. George, can you take my mother and sister back to Warrington House? Leave everything behind, except for the dog. Go, now!”
The two men ushered the distraught women into the house. Tony turned to Dunstan. “Where would he have taken her?”
“There is a place where we would meet on occasion just outside town. It was convenient due to its location near the Thames. He could have taken her there, but I really don’t know.”
“We will go there first then.”
“Ashton, I’m sorry this has all happened. I had no idea what he had planned when he hired me.”
“Save your apologies for Lucinda.”
Dunstan nodded and turned his horse around and took off with Tony not far behind. They rode for about a half hour before Dunstan slowed down.
“We need to leave the horses somewhere as they will make too much noise. We can go on foot from here.”
“I swear, Dunstan, if you are leading me into a trap you are a dead man.”
“Understood. I want Miss Sterling to be safe as much as you. She is innocent in all this.”
Tony said nothing. Dunstan did not need to know that Lucinda indeed had the formula that Stafford so desperately wanted. It would be safer for all of them if he did not know.