Chapter Eight
Pippa could not believe the change that came over the three men.
It was as if someone had snapped their fingers.
As one, the men reacted. Gone were the congenial cousins who had been teasing Flaherty.
In their place were hard-eyed, determined men who were ready to take action to find the intruder and rescue Millie’s babe.
Holding on to her friend to steady her, Pippa listened as O’Malley gave orders.
Garahan and Flaherty listened, and immediately sprang into action.
Garahan strode outside to alert the stable hands trained to protect and defend Summerfield Chase.
Flaherty left to organize the footmen who had been trained to do the same from inside the manor house.
Once he’d given the orders, O’Malley approached Millie. Tears streamed from her eyes, but she didn’t make a sound. It broke Pippa’s heart to think of the agony her friend was suffering. She tightened her hold on Millie.
“While the men are mobilizing the staff and stable hands we’ve trained, I need ye to tell me exactly what happened—what ye remember.” O’Malley pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket, handed it to Millie, and waited until she dried her eyes. “Can ye do that?”
Millie nodded. “I had just fed Roarke,” she rasped. “He let out the loudest burp and closed his eyes.”
“Then what happened?” O’Malley asked.
“I laid him in the cradle and needed to sit for a few minutes. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, I heard him crying—but it sounded as if he was in the hallway!”
The glint in O’Malley’s eyes was fierce. “Did ye wake up then?”
“Yes.”
Pippa was proud of Millie for maintaining her composure.
She was still grieving for her husband, and now this!
She wanted to tell O’Malley to get moving and find Millie’s babe now.
Whoever stole Roarke could have already left the baron’s estate.
But she held her tongue, sensing that it would only delay the men finding the babe if she interrupted.
“What did ye do next?”
“I checked the cradle—he wasn’t there.” Millie paused. “The door had been closed because I didn’t want Roarke’s cries to disturb her ladyship. But now it’s open.”
O’Malley clenched his jaw. “Did ye hear footsteps or yer babe crying again?”
She shook her head. “No, but I cannot imagine whoever took him would have gone down the main staircase.”
Pippa could not help but add, “Unless he had half a brain.”
O’Malley surprised Pippa by turning to her, asking, “Who would have reason to steal Millie’s babe?”
Without hesitation, Pippa answered, “Her brother-in-law.”
“Her ladyship shared yer story with us, but not who ye were on the run from. As her ladyship’s condition has been delicate because of the injury she received…
” O’Malley fell silent, cleared his throat, and continued.
“’Tisn’t me place to discuss how or why with ye.
But because of what happened a few months ago, involving Garahan’s wife’s family, Garahan, Flaherty, and I have been vigilant in protecting her ladyship.
Which is also the reason why the baron or the baroness should have us told us the crucial bit of information of who would try to steal Mrs. Trentchester’s babe! ”
Pippa and Millie shared a glance. “We were only thinking of the baroness, and your wife—Garahan’s too,” Millie said.
“By not telling us who is headed our way? No one has managed to slip past our guard,” O’Malley said. “The only servants hired recently were footmen hired by his lordship!”
Millie reacted as if she’d been struck. Pippa was not about to let the giant of a man intimidate Millie, and snapped, “We have our reasons for believing he would not be able to follow us here. Your temper, and Flaherty’s, have convinced us that our decision was sound.”
“Sound?” O’Malley bit out.
Pippa shifted her hold on Mille, grabbing her by the hand, as she eased her friend behind her, once again taking a protective stance, shielding her from O’Malley’s anger.
“How dare you raise your voice to Millie! She did not want Flaherty to bring us here, but because of his injury, she agreed. Only in the last few days has her strength returned to normal. And now…now, when the only reason Millie has for carrying on without the husband she adored—their babe—has been taken from her, you let loose your anger? It would have been better if Flaherty had left us to our own devices!”
O’Malley reared back as if he been struck.
He tensed, and Pippa could all but feel him reel in his temper.
His expression smoothed to a neutral one as he raked a hand through his hair and blew out a breath.
“Forgive me, Millie. I reacted without thought to yer condition or what ye’d been through these last months, and specifically the time ye have been with us. ”
Millie squeezed Pippa’s hand and moved to stand beside her. “You are forgiven, Mr. O’Malley, on the condition that you think first before you speak.”
“Before you agree with Millie,” Pippa added, “I have another condition. You will only confide in Garahan and Flaherty, and—” O’Malley opened his mouth to speak, and Pippa raised a hand.
“I’m not finished.” He fell silent, though his eyes and the set of his shoulders indicated his frustration.
“Given the closeness we observed between the baron and baroness, I have a feeling Lady Phoebe already confided in her husband. You must understand that it could do more harm than good if you speak Millie’s brother-in-law’s name freely. ”
Millie nodded. “Servants—even well-meaning ones—are wont to talk with their contemporaries on their free afternoons or days off. His name could be overheard at the inn in the village, or the blacksmith’s shop, or at the vicarage.
Word travels fast via the mail coach, and those of the ton with nothing else to do to while away their hours repeating the latest on dits they hear.
We cannot take the chance that if he has not already reached Summerfield-on-Eden, that he will be en route after hearing the mention of his name. ”
O’Malley waited a moment and glanced from Millie to Pippa and back.
“Ye have me word of honor. Before ye think to ask, I’ll be telling ye me cousins and meself have sworn an oath to the Duke of Wyndmere to protect his family with our lives.
His Grace’s sister and brother-in-law are under our protection. ”
Millie’s voice quavered as she thanked him. Pippa’s didn’t as she asked O’Malley, “How well do you know the men and women serving on the baron’s staff?”
He started to answer and then hesitated. “Most have served the baron before he wed the baroness. After Percy and Phineas came to live here, there was a footman from their father’s household who was hired on shortly thereafter. Why?”
“It was a question that came to mind just now,” Pippa answered.
“I am quite certain yourself, Garahan, and Flaherty have been vigilant in your protection of the baron and baroness.” O’Malley held her gaze without speaking, prompting Pippa to add, “We shall hold you to it. Millie and I will not rest easy until we hear the same from Garahan and Flaherty.”
In answer, the guard grunted. He bowed, spun on his heel, and stalked along the hallway.
“Thank you, Pippa.”
Pippa hugged Millie, undone by the tears flowing freely now that Millie did not have to put on a brave face and hold them back.
“Have faith. O’Malley and the others will find Roarke.
Do you hear the footsteps above us? They do not sound frantic, but purposeful.
O’Malley and Flaherty will lead the footmen searching inside the building, while Garahan and the stable hands search the grounds. ”
Millie used the handkerchief O’Malley had handed to her to blot her tears. “I do not intend to stand back and wait while everyone else looks for Roarke. I intend to help—but where do I start?”
“Where do we start,” Pippa said. Then she had an idea.
In a heartbeat she knew it would be an untapped resource the men had not mentioned.
But with what she had observed in the short time she’d been at Summerfield Chase, there were two little boys would be eager to lend a hand—always in the thick of things, they were bound to have seen or heard something. “I have an idea.”
“Tell me!”
Pippa shook her head. “’Tis best if we keep it between us. Follow me—we’ll use the servants’ staircase.”
Millie followed. When Pippa paused to listen at the bottom of the stairs, Millie paused. And did so again, halfway up, and at the top. Pippa opened the door a crack and stopped. Millie waited.
Pippa grabbed hold of her friend’s arm. “Hurry.” As they were reaching for the door to the largest of those dedicated to the nursery—the schoolroom—it opened.
“Psst! In here!” a young voice urged.
Pippa pulled Millie inside the room and closed the door behind them.
“We know who took your babe,” Phineas said. Something about the boy’s demeanor had Pippa wondering if he knew more than just who had taken Roarke.
“And where he was headed,” his brother added. There it was again, that slight shifting of eyes away from Pippa when both boys spoke to her.
Resolved to get to the bottom of what they were hiding, Pippa quietly studied the boys’ faces. “Tell us what you know.”
“Then you can show us where he went,” Millie said.
Pippa was surprised at the sudden change in her friend. Gone was the uneasy woman who’d let O’Malley lash out at her verbally. The old Millie was back now. And Pippa was so proud of her. They fell in line and followed behind the brothers.
“I will be forever in your debt,” Millie told the twins, “if you can help us find my son.”
The boys left the schoolroom and stopped in front of the door to the servants’ staircase leading to third floor. “He went in here,” Phineas said.