Chapter 15 #2
I will not let him harm Frederica. I will not let him take this from us.
He pressed his lips to her hair and felt her exhale — a slow, surrendering breath that loosened her grip and let her lean more fully into him, as if she had been carrying something heavy for a long time and had at last found somewhere to set it down.
Nora’s eyes sought his as she leaned back to look up into his face. “What are you going to do? Will you give him all he desires?”
“I do not know.” His words were heavy, his shoulders shrugging lightly. “I do not know what else there is to be done. I must protect Frederica, I must make sure she is safe.”
A long, thick silence stretched between them both as the weight of his words settled over them like a fog.
There was no other clear path forward; he was aware of that.
He held Nora’s gaze, seeing the quiet trust in her eyes whilst shame pressed against his ribs like a fist, squeezing until each breath cost him something.
“Frederica’s safety is all that matters,” she said, breaking through the quiet.
“It seems strange to me that Rathbone would demand land and coin from you in return for her safety – from what he writes, it is as if he believes he is owed this for some reason.” Stepping right of his arms, she picked up the letter again from where she had set it down.
“This line – ‘you will bring me my coin and my land’.”
David turned the letter in his hands, considering. “Indeed, that does seem to be somewhat expectant. Perhaps Lord Cheltenham was intending to bequeath him something but did not write it in his will, as Rathbone had expected.”
“In which case, why not then come to you and speak to you about that, rather than pursue Frederica?” Nora shook her head.
“No, there is deviousness here. I think…” She trailed off, her eyes searching his, a tightness in her jaw.
“Hampshire — if your uncle constructed the codicil to protect Frederica from Rathbone, then whatever Rathbone held over your uncle was significant enough to warrant that. Significant enough that your uncle preferred to die with the secret than to expose it. What if Rathbone is not asking for what he believes he is owed? What if he is asking for what he believes he can take, because he knows he could destroy your family by speaking?”
David went still. “Blackmail.”
“Yes.” Her hand tightened on his. “Money and land are only the beginning. A man with that kind of leverage does not stop at one demand. Whatever you give him today, he will be back next month.”
David nodded slowly, his breath rushing out of him as his expression darkened. “Rathbone has threatened first my uncle, then Frederica, and now he thinks to do the same to me,” he said, as Nora took his hand again, the pressure on his fingers steadying him.
“This land and this coin that he believes is his, that he expects to gain from me – there must be a reason for it.”
“And you will find out the reason?”
He bit his lip and then sighed. “The only thing I can do is to speak with my solicitors again. Perhaps there is something more they know but have not yet shared when it comes to Rathbone.”
Her eyebrows lifted, her fingers tightening on his arm. “Would they not know of where he resides?” she asked, putting her other hand on his chest. “There must be some information they could give to you that might alert you as to where Frederica herself now might be?”
He nodded, took her hand, and kissed it, his breath warming the back of her knuckles. “Yes, I am sure they will know something that will be of use.” His chest tight, he held her gaze steadily. “I will inform you of whatever I discover.”
“Would that I could go with you.”
He smiled briefly. “I applaud your desire to be of aid to Frederica,” he said quietly. “But I must keep you safe also. I cannot risk any harm coming to you, not when I know that Rathbone is willing to do such dreadful things as that.”
She pressed his hand. “I would do anything I could to help Frederica,” she said, sincerely. “For her sake, I hope she is discovered soon – and without any harm being done to her.”
“As is my wish,” he swore, as she stepped away from him and made for the door. “Pray for my success, my love. Pray that this will all come to an end – and that we will all find happiness in spite of these troubles.”
“I shall,” she whispered, her eyes glistening with soft tears as she held his gaze, one hand on the door handle. “Farewell, Hampshire.”
“So you have his residence?”
“I do, yes.” David, who had only just finished explaining everything to Lord Broadford at this early hour of the morning, continued to pace up and down his friend’s drawing room.
“I confess, I do not know what is to be done. I have his threats and his demands, but at the same time, I have no intention of simply giving him what he wants in the hope that Frederica will be kept safe.” He winced, sensing his own guilt beginning to press into him – guilt that he had not acted more quickly, guilt that he had not pushed Frederica gently to speak of Rathbone rather than permitting her silence.
Lord Broadford exhaled sharply through his teeth, letting out a low exclamation.
David had not been able to do anything the previous day, for the solicitors had closed and he had been unable to speak to anyone.
He had arrived again this morning, before the sun had fully risen, to discover Mr. Bolton unlocking the door – and had pounced on him like a man half starved.
“That man is nothing but a scoundrel!”
“Indeed.” David scowled. “I only wish that I had been able to find out the truth about him before now. Had I known that he was threatening Frederica, then I would have been able to help her. I did see that there was something about him she was reluctant to speak of, but I did not think it was anything so very severe. I could not understand her reluctance, but now… ” He shook his head, a tightness about his mouth.
“Now I see just how much of a fool I have been. I was too cautious, too careful around her when it came to such a thing. I should have been more insistent, albeit in as gentle a manner as I could manage.”
“This is no time for regrets,” Lord Broadford replied firmly. “You need to determine what you are to do next. The money and the documents signing the land to him are to be prepared by this afternoon, yes?”
David nodded. “Yes. I am to give them to a fellow who will appear at my door at three o’clock in the afternoon.
I have no intention of allowing that to happen, however.
Mr. Bolton is making all the preparations in case such a thing might be forced upon me, but I am determined not to allow it to progress. ”
“No?”
“No.” Finally sitting down, his elbows on his knees, David drew in a steadying breath. “The solicitors were as helpful as they could be. To be truthful, Mr. Bolton was horrified when I told him of what had occurred.”
Lord Broadford nodded. “Then you know where Rathbone might be with her, yes?”
David nodded. “There are two places, you understand. I must go to one place, and I would beg of you to go to the other. I cannot waste any time.”
Lord Broadford’s eyes flared. “But of course. Where do you wish me to go?”
“One is Rathbone’s residence, a small house on the edge of London.” His lips twisted. “I would very much doubt that he would be there, however, for no doubt he would expect me to find out that location and make my way there.”
“Of course. The other?”
“About an hour’s drive from London,” David said grimly.
“Near enough that he can easily make his way here if he so wishes, but far enough from here that he can hide himself away.” He shook his head.
“Mr. Bolton did not think that it was Rathbone’s own personal residence but that it belonged to some cousin or distant relation.
The only reason he knew of it was that Rathbone boasted about it on occasion. ”
“I see.” Lord Broadford grimaced. “When do you wish to take your leave, then?”
“Within the hour,” David stated, as his friend nodded. “If you would be willing to go to the first place in London, then it means I can go to the second without wasting any valuable time.”
Lord Broadford got to his feet. “Then go at once! I will ready my horse and be on my way within a few minutes.” He paused, putting one hand on David’s arm, catching him as he walked to the door.
“Will I wait for you at your townhouse? Or will I send news there and wait for yours in return?”
“If you find Frederica, I would beg of you to take her back to her own townhouse but to stand guard there until I return,” David replied, his nervousness beginning to heighten, sending his hands twisting together.
“Thank you, my friend. I could not do this without you.”
“But of course.” Lord Broadford followed after David as he hurried to the door, his breathing quickening as his thoughts began to twist themselves this way and that.
One of them would find Frederica; he had to believe that, although quite what he would do with Rathbone thereafter, David could not yet say.
It ought to be the very greatest punishment he could think of, the heaviest consequences that would land on the fellow but, for the present, David could not concentrate on that.
His only thought was on saving Frederica and, from that, what might then follow for them both?
Would she still demand that they wed? Would she insist that their future was tied together?
Or, with the threat of Rathbone gone, would she finally allow them both the freedom he had prayed for?