Chapter 23 #2
I was rather surprised—but I assure you, not at all displeased—to hear from you.
Particularly regarding such an unusual manner, one Viscount Peter Dugley.
What on earth, I wondered, could you desire with such a man, who, as I am told, is even a rather minor figure in these parts?
I was shocked to hear he casts a wide enough shadow that you even know his name.
Nevertheless, I was happy to oblige. A few discreet inquiries answered my curiosity as well as (I hope) yours. It is as I assume you suspected: Dugley was indeed a known associate of your late father’s.
“What?” Ezra asked the quiet emptiness of his breakfast room.
That had not at all been what he wanted to know.
He had been vague with Xander about his reasons because…
Well, because Xander thought he needed to know everything that went on with every member of the family, but Xander was actually incorrect about that fact.
At any other time, Ezra would have been fascinated by this revelation. Now, he did not care at all about any of Dugley’s acquaintances except one.
Frantically, praying for some shred of useful information, he read on.
I could not discern the precise nature of this association, I am afraid.
Whenever I probed, I was met with only veiled suggestions and innuendos.
I hope you do not think that I seek to insult you or impugn your father’s memory when I say that the consensus seems to be that Dugley is rather unsavory.
Nevertheless, you are better poised than I to find out more. Though you say Dugley has lived in Belgium for the past ten years or more, the local on dit is that he recently traveled to London, where you can seek him out yourself.
Do reach out if you need anything else. Helen is pestering me most unmercifully to add that she sends her love.
Your cousin,
Xander Lightholder, Duke of Godwin
Ezra’s throat went dry, and a haze of red appeared at the corners of his vision until the only thing he could see was the words ‘he recently traveled to London.’
It did not take any particular cleverness to put the pieces together.
Dugley had come here for Letitia. And now, Letty was missing—because Dugley had her.
Ezra swallowed down against the force of his rage. He could not let it control him, not when he needed to control it, to use it.
He summoned a footman.
“Fetch two other footmen, my valet, the housekeeper, and the maid, Sarah,” he instructed, his mind whirling. “Tell them to stop whatever they are doing and to come to me at once.”
Within moments, the staff was at his side. All of them looked patient, if faintly curious—except Sarah. Sarah looked terrified.
Ezra feared he was not about to offer her any comfort.
He turned first to the three footmen. Xander had given Ezra Dugley’s London address, and while Ezra knew deep down that he would not find the man there, he wasn’t foolish enough to leave the country before checking his own backyard.
“Go to this address,” he directed. “Find out anything you can about an occupant, likely former occupant, Viscount Peter Dugley.”
At the viscount’s name, Sarah’s wan face went even paler. For a moment, Ezra feared she would faint, but she was made of sturdy stuff. She clasped her one good hand on the back of a chair and stood, resolute, not making so much as a peep.
“Do whatever it takes to get information about him. Use my name. Bribe anyone who can be bribed. Make whatever promises you need. One of you should stop at my solicitor’s along the way, in case that helps things along.
” The solicitor was the kind of wily fellow who always knew what buttons to press.
Ezra liked that in a man, assuming the man was on his side.
“In particular, find out what you can about any residences the man maintains in Belgium and bring that information to me immediately. I need the first report within the hour.”
“We will see it done, Your Grace,” said the most senior of the trio before he ushered his companions out the door.
This left Sarah, his valet, and the housekeeper. He turned to the older woman first.
“Go to Iris and her governess. Take a maid to help you pack their bags. They will be gone for a few weeks, but they are only going over to my cousins—the Duke and Duchess of Nighthall—so speed is more important than anything else. They can send for something if they forget it.” He paused. “And the dog. Ready the dog, too.”
He would apologize to Hugh later, after his scads of children inevitably demanded a dog of their own.
The housekeeper left with a brisk nod. Ezra issued similar orders to his valet, who would be preparing Ezra’s own things for the trip abroad.
That left Sarah.
“What about me?” she asked, voice scarcely above a whisper.
“You are going to Blackhall, too,” he told her.
Her eyes were wide in her face. “But I am just a maid!”
He laid a hand over hers, which was too familiar for an employer and employee, but knowing what she was to Letitia made Ezra feel brotherly toward Sarah.
“You are important to Letty,” he said. “I will not risk your safety. We don’t know what Dugley has planned, so before I can go, I need to know that you are safe, too.”
Sarah still looked nigh terrified, but she nodded, then rushed off to pack her own things.
Within hours, Ezra confirmed that Dugley had not been seen in London for nearly a week. The duke had taken Iris, Sarah, Hermes, and a very confused governess to Hugh and Persephone’s, and secured his cousin’s grim-faced promise to write to Xander to let him know Ezra was coming.
“Thank you,” Ezra said, heartfelt.
Hugh nodded, as if it was not even worth mentioning.
“Say what you will about the bloody Lightholders,” he said with bleak humor. “But we know how to rally the goddamned hounds.”
And it was with these words—bearing the promise that, despite all the years he had turned his back on his family, they would not now turn their backs on him—that Ezra boarded a ship bound for France, then onward to Belgium.
He was going to find his girl. And then, come hell or high water, he was going to bring her home.