Chapter Fourteen
Damian had anticipated that he may be required to remain in London for a few days, and possibly a sennight if necessary.
He had not expected to be told that the person they sought had left for Liverpool.
Now what the bloody hell was he to do?
Did he let Georgie go off on her own, or did he travel to Liverpool so that she was protected?
Even as he asked himself the question, Damian already knew the answer.
At least he knew some merchant companies that kept offices in Liverpool.
In fact, a one-time close friend, Ewan Chisholm, from when he attended school, came from a merchant family who also sent passenger ships across the Atlantic.
Their ships sailed from both Scotland and Liverpool.
Hopefully his friend was in Liverpool and hadn’t traveled to Scotland.
With a sigh, he stomped down the stairs after Georgie, then entered the hackney, and took his seat.
“After I retrieve my belongings from your brother’s home, I will need to be taken to the coaching inn. That is not so far.”
She did not ask, but ordered him, which should not be a surprise.
“I already have the schedule of mail coaches leaving from The Swan with Two Necks,” he advised her. “We will consult that first. There is no reason to go there if the coach bound for Liverpool may not leave for hours or days.”
“Days?” she asked in alarm.
“Mail coaches do not travel to locations daily, especially if they are on the other side of England. We were fortunate there was one available the day we needed to leave Southampton.”
Her brown eyes widened with fear or concern. “If Southampton has more than one coaching inn, servicing mail coaches, certainly London has as well.”
“They do, likely dozens. If there is not one leaving today from The Swan with Two Necks, I will send servants to the others to obtain schedules.”
“Thank you.” She then turned her head to look out the window as she tapped her toe against the floor of the carriage.
“You will find your sister before she leaves for America,” Damian said quietly.
Georgie slowly turned to look at him, hope mixed with concern lingered in her eyes.
“How do you know?”
“Few captains, unless they are desperate for crew, will take on a merchant sailor that is unknown to them without letters of reference. There are more sailors needing work than there are ships.”
At least, Damian hoped that he was correct.
“We are still five days behind. Anything could happen before we catch up to Grace.”
In that, she was correct. However, what she feared the most, ruination, likely already happened. “We cannot arrive there any quicker than by mail coach and since we do not know what means of travel they have used, we may catch up to them.”
Though, it was likely they were also traveling by mail coach, which would mean no time would be saved, unless they had been delayed in waiting, which might gain them a few days.
Georgie glanced up at him, fear and worry in her brown eyes. “Do you truly believe that Fisher will have difficulty finding a position?”
He really did not know but assumed as he would be reluctant to hire such a man on at Trade Wynd. “Yes.”
She bit her bottom lip, gave a nod then glanced back out the window.
Damian knew that Georgie had hoped that today would be the one where she found Grace and could well understand her concern and disappointment, but there was little either of them could do but to follow.
When the carriage stopped before the Mayfair home, Georgie did not wait for him to assist her but pushed the door open and practically jumped out and marched up to the entry. Damian hurried to catch up and reached her just as the butler opened the door and they both stepped into the entry.
“Where is the schedule. I would like to consult it before I retrieve my valise and satchel.”
“It is on the desk in the library,” he answered.
Georgie marched away from him, down the corridor, into the library and was already lifting the schedule from the top of his desk before he reached her. “It leaves at eight this evening.”
“When is it scheduled to arrive in Liverpool?” he asked as he took it from her.
She groaned. “Eight tomorrow evening. Twenty-four hours.” With a sigh, she plopped down in the chair behind his desk.
He did not want to be on another mail coach either, and certainly not for twenty-four hours. The twelve they had traveled yesterday had been uncomfortable enough.
“What if we sailed?” she asked.
“That could take two days to two weeks depending on the weather and currents of the Channel,” he answered, to which she sighed again before she frowned. “It could be worse.”
“How so?” Georgie demanded.
“The mail coach from London to Liverpool only leaves on Tuesday and Friday.”
As it was Friday, Grace and Fisher had likely left on Tuesday, putting them only three days behind the couple. That was assuming they used the same mail coach service. “Your sister and Fisher may have been delayed and had to wait for a mail coach?”
“I hope that is the case, unless they found another coaching inn from which to depart.” But they would not know until they arrived in Liverpool because Damian was not going to send footmen out to collect schedules from the various coaching inns when they would be leaving that evening.
“I shall gather my things so that I can be taken to The Swan with Two Necks.”
“The mail coach does not leave for at least six hours. We are not going to go there to wait the entire time.”
“I want to make certain that I have a seat,” she argued.
“What if all the seats have already been purchased,” he warned.
“I will ride on the top if I must!”
Damian did not doubt that for a moment, and he would be right there beside her.
He then called for the butler and when the man appeared, gave instructions to a footman to ride to the coaching inn and purchase passage for the two of them.
Only when he was certain tickets were still available would he prepare to travel.
If the mail coach was already full, he gave instructions to have footmen visit the various coaching inns to purchase the earliest available passage for Liverpool, even if he ended up with seats on ten different mail coaches, he would get Georgie to their destination at the earliest possible moment.
If there was not another bound for Liverpool, then he would have the footmen return with schedules and he would plot his own passage to the west coast of England. Georgie would not wait another three days to follow her sister and would likely set out on her own if a solution was not found.
*
The first agonizing wait had been for the footman to return with passage on the mail coach.
However, Georgie did not simply wait patiently.
Instead, she asked Damian for a map of England and then took the schedule from him, opened the journal and listed possible mail coaches also leaving that night, or at worst, in the morning, and traveling in the correct direction, so that she could begin her journey even if it meant that she would have to change which mail coach she was riding in at different coaching inns along the way.
She may be left to cool her heels for a bit, but it was better than sitting in a house in Mayfair waiting to travel while imagining that Grace had already boarded a ship bound for America.
As for Damian, he read newssheets. In the afternoon he requested tea while she wondered where the footman was because the coaching in was not so far away.
Once the tea service had arrived, Damian settled back in a chair and watched as she mapped out a route, somewhat humored by her planning and offered no assistance whatsoever.
“You do not have to accompany me,” Georgie said when she had exhausted all possible options.
“I have traveled thus far; therefore, I will continue on to Liverpool.”
“What is it like?”
“Liverpool?” he countered.
“Yes. Is it as large as the Port of London?”
Damian shrugged. “I have no idea. I have never been there.”
“Never?” she asked.
“I am sorry to disappoint you, but I have never had a reason to travel to Liverpool.”
He ran Trade Wynd. They had ships and went to ports? How could he not know anything about Liverpool? “Then how can we find Grace?”
Damian blew out a sigh. “By the same means we have attempted to find her in Southampton and Port of London. By asking.”
His words did little to calm her anxiety. “Do you at least know who to ask?” What if Damian was going to be as much a stranger in Liverpool as she?
“I do have a few contacts who will be able to offer assistance.”
“Excuse me, Mr. Wynd,” the footman said after he stepped into the library. “Passage for you and Miss Georgie has been purchased on the mail coach to Liverpool leaving from The Swan with Two Necks this evening.”
“Thank you, Samuel,” Damian dismissed.
Georgie blew out a sigh and for the first time since the tea service had been delivered, reached forward for one of the sandwiches.
Damian arched an auburn brow.
“I was too worried to eat,” she said right before she took a bite, then folded the map and tucked the mail coach schedule within her journal.
The rest of the afternoon she spent rearranging her valise and satchel to determine which items she needed to keep close to her person and what could be stored where they could not be reached.
She also counted her funds, which she hadn’t done since she left Italy and was relieved that none was missing, other than the small amount spent on the book.
She was also thankful that she had not yet needed to spend anymore of her precious funds because Damian had purchased passage and the food and drink while they traveled.
Yes, she was an irritant and he really did not want to be here, but despite everything, she was glad he accompanied her because it made the journey so much easier.
Georgie likely wouldn’t have even arrived in London yet if she had been left on her own.
Therefore, she would remain pleasant and appreciative even when he decided to be rude.
Oh, she did wish that he would settle on one mood.
He’d been grumpy, resentful, short on patience, then pleasant, animated when talking about wine, and humored, then rude again.
Frankly, it was difficult to keep up, especially when she did not know why his mood changed half of the time.
It was also one of the reasons she went to the chamber she had been assigned to organize her belongings, just to have peace and be alone.
It was better that he was irritable, Georgie decided because when he was pleasant to be around, and when he smiled and his blue eyes warmed, well, so did she, from the inside out.
Goodness! He was a handsome man, and strong, and muscular, and he smelled good.
Damian Wynd was a wicked temptation that she could do without. However, if he decided that he wanted to seduce her, Georgie wasn’t so certain that she would have the strength to deny him.
Oh, goodness. This was not where her thoughts should travel and she must put all contemplations of seducing Damian or being seduced by him away and never think of them again.