Page 88 of Ten Lords for the Holidays

“Alexander!” she screamed with all her might, hoping against hope that her duke was close enough to hear her.

* * *

Alexander galloped the bay toward Castle Keyvnor. He heard Daphne scream his name and the sound was enough to make his blood run cold.

Sadly, he could not tell where she was. The gardens were enormous and seemingly empty. She could be on the parapet walk or at a window. He pulled the horse up short and turned it in place, uncertain where to look.

“You there!” a girl cried and he spied a young woman racing toward him.

It was Miss Eurydice.

“Please, sir, you must help my sister!” she said. “He dragged her into the maze...”

She managed to say no more before Alexander gave the mare his heels. He leaped from the saddle at the entrance to the maze and strode inside. He paused to listen and heard a woman catch her breath.

“You lying vermin,” she said. “Youstole the Eye of India.”

“I never suggested otherwise.”

“But you lied to the earl and to your uncle,” Daphne said. “They both trusted you, Mr. Cushing, but you deceived them.”

“Great Uncle Timothy thought I was stupid,” Cushing said, a sneer in his tone. “He liked keeping me poor, passing expensive gems through my hands, rubbing my nose in the fact that I’d never be able to afford even the smallest stone in his collection. He could have given the Eye of India to me! I would have sold it for a fortune! It would have changed my life. But no, he had to give it to some niece who barely remembered that he existed.”

On stealthy feet, Alexander proceeded further into the maze. Could it be that Daphne knew he was there? Was she aiding him to get a confession of guilt? If so, she was a marvel worth every luxury he could shower upon her.

“But this can’t be the first gem you’ve stolen?” she taunted. “You can’t call yourself a brilliant thief if you’ve stolen only once and then been left with a forgery.”

Cushing swore and Alexander moved more quickly in pursuit.

“Of course it’s not the first. I’m notorious.”

“But still you’re said to be penniless.” Daphne sighed. “I think perhaps you’re not so clever after all.”

“I lose at cards because they cheat me!” Cushing roared. Alexander heard Daphne make a little gasp and then her running footfalls. Cushing crashed after her, Alexander following. Deeper into the maze they went until there was suddenly the sound of a fall.

Followed by silence. Alexander eased around a shrub to find Cushing creeping toward a corner ahead. The toe of a familiar slipper could be seen beyond the turn of the maze.

The crash had been the sound of her falling.

She must be unconscious.

She must be injured.

Cushing leaped around the corner, and Alexander saw the astonishment on his face just before he saw Daphne’s small fist. She tried to strike him, but Cushing recovered quickly enough to seize her wrist.

He didn’t manage to twist it behind her back, because Alexander grabbed Cushing by the collar, spun him around and punched him in the nose. He struck the other man in the gut, then in the chin, so that he fell moaning to the ground.

Daphne smiled at Alexander with pleasure. “I knew you would come,” she said, then her lips worked. “Did you hear his confession, Haskell?”

Alexander smiled that she understood the ruse instinctively. “All of it, my lady. You have ensured his condemnation.”

Daphne had also proven that she was utterly trustworthy and that his instincts about her had been right.

“Good,” she said, surveying the fallen man with disapproval. “I despise dishonesty in a man.”

Alexander heard Eurydice arrive behind him, her breath coming quickly, and doubtless some measure of the household following behind, given the noise.

“Miss Goodenham,” he said, bowing to her even as he seethed that there was a bruise rising on her cheek. “His Grace, the Duke of Inverfyre, sent me to enquire as to whether you and your grandmother, Lady North Barrows, might accept a call from him this afternoon.”

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