Page 80 of Sir Hugo Seeks a Wife
Hugo was distraught to imagine what could have happened.Had she been abducted?If so, he’d need professional help to find her.Or the chance remained that she’d been in an accident.No more reassuring.If she was dead, how would he go on without her?
When he’d decided to make her his wife, he thought that he loved her as much as a man could love a woman.But now, the idea of losing her forever demonstrated that she was as necessary to him as air.He refused to believe that he’d never see her again.
He sent the staff out to inquire at the city’s inns.The problem was that York was a major staging post and the city was crammed with busy hostelries.
The servants had already asked after her in the local neighborhood, where a few people had seen Athene heading toward the center of town.But there the trail went cold.Visits to all the shops along the way turned up nothing.Nobody had served an elegant dark-haired lady fitting Athene’s description.
Franny and the cook waited at home, in case Athene returned or there was news.Hugo wasn’t risking any more lone females on the city’s streets.While his male servants spread out across town, Hugo spent hours in fruitless interviews and paid out a fortune in tips in the hope that cash might open closed lips.All to no avail.
With every failed interrogation, his apprehension intensified.And a sick, pervasive guilt.He’d sworn to keep Athene safe and he’d failed miserably.He almost began to wish that she’d left him.At least then, the odds were that she was still alive.
But in his heart of hearts, he knew that she hadn’t abandoned him.She’d stewed over coming to his bed.Once she decided in his favor, she was committed to their liaison.
Which meant the options for what had befallen her were bleak indeed.Too bleak for Hugo to contemplate and keep his sanity.
He trudged home after midnight, battling encroaching despair.He’d always prided himself on his mental strength.It turned out that he’d been having himself on.Athene’s disappearance proved that he was too cowardly to picture a life without her.
No, he wasn’t giving up.All wasn’t lost.He’d find her if it bloody killed him.
But as he plodded up the short flight of stairs to the front door, his bravado rang hollow.He prayed that the others had some news to share.
He went down to the kitchens, which had become their de facto headquarters.At the table, Paul and Benton, the groom, ate bread and cheese.Fogg and Wesley must still be out searching.
“Any news?”He took a seat beside them.Although he knew when he looked around the faces drawn with exhaustion and discouragement that there wasn’t, despite all their diligent searching.
“I’m sorry, Sir Hugo,” Benton said, lifting his mug of ale.
“Go to bed.You’ve both done more than I have a right to ask.”
The cook, Mrs.Jones, shoved a plate and a tankard in front of him.“Here, Sir Hugo.You’re dead on your feet.”
Hugo eyed the makeshift meal without enthusiasm.He picked up a slice of bread and cheese, then laid it back down again.Swallowing anything solid would make him retch, but he lifted the tankard and gulped down some beer.
“I’ll keep looking,” Benton said.“I hate to think of our lady in trouble.”
Hugo did, too, damn it.
“So will I,” Paul said stoutly.“Just because we haven’t found anything yet doesn’t mean we won’t.”
Running feet clattered down the hall.Hugo already stood by the time Wesley burst into the room, gasping for breath.“Sir Hugo!Sir Hugo!”
Hugo’s heart lodged in his throat and he had difficulty getting his question out.“Have you found her, Wesley?”
The lad reached for the back of a chair.He was panting so hard, he could barely stand.“I think so.”
“Where?”
“She’s at the King’s Arms.”
Hugo, whose hopes had risen to astronomic heights with Wesley’s visible excitement, felt the agonizing punch of disappointment like a fist in his gut.The King’s Arms was one of York’s largest coaching inns.It was the first place that he’d tried.
“I went there, Wesley.”Sounding calm was tough, but the letdown wasn’t the lad’s fault.“She’s not there.”
Wesley’s jaw set in an unrelenting line.“I’ve got a pal who works in the stables.They were all paid to keep quiet but because we’re chums, Fred tipped me the wink.”
While that was promising, this time Hugo kept a lid on his optimism.“What did Fred say?”
“The Earl of Stannard’s sister was in a carriage accident this afternoon.”Wesley spoke in fits and starts.He’d clearly run like the clappers to get here.“His lordship carried her to the King’s Arms, and they’ve had doctors in to see her.”
