Page 70 of His Unforgettable Bride
“It took a while, but I like that about her.” Juliet shivered and then wrapped her arms around her chest.
“You are cold.” What had he been thinking, staying outside until she developed a chill? He quickly started to shed his suit coat.
She shook her head and began to walk away, the music from inside faint but beckoning them. “We’ve been gone long enough and should return to the dance. I don’t want to worry Tabitha or cause a scandal. Not tonight.” He trailed after her, still attempting to shrug out of his coat. He should have been paying better attention to her needs and how cold it was.
As Juliet turned the corner, she stiffened.
What was it? He hastened his steps and stepped out from behind the tearoom’s wall to find an incredibly tall man and a petite woman peering into the tearoom’s large window. Why did they not join the party inside?
“Ruby.” Despair laced Juliet’s voice.
When she turned toward them, the short woman’s dark cape hid every part of her except for her small, round face. “There you be, Juliet.”
The unsmiling and bewhiskered man wore a too-tight dusty gray sack suit that showed his muscular build.
Gray braced himself for a confrontation. He would do whatever was necessary to protect Juliet from Ruby and this man. Even so, he needed to send Cy or Icala after the constable.
The lawman and his wife had attended the tea party but departed before the dancing. If only the fellow had stayed longer. He might not have been able to arrest Ruby based on her previous threats alone, but his presence may have frightened her and, at the very least, dissuaded her from causing problems.
Juliet raised her chin and glared at Ruby. “Go away.”
“I ain’t here for the reason you think.” Ruby’s narrowed eyes scrutinized Gray, traveling from his shoes to the top of his head. “I came because of your fellow and his past.”
“Mine?” Gray stepped forward. How could Ruby know anything about his past? Nobody else did.
“His?” Juliet asked.
Ruby retrieved a wrinkled, tattered paper from her pocket, unfolded it, and stabbed an image with her finger. “Seems a Mister Henry Graighton disappeared from Victoria a month or so ago. After staring at your face during my last visit and then seeing this here notice tacked up to a building in Victoria, I snapped the puzzle together.”
Henry Graighton. Gray’s mind raced. Was that why the name Gray had resonated?
Ruby scrutinized his face in the light from the tearoom window and then glanced at a picture on the sheet. She grinned, looking proud of herself. “Yep. Just like I thought. You’re Henry Graighton. Me and my man have come to haul you back to your royal ship in Victoria.”
Juliet sputtered. “Royal…ship?”
Ruby’s cohort nodded.
Gray longed to grab Juliet’s hand and leave Ruby far behind. After their kiss, one that held the promise of a future together, he hated the idea of anything upsetting the start of something new between them.
But his heart was pounding hard and demanding that he discover exactly what Ruby was talking about. He strode toward the young woman and snatched the tattered paper from her hands. Then he held it up in the light, turning the sheet so Juliet could view the grainy image that filled it. One big-lettered word stood out:Missing.
For a long moment, he and Juliet studied the picture. A man with an angular, cleanly shaven face peered back. One with similar features and the same eyes, although the hair was neater and shorter and the clothing far fancier.
“I can admit I resemble the photograph, though the man’s name stirs no distinct memories.”
Ruby raised her chin to a haughty tilt. “That’s because your noggin ain’t working right.”
“I am uncertain what to think.” Gray examined the sheet again and read the few sentences this time:
Prince Henry Graighton of Bascandy went missing on November 7th. He is six feet one inch tall, narrow in build, with wavy brown hair and brown eyes. Any information regarding his whereabouts will be generously rewarded.
The description fit him perfectly. And the timing for early November when he’d arrived at the sisters’ home was also perfect. How could this not be him?
But a prince? Of Bascandy? That was absurd, was it not?
Wordlessly, Juliet continued to stare at the picture, her eyes wide.
“The thing is,” Ruby said, “Henry Graighton is a genuine prince, and there’s reward money for the taking. I’m guessing it’s a heap of cash. As soon as I haul you to Victoria, it’ll be mine.”
