Page 83 of Never a Duke
“I don’t need to know,not ever, and you are dithering. Be off with you.”
Ned saluted, propped his walking stick against his shoulder like a soldier on the march, and stalked out.
***
“Don’t interfere,” Walden said, letting the curtain drop. “Don’t let Mr. Wentworth see you, don’t put yourself at risk of harm, but keep him in your sight at all times.”
Artie did not need a perishing duke to tell him his job. “On it, guv.”
“That’s Your Grace, Arthur, and Ned’s instincts on the street are uncanny. Be invisible or he’ll spot you before the first intersection.”
“On it,Your Grace,” Artie said, scampering for the door. “I’ll turn sideways and disappear.”
“I mean it, Arthur. Do not put yourself at risk of harm. Your job is to send for help if need be, not to slay dragons.”
Artie waved a hand and slipped out the door. The duke was a good sort, not too high in the instep, not too familiar with them as didn’t deserve his notice. But even Walden should grasp that no child survived on London’s streets without doing in a few pesky dragons from time to time.
Chapter Fifteen
Rosalind had no intention of going anywhere unsafe alone, and she knew only one person whose escort would serve. Ned Wentworth would find a way to accompany her without being seen, or he’d ensure that the Dog and Dam presented no hidden hazards.
A quick consultation with a map in the library showed that establishment to be squarely situated among the venerable and none-too-prosperous environs of Wapping, on the north bank of the Thames. If Rosalind went to the bank first to collect Ned, the journey could take a good two hours on foot.
She changed into her plainest dress, the one reserved for supervising the annual dusting of the attics. She appropriated one of the cloaks kept near the kitchen stairs for the maids and donned a straw hat she reserved for wearing in the garden.
Escape was surprisingly easy. Mrs. Barnstable was at her correspondence, George and Lindy had not yet stirred, and Papa was off to the club. Rosalind tucked a few coins into a pocket, put only her Book of Common Prayer into her reticule, and was soon slipping out the garden gate into the alley.
She was preoccupied with the notion that she really ought to have left Mrs. Barnstable a note, when a man stepped out of the mews. He was a sizable dark-haired specimen, dressed as a groom. She did not recognize him, but he was an attractive fellow with a genial expression, and she thus felt in no danger.
The man raised a hand as if to touch the brim of his cap, and the next thing Rosalind knew, his arm was around her neck and something sharp prodded her in the ribs.
“Not a peep, milady. Not so much as a loud breath, and no harm will come to ye. Make a fuss and ye’ll regret it.”
“I excel at not making a fuss.”
He smelled of horse and ale, and there was nothing friendly about the arm nearly choking her.
“Himself said you was the sensible sort. Now just walk along to the next turning, and get into the coach what’s waiting for us there.”
If I get into that coach, I will never see my home again.That thought was not as disturbing as it should have been. The Earl of Woodruff’s house was a dwelling, a place to sleep and eat and draft letters. More upsetting was the thought that Aunt Ida would wonder what had become of her niece, and most unnerving of all was the thought of Ned Wentworth.
Papa could well blame Ned for Rosalind’s disappearance.
And Ned would blame himself.
ThatRosalind could not bear. “Where are we going?”
“Don’t bother your pretty ’ead about that, milady. Just do as yer told and ye’ll live to see the next sunrise.”
Do as you’re told.Rosalind hated those words, but she had only herself to thank for her present dilemma. Her sole comfort came from the realization that kidnapping an earl’s daughter was a far bolder step than snatching a maid from an alley.
The objective was probably to hold her for ransom.
Thus the pertinent question became, could Papa pay a ransom, if he even wanted to?
***
A growing sense of urgency hastened Ned’s steps, for Lord Woodruff might well have already bundled Rosalind into a coach and banished her to the shires. Ned did not trust the earl farther than he could toss a cow.
