Page 55 of Death at Fournier Downs
Cassandra’s shock and confusion was the genuine article. She shook her head furiously. “No, I did not. What is this about? Why would he tell you? He promised his confidence!”
Hugh felt like he’d been swept up in a storm wind. If Cassandra had not summoned the doctor, then who had? Who was he meeting at the quarry?
“I cannot explain right now. Something is happening,” he murmured, taking the reins of his horse again. “Where is the duke?”
She sniffled. “I don’t know. I went for a walk to clear my head, and when I returned my maid was out of sorts. She said Audrey had figured out my secret and was searching for me, and then the stablemaster said she and Philip rode out to look for me.”
Cassandra dashed away a few more tears as cold fear ran down Hugh’s spine.
“Where?” he demanded.
“I already said, I don’t know!”
“Take your best guess, Cassandra, it’s imperative. Where wouldyousearch for you if you were missing?”
It sounded like a silly riddle, but he had never been more serious. The duke’s sister closed her eyes and scrunched up her face in frustration.
“I don’t know! Maybe the wood. The quarry. But I wouldn’t go there now, not after…”
Damn. He leaped back into the saddle. “I want four footmen to follow me to the quarry at once. Summon the coroner and magistrate. Send them out as well. You stayhere, Cassandra.”
With his heart in his throat, Hugh slapped the reins and tore toward the wooded path.
ChapterNineteen
Philip rode at a fast clip, fury and fear propelling him through the forest.
“I cannot believe Cassie would put herself into such a position,” he said for the fifth time, at least. “How could she have dishonored herself so thoroughly? So thoughtlessly?”
“We don’t know what happened,” Audrey reminded him as she kept pace with his horse. “The gentleman could have convinced her that he planned to propose, that he loved her.”
Philip made a harsh grating noise in the base of his throat. “Gentleman. Hardly. It is indefensible! Love and promises…” He made another deprecating snort to emphasize what he thought about the excuse.
In truth, Audrey had no idea what her sister-in-law had been thinking or feeling. Reason did not seem to have a place in any of the theories she had conjured in the last half hour since learning the truth. And there was another possibility. One she had yet to verbalize to Philip, but one he must have considered by now as well.
“There is the chance, of course, that she was not given the choice…” Audrey felt ill and could not go on.
Philip brought his mount to a standstill in the middle of the path and looked hard into her eyes. “If that is the case, I will call the bastard out. And I will put him in the ground.”
His vicious vow knocked Audrey back in her saddle. She had never seen her husband so thoroughly incensed before. It both frightened and impressed her.
He turned his mount back around and continued toward the quarry. After Audrey informed him of what Ruth had revealed, he agreed that they needed to go to the quarry first and foremost. The jump would certainly kill her, and if she was desperate…well then, there was no telling what she might do.
However, Audrey could not truly believe Cassie would do such a thing to herself, to her family. A few hours earlier, she had been declaring how excited she was to meet her first nephew. No, it did not make any sense.
“Who would do this?” Philip muttered, addressing the same quandary that was plaguing Audrey. “An unacceptable? Someone who wants her generous dowry but knows I would never approve a suit?”
The same theory had come to Audrey’s mind too, but she’d dismissed it. “Why then would he disappear? Surely someone like that would persist until he had what he wanted.”
Unless the man had already gotten what he desired—a mere conquest—and now wanted nothing further. She did not know which theory sickened her more.
As they closed in on the quarry, her neck and back broke out into a cold sweat. She drew on memories of the summer, of Cassie’s behavior and the conversations they’d had. But again and again, her reaction when Philip mentioned Lord Renfry’s upcoming wedding tromped to the forefront of Audrey’s mind. There had been another similar moment during Charlotte’s last visit to Fournier House. She and Charlotte had been taking tea on the verandah when Audrey asked after Renfry and the upcoming wedding. Cassandra had simmered with annoyance, commenting on how eager she was for Renfry to be gone from Bainbury Manor. Her coloring had gone a bit florid, but Audrey had blamed the sun and heat. It was possible Charlotte simply disliked Renfry, but as neither she nor Charlotte were gossips, when the countess offered nothing more, Audrey had let the topic drop.
Lord Renfry. Audrey had met him on a few occasions when she had been betrothed to Bainbury. He was tall and handsome, with the chiseled looks his father once possessed in his youth. It had been some time since she’d thought on it, but now, Audrey recalled several times the intense scrutiny of his stare had left her feeling uneasy. She also remembered a lewd comment made by none other than her mother—which Audrey had promptly dismissed and forgotten until now. Lady Edgerton had murmured that should the earl prove disappointing in the bedchamber, there would be a younger and likely willing version of him on hand. Audrey, disgusted with the advice, had buried the memory after she’d called off the wedding and married Philip instead.
“Thank God.”
She snapped to attention at the sound of Philip’s voice. They had arrived at the opening to the quarry, and she’d been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t seen Philip, in his panic, dismount. He was now coming back from the edge of the open pit. He shook his head. “She isn’t here.”
