Page 129 of The Scottish Duke
Alex folded his arms, his gaze still on her.
“Get out,” he said, his voice calm. The expression in his eyes would have given Lorna pause, but the foolish maid didn’t see her peril.
“I have to pack her trunks.”
“Get out,” he repeated softly, in a tone that made Lorna’s skin pebble.
Barbara finally curtsied in a way that managed to convey contempt more than respect and left the room.
“What did Mary say when you met with her?” Lorna asked. “Did she agree to leave? Was she angry?”
“She didn’t have a choice,” Alex said, going to the fireplace and jerking on the bellpull.
“What are we going to do?”
“Find her,” he said.
She walked to him, hoping that he’d do exactly as he did, extend his arms around her.
He tilted his head, lay his cheek against her hair. For long moments they just stood there, holding each other.
“I’m so scared,” she said. “What if she hurts Robbie?”
“We’ll find him,” he said. “Maybe she doesn’t have him.”
“She has him.” The sick feeling in her stomach told her that Robbie was in danger.
When a maid appeared in the open doorway, Alex spoke to her.
“Ask Mrs.McDermott to call on us here,” he said.
She was gone in a flurry of skirts.
“Where is she?” Lorna asked.
“That’s what we’re going to find out,” he said.
Could someone else have Robbie? Were they wrong in thinking Mary had taken him?
When Mrs.McDermott arrived, Alex addressed the housekeeper.
“I want every member of the staff to stop what they’re doing and search for Mary,” he said.
Lorna pulled away, beginning to pace the width of the room. “I need to go search as well, Alex. I can’t just wait here.”
“I’ll have the carriage readied in case she’s left Blackhall.”
Mrs.McDermott nodded, and left to carry out Alex’s orders.
Lorna glanced around the room. “Would she have left with all her trunks here?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “She might have asked Barbara to follow her.”
If that were the case, it was obvious Barbara wasn’t going to say.
“Where would she go? Where would she take Robbie?”
“Your Grace.”
