Page 93 of The Moonstone Hero
“Stay with the ladies, Stafford,” Mar said, a frown revealing his heightened concern.
Ella shook her head. “We are not in need of a nanny to watch us. He must go in with you. He’s very clever and will know how to speak to the servants to pry information out of them. Is that not right, Mr. Stafford?”
“I like to think so.”
She nodded and continued. “Also, Mr. Stafford might spot something amiss that you would overlook because he has been traveling with Lord Mersey and his grandfather, not to mention their entire entourage, for months.”
“Aye, lass. Ye have a point,” Solway said. “Stafford, we’ll knock at the front door while ye go in through the back.”
Ella watched the three men move into action.
“If Caden’s grandfather does not kill us,” Imogen murmured now that it was just the two of them seated in the elegant carriage, “Papa is going to do it.”
Ella emitted a nervous laugh to break the tension. “I know, but I am not going to worry about that now. Oh, Imogen, what if Caden is hurt? I cannot stand the not knowing.”
Her sister rested her hand on Ella’s. “There is nothing we can do that is not already being done by Solway, Mar, and Stafford.”
As more time passed, the wait became even more oppressive, and Ella felt as though she were suffocating. She opened the carriage door and peered out. “What is taking them so long? What if Caden’s grandfather is mad as a hatter and has now shot Solway and Mar?”
“We would have heard shots fired. Don’t even suggest such a thing.”
Ella’s stomach was twisted in a thousand knots and her heart skipped beats all over the place. “Oh, Imogen, I pray you are right and he won’t hurt anybody. But what if we are wrong and he has already shot Caden?”
Chapter Eighteen
Caden was seatedbeside his grandfather’s bed, holding on to the old man’s limp hand, when Solway and Mar burst in. He and the doctor immediately turned toward them, surprised by the commotion.
“What the…?” Caden shot to his feet, his every instinct to protect his grandfather, who was no longer conscious and could not defend himself. His tension eased the moment he recognized the men who had burst in. “What are you doing here?”
“We were afraid something bad had happened to ye, lad. Why did ye not send word to us?” Solway asked.
“But I did. I sent one of my grandfather’s footmen off hours ago to everyone I was to meet this morning.”
“Ye had better see if this footman is all right, because he never reached anyone. Yer betrothed and her sister are waiting outside in my carriage as we speak. The lass is certain ye’ve been killed.”
“Bollocks, none of you knew?” He glanced at the trusted doctor he had personally run to fetch this morning. Dr. George Farthingale was considered the best in London, and Caden would allow no one else to attend his grandfather. “Ella must be scared out of her wits. I had better go to her.”
“Aye, but give us a minute and first tell us what happened,” Mar said. “Stafford is also here, and who knows what he is going to write about this?”
“He’s all right. He can be trusted. Grandfather suffered a heart attack sometime in the wee hours of the morning,” Caden said, his voice as broken as his own heart. “I knew something was off with him after his behavior at the musicale and should have insisted on staying with him.”
Solway approached and gave him a kindly pat on the shoulder. “How could ye, lad? The stubborn old dog was at your throat the entire time.”
Caden nodded numbly, for this was true. But this did not make him feel any better or absolve him from responsibility in bringing on his grandfather’s attack. What could he have done differently to prevent this? In all the weeks they had toured the country together, they had been so at odds with each other. Never in public—but privately was another matter. They were two wild dogs constantly growling and snapping at each other.
“I was at fault, too. I should have gone easier on him.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I was to have breakfast with Lady Ella and her family this morning but left my club early to look in on him. His valet found him unconscious on the floor. But Ella… I must assure her that I am unharmed.”
He escorted Mar and Solway into the parlor, leaving Dr. Farthingale to do what he did best, and that was to work medical miracles.
Caden was not a praying man, but he had been silently praying all morning that his grandfather would recover.
“Swindon,” he said to the head butler, who hurried toward him, obviously quite distressed, “have tea and refreshments brought into the parlor. And I believe a Mr. Stafford is in the kitchen. Have him join us in the parlor as well.”
“At once, my lord.” But Swindon hesitated a moment. “Might I ask…how is His Grace?”
“Holding his own.” Caden had known the head butler almost all of his life, ever since his parents had died when he was onlysix. His grandfather had taken him in then, and it had been quite a change from his mother’s delicate touch and his father’s patient ways to the stern training his grandfather had thought it important to pound into him. “We’ll know more as the day wears on.”
After giving a nod of encouragement to the butler, he strode out of the house toward Mar’s waiting carriage. The door flew open as he approached, and Ella flung herself into his arms. “I thought he had killed you.”
