Page 118 of Courting Scandal With The Duke
What was it that troubled him about her departure? For one, he had never heard of this Lady Wells until she had appeared with Ambassador March, so clearly she wasn’t the best ofton.
Barbara’s aunt had, after several long minutes of searching, found the woman’s invitation and thus her address. She did indeed reside in Greenwich.
And Greenwich wasn’t a terribly long way from Mayfair.
Despite all Xavier’s good intentions not to interfere in Barbara’s affairs, he changed course and headed home. By hell or high water, he intended to know that Barbara was safe. If she was safe and happy, he would have nothing more to say about it.
But he could not disabuse himself of the notion that he needed to make haste.
Which meant driving his curricle at speed.
When he arrived home, it did not take long to have his horses set to, his overnight bag packed and to yieldto the insistence of his groom, Dirk, that he must come along too, despite being told he wasn’t needed.
Xavier did not have time to argue.
Of course it was raining, more a light drizzle, but his driving coat was waterproof, as was Dirk’s, and once clear of town traffic, he made reasonably good time.
Even so, it was past eleven when he arrived at Lady Wells’s address.
There was no sign of any sort of ball going on, though there was what looked like a hired coach standing on the drive, clearly ready to leave. The coachman was likely somewhere indoors taking refreshment.
Strangely, there were also no lights showing in the windows, though perhaps this was because the shutters were closed…
Odd.
Worrisome.
Xavier pulled up well before he reached the front entrance of the house. ‘Turn the carriage around, please, Dirk,’ he said. ‘We will not be staying long.’
Dirk, already at the horses’ heads, touched his cap.
‘Try not to attract anyone’s attention.’ He wasn’t sure why he added that, but it felt right somehow.
‘Right you are, Yer Grace.’
Perhaps the party was at the back of the house, he mused. Instead of knocking on the front door, he made his way around to the rear.
It was equally as silent back here. A light emanated from a room overlooking a stone terrace.
He could hear voices from within.Nothing like the sounds one would expect if there was a ball going on, however.
Remaining in the shadows, he walked quietly up onto the terrace and discovered the French doors slightly ajar. He peered into the room.
‘He should be here very soon,’ the man with his back to Xavier said to someone else hidden by the drapery from his view.
Xavier shifted to see if he could get a better look at the occupants.
Something hard pressed into his back. A gun?
‘Don’t move,’ a rough voice said. The owner of the voice reached around Xavier and pulled the French door open.
‘Guv,’ he said loudly. ‘We got an intruder.’ He pushed Xavier across the threshold.
Xavier cursed his carelessness.
He strode into the room, removed his hat and looked around with a frown. ‘What the devil is going on here? Where is Barbara?’
‘Thank you, Ball,’ Charles said. ‘Please see that His Grace does not cause any problems.’
