Page 66 of Fit for a Duke
‘Hush,’ he said, kissing the top of her head. ‘You gave me quite a fright, but you’re safe now. Are you harmed?’
‘No,’ she said, her voice catching in her throat. ‘But I was so very afraid.’ She gulped. ‘And alone, and helpless.’
Then she burst into tears and sobbed her heart out against his shoulder.
Ezra untied Clio’s hands, draped a blanket around her shoulders, swept her into his arms and carried her from the shack that Merlin had led them to. It was not the accommodation that Barnes had been allocated but he must have seen the disused shed during the course of his duties and singled it out as an ideal place to hold a captive if the need arose. Without Merlin’s trustworthy nose, Ezra would have overlooked it completely.
‘We need to get her to her room without anyone seeing her like this,’ Ezra said.
‘Follow me,’ Godfrey replied, leading the way to a servants’ staircase directly off the boot room. ‘No one will be using this route at this hour of the day.’
Merlin and Godfrey led the way, with Ezra carrying Clio cradled in his arms. One of her arms had worked its way around his neck and she seemed disturbingly passive, which was not like her at all. Then Ezra reminded himself of the ordeal she had endured. Most women in such a situation would have been reduced to hysterics. He smiled down at her, thanking a God that he was unsure he believed in for her safe deliverance. Retribution would be his and it would be swift and brutal.
‘Were you really going to clout me with a chamber pot?’ he asked, when her tears had soaked his shirt and her snuffling subsided.
‘I certainly was,’ she replied with asperity. ‘Although I was not aware that it was you. I thought…I thought he was going to…’
‘At least it wasn’t full. Hush now, my sweet.’ Ezra rubbed his cheek against the top of her head. ‘I am so very sorry that I got you into this.’
‘But it was—’
‘I know who it was, but not why. Yet.’ The door opened onto the main first floor corridor. Godfrey put his head round it.
‘It’s clear,’ he said.
Ezra strode along it and Godfrey ran ahead to open the door to Clio’s chamber. Her maid was pacing up and down and gave a little cry of alarm when she observed her half-conscious mistress cradled in Ezra’s arms.
‘Oh my good lord!’ She placed a hand over her mouth. ‘What has happened? Is she alive?’
‘Of course I’m alive, Daisy,’ Clio said, recovering her spirit. ‘And quite why the duke feels the need to carry me, I have yet to decide. Put me down, your grace, if you please.’
Chuckling, Ezra did as he was asked, but held her upper arm until he was sure she was steady on her feet.
‘Your face!’ Ezra was appalled when he noticed the redness and swelling to one cheek. ‘The blaggard struck you?’ He picked up one of her hands and examined the chafing on her wrist, aware that similar injuries had been inflicted by the ropes tied to her ankles. ‘He will pay a heavy price for that,’ he said, anger surging through him.
‘Shush, it’s all right. I am alive. Fetch some hot water, Daisy, and I will soon be as right as rain.’
‘I will leave you in your maid’s capable hands and deal with Barnes,’ Ezra said.
‘He is obviously the assassin,’ Clio said, once her maid had left the room and was out of earshot. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘No more do I, but he made a mistake. Your reticule was in my mother’s carriage. She said you left it there when she took you to the luncheon, but I saw you with it…’
‘I realised someone connected to your mother had abducted me, but it wasn’t her. Barnes was acting alone. At least I didn’t hear him speak to anyone else. He thought I was unconscious, you see, and I decided it would be better if I remained that way for as long as possible. I thought I might hear something useful if he assumed I was out of my senses, but he didn’t speak a word.’
‘I have received a message to meet him behind the stables in half an hour if I wish to see you alive again. Of course, he doesn’t realise I know his identity.’
‘Then we shall meet him together,’ Clio replied, straightening her shoulders and almost toppling over.
‘You can barely stand up,’ Ezra replied, leading her to a chair.
‘Don’t you dare patronise me!’ Ezra had never admired her more. Despite being battered and bruised and scared half out of her wits, the light of battle burned in her eyes and she was still determined to fight back. ‘Not after all I have been through.’
‘I am trying to keep you safe!’ Ezra cried. ‘Don’t you think I already blame myself for what you have been through? This is not your fight, and yet you have been dragged into it and abused in a horrifying manner.’
‘Barnes might check on Miss Benton before going to the meeting,’ Godfrey pointed out. He had been standing quietly at the back of the room with Merlin and Ezra had forgotten he was there. ‘In which case…’
‘In which case he will know that the game is up,’ Ezra replied with a grim nod. ‘He ought to be in the stables, grooming the horses after their soaking and washing the carriage down. It will look odd if he is not, and draw attention to his absence.’
