“He’s here,” I whispered back. “This is a small area compared to London. Someone must know who he is.”
Blackford dumped me onto the bench and then Lady Peters came and sat beside me. “Is there anything I can do for you?” she asked.
“Besides salve my wounded dignity?” I smiled at her. “No, but thank you.”
“Who’s the man you wanted to meet? Perhaps someone knows where he’s staying and we can send him a note to visit you,” Sir Henry said.
“That’s the problem. I don’t remember his name. He was a good friend of my father, but at the time he seemed terribly old and stuffy. He left before my father died and I got married, so my name would mean nothing to him now. Hopefully we’ll see each other again.”
Rosamond Peters raised her eyebrows and said drily, “And if the fates decree that you don’t?”
“Isn’t that how life is sometimes? Chances slip through our grasp. I could be mistaken about the man’s identity. He might not be my father’s friend, although the likeness is uncanny.” I gave her a look that was supposed to say I was unconcerned about failing to greet the unnamed man. Actually, I was seething.
He knew I was here now. Would he leave, ruining my chance to meet him? Or would he stay, possibly ruining our investigation into the stolen plans since he knew my true identity? Either possibility was troubling.
I shot discreet glances around me every so often, but I didn’t see the man again. Lady Peters and I discussed the fashions of the ladies passing us. She told me Cheltenham Spa had been fashionable for over a hundred years, which explained the noble-looking buildings around us. She suggested while we stayed in the area we make an outing to drink the local mineral water at the Pitville Pump Room.
I agreed gladly. It would give me a chance to look for my parents’ killer away from the estate where I’d be conducting the investigation.
The carriage from the Harwin estate soon arrived and we climbed in. Well, everyone else climbed in. I was hauled inside by Sir Henry and the duke like a sack of flour. Sir Henry seemed to find it necessary to place a hand on my bottom below my corset and squeeze. Knowing he could feign innocence, there was nothing I could do about the insult.
If it had been Blackford, I wouldn’t have minded, but he would have treated me with respect. As it was, he’d climbed into the carriage first to lift me from above. After we were settled and began our journey, I made a point of looking out the windows on both sides. “I’ve not been here before. It’s a lovely area, isn’t it?”
“And a wealthy area with royal connections,” the duke replied.
Somewhere in this town was my parents’ killer. I hoped I’d glimpse him entering a home or a shop where I could return later and question the occupants, but he was nowhere to be seen. Disappointed, I watched the town quickly disappear and the rolling countryside spread out before us.
Lord Harwin’s country home was a massive block of stone, added on to during different periods. We were greeted at the top of an imposing set of entrance stairs by his lordship and ladyship, a couple amazingly alike in their appearance. Both had dark hair liberally sprinkled with gray, untroubled blue eyes, and thin lips curved up in a smile of greeting.
I had made use of both a stone railing and the duke’s arm to wince my way up the steps to curtsy before my hosts. Both of my hosts’ jaws dropped in shock. “You’ve been hurt,” they said in unison.
“A curricle nearly knocked her down in front of the train station,” Blackford growled.
“Tewes’s younger son. The boy is a terror with that old curricle of his grandfather’s. He’s already run over one of Knightdale’s hunting dogs. He’ll come to a bad end if his father doesn’t take him in hand,” Lord Harwin said.
“You need to get off that foot,” Lady Harwin said. “Let’s go into the red drawing room.”
The red drawing room was nearby, relatively speaking. After walking down a hall wide enough to be a street, we entered a room three times the size of my shop. The entire house party seemed to have already gathered there, including the baron and Lady Bennett. They all stood as we entered, although more for the duke, who was taking most of my weight on my injured side, than for the rest of us.
I managed a curtsy for the room in general and then hobbled to the nearest sofa to collapse.
“Is it broken, you think?” Sir Henry asked. “That would be rotten luck.”
I rubbed my injured ankle. “I think it’s just bruised or sprained.”
“Let’s get you up to your room and I’ll have ice sent up. Is your lady’s maid a capable woman?”
I pictured Emma slicing a much larger man in one deft motion with her knife. “Very capable.”
“Good. We’ll hand you over to her until your limb has a chance to heal. If you should need a physician, have her let us know.”
Lady Harwin gave me a faint smile and I nodded. “Thank you, my lady.”
I rose unsteadily and had hopped two steps when Blackford muttered, “Oh, good grief,” and swept me up in his arms. He strode out of the room to a chorus of gasps, including mine. My heart boomed in my chest. This was the most romantic thing I’d ever experienced.
Phyllida hurried after us, climbing the long staircase. “I’ll show you where her room is, Duke.”
“While you’re at it, you might tell me how Georgina will carry out this investigation while holed up in her room,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Are you angry?” I asked, my lovely fantasy of being carried off by Blackford dissolving into aristocratic dust on the antique Persian carpets.
“Yes.”
“This isn’t my fault. Who knew that young lord would speed through heavy traffic?”
“We’re not here to find your parents’ killer. We’re here to stop naval blueprints from going overseas.” I thought his teeth would crack from snapping out words with such violence.
“Now I’m here for both.” One investigation was as important as the other for me. Really, finding my parents’ killer was the more important. But it’s hard to appear decisive and in control when you’re being carried like a baby.
Phyllida opened a dark wooden door like any other on the corridor and the duke strode in, dumping me on the bed. Emma, hanging up a gown, spun around with widened eyes.
“Do something with your foolish mistress while I try to salvage our investigation.” Blackford nodded to Emma, bowed to Phyllida, and then stomped from the room without a glance at me.
Emma blinked. “What happened?”
I brought her up to date, pausing only when a maid brought in a sack of ice wrapped in a towel. The cold numbed the pain enough that I soon tried to put weight on my foot. That turned out to be a bad idea.
Phyllida ordered me back to bed with a regal glare. This investigation was bringing out all the training she’d received as a child. How long had it been since she’d needed the protection living with Emma and me provided? I knew she could never go back to cheerfully cooking our meals and dealing with cleaners and laundresses. What would she do after we found out who’d killed her cousin? Wherever she went, I would miss her terribly.
“Emma and I will have to do the investigating in your place. Stay in bed and keep the ice on your leg. And please, heal quickly. We’ll need you to assist us tomorrow.” Phyllida swept from the room.
“I’ll bring your dinner up on a tray. In the meantime, keep your foot elevated.” Emma hung up the last of the dresses and readied me for bed.
I willingly let her take off my dress and unlace my corset. “What will you do?”
“I’ll keep an eye on the baron’s man, although that’s going to be hard. They keep the female staff well segregated from the men in the attics.”
“Is it hot and stuffy upstairs?” I felt guilty leaving her with all the investigating work and the chores of a lady’s maid while I lay uselessly in this huge, cool, overly decorated room.