The Husband Hunt (Madison Sisters 3)

Lisa nodded.

"Then I shall look for you there," he announced. He kissed her on the forehead and then moved across the room to leave.

Robert stepped out of the way at his approach, watched him exit and then pushed the door closed and turned on Lisa.

"I didn't agree to marry him," she said nervously when the silence drew out, and then could have kicked herself for it. Raising her chin, she added, "But I intend to if he still wants me after I tell him about . . . what we did. "

"You cannot marry him," Robert said quietly.

Lisa scowled. "I can and I will, Robert. "

"Marry me instead. Then you will not need to explain anything. " Sighing wearily, she shook her head. "I will not spend a lifetime trying to prove I will not be unfaithful. "

"You could be carrying my child," he pointed out. "Then I had best find a husband quickly," Lisa snapped impatiently and his head went back as if she'd slapped him. "Another man is not raising my child," he growled.

"And I am not marrying a man who thinks I will be unfaithful before we have even said I do," she shot back.

"I don't - " Robert broke off and glanced to the door impatiently when a knock sounded. Growling under his breath with frustration, he turned to open it. "What?"

"There is a Mr. Smithe here to see you, my lord," Handers announced. "I showed him to the office. "

"Dammit," Robert muttered, and then hesitated a moment before turning to Lisa. "Wait here. I need to see him, but I won't be long. We need to talk about this. "

He didn't wait for her agreement, but then turned and hurried out of the room.

Lisa heard him stride up the hall, but when she heard the office door open and close, she hurried out of the room, up the hall and straight out the front door. She couldn't talk to Robert. They would argue, he would kiss her, they would end up in a naked heap in the parlor, be discovered and the decision of who to spend the rest of her life with would be taken from her.

Her fleeing was a purely panicked reaction with no real destination in mind. But when she spotted the hack in front of the house, she immediately rushed to it, pausing just long enough to tell the driver where she wanted to go before climbing inside and collapsing on the seat. The coach was already moving before it occurred to her that she'd forgot to bring Bet and the footman with her.

"Sorry it took so long, my lord," Smithe said as soon as the greetings were over and Robert had ushered him to a chair.

"That's all right," Robert muttered, settling in the chair behind the desk and eyeing Smithe expectantly. "I presume you found Mrs. Morgan?"

"Yes, but it took some fancy footwork. She'd gone to ground. Was lying low and just vacationing. It made it harder to find her than it would have if she'd set up shop right away. We had to talk to countless people, and search all the way to Paris before we found someone who recognized her, and then that was just happenstance. They'd traveled over on the same boat. She'd told them she was heading to Paris, but they saw her get in a carriage heading north. "

"North?" Robert asked with a frown. Paris was south of Calais. Smithe nodded. "She traveled north along the coast to Amsterdam and then southwest to Dusseldorf, Weisbaden, Stuttgart, and then on to Milano and finally Firenze. "

Robert scowled. It sounded as if she'd been on something of a rushed grand tour, a damned expensive venture. "How the devil did she afford that?"

"The suitor was apparently at the house when they discovered your Miss Madison had escaped," Smithe said dryly.

Robert's head went back at this news. He had apparently gotten Lisa out of there just in time. An hour hadn't passed between his getting her out of the room and returning to Morgan's brothel, but the woman had already packed and fled. It must have only been moments between his taking her from the room and the suitor's arrival to claim her.

"He has deep pockets," Smithe continued. "Told her where to leave from, where to go, and paid her well to keep her from setting up shop again until he sent her the all clear. "

Robert nodded grimly.

"So the old hag wasn't out in the open to find, and she was traveling under s

everal tales. In Dusseldorf she claimed to be a widow on her way to visit her daughter. In Weisbaden, she was gentry on the way to meet her husband. In Milano she was a lady seeking her son, who was on a grand tour, to give him the sad news that his sister had died. " He shook his head. "And she changed her look with each stop like some master of disguise. It made it damned difficult to track her. "

"I can imagine," Robert murmured and asked curiously, "How did you manage it?"

"To tell the truth, I don't think we would have managed it had there not been one thing that stayed the same no matter where she went," he said dryly.

"What was that?"

"She's a right old cow," Smithe said grimly. "Raised a fuss everyplace she stopped, demanding better service and complaining about this and that and whatnot. Made everyone who met her hate her with a passion. In the end, all we had to ask after was a 'difficult Englishwoman. ' She made enemies everywhere she stopped," he said dryly.

"Hmm. " Robert sat back, and then asked, "But you did catch up to her?"

Smithe nodded. "Always get my man, or in this case, nasty old harridan," he said with amusement.

Robert smiled faintly at the words, but asked, "Did she tell you who this suitor was?"

"It took some persuading. For all that she's a bitch, she was scared of the fellow," he said solemnly. "But when we shackled her to bring her back, she started singing. Your man is one Lord Charles Findlay. "

Lisa shifted nervously on the carriage seat, trying to prepare in her head for what she would say to the Bow Street runner. She had no desire to tell him everything. How embarrassing would it be to explain about unknowingly taking tea with a brothel owner, and getting herself drugged, locked up, bathed and dressed for a man? Too humiliating. She had no desire to tell the tale. On the other hand she had to give some sort of explanation for her need of a bodyguard or guards to replace Robert.

Perhaps she could just leave out the bit about the brothel and tell him about the attack in her room and on Pembroke's excursion, she thought. Of course, any Bow Street runner worth his salt would wonder why she had come to see him on her own and why a man of the house wasn't hiring him.

That consideration brought a scowl to her face and Lisa began to wring her hands fretfully. He would wonder why a supposed lady did not have even a maid with her for this journey too, she realized and thought perhaps she should tell the driver to turn back. Once back at Radnor, she could send him to the door to ask for Bet rather than risk getting caught and cornered by Robert. Or maybe she should call this off altogether and ask Richard to handle it. But that would mean probably waiting until the next day . . . another day and night with Robert there, kissing and caressing her, tempting her to do things she really shouldn't.

No, she wanted a guard now. She wanted Robert gone now. Lisa wasn't even sure Richard would be willing to hire a guard for her that would remove the necessity of Robert's staying at Radnor. Richard might not agree that he should leave. After all, he knew she'd slept with Robert.

Her eyes widened. Richard knew she'd slept with Robert. They all did. Why the devil was no one insisting that they had to marry?

Every single one of them should be screaming for that, but especially Richard. She was an unmarried young woman, a member of nobility and his sister-in-law, and had been ruined in his care under his own roof. He should be squawking and roaring and demanding Robert make things right.

The fact that he wasn't was rather shocking now that she thought on it. It also made her suspect that there was something afoot here that she didn't understand. Was he in cahoots with Robert? And hoping the man would talk her into marriage so he didn't have to demand it?

Lisa's thoughts died as the carriage slowed to a halt. She sat forward in her seat and peered out the window, grimacing when she saw the dilapidated area they were in. She hadn't recognized the address for the runner when Tibald had mentioned it during one of the afternoon teas. He'd hired the fellow to track down a thief who had stolen some jewels from his country estate. Fascinated, Lisa had asked several questions about the runner, and, eager to entertain her, Tibald had told her everything there was to tell, including the man's address. He had also mentioned what a rundown area it was in, but she'd got the sense of just a poorer section of town, not this distressing, dingy street with buildings that looked ready to fall down and groups of men standing in shadows and on corners looking menacing and dangerous.

Lisa bit her lip, suddenly thinking that returning home might be for the best. But then her worries about what Richard might be up to made her rethink. It was not as if she would be on the street long. She just had to walk from the carriage to the building they had stopped in front of, Lisa encouraged herself and then wondered why the driver wasn't getting down to open the door.

Probably afraid to leave his seat and risk someone jumping into it and taking off with his hack, she thought on a sigh and opened the door herself. Really, Bet was right, she did have a tendency to get herself into some sticky situations, Lisa thought as she descended to the ground. Once there, she pushed the door closed, glanced nervously about and then hurried forward to the door ahead of her. She had nearly reached the building when the sound of the carriage hurrying off made her halt and whirl round in time to see the hack reach the corner and start around it.

Lisa gaped after it with amazement, hardly believing the man had just left her there. She hadn't even paid him yet, she thought and then wondered if the stable master had. If so, she would send him to get the money back. But -

Lisa drew her thoughts to a halt as she became aware that she was beginning to draw the attention of the groups of men on the street. Noting the looks she was getting, she whirled back to the door a bit desperately. Surely, the runner would find her a hack to take her back home after they'd finished their transaction, she assured herself. And he'd send a guard with her too. That was what she was here for.

Lisa reached the door and then hesitated, unsure whether she was expected to just walk in or knock. If it were a store she would have just walked in, but perhaps its being an office meant knocking. Biting her lip, she shifted from one foot to the other and then tapped at the door before glancing nervously over her shoulder. The moment she did, she wished she hadn't. Three men were now walking in her direction, eyes fixed on her like she was a mince pie and they were hungry.

She turned quickly back to the door, beginning a prayer under her breath. It was the hallowed old "Please hurry, please hurry" mantra. But when the door didn't open after repeating that three times, she knocked again, more firmly.

Lisa kept her gaze locked firmly on the panel of wood before her as she waited, almost terrified to look around, half afraid that if she did she would find the men on top of her. But the door wasn't opening and there wasn't a sound coming from inside.

Swallowing, she reached desperately for the doorknob, but paused at the sound of a carriage approaching. Her hired hack was returning, she thought hopefully. Or perhaps it was the runner returning home and that was why he wasn't answering. She risked a glance over her shoulder.

While they weren't on top of her, the three approaching men were much closer now and two other of the small groups of men were now moving in her direction as well. She felt like a small defenseless hare with a pack of wolves circling, and then her gaze slid to the carriage coming to a halt on the road.

Lisa recognized the crest on it just as the door opened and Lord Findlay stepped down. Spotting her, he paused abruptly, one hand still on the open door and his eyebrows flying up. "Lisa?"

With the first group of men perhaps six feet away now, Lisa gave up on the runner's door and rushed to Charles.

"Lisa, what ever are you doing here?" he asked, catching her arms and frowning as he peered past her to the men around them. "I was going to hire a runner, but he's not in," she mumbled, her gaze slipping past him to his carriage, and then over her shoulder to see that the men had stopped and were now waiting and watching. Tur

ning back to Charles, she asked, "Do you think you could take me home, my lord? My hack left without me and I - "

"Of course. " Stepping aside, he helped her in, then moved to speak to his driver before climbing in to join her.

The carriage set off at once then, and they peered out the window at the men they were leaving behind. Each and every one of them was staring after the carriage with narrowed eyes and hungry looks and she suspected Charles had just saved her from a most unpleasant experience. Sitting back in her seat, she smiled at him with gratitude. "I am very glad you arrived when you did, I was growing a bit nervous. "

"A bit?" he asked dryly. "Lisa, those men would have . . . " He paused and shook his head. "It is fortunate I happened to choose today to try to see Tibald's runner. "

"You were there to see him as well?" she asked with surprise, and then wondered why she even asked. What else would he have been there for?

"Yes, I've had a little problem with theft myself recently. A new maid, I suspect, and since Tibald spoke so highly of this fellow I thought I'd see what he could do for me. " He peered at her curiously. "What were you hiring him for?"

"Oh. Well, I just . . . something similar," she finished vaguely, not wishing to open that kettle of fish at the moment.

"Hmm. " Charles eyed her solemnly and then said, "I cannot believe that Radnor allowed you to come down here by yourself. "

"Yes, well, Richard did not know I was coming," she admitted unhappily.

Charles nodded, but added, "Still, I cannot believe Langley allowed you out of his sight long enough for you to come down here by yourself either. The man seems ever to be shadowing you. "

"Yes, he does," Lisa agreed with vexation. "The man is - " She cut herself off abruptly and glanced toward the window, irritation wiggling its way through her. Finally she simply said, "Robert did not know I was coming either. In fact, he had no idea I was leaving or surely would have followed. "

Findlay hesitated and then leaned forward in his seat to clasp her hands in his. When she raised her head to peer at him, he said, "Lisa, is Langley the reason you wanted time to think about my proposal?"

Lisa avoided his eyes uncomfortably and tried to tug her hands free, but he held them tightly and said gently, "It has become obvious to me that there is something more than family friendship between the two of you. Your feelings, at least, are deeper than that, though I don't know about Langley. He's a cold bastard and hard to read at times. "

Lisa lowered her eyes and shook her head helplessly.

Wondering if all of London could tell she had feelings for Robert. "Do you love him?"

Lisa swallowed, fighting not to speak, but then it just came pouring out. "I have loved him my whole life. No one but him. And I think he cares for me too, but he is afraid I would be unfaithful like his mother and grandmother and refuses to marry. Or did," she added with a frown. "Now he wants to marry me, but only because - " She cut herself off abruptly, flushing as she realized what she'd almost revealed and rushed on, "But I will not be married to a man who thinks I would be unfaithful to him. "

"Ah. " Charles said quietly and squeezed her hands. "Then might I suggest you accept my proposal instead?"

A sharp bark of laughter slipped from her lips, and then she waved one hand wearily and said, "My lord, you do not want me. "

"On the contrary. I want you very much," he said wryly.

"You wouldn't if you knew - " Lisa cut herself off again abruptly, but Charles finished it for her.

"That Langley has bedded you?"