Guarding the Spoils (The Wild Randalls 3)

Beth met her gaze. “I’m being punished for that very thing, my lady. For my foolishness and stupidity. Henry will never allow me to see George again. He’s taken him away and I’ll never find him now.” She sobbed on the last and curled over as she cried.

Leopold took Blythe’s place and eased her into a sitting position again. “Did you hear nothing during the night?”

“No,” Beth gulped at the pain that engulfed her. “I wasn’t in my room last night.”

Leopold’s gaze fell to the note in his hand, his frown growing.

Beth pressed her fingers to her temples at how stupid she had been. She’d known her brother-in-law was a harder man than most, but that he might abduct George to get his way had never occurred to her. She would never have let George out of her sight for even a minute if she had suspected. “I couldn’t sleep for missing Oliver and I spent the night in his bed.”

Leopold sat back, wiping his hand across his face. “How long have you been involved with my brother?”

Blythe shushed him. “That is no one’s business but Beth’s. Now, we need to get young George back where he belongs. He must be terrified to be stolen away in the dead of night.”

Beth moaned at that image and Blythe tugged her to her feet. “Faith, now. We’ll get him back. Why don’t you come with me and get dressed? By the time we come down again, Leopold will have a plan prepared for pursuit.”

Although she didn’t want to move, she allowed herself to be led away. She put one foot before the other as she climbed the stairs with Blythe’s aid, barely noticing that Mercy had joined them, and passed into her bedchamber. The emptiness of the next room brought more tears and Mercy quickly closed the door when she continued to stare into the wreckage that was once her son’s neat room.

Numbness crept into her limbs as Blythe and Mercy undressed her from her night attire and redressed her in a warm day gown. She should have been appalled at such important women fussing over her, but she hadn’t the will to protest. The two women dressed her hair, slid stockings up her legs and tied garters around her calves, slipped her feet into sturdy shoes suitable for travel, and a hundred other small kindnesses that barely penetrated her misery.

A few minutes later, or so it seemed to Beth, she jerked upright as the carriage wheel landed in a hole. Across from her, Tobias and Blythe were talking quietly, hands firmly holding each other’s. Blythe leaned forward, peering into her eyes intently. “There you are. I was beginning to worry.”

Beth scrambled to sit straighter, looking about her in alarm. “Where are we?”

“Some miles from Romsey by now,” Tobias murmured.

Beth blinked and tried to adjust to the passage of time. How could she be here and not have noticed the change? She shook her head as her heartbeat quickened. George was gone. She longed for him and Oliver, too. She wanted them back in her arms where they belonged. “Where are we going?”

“Allen and his sons are leading the way on horseback. We’re headed south, following the trail, or at least we hope we are.”

Beside her, Leopold held out his hand. “I must apologize. It seems I’m the last to know everything about my brothers. I had no idea about Oliver. I was rude and I’m told rather hurtful in my speech to you. Forgive me.”

Beth reluctantly set her hand in his and he squeezed her fingers tightly. “There is nothing to forgive,” she whispered.

He smiled, a rueful expression that touched his eyes. “I’ve never understood my brother. I still cannot believe he abandoned you.”

She

lifted her chin, determined that there should be no misunderstandings about what had happened. “He never abandoned me. I knew he would leave.” She’d gone into the affair with her eyes wide open and had only herself to blame for the loss of her reputation and her son. She’d caused Henry to take George away to protect him from her sins. “How am I to get George back even if we find where Henry has taken him?”

Tobias leaned forward and lifted a small chest from the floor. He shook it. “Money should work nicely. Turner made it very plain last night that he’s a greedy sort.”

Leopold sighed and raked a hand through his hair. “I thought I knew him. Seems he’s much changed since we were young. I’m sorry, Beth. I invited him to call as often as he liked in order for you to become better acquainted. The servants report that windows have been found unlatched all over the abbey for days, like the one in the long gallery, but nothing has been stolen. Likely Turner’s associate entered the abbey during dinner and waited for everyone to fall asleep before creeping into George’s room.”

Beth closed her eyes. “Henry has been very taken with the view from the long-gallery windows and others inside the abbey. He must have unlatched them when I wasn’t looking.”

Dread filled her. Had Henry been planning to leave her behind from the beginning? As the carriage rolled along, Beth tried to control her panic but she was sure her brother-in-law was already out of her reach. He might not even be heading in this direction. She stared out the window, trying to form a convincing argument to explain herself and get her son back. If Oliver was here, she could beg him to write one out for her to practice. He could be very convincing when he set his mind to it. Beth’s arms ached as she wished for Oliver’s calming presence to proclaim the odds of succeeding.

“Riders and a carriage approaching fast, Mr. Randall,” the coachman called down. “Bloody hell, it’s the other Romsey coach. Hold tight.”

Beth braced herself and the coach rocked violently as they slowed and swerved to avoid the fast-approaching carriage. When they were almost at a complete stop, Leopold vaulted out the door to hurled abuse at the coachman. “Damnation. Are you trying to get us all killed?”

The other carriage’s horses drew level with the window and the sweated beasts blew steam as they snorted in the cool air. She’d never known a Romsey groom to be so shoddy with the beasts. Charles Allen would be livid when he found out.

“Carrying important cargo, sir,” the other coachman yelled back. “Thought it important to return to Romsey quick-smart.”

Men on horseback circled the carriage and when she glanced up, Mr. Allen and his sons were grinning at her happily. They tipped their hats and kicked their horses toward Romsey, leaving them behind in their dust.

Tobias poked his head out the door and then began to chuckle to himself as he stepped out, too.