A Most Sinful Proposal (The Husband Hunters Club 2)

“Very well, Miss Rotherhild. They are all, if I may be so bold, looking forward to the wedding.”

Valentine muttered a curse, causing Morris and Marissa to turn to him in surprise. He crumpled the sheet of paper in his fist. “Von Hautt has escaped. I don’t know how or why,” he went on, before Marissa could ask. “I need to go to the sanatorium and see the superintendent.”

“I will come with you,” Marissa said.

He opened his mouth to protest but she was determined and he must have seen it because he changed his mind, turning to Morris instead.

“Fetch the coach around, Morris, and make our apologies to our guests. Explain there’s been an urgent matter concerning a—a relative.”

“Very good, my lord,” Morris said, seemingly unperturbed.

Marissa reached for Valentine’s hand as Morris hurried away. He squeezed her fingers. “We must find him,” he said quietly. “We must.”

Chapter 36

By the time they arrived at the redbrick building in Kensington, all the lights were blazing and there were men moving about the grounds, some of them police constables called in to help. No one had seen Von Hautt since seven o’clock, when he ate a small supper and said he was weary and would retire to bed. It was two hours later that it was discovered he wasn’t in his bed and, indeed, was nowhere to be found inside the building.

“One of the attendants discovered his clothing in a storage room on the ground floor,” Superintendent Gouch admitted, when he had them seated in his office. He looked tired and worried, clearly shocked by the escape. “He’d changed into clothing belonging to the cleaners and walked out. I don’t know how he did it. You saw him yourself, Lord Kent. He was barely able to speak.”

“We must assume that was pretense,” Valentine said grimly.

The man rubbed his hands over his face. “No one has ever escaped from this house before. Our record is impeccable. I don’t know what will happen now. I suppose we will see a withdrawal of our more important patients. And I can’t blame them. Who wants their lunatic relative turning up on their doorstep without warning?”

“You will continue the search?”

“Yes, of course, but I doubt we’ll find him. If he has the wit to change his clothes then he must be capable of planning a route away from here. Indeed, he could be anywhere.” He cast Valentine a shamefaced look. “He took some money, too.”

Valentine stood up. “Thank you. We’ll take up no more of your time. You will let me know if you find him?”

“Of course, my lord.”

As they climbed back into the coach, Marissa was startled to hear Valentine say to the driver, “We are going home to Abbey Thorne Manor. We’ll stop at the house in Mayfair first, but we need to set off from there as quickly as possible.”

The coachman cracked his whip over the horses’s heads and the vehicle lurched forward.

“Valentine—” Marissa gasped, falling back against the seat.

He turned to her urgently. “Where else would he go, Marissa? He’s gone to find Bo-bo. And we must find them both as soon as possible.”

He was right. This was their chance to discover the truth about the spy and to capture Augustus before he was able to vanish into the wider world.

Her parents were at first amazed and then irritated by Marissa’s determination to go rushing off with her intended for reasons she would not disclose.

“We were looking forward to seeing more of Lord Kent,” the professor said. “This is very aggravating, Marissa.”

Marissa could not help but remember her tenth birthday party, when her parents’ plans took precedence, but she bit her lip and said nothing. Such ancient hurts no longer mattered to her.

“Is it proper for you to be entirely in Lord Kent’s company?” her mother asked. “Perhaps you should remain in London until he returns.”

Marissa had no intention of remaining in London. For the first time she admitted to herself that where Valentine went she would follow, no matter where that might be. Did that mean she was prepared to stand on rainswept hillsides with him? Or up to her knees in snow? The answer came loud and strong: Better that than waiting safe at home, frittering away her days with domestic duties.

At least they would be together.

“Marissa will be perfectly safe,” Lady Bethany had come to her rescue, “because I am going, too.”

“As am I,” Jasper announced.

Professor Rotherhild threw up his hands.