The duke shut the door behind her and walked over to the bed. My heart beat harder with every step closer. I knew he wouldn’t do anything. He was dressed for dinner. Impeccably, regally, perfectly dressed. Still, a certain part of me wanted him to see me as a lover, an ally, a duchess.
“How long until your ankle will let you get around?” he murmured.
“I’m going to make it to dinner and the ball tomorrow if I have to crawl there,” I assured him.
He glowered down at me. “Good. Because you are here for one reason and one reason only. To find the naval blueprints before they leave the country. We’ll deal with this acquaintance of your parents once we accomplish our most important task. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” I hissed back at him. I understood. I just didn’t agree.
The duke had been gone about thirty seconds when Sir Henry entered my room without knocking. “I made sure the duke had left before I came in. I don’t want to ruin your chances with a rich patron.”
“How thoughtful of you.” I gave him a dark look. “You can leave now.”
He walked toward the bed. “We have business to discuss.”
I pulled the covers a little higher as I watched him.
When he reached me, he grabbed my lower jaw in one hand. “What was that stunt about today? Because if you think you can lie about here and get away with not carrying out a job for me, think again.”
I shoved his hand away. “My ankle is bruised. I hope to be walking by tomorrow night. Don’t worry. I’ll do what you want me to do.”
“You’d better. Because a few words from me will ruin you.”
I’d had bigger, stronger men try to bully me. Sir Henry didn’t frighten me. Once we retrieved those blueprints, he wouldn’t matter anymore. “I understood that the first four times you said it. I’m not stupid.”
“Don’t forget it.” He grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me out of bed. My feet hit the floor, one of them excruciatingly, and I slumped down, clutching the sheets. I managed to balance on my good leg before I hit the floor and held my other foot up as I stared at him, gasping with pain.
“Good. You’re not pretending.” He marched out of the room, leaving me to wonder exactly what it was he wanted me to do. I was very glad Clara hadn’t married him.
I climbed back under the covers, slid my ankle onto the icy towel again, and picked up the novel by Mrs. Hepplewhite. I began to read until my lack of sleep during the preceding nights caught up with me.
When I awoke, night had fallen and cooler air came in the open window. I sat up in bed and listened to my stomach growl. After a few minutes, I stopped being annoyed about my stomach and started worrying about Emma. What if she’d followed the baron’s man and been caught? I knew she carried her knife, but she could have been taken by surprise and overpowered.
Snelling was in the area. He’d killed Phyllida’s cousin Clara. He could murder again.
When I heard the soft knock and saw the door open, I nearly jumped off the bed. “Emma?”
“No, it’s me. Phyllida. What’s wrong?”
“Emma never brought my supper tray, and I’m worried—”
Phyllida stepped back into the hall. “Duke.”
Blackford entered the room behind her.
“Emma never returned with my supper tray. Where is she?” I controlled my voice with effort.
“She’s not waiting for me in my room, either,” Phyllida added.
“I’ll have your tray sent up and send a note to Sumner in the village to start a search there. Lady Phyllida, if you could ask one of the maids to find Emma and send her to you, that will begin a search here. What’s this?” Blackford bent over and picked up something from the floor near the door.
A note. He opened it and glanced at it before growling, “Someone’s onto you.”
I held out my hand. He walked the paper over to me so I could read it.
Georgia Fenchurch, you’ve been foolish. Now you and the Archivist Society members here will die.
Their deaths, and yours, will be your fault.
I stared into his dark eyes reflecting light from the one gas lamp burning in the room. “This is the third warning I’ve received. The first two were in Mayfair.”
“Warning?” Phyllida gasped.
“The only one who knew was Emma,” I told him.
“Sir Henry?” Blackford looked like he’d rip the man apart.
“No. He’s using what he believes to be Georgina’s secrets against her. He wouldn’t if he knew the truth.”
“Who, then?”
“I don’t know. And now Emma’s missing.” I gave his hand a squeeze. He squeezed back, and I felt a little relieved.
“I’ll find her.” The duke bowed to us and left the room.
“When did you last see her?” I asked Phyllida.
“She dressed me for dinner and then said she was going to the kitchen to get your tray. Goodness, Georgia, that was hours ago.”
I didn’t correct her use of my real name. I was worried, too.
“This note?” she asked, apparently afraid to say any more.
“Someone has known almost from the start that I’m Georgia, not Georgina. This person doesn’t want the Archivist Society involved.”
“Let’s go home.” She walked in a small circle, wringing her hands.
“No. Clara was brave, and she’d expect us to be brave to find her killer.” When she sank down on the bed, I took her hand and gave her the same squeeze Blackford had given me.
We sat together until my tray arrived. I hadn’t eaten all day, and I was famished. As I stuffed my face, Phyllida twisted the rings on her fingers. “She must be somewhere. Perhaps she’s following the blueprints,” Phyllida kept murmuring.
“Emma can take care of herself.” I didn’t know which one of us I was reassuring.
The maid came back to return the tray to the kitchen and I convinced her to act as Phyllida’s maid for this evening. I also learned she was the one who’d turned on the gaslight near the bed in case I should awaken, which meant Emma must have been gone since before it grew dark.
Phyllida took the girl back to her room and I sat alone, listening to the creaks of light steps and murmured voices coming from under the door and through the open window.
I had dozed off again when I heard my door open. The lamp I’d left on showed Emma and the duke slip silently into my room. I sat bolt upright, my heart pounding from surprise and relief. “Where have you been?” I whispered as loudly as I could.
“When I went to gather your tray, I saw the baron’s valet slip out the kitchen door. I followed him into the village.”
“Alone?” Blackford demanded.
“Of course.” Emma turned back to me. “He met another man in a tavern. I was watching through the window, wondering how I could learn what they were saying, when Sumner appeared. He went in and listened. He heard them argue about money, and then the other man, a young, thin man, said he’d bring it to the house and deal directly with the boss tomorrow night.”
“Sumner identified the younger man as Snelling,” Blackford said.
“Snelling is bringing the naval designs here tomorrow night to exchange for money. While a ball is going on.” Oh, terrific. I looked from one face to the other.
“There will be so many excess people here, one more won’t be noticed,” the duke grumbled.
“Sumner is certain they didn’t realize he was there and say that only to mislead him?” I asked.
“They were too busy arguing to notice much of anything. They were both faced away from the room. Sumner couldn’t see their faces until they left,” Emma told me.
“So who is the boss?”
“Sumner said Snelling never referred to the person who hired him as he or she. He did say he had an arrangement with one person and he’d give the drawings to that person directly in exchange for the money. He also told the valet if he works for the boss to report back that danger had raised the price.”