“Careful, not too much now, a dead bride will do you no good at all.”
A dead bride? A bride?
The vile bottle was removed and Lily, coughing and weak, found her wrists seized and bound. She tried to resist but it was like trying to swim in mud. The dizziness and lethargy were worse now.
“Good. Now, keep her doped up until you get to Scotland.”
Scotland?
Hard hands replaced the gag, still damp from her own spittle, but this time tied around her mouth instead of being stuffed into it. Small mercies.
She lay on the carriage floor while Nixon paid the other man. Then she was scooped up and dumped roughly into something like . . . a box? A coffin? Panic threatened. She breathed deeply—as deeply as she could through the gag. Stay calm, Lily. Not a coffin. She would have seen a coffin. They were still in the carriage. Think, Lily, think.
It was some kind of container—no, a space under the seat. Yes, a space for storing cushions and rugs and extra luggage. And abducted women. As the realization came, a lid closed over her, turning the night from a terrifying thing of darkness and shadows into absolute pitch-blackness.
Slowly, grimly, through the swirling fog of the drug, she pieced it together. They were taking her to Scotland. As a bride.
• • •
“There’s no use insisting, Cal, I will not go upstairs and sleep—not while Lily and Rose are missing! I couldn’t sleep a wink, even if I wanted to.”
“But—”
“Until you walk through the front door, with all three girls safe and sound—because if Rose and Lily are up to mischief, you can be sure that George will be involved too—I will wait downstairs. I’ll be perfectly comfortable here in the front sitting room, on the chaise longue with my feet up. Now, stop fussing about me, my darling—go and find Lily!”
“Very well, but you will ring if you need—”
“Go! I’m feeling perfectly well now, just worried about Lily.”
Cal briefly scrutinized her face, gave a brusque nod and turned to leave. He’d taken just two steps when the front door opened, and Rose and George entered, laughing.
“Aunt Agatha is in high dudgeon,” Rose told them, her blue eyes dancing.
“High dudgeon? She’s spitting fire and brimstone!” added George with a grin. “I always knew she was part dragon.”
“Her precious duke never even turned up. She had to cancel supper— What is it?” The laughter died from Rose’s eyes. She glanced from Emm to Cal and back. “What’s the matter?”
“Where’s Lily?” Cal demanded.
“What do you mean?” Rose asked. “She went to the party with you, didn’t she?”
“She left the party early,” Cal said grimly, “when she received a note from you.”
Rose looked blank. “I never sent her a note.”
“Rose,” Cal growled, “this is no time for—”
She cut him off with an impatient gesture. “Don’t be stupid, Cal. I would never send Lily a note. Why would I, when we all know Lily can’t read?”
There was a sudden silence. “Oh, good God, we never thought . . .” Cal gave Emm an agonized look. Emm shook her head. In the worry and confusion, it hadn’t occurred to her. Someone must have sent Lily a note purporting to come from her sister.
Rose sat down on a chair with a thump. “Are you saying Lily is missing?”
Cal nodded. “It seems so.”
“How? What happened?”
“It’s my fault.” Emm felt wretched. She was meant to be guarding Lily, chaperoning her. Instead she’d failed her. “I was feeling ill, so we stepped outside—”
“Nonsense! It wasn’t your fault,” Cal said curtly. “We were only gone for a few minutes—ten at the most. We left her inside, in the home of our friends, surrounded by members of the ton, and talking to a friend, perfectly safe and happy.”
“Cal decided to take me home, but when we went looking for Lily to bring her with us, we couldn’t find her.”
Cal stood abruptly. “I’m going back to the Mainwarings’. Somebody must have seen something. For all we know she’s still there. She might have just stepped out for a few minutes for fresh air, like we did.”
Emm shook her head. “Into the garden, perhaps, but not into the street. That butler said she’d gone into the street with a man.”
“What man?” Rose demanded.
Cal gave her a searching look. “You don’t know who he might be?”
“No, of course not.”
“There’s no man she fancies? No man who’s been paying her attention lately?
Rose stared at him. “Are you imagining she’s eloped? That’s ridiculous! Lily would never do such a thing. Besides, I’d know if she was planning anything like that.”
“In any case,” George said, “why would she run off to get married? If she wanted to marry someone you’d give her your blessing and start arranging for a wedding with all the trimmings, wouldn’t you?”
Cal nodded slowly. “If the fellow was worthy of my little sister. But if he wasn’t . . .”
“Has anyone asked for Lily’s hand and been refused?” George asked.
“No.”
“Well, then.”
Cal said nothing. The look on his face was grim.
Emm looked up at her husband. “You’re thinking she’s been abducted, aren’t you?”
He gave her a hard look. “She’s an heiress. And I don’t like the sound of that damned note.” He bent and kissed Emm briefly. “I’m going back to the Mainwaring place, talk to the other servants and the Gorrie woman again. Someone must have seen something.”
“I’ll come with you,” George said, but Cal shook his head.
“No, you and Rose stay and look after Emm. Besides, Lily might come home any minute.” He strode off, and in a few seconds they heard the front door slam.
“Pray she does,” Emm murmured. An anxious silence descended.
How could Lily be abducted in the full view of half the ton? According to the butler, Lily had left the house willingly. Why? Because of the note?
And surely if she’d looked frightened or in distress someone would have noticed and
