“Or not in danger,” Serena encouraged. “We don’t know she’s with Nicholas Kerr. For all we know he’s still in Italy where you sent him all those years ago.”
Kostya clapped his hands together. “That’s it. It’s been under our noses and we never thought of it. Too simple I suppose.” He looked gleefully at them until Serena poked him to continue. “All we have to do is verify that the scoundrel is still in Italy. It’s as simple as asking his brother.” He pounded excitedly on the roof to get the driver to stop. “I’ll send one of the riders off to the Kerr estate to invite Jeremy for a visit. He won’t think anything odd of it since Ashford will be there. All we have to do is casually ask after his brother. The answer will certainly be that he’s safely in Italy, which will at least assure us that he’s not in another time with Ariana.”
Tilly gaped at him. It really was incredibly simple. Their panic must have kept them from thinking straight. “And we’ve done so much to change things, it’s likely he will be there.”
“Yes, of course he will,” Serena said, gripping Tilly’s hand. “We’ll still need to look for Ariana, but we can rest easy she’s not with him.”
Tilly nodded, not sure she could rest easy until she heard the words out of Jeremy Kerr’s mouth. Not until Ariana was safely back with her. But a very small amount of tension eased in her shoulders and neck and she prayed with all her might that Nick was nowhere near her daughter.
Chapter 9
Nick paced restlessly while Milo prepared the time travel spell behind an abandoned warehouse. Nick thought of Ariana’s fears of ending up in the middle of a crowd or worse, underwater or entombed in stone. He shuddered and ran his fingers through his hair.
“We should have done the traveling spell back at the mansion,” he muttered. “Not in this godforsaken place. We could stumble upon any sort of trouble doing it in the middle of the docks like this.”
Milo paused his preparations and gave him a mildly amused look, then swept his gaze to the left and right. There was no one about save a few curious rats. Even the old building was clearly empty, its boards so loose and ramshackle Nick could see clear from one side to the other from where they stood outside.
“Don’t fret yourself to bits,” Milo said in a condescending tone. It made Nick want to kick the man in the middle of his shiny, bald head as he knelt on the ground mixing herbs. “This warehouse still stands empty in 1814, though it’s quite a bit sturdier back then. We’ll not be seen.”
To Nick’s relief, Milo was right. They arrived in his original time without a hitch. Nick saw the gleam of satisfaction in Milo’s eyes and almost wished they had caused some sort of ruckus, just to have something over the self-righteous buffoon.
They ambled toward the shipyards, looking for the ship Nick was meant to take to Italy. He kept his cloak pulled up close around his chin and his head down, not wanting to run into someone from his own time. The chances of meeting someone he knew at the docks should have been slim, but once he’d been banned from all the gentlemen’s clubs and gaming halls, he’d ended up losing even more money at the seedier establishments nearby.
He didn’t know what drew him to cards and dice so voraciously that he’d go without food or the company of a beautiful woman in order to test his luck. His luck the last year had been horribly bad. He should have stopped when his brother reluctantly agreed to pay off his debts to society, but then he’d run up a whole new batch with people who could do a lot worse than snub him at parties. Jeremy had washed his hands of him. They had five sisters after all, and they needed dowries more than he needed his reputation in London mended. Nick wrung his hands as he shuffled after Milo in search of the proper dock, remembering the shame of having to admit how low he’d sunk. Not only did he fear for his safety if one of his creditors found him here, the thought of Milo’s reaction to his utter disgrace made his insides churn.
They finally found the right ship, only to learn it was to be delayed until the next morning. Nick turned away from Milo to hide his horror. Where could he go? How could he ask Milo to take him back to 1889 where he’d be safe until morning? His pride warred with his common sense, trying to decide what to do.
“Shall we have a drink while we figure this out?” Milo asked, pointing to a pub Nick had been to before. Had lost more than one game of cards there. “What’s wrong?” Milo prodded when he didn’t answer right away. “You look as green about the gills as if you were already on the high seas.” His eyes narrowed with ruthless glee. “Afraid you’ll meet an acquaintance of yours around here?”
Nick’s pride won the battle. “Nonsense. Just irritated at the delay.”
“Come along, then.”
Nick tucked his chin further into his collar and hurried past the small crowd of people to the farthest available table in the back of the pub. He pushed down his disgust at the thin sheen of grime on the chipped wooden table, tried to block out the clogged, greasy smell emanating from the fireplace that looked as if it hadn’t been swept in months. This place had suited him fine when he’d been hungry to win back his lost fortune not so long ago.
“I’ll go place our order, since it seems you want your privacy,” Milo said, dropping his travel bag onto the seat next
