“Yes.” Valen pulled the window shut and latched it. “However, on the morrow, I think it would be prudent to move your sister to more distant territory for both her peace of mind and her safety.”
Izzie met his gaze. “You think he’ll find me and finish the job, don’t you?”
“No. It’s merely a precaution until we capture him.” Valen hated to lie to her. Maybe it wasn’t a lie. Maybe Merót wouldn’t bother to take his revenge with so much at risk.
“Could take her home, I suppose.” Robert rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“He knew my name.” She laid her head down, eyes drooping, her voice growing airy and soft with fatigue. “If he finds I’m not in London, I should think our estate would be the first place he’d look.”
“Gad. She’s right. And there’s no one there but our mum and a few old servants, too faithful to abandon us. They would hardly be useful in a skirmish.”
Valen turned to Robert. “We’ll take her to Ransley Keep. He’d never think of looking there, and my father will be glad of the company. Pack and be ready to leave at daybreak. And now, I must excuse myself for a few hours of much-needed rest.”
“See here, St. Evert. I’m terribly grateful and all.” Robert stood up, blocking Valen’s escape. “But you don’t really need me to travel with you, do you? What’s the point of two escorts? Much better if I stay here. Help the lads hunt him down. After all, I studied Merót for two years. Would still have had him in my sights if I hadn’t been summoned home on account of my blasted fa—” He cast an uneasy look in his sister’s direction.
Father.
The same reason Valen had been required to return to England—to take his place as head of the family. One father missing. One dying. Their families left in tatters. Both men studied Elizabeth. This is who they came home for, the innocent who needed their protection. She lay drifting to sleep.
“Very well,” he said softly. “I’ll leave Biggs to assist you. Without a doubt, Whitehall will be pleased to have your assistance. I’ve already advised them that you were in town. And I’ll return as soon as Elizabeth is situated.” Valen clapped a hand on Robert’s shoulder. “But are you certain you aren’t choosing to stay here because of a certain Miss Dunworthy?”
Robert chuckled. “Not a bit of it.”
“Hmm. Try to remember this is serious business we’re engaged in.”
“Don’t know what you mean, Captain. What business are you referring to, Miss Dunworthy or Merót?”
He smirked at his friend’s wry wit. “Both.”
“Too true.”
Valen turned to go, but at the door, he paused for one last look at Izzie sleeping with her arms wrapped tightly around her pillow, his hideous peacock coat tucked underneath. Something in his chest constricted.
He found it hard to swallow. “I meant it, Robert. Stay here with her until I can get her safely away.”
Robert inhaled deeply, almost as if it vexed him that he must play sentinel, but he dropped willingly into the chair beside his sister, his face a mirror image of the concern besieging Valen.
14
Kitten Tangled in Yarn
It was not yet daybreak when they departed. Owing largely to the fact that Aunt Honore insisted on coming along, hours of preparation consumed the entire morning. Valen paced angrily in the rotunda, checking his pocket watch every ten minutes. It was well into the afternoon when they climbed into the coach, which meant the journey would cost Valen an extra day.
Aunt Honore sat opposite him, beside Elizabeth, and had the decency to wait until they were well underway before making demands. “Change places with me, Valen.”
He glanced caustically in her direction, purposely elevating one eyebrow. “I’m quite comfortable where I am, thank you.”
“Well, I am not. I prefer a seat to myself.”
“No one forced you to come along.”
She shrugged. “Couldn’t very well have left Lady Elizabeth to ride in a closed carriage alone with you, could I?”
“I would have ridden outside,” he drawled as if she were a slow-witted child.
Honore smacked her white-gloved hand against the black leather seat. “Humbug. It’s a five-hour trip. You would have been exceedingly uncomfortable up on the roof.”
“I’ve weathered considerably longer journeys and under worse conditions,” he muttered to no one in particular, knowing he may as well talk to the ceiling for all the heed she would give him.
“Oh, do stop grumbling and change places. I don’t want Lady Elizabeth drooling on me.”
That remark claimed Lady Elizabeth’s attention. She turned from the window. “I assure you, my lady, I do not drool. I would not dream of—”
Honore waved her hand through the air as if she were shooing away fireflies. “Bound to fall asleep, aren’t you? I slipped some laudanum into your tea this morning.”
Valen frowned at his aunt.
“You didn’t!” Izzie’s mouth did that opening and shutting thing she was wont to do from time to time.
“Of course I did.”
“But surely you should have asked me first. My brother will have apoplexy. He hates the stuff. Thinks I will become addicted like my—”
“Oh, don’t fret, my dear.” She patted Elizabeth’s leg. “Your brother is much too young for apoplexy. The most he will do is climb up in the boughs about it.”
Valen crossed his arms and snorted derisively. “You will have to pardon my aunt. She’s entirely without scruples. Her behavior is guided solely by calculating what she might get away with.”
“I have scruples.”
“Not many.”
“Just enough.”
“Well, you ought not to have dosed Lady Elizabeth without asking.”
“Piffle. It was a very light dose. See here…” She cupped her hand under Elizabeth’s chin and inspected her closely. “She isn’t even drooping yet. Her eyes are only somewhat glazed. After hearing an account of her histrionics yesterday, I certainly didn’t intend to spend the journey watching her get sick and mopping up—”
Elizabeth groaned and pulled out of her grasp. “I assure you, I do
