“She were listenin’,” the man holding her arm said. “I saw ’er through the crack in the door.”
Ludlow took a few steps toward her, his gaze wary. “Anne, what did you hear?”
“Nothing.” She hoped they couldn’t see the fear in her eyes or the throb of her pulse in her throat.
“She’s lyin’.” The man gripped her arm more tightly. “I can feel her shakin’.”
Exhaling, Ludlow wiped his brow. “Anne, dear. You shouldn’t have come here.”
“We can take care of ’er when we take care of yer nephew.”
Anne’s breath snagged, and she struggled not to make a sound despite the fear curling around her chest.
Ludlow tossed a glare at the man who’d mentioned Rafe. “Do be quiet.” He sighed as he contemplated Anne. “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but it can’t be nothing. You do look rather frightened.”
Her mind scrambling, she fought to come up with something to say. “Only because you’re meeting with men who sound like…ruffians.”
“You heard them mention my nephew.”
“Yes.” Anne tried to remain calm even as her arm began to ache from the brigand’s grip and panic clawed at her insides. “But why should I care? I want nothing to do with him. I despise him.”
Ludlow smiled. “Of course you do. After tonight, he will never bother you again.”
This was not anything they’d planned for. And it suddenly seemed an obvious oversight. The man had killed before to gain the title. Why wouldn’t he do it again to keep it?
Because it had seemed he had another plan to get what he wanted, to simply ruin Rafe’s chances to be named the earl.
“You plan to kill him?” She spoke loudly, hoping that Harry and North were by now in the next room.
His brow furrowed, and he actually had the gall to look distressed. “I didn’t say that, did I?”
“She ’eard what Renny said,” the man holding her snapped. “About taking care of ’er as well as yer nephew. And I told ye she were listenin’.”
“No one’s ‘taking care’ of my goddaughter. Come, Anne, you can leave with me now.”
The man who’d been standing closest to Ludlow pulled a pistol from his coat. “Best to make sure she doesn’t talk.”
“No!” Ludlow took her hand and pulled her away from the man, bringing relief to Anne’s arm. “She’ll leave with me.”
“I can’t just leave,” Anne said, flailing for any reason to stay and prevent them from killing Rafe. “My sister will miss me.”
“We’ll send a footman to tell her.” Ludlow nodded at one of the men. He and another left the room via another door. “There, now you can leave with me. I’m going to Ivy Grove. You can spend the night. Lorcan is supposed to come too. He’s around here somewhere.” He started to pull her toward the door the other men had just left through.
Anne dug her heels into the carpet and pulled her hand from Ludlow’s. “No. I can’t leave.”
“She’s goin’ to warn ’im,” the man with the gun said. “Ye can’t trust ’er.”
“Of course I can,” Ludlow said. “Can’t I, dear?”
She took a step backward. “I can’t go with you, Godfather, not without speaking to Jane. Let me go and do that. In fact, why don’t you come with me?” She started toward the door, but the man who’d pulled her into the room beat her to it. He wasn’t very tall, but he was thick and menacing just the same. He bared his teeth, two of which were missing in the front.
“She’s goin’ to ruin the plan.” This came from behind Anne. Close behind her.
Before she could fully register the fear rising in her throat, everything went black.
Keeping his distance from Anne—and the entire start of the plan—was driving Rafe crazy. He’d arrived at Brixton Park with Selina and Harry, but had separated from them early on. Harry was staying close to the house, along with his brother, watching for when Anne lured her godfather inside.
They’d discussed the plan thoroughly and repeatedly, but that didn’t alleviate Rafe’s anxiety in the slightest. He still worried something might go wrong, and here he was on the other side of the maze, separated from all of them.
He was also the object of many people’s interest, some of whom approached him to brazenly ask about his claim to the earldom. Most, however, looked at him from a distance and spoke amongst themselves. And Rafe didn’t give one whit.
A footman came by with a tray of champagne. Rafe took a glass and nearly downed the entire contents in one drink.
He caught sight of Harry, Selina, Beatrix, Thomas, and North stalking toward him and clenched the glass so tightly in his hand that it broke, cutting his thumb. He shook his hand out, dislodging the bits of glass from his flesh.
To a one, their expressions were grim. An icy fear that Rafe had only experienced once before in his life slowed the blood in his veins. “What?”
It was Harry who spoke. “Anne’s gone. We followed her into the house, but we were waylaid by Deborah. She made quite a scene, and by the time we extricated ourselves, we couldn’t find Anne or Mallory.”
Rafe ran his shaking hand through his hair. “Let’s split up and look for her.”
Harry nodded. “We were thinking the same.”
“We’ll recruit Anthony and Jane too,” Thomas said, “And Ripley. I’m sure he’d want to help, and he can rally his servants to the cause. I’ll take care of it.” He took himself off.
North started to turn. “I’ll go to the stables.”
“He wouldn’t take her into the maze, so I don’t think we need to look there,” Harry said.
Rafe felt an overpowering sense of helplessness. He couldn’t breathe. “Do you think he took her from the estate?”
“It’s possible. I’ll hunt down his coach.” Harry gave Rafe an anguished stare. “I’m sorry.”
“We’ll stay with Rafe,” Selina said, quickly squeezing her husband’s hand before he left.
Rafe started around the maze toward the house. “We need to look. Did they search the
