“Your loyalty is commendable, Mr. Carter,” Mr. O’Bannon said finally. “I will agree to this. If I happen to see you, or one of the others, in a spot he should not be, I will say nothing.”
Not daring to breathe deeply in relief, Liam bowed. “Thank you, sir.”
“You will bring any information you find to me,” the butler went on. “I will then consult with Mr. Noonan and Lord Willowdale.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now continue with your duties, Mr. Carter.”
“Yes, sir.”
Liam turned smartly on his heel and left the office. He would have little opportunity to speak with Jack, Ben or Luke until much later unless he stumbled across one of them in the course of his daily work. The entrances to the tunnels that wound their way amid the walls were secreted behind tapestries, skillfully built into the wall as to not appear to be doorways. As he had nothing that required his attention immediately, Liam found the nearest one not far from Mr. O’Bannon’s office.
Glancing around to see if he had been observed, Liam pulled aside the several hundred-year-old tapestry, and pushed the small door open with his fingers. Ducking into the dark musty tunnel, he kept the door open long enough to locate a torch that was, as usual, kept nearby. Finding one, he lit it with the flint and steel from his pocket. Then closing the door behind him, he made his way along the inside of the wall, holding his torch high.
He recalled playing in these tunnels as a child, and occasionally he had used them in his work as a footman, but had not been inside for at least a year. The place was dusty and lined with spider webs, and he smelled mouse and rat droppings as he walked along the tunnel. “Now where would you make your home, you bugger?” he muttered, casting the torch around to illuminate corners and side passages.
After walking what seemed like half the house, yet knowing he had not traversed even a quarter of it, Liam found what he had suspected was there all along. A pallet with blankets, a few articles of clothing, and a tin plate with the remains of a meal crusted to it. They lay in a recess between two side passages, in a spot that Liam knew gave the intruder access to all parts of the house.
Even as he listened, he heard the voices of two cleaning maids gossiping behind the wall, their voices clear and easily discerned, and he knew they were all correct about how he knew what Lord Willowdale planned, and where he would be. Smiling grimly, Liam turned to go back the way he came.
“That was almost too easy,” he said to himself.
Then something hard struck him across the back of his head. He felt himself falling and caught a rapid glimpse of the wood floor rising to meet his face.
Then he knew nothing else.
Chapter 14
Cantering his horse along the hard-packed road that led to the Willowdale estate, Robert Cartwright, Baron of Ampleforth, hummed under his breath. His spirits high, he recalled how weak Freddie had become on his last visit, how close he had come to caving in, to saying yes to Robert’s proposal regarding his marriage to Thea. “You know I will take good care of your sister,” he muttered, his teeth bared in a grin. “I know you know this, I saw it in your eyes.”
He laughed aloud. “Soon, my sweet Thea,” he crooned, watching as his gelding’s ears flicked back to listen to his voice. “Soon, you and I will be married. Despite your dislike of me, dear heart, you will learn to love me in return. I swear you will.”
His grin faded as he remembered why Thea hated him so. “I know I should not have done that,” he muttered. “That was a mistake, I realize it now. But I will make it up to you, my dearest, my sweet, my beautiful Thea.”
Robert wondered why Thea never told her brother about the incident, for if she had, Freddie would never consent to permit him to marry Thea. If he had known, he would never permit Robert to set foot on the Willowdale property and would denounce him publicly. “Why did you not tell your parents, Thea?” he asked aloud. “Or your brother? Why are you not telling him now?”
With a shudder, breaking into a cold sweat despite the warm day and the sun shining down on him, Robert tried to recall the boy who did witness the event. He had barely registered the boy’s face, except that he was much larger than Robert, before the boy’s fists pummeled his head, blackened both his eyes and punched him so hard in the gut and ribs Robert could hardly draw breath.
His parents had demanded he tell them who had beaten him up and why, but Robert held his tongue. He knew he had deserved the beating, and knew he could never confess what he had done. Not to anyone. He never saw the boy after that and suspected his parents had taken him away from the estate. “Thank you for showing me my error,” he said. “Whoever you are.”
Letting his thoughts range once more to Thea, Robert wondered if he was coming on too strong with her. That perhaps he should back off a bit, take the pressure off of her, and show her how much he cared about her. “Small things, maybe,” he mused. “Flowers, not diamonds. Permit her to get to know the newly changed Robert, not the old bad Robert.”
He and Freddie were to go hunting after he arrived, and he had with him his blunderbuss, strapped to his saddle. The vast estate house hove into view beyond the bend in the road.It is so beautiful.Much larger and older than his own house, which was less than half its size. Grooms spotted his approach and trotted out to meet him in order to take his horse. Freddie emerged from the main door and stepped onto the big porch, waving as he rode up.
“Do you wish to keep riding yours?” he called. “Or perhaps one of mine?”
“I will ride my own,” Robert replied, reining to a halt near the steps. “If your grooms might offer him some water, however?”
The groom who took his horse’s bridle bowed as Robert dismounted, then led him toward the stable complex. He joined Freddie, who had garbed himself in a riding habit, on the porch and shook his hand. “You are looking as well as ever, my friend,” Robert said.
“As are you. Care for a drink while they saddle my horse?”
“Yes, thank you.”
He followed Freddie into the entryway of the house as footmen bowed low to either side of them. Naturally, Robert gazed around, hoping to see Thea, but she was not in evidence. “How is your sister?” he asked as Freddie led him toward the drawing room.
“Well, thank you. I believe she is making party preparations at the moment.” Freddie gestured for Robert to precede him into the drawing room. “You received your invitation, I trust?”
