Rafe interrupted.“Was there anyone else in his lordship’s carriage with Mr.Elton and Mr.Turner?”
“No, sir, just the two of them.Mr.Turner had his own horse on back.I helped him untie it so he might leave on errands, while Mr.Elton left on foot.I didn’t see Elton again until the other night, when he brought me the message from Mr.Turner about leaving the back stairs open.”
“Would you recognize Turner’s handwriting?”Rafe asked, trying to hold his temper.
Gillespie frowned.“No, sir.The message wasn’t written.I don’t read so well.”
Which meant the message was most likely not from the solicitor at all.Elton was still trying to steal the children.
Thirty-two
Minerva
“We are holding the Christmas Faire,”Minerva insisted Saturday morning over the vociferous objections of the manor gentlemen.“Our parishioners have been working night and day on their projects.If Rafe refuses the use of the inn, we’ll hold it in Willa’s house or the chapel or in the mercantile, if necessary.You cannot stop us.”
Paul looked pained but her husband knew better than to argue unless she was suggesting immoral activities.Heaven forbid that she should eversuggestdishonesty.She might indulge in lying, cheating, and deception, but she would never actuallytellhim and strain his patience.He knew that.She’d married him for his perceptivity and his brilliant ability to adjust to being married to someone like her...The reason she wished to reward his patience and understanding with a hearty breakfast.Someday.It was the very least she could do.
Damien was the one pacing the drawing room in fury.“We have a killer on the loose!Elton could very well be lurking in the da...deuced inn.He could take any of you hostage if he thought it would bring him the orphans.We don’t know what he’ll do!”
“If he’s very lucky, he’ll only get himself kicked into next week,” Brydie retorted.
Minerva almost snorted at this entertaining turn of phrase.
“We are not helpless infants,” Brydie continued, clearly working up a storm of her own.She and Damien had a few issues to resolve before they married.“Rafe and Verity are guarding the helpless in the attic.If it makes you happy, surround the pub with men and swords.We are holding the fair.”
And hoping to lure Elton into the open.Verity had yet to push that one past Rafe.The hard part had been convincing Verity, but now that she understood, the inimitable innkeeper’s wife would bring Rafe around.
Minerva fastened her redingote.She hated being buttoned up but, for a church event, she needed to be respectable..“If you really want to be helpful, you’ll lock up Lord Chatham.I showed you the Debrett’s.He’s aTurner.And probably a liar and possibly a killer.When he wakes up, ask him how he’s related to his supposed solicitor and the orphans.His reaction ought to be telling.”
That might protect the orphans.It didn’t explain Willa.
“Elton is the one giving orders and hunting for the children.We have no reason to lock up a viscount,” Paul warned, not pacifying but offering rationality.“Hunt will have someone outside his door.I’m sure it can all be explained if you’ll just have patience.”
Her husband liked to believe the good in everyone, even imbeciles.Minerva had reason to be cynical.“Your lordling is a ninnyhammer at best, a killer at worst.We need to identify this Turner person, if he exists, and find Elton, whom we’ve actually seen.”Minerva tied on her bonnet.“Unless you wish to believe Mr.Dryden is hiding in the village as well, I can only think of two men recently arrived who might pass as a solicitor: Mr.Jasper and Mr.Cooper.Neither of them seem likely.The servant may be lying.”
“If you leave the manor, we’ll have to send men down to guard you, which means fewer people here to protect the orphans.This is not acceptable!”Damien shouted, ignoring her perfectly rational argument.
Minerva could understand why Brydie had to fight back.An angry Damien was an autocrat of great beauty, tall and strong and straining the seams of his tailoring with muscle—and protective male instincts.Most women would bow to his wishes.
Brydie was not most women.In amusement, Minerva watched the Viking warrior, her cloud of untamed auburn hair escaping its pins, go nose to nose with him.
“Youcannot telluswhat is acceptable, Damien Sutter.We are grown women with minds of our own, not slaves.You may suggest and offer aid but you cannot bind us hand and foot and prevent us from going our own way.”
Damien clenched his fists and leaned into the argument.
Minerva ignored them when Paul bent over to whisper in her ear.“I will suggest they call the banns sooner rather than later.If they were alone right now...”
As they were quite often, Minerva knew.Two passionate people...
She intervened before they could lay hands on each other.“Come along, Brydie.There is time for you to make some buns in Rafe’s oven, surrounded by servants and church ladies and probably the deacon, since there is nothing he likes more than a good gossip over food.If Mr.Elton shows his face, we shall slam his nose with a skillet.And then you may kick him however you like, although into next week might make him more elusive.”
She grabbed Brydie’s arm, steered her away, and murmured, “I did not dare mention that Clare and Patience and quite possibly, even the dowagers, are attending.I am quite certain there is another lecture in that.”
“We are always arguing,” Brydie said with a sigh, tying the hood of her cloak before stepping into the wind.“I am not certain marriage is for me.”
Minerva laughed.“It’s that or babies without marriage.The two of you simply need to accept your differences.But not right now.We have a thief to catch.”
“And gifts to sell and merriment to be had.I want a real Christmas this year, not another pathetic one where we huddle over coals and warm milk and call it a holiday.We didn’t even have a church to attend!”Brydie set down the drive in determination.“I want glorious hymns and carols!”
