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A fter they’d informed the Duke and Duchess of Langham of what had occurred, the duchess settled them into a parlor far from the ballroom, then sent for the tea tray and a physician in that order.

Pulling Lucy aside, Will asked if she was able to remain here alone for a bit while he sent for her cousin and found someone to go with him to check Blackwood’s home.

At the mention of going to the Blackwoods’, Lucy’s eyes widened in alarm. “Shouldn’t you wait for Cousin Andrew to send some of his men to do that? They are trained for such things. You are—”

“Not,” he finished for her with a smile as he tucked that always-escaping curl behind her ear. “I know I am not, but if Hamilton—whichever of them it is—has taken Blackwood somewhere, as Lady Fortescue suggested, then the townhouse should be safe enough.”

“And if for some reason Hamilton has returned to search for something to steal?” Lucy asked, not for one moment falling for his attempt to turn her up sweet.

“Then we will deal with him,” Will admitted. “But the odds of that are very unlikely. Besides, I also want to search Vera’s room to see if there are any other letters from Hamilton that might give us some idea which of the cousins it is who has taken both Vera and her father. It’s entirely possible that it was Jedidiah who took Blackwood and threatened Lady Fortescue, but he passed himself off as Christopher again.”

Lucy looked as if she wanted to argue further but must have realized he wasn’t going to be persuaded to her way of thinking. “Fine,” she agreed finally. “You may go. But if you are hurt or killed, I will run you through.”

She looked adorable, scowling like a thwarted toddler. He wouldn’t tell her that, of course. He knew not to endanger his vulnerable bits in such a way. “If I’m dead, then it will do no good to run me through,” he reminded her.

“It will do me good,” she said, throwing her arms around his neck. It was entirely improper to do such a thing in front of other people, even a widow who had just attempted to kidnap them and a duchess who was the soul of discretion.

Deciding if he was in for a penny, he may as well be in for a pound, Will kissed her thoroughly. When he pulled away, he looked down into her slightly dazed expression and said softly, “I love you, you know.”

Then before she had a chance to reply, he strode out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Once back in the ballroom, he went in search of someone who could be trusted to go with him to search the Blackwood home.

He was about to give up and make the trip to the other side of Mayfair alone when he ran into Woodward staring glumly into a glass of what looked like sherry.

Even as distracted as he was by his mission, Will couldn’t help noticing his friend’s mood. “What’s amiss?”

At the sound of his friend’s voice, Woodward stood up straighter and threw off the mantle of unhappiness as if it were an ill-fitting coat. “Where have you been? It was supposed to be a ball partly in your honor, and the pair of you snuck out before you finished even a single dance. What kind of rudeness is that?”

Brushing aside the questions, Will said instead, “I’d like you to join me on an errand.”

Woodward’s brow furrowed. “What kind of errand?”

“The kind where we might need to let ourselves into someone else’s house if there is no one there to let us in.” Will knew how to bait a hook with the skill of a longtime angler.

As he’d hoped, Woodward was as susceptible to the promise of adventure as any man. “Lead on, MacDuff,” he said, gesturing for Will to go ahead of him.

Once they were in a hansom cab, Woodward turned to him expectantly, and Will explained what had happened in as succinct a manner as he was able.

Woodward, who was fairly used to unusual circumstances at this point, gaped. “She tried to abduct the pair of you from your own betrothal ball? The mistress of the last abductee’s father?”

“When you put it like that, it does sound suspicious,” Will said wryly. “And I still haven’t heard the full explanation of why precisely Hamilton wanted us. I understand that he would use Blackwood as leverage to force Lady Fortescue into taking us, but why us?”

Leaning back against the seat with a sigh, Woodward thought about it. “You and Miss Penhallow have been on this fellow’s trail from the moment that Miss Blackwood was taken. Perhaps he needs to know just what it is you’ve learned about him so that he can determine whether to get rid of you or not.”

“That’s reassuring.” Will shot his friend a scowl, though it was barely visible in the dark of the carriage. “Remind me not to come to you when I am in need of cheering.”

“You didn’t ask for cheering,” Woodward said reasonably. “You asked what the fellow might have wanted with the two of you.”

“Touché,” Will admitted. “But with that in mind, I have another question. Why is he still here?”

It was Woodward’s turn to frown. “What do you mean?”

“If I’m an American who sailed across the Atlantic in order to force a wealthy heiress into marriage so that I might get my hands on her money, then why wouldn’t I have gotten married and sailed away by now? Why is he lingering?”

It was something that had been niggling in the back of Will’s brain for the past day or so. Ever since the attack on Miss Fleetwood and Hetty. If he was worried about their being able to identify him, then why hadn’t he just fled? It wasn’t as if their identification of him would matter if he was off living with Vera in New South Wales.

Woodward thought about it. “Perhaps Miss Blackwood’s money is in a trust of some kind that isn’t available to her until she reaches a certain age?”

Nodding, Will gestured for the other man to continue. “But Hamilton wasn’t aware of this. He thought the money was tied up in her dowry. Now he wants to get the money from Blackwood with or without benefit of marriage.”

“But that’s the odd thing,” he said to Woodward. “There’s been no ransom demand. If you want money from the father of the lady you’ve kidnapped, wouldn’t sending a demand for money have been your very first action after obtaining the lady?”

“One would think,” Woodward agreed. “Every time I think we have a handle on this case, something happens to turn everything we thought we knew on its ear.”

Will agreed, and he was getting tired of chasing Hamilton—whichever of the cousins it was who was responsible for all of this.

The coach began to slow then, and as it came to a stop before the house of Richard Blackwood, Will opened the door and jumped to the ground, followed by Woodward.

In the light of the gas lamps lining the street and illuminating the front of the house, Will noticed that it looked as tranquil as any home in the prosperous parts of London. A house a few doors down was entertaining, as was evidenced by the line of coaches disgorging its passengers near where a red carpet had been rolled out. But other than that, the rest of the houses, though well lit, seemed to be quiet for the night.

As the two men jogged up the few steps to the door, a dog began barking somewhere in the distance, and Woodward almost leapt out of his skin.

Hiding a grin, Will asked, “Would you like to go back to the cab before it leaves?”

Woodward made a rude gesture, and Will only laughed harder.

“We just had a serious conversation about a man who has kidnapped one woman, stabbed two, and has allegedly abducted a man with enough money to buy and sell both of us. Forgive me if I am feeling a little jumpy at the moment.”

“You’re safe with me,” Will told him firmly, and he hoped like hell he was right.

Then, raising his hand to the lion’s-head knocker, he gave one rap but was unable to knock more because the door swung slowly open with the force of his movement.

Woodward gave Will a sardonic look. “Safe, huh?”