Page 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Unlikely allies…

T he dinner hour came and went with no sign of Caleb. Marina couldn’t quite dispel the feeling that something terrible was in the offing. His absence was surely not cause for such concern. Regardless, there was an uneasiness about her—an impending sense of doom. Surely she would have heard something from him beyond that simple to the point of terse note he’d sent earlier in the day that had only been part of their ruse.

“I’m certain everything is fine.”

Marina looked over to see Willa eyeing her with concern. They were in the drawing room, Devil and her cousins having retreated to the billiard room. “Is my concern so obvious?”

“Well, you have decimated the book you’ve been reading.”

Marina looked down at the book in her hands. She’d been gripping it so tightly that it had begun to warp. “I suppose I am a bit anxious.”

“About the wedding or about the marriage?”

“About the fact that he has not come by today,” she admitted. “It wasn’t agreed upon, but it was… well, expected. I suppose that seems silly.”

Willa shook her head. “Not at all. I find it worrisome as well. Likely not to the degree that you do, however. I’m certain he’s simply making preparations for your journey after the ceremony. You will be departing immediately after, I take it?”

“I wish I could say,” Marina mused. “We’ve not discussed it beyond him telling me the name of the estate and about the village where it is located. It is strange that he has not come to call today. If he didn’t intend to call, surely he would have said.”

“Are you certain?”

“What does that mean?” Marina asked sharply.

Willa sighed. “I only say that you do not know him well. Are you certain you know—not his character, because he seems to be of good character—but character and personality are very different things. Knowing he’s a good man and knowing he’s the right man? Those two things are worlds apart, my dear.”

“He is the right man. I have no doubt about that. Perhaps I should,” Marina mused. “Despite our acquaintance being so short… I’ve never known anyone else who makes me feel the way he does.”

“And how is that?”

“As if I do not wish to be parted from him,” she admitted. “As if he could be across the room and still I would know when he’s looking at me without ever laying eyes on him. I could feel it. There’s an awareness between us. I suppose that sounds silly, doesn’t it?”

Willa sighed. “No, my dear. It sounds promising. Perhaps, at this stage, it’s still only infatuation or attraction, but that is an excellent place to start.”

Marina nodded. “I think I shall go up to bed. I’m certain everything is fine and this is naught but nerves.”

“Get some rest, darling girl. Tomorrow is another busy day as we prepare for your wedding—hurried though it is. Stephens will have your dress ready. If she must stop time itself, her will shall not be denied. She’s already stated that she intends to dress your hair.”

At that, Marina shuddered. That brute of a woman would attack her head, arranging her hair into a way that defied all the laws of science and nature. There was no denying, of course, that Stephens was an excellent hairdresser. Anything she lacked in congeniality was certainly made up for with that enviable skill. But her results were not worth the pain of their execution.

Exiting the drawing room, Marina headed upstairs to her room. Stepping inside, she reached for the bell pull to call her maid, but something stopped her. Some sixth sense prevailed, and she knew instantly that she was not alone.

“Who’s there?”

“I’m not here to harm you… I’m here to offer a warning, of sorts.” The gas light overhead flickered to life and the man was instantly recognizable to her.

“Mr. Danvers,” she acknowledged. “This is most irregular.”

“I fear it will become more irregular still… I’ve not been a very good friend to Caleb,” he admitted.

Friend. It was patently obvious to her that he could only be Caleb’s relative—whether sibling or cousin she could not say. “Have you betrayed him in some way?”

“I’ve betrayed you both, I’m afraid. I owed a substantial gambling debt, and the markers were purchased by Mr. Stanford Williams. And he, in league with myself and Lady Crowden, have plotted to prevent Caleb from marrying you. My primary objective was simply to try and dissuade him, to make him doubt you. And I did that to the best of my ability but failed to shake him from his course. My failure prompted them to act more aggressively and in ways I had not imagined. You must believe me, Miss Ashton, when I say I never thought he would be harmed in any of this… alas, I have seen the error of my ways.”

Her heart was in her throat. “Caleb is hurt?”

“He was knocked on the head and loaded into Lady Crowden’s hired carriage. I followed as far as Bloomsbury but lost them there. I did, however, manage to locate the driver and he is to meet me tonight at a pub where I will pay him for the address.”

“And that’s why you’re here. Because you can’t pay him,” she surmised.

“No. I cannot… I’ll not deny that I’ve helped myself to Caleb’s funds in the past, and he likely assumed that’s why I was there this morning. The truth was even more nefarious—I was spying on behalf of Williams,” he admitted. “I’ve made a terrible muddle of everything. But in this one instance, I’m at least trying to make it right.”

Her heart was pounding painfully in her chest. Far more so than it should have for a man she merely liked. “How badly was he hurt?”

Jacob shrugged. “I wish I could say. He was unconscious when two hired thugs loaded him into the vehicle. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess. I could see him but was too far away to intervene… Mr. Williams, for his part, has not spoken of any intent to harm either of you physically. It is to his benefit for the pair of you not to wed and for everyone to see you living in disgrace. But Lady Crowden is another matter. She has quite a grudge against him for his ‘rejection’ of her. I fear her intent is not to let him go.”

A shiver of fear raced through her. “No. No, she would not intend to let him go. But she will not risk Stanford becoming angry at her so nothing will happen to him until after the appointed time of our wedding. Which means we have less than twenty-four hours to save him.”

“We?”

Marina squared her shoulders and faced him directly. “Yes, Mr. Danvers. We. You can go out the way you came in. I’ll change into more appropriate attire for clandestine activities and meet you in the mews.”