Page 58 of The Blind Duke's Ward

Another shock. Nathan stopped himself from gaping and instead smiled.

“Her father wished me to find her a husband. I can see that no man I could have introduced her to would be your equal. A hero in war and in peace.”

“Just a man, Your Grace. Not a hero. I just did what needed doing. And now I mean to get Emily away from those bastards who think they can lock up innocent women,” Harper replied with venom.

“I didn’t want to bring this back to your door, Nathan. But when Harper told me that Emily was a prisoner, I knew I had no choice.”

Nathan silenced her with a finger to her lips, smiling fondly. “I am involved. I became involved the moment my ward was abducted from the road. I presume that is how it happened, Mr. Harper?”

“Near as I can tell. Taken because they were watching your castle. And held when they realized who they had.”

“And when they realized that I was protecting their target,” Nathan said, his voice as hard as Harper’s, carrying with it the doom of judgment on the Stamford brothers.

“Well, your sweetheart is free, but mine is still a prisoner. What are we to do about it?” Harper began. “Do you have weapons in this house? Swords, rifles?”

“Do you intend to storm Dunkeswick’s house, Mr. Harper? Like you did the walls of Badajoz?”

He did not intend to mock the other man and regretted his tone. Harper moved closer and his voice rasped with anger.

“If need be. I will not sit by while my love is a prisoner. I will not wait on the pleasure of those two.”

“You will wait. And so will we all. I have set in motion events that will bring the two of them to us. They took Emily in order to apply pressure to me. When Gemma vanished, I realized that there was a chance they would take her and then Emily’s life would be forfeit. Thanks to you, that will not happen. They will come to us to negotiate.”

“But for what?” Gemma asked. “For me?”

Nathan shook his head. “For your inheritance. I have not been idle. One of my appointments today was with my solicitor. He knew of the Kirkby estate and the name of the solicitor here in York that was dealing with your father’s estate. The management of the trust was through that solicitor, but it seems that the man had some concerns about the circumstances around your father’s death.”

“Elliot as good as admitted that he and his brother murdered him.”

“They also murdered the solicitor who was managing your estates for you. And who had begun to investigate the circumstances of your father’s death. He drowned in the Ouse. Dunkeswick approached the firm of Mason and Company, a firm that also works for my family. He wanted them to handle the unlocking of the full trust, which he had only been able to draw on in small quantities. The terms allowed him to draw enough that you would be cared for. He wanted more and had implied to Mr. Mason that you were…mentally incompetent.”

He felt Gemma draw away and then heard the anger in her voice.

“He was trying to pretend I was…not sane?” she said with disbelief.

“And had persuaded my good friend Walter Carlisle of that fact. It seems he is a man who makes plans within plans. The fact that your father’s death was being investigated must have given him pause. He was planning to have you legally declared insane so that the trust could be opened in full to him, as the next rightful heir to the Kirkby estate. Fortunately, I had already taken Mr. Mason into my confidence and so he felt bound to relay the request to me.”

He felt Gemma waver, leaning against him, and he guided her to the chair from which he had risen.

“Those bastards need killing,” Harper snarled.

“They need justice,” Nathan said sternly. “If they are killed in cold blood, whoever does the deed will find themselves hanging for it. They are regarded as respectable men, remember. And you are a commoner who was promoted in the field. Not – in the eyes of the fools who govern this country – a gentleman at all.”

“Not a proper one, at any rate.”

“I do not share that view.” Nathan placed a comforting hand on Gemma’s shoulder and felt her hand stroking his. “I would have your word that you will do nothing precipitate. I would not see Emily deprived of the man she loves because he cannot control his temper.”

“I’ll hold my temper, Your Grace. For Emily’s sake, I will,” Harper said in a tone that seethed with controlled rage.

Nathan felt the same emotion in his chest. It burned him and, had he his sight, he would have been sorely tempted to challenge Dunkeswick and his brother to a duel. And would have impaled both of them on his sword. Singly or both together. Such desperate brigandage as they were attempting to commit was appalling to him. In Spain, a country under occupation by a brutal invader, perhaps. But, not in England. Where law was supposed to be sacred.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-SIX

Night fell. Nathan once again sat, his chair facing the window. He waited for the next move by his enemies. Waited with quiet confidence and the exhilaration of a general waiting to spring a trap on his adversary. He sat in the sitting room which adjoined his bedchamber in the Mickelgate house. Harper was downstairs, drinking coffee and pacing the drawing room like a caged lion. He approved of the plan that Nathan had outlined but could not settle himself to the wait.

Gemma was in her own rooms…No, she wasn’t. Nathan’s head lifted as the scent of her perfume reached him. The sound of the door had not, nor had he heard her footsteps on the bare wood of the floor.

“Are you trying to sneak up on me?” Nathan asked.