Son of a Duke (30 page)

And she dissolved.
 
She collapsed right there, and Nathan sprinted to catch her, knowing in his gut that he was going to kill his little brother even as confusion as to what had happened still lingered.
 
He scooped her up and carried her into the library.

"Send for tea, Richard," Jane said behind him.
 

Richard grumbled, "She is going to need something a bit stronger than tea, I think."
 

Nora sat on the sofa, cradling Sarah's head in her lap, stroking her messy hair away from her face.
 
Sarah had stopped sobbing, the tears now sliding soundlessly down her cheeks and into her hair.
 
Nora kept silent.
 
Nathan kept silent.
 
Samuel kept silent.
 

And Richard poured Sarah a tumbler of whiskey while Jane fussed with a teacart from where, Nathan could not say.
 

He stood behind the sofa with Samuel under his arm feeling as uncomfortable as a nun in Madame Hort's House of Leisure.
       

He was definitely going to kill Alec.
 

And he was going to enjoy it.
 

"He just left," Sarah mumbled now, the words soft and without context, confusing.

"He left?
 
Did he leave willingly?" Nora asked
 
just as quietly.

Sarah shook her head in her lap.

"He left me.
 
And I cannot find him," she said before her eyes closed and her breathing evened out.

Finally, Sarah slept.
 

~

Nora eased out from under her head, replacing her lap with pillows.
 
Jane covered her with a quilt, and they left the library, the tea growing cold on the cart and the whiskey untouched in its glass.
 

"Where the bloody hell did he go, and why would he go there, the bastard!" Richard roared as soon they reached the morning room.
 

Nora sat heavily on one of the chairs, which brought Nathan quickly up behind her, clearly worried.
 
His hand was tense on her shoulder.
 
She smoothed it with one of her own.
 

"Nathan's the bastard, dear," Jane said, also taking a seat.
 

A maid scampered in setting dishes on the sideboard.
 
Nora smiled in reflex.
 
The maid shyly smiled back and scampered out faster than she had scampered in.
 
Nora wondered for a moment how she really felt, sitting there as maids bustled about her.

"She was afraid he was going to leave," Nora said into the sudden silence, "and he did."

"But where would he go?" Jane asked.
 

Samuel, who was once again under Nathan's arm as if he had become permanently fixed there, said "Maybe he went to Dover."
 

"Why would he go to Dover?" Richard asked.
 

"Because they told him to," Samuel replied.
 

Nathan nodded, his grip on Nora's shoulder tightening so that she almost winced.
 
"Wally's been placed as the barkeep at The Four of Clubs.
 
He told me to go to Dover."
 

Richard frowned.
 
Deeply.
 
"What's in Dover besides half the War Office?"
 

Nathan shrugged.
 

Nora pried his hand loose and wove her fingers through his, her shoulder throbbing with relief.

"And why would someone who is shooting at Nora and kidnapping her son be telling us to go to Dover?" Jane asked.
 

"Are they all connected?" Nathan countered.

"I think so," Richard said.
 

A different maid came in carrying more dishes to the sideboard, and Nora smiled again.
 
This maid blanched and almost dropped the dishes before running out.
 

Nora turned back to the conversation.
 
"But how are they connected?"
 

Nathan sat down, bringing a startled Samuel onto his lap.
 
Nora watched Samuel's face register shock and squelch panic.
 
And then he started to settle into Nathan's lap, and Nora wanted to smile.
 

"Let's start at the beginning," Nathan said.
 
"I shoot the wrong man."
 

Richard shook his head, "It started before that.
 
It started with the conversation Nora overheard."
 

Nora felt the bile rise in her throat as she stared at her son.
 
"It may have started before that."
 

Everyone looked at her, and Nathan's fingers clenched in her grip.
 

"What haven't you told us?"
 
Richard's voice had gotten smoother, fatally smoother.
 

Nora swallowed.
 
She could do this.
 
She looked at her son.
 
She had to do this.
 

Nora looked at Nathan and said, "The Duke of Chesterfield."

~

Nathan had been shot once.
 
It had hurt.
 
Tremendously.
 
But the white hot fire that was the pain of being shot was not anything he could compare to the feeling he got just then.
 

He was scorched in half by a blazing fire iron.
 

And only Nora's strong grip on his fingers kept the halves from falling to the floor.
   

"The Duke of Chesterfield?" Richard asked.
 

"The Duke of Chesterfield," Jane said, her mouth hanging slightly open.
 

Samuel burrowed deeper into Nathan, and Nathan pulled him closer.
 
Samuel's heart beat rapidly against Nathan's chest, and he felt the two burnt halves of himself meld back together.
 

Now he was ready to the kill the man who had raped the woman Nathan feared he was starting to love.
 

"You have reason for revenge," Nathan said.
 

Nora nodded.
 

"Reason enough to tattle.
 
To spy, even," Jane said.
 

Nora nodded.
 

Richard sat down.

"I think I am missing something," he said.

Nathan turned Samuel to look at him.
 

"Cover your ears," he said.
 

Samuel looked at him.

"Just do it," Nathan said.
 

Samuel responded almost immediately, his look of wonderment casting about the room.
 
Nathan nodded to Nora.

"Almost ten years ago, the Duke of Chesterfield raped me at Gregenden House," she said, and for the first time in almost ten years, saying it out loud left her feeling...nothing.

Richard looked at her.
 

"He thinks you're the snitch."
 

Nora nodded.
 
Nathan poked Samuel in the ribs, and Samuel lowered his hands.
 

"All's good now, son," he said and smiled.
 

Samuel returned his smile with an equally bright one, and Nora wondered if it was at Nathan's use of the word
son
.

"So out of revenge, you spy on Chesterfield and tell the War Office what you hear," Nathan said, "Chesterfield is at the ball and sees Archer's brother get shot.
 
He then takes a shot at you, hoping to get rid of you."
 

"But he misses," Jane picked up the story, "And has to steal your son?"
 

Richard jumped in, "He kidnaps Samuel because his plans have changed.
 
He missed Nora because Nathan got her out of the way.
 
So if he was waiting to shoot Nora till then, then he-"

"He heard us talking about shooting the wrong man," Nathan finished.
 

"Has to change his plans now because there are more players," Richard continued.
 
"And he wants all of those players in Dover.
 
So why?"
 

Nora stood up and went over to the sideboard.
 
The first time she tried to pick up a plate it rattled because of her shaking hands, so she had to set it back down to take a breath.
 
The second time she picked it up it was steady.
 
She put eggs and sausages on the plate and brought them back to the table.
 
She set it in front of her son, who obediently picked up his fork and poked at it.
 
He did not take any bites as he continued to listen to the story about him.
 

Nora sat back down.
 

"Why would the Duke of Chesterfield spy for the French?"
 

Every head in the room swung to the door.
 

Sarah stood calmly with her hands folded in front of her.
 
Her hair was clumped, half up and half down.
 
Her eyes were red, and she had not bothered to wipe her cheeks so her skin was stripes of shiny and pale skin where the tears had dried on her face.
 

Nora stood up and filled another plate, pushing Sarah into a chair before setting the plate in front of her.
 

"What do we know about Chesterfield?" Nora said, sitting back down.
 

"He actually is wealthy," Jane said getting up and filling two plates.
 
She returned setting one plate in front of Richard.
 

"While Archer spies for the money," Nathan said, starting to poke Samuel to get him to eat something.

"Gambling," Nora murmured, thinking of the well-known reason why Archer would need money.

Sarah took a bite and chewed.
 
Nora waited for her to swallow.
 
It came eventually.
 
Nora felt the sudden urge to brush Sarah's hair.
 

And then she forgot that.
 

And could not really think of anything else.
 

"She has red hair," she said.
 

"What?" Richard asked, spearing a kipper and looking up.
 

"She has red hair," she repeated louder, turning to Jane.
 

Jane's fork stopped mid-air.
 
"She does have red hair."
 

"Who has red hair?" Samuel asked, swallowing his eggs.
 

"The Duchess of Chesterfield," Sarah said, looking brighter than she had all morning.
 

"What do we know about the Duchess of Chesterfield?" Nora asked Jane.
 

Jane lowered her fork and thought.
 
"Almost nothing.
 
She is some Scottish girl.
 
I do not even recall her family name," Jane finished with a shake of her head.
 

"Jacobite Scottish?" Richard raised an eyebrow.
 

"Jacobite?
 
You think someone would still hold a grudge over that?" Sarah asked.
 

"Why not?" Nathan shrugged and stole a sausage off of Samuel's plate.
 

"How are we going to find out more about the Duchess of Chesterfield?"
 
Richard pushed his plate away.
 

"We cannot pay a social visit," Jane smirked, "She probably knows who I am now."
 

Richard nodded in agreement.
 

"We could follow her," Nora said.
 

"She's going to be at Temple Church today at noon," Samuel said into his eggs.
 

 
Nora and everyone else looked at the boy.
 

"What?" Samuel said when he finally looked up and saw everyone was looking at him.
 

"Temple Church?
 
On Fleet Street?" Richard asked.
 

Samuel answered, "By the river.
 
She's meeting someone there about a man named Franklin."
 

Nora went to ask how her son could possibly know this, but she was interrupted.

"Which one of us is going to be there as well?" Sarah asked reaching for the teapot on the table.

"I am," Nora and Nathan said together.
 

They looked at each other.
 

Nora thought she should feel like sticking her tongue out, but she felt oddly tingly instead.
 

"You will both go," Richard said, standing up.
 
"And I am going to figure out what the hell we are going to do after that."

Sarah picked up her head.
 
"What about Alec?"
 

Nora paused, half sitting, half standing.
 
Samuel was hanging onto Nathan's neck so he did not fall on the floor, as Nathan was about to stand up as well.
 
Jane sipped her tea.
 

"I'll find him," Richard said and stomped from the room.
 

~

Nathan tore his mouth from Nora's and moved to the opposite seat.
 

"No," he barked, when she went to move next to him or onto him as it appeared.
 
"We are on assignment, and if you keep doing what you're doing, I won't be able to pay attention to what I'm supposed to be paying attention to."

The hack dipped into a rut, and Nora bounced against his knees, frowning.
 

"All right," she said and looked out the window.
 

Nathan felt his stomach tighten at her casual manner.
 

"Well, maybe you can sit next to me," he heard himself say, "but no touching."
 

She jumped to the other seat, smiling.