He raced to the Farthingale home and tore up the stairs as soon as Pruitt opened the door to let him in. “My lord! You can’t just—”
“Not now, Pruitt. Lily’s in trouble,” he shouted, already at the third floor landing. He entered the boys’ quarters and shook Charles awake first, trying not to alarm him but desperate to make up the lost time. “Son,” he said in his gentlest voice, “did you recognize the face you saw in the window this evening?”
The boy’s eyes drifted closed again. “Charles, wake up. It’s important.”
He heard a sniffle behind him. He turned and saw Dillie standing in the doorway, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Meggie said you were looking for Lily. I know something’s wrong. I feel it in my heart.” She knelt beside him. “Let me try.” She turned her attention to Charles. “Who did you see, sweetheart? Come on. Wake up.”
“The baboon man,” the boy mumbled, falling back asleep.
Ewan stared at Dillie. “Who the hell is that?”
“He can’t mean Ashton. It makes no sense. He and Lily have been friends forever. He relies on Lily to write his papers.”
“Ashton. Are you sure?”
Dillie began to sob. Soft, gut-wrenching cries that broke his heart. “Yes... no... I don’t know. Ewan, please. Find her.”
CHAPTER 15
LILY AWOKE FEELING cold and ill. That nauseating scent still filled her nostrils and her head wouldn’t stop spinning. She tried to orient herself, but couldn’t. All was pitch black. She tried to move her hands. With senses dulled, it took her a moment to realize they were tied behind her back. Fortunately, her legs were unbound. Her abductors hadn’t bothered to tie them, most likely figuring she couldn’t get far in her fancy, silk evening slippers.
She tried to move her legs. They were painfully stiff and too weak to support her at the moment, but she knew they’d strengthen as the effects of the drug wore off.
What’s happening? Where am I?
Her last memory was of encountering Ashton in the garden. Where was he now? Had he managed to escape? Or was he held captive along with her? She refused to consider that he might have been killed by her abductors. Why had she used the plural? Yes, there had been more than one man. She vaguely recalled being caught from behind by one of those fiends and then handed over to another. She couldn’t remember anything beyond that detail.
“Ashton,” she called out softly.
No answer.
She feared to raise her voice above a whisper, for her captors might hear and know she had revived. Her chances of escaping would then decrease dramatically. But what of Ashton? She couldn’t leave without him, assuming he’d been taken as well. She had to find out if he was held captive, needed time to formulate a plan to save both of them.
First, she had to figure out where she was. It seemed an impossible task at the moment, for her eyes had yet to adjust to the darkness. She guessed that she was alone in some sort of storage room. But was she in a house? A shop? A prison? She didn’t know what this place was.
She could hear footsteps and muffled voices on the opposite side of the door, but no sound other than her own breathing in this room. If Ashton was here, they were holding him in another part of this structure.
She heard a dog bark in the distance and thought of Jasper, but the yelp was too high-pitched and sharp. Jasper’s howl was longer and deeper. She missed that clumsy dog. She shook out of the thought and concentrated on more important matters. Did anyone realize she was missing? Ewan would eventually. He’d alert her family. Ewan and every Farthingale in London might be on her trail by now, but they wouldn’t know where to search. There were dozens of roads out of Mayfair and they all branched out into dozens more. It was a geometrical improbability. There weren’t enough Farthingales in London to cover every road leading out, assuming she’d even been taken out of London.
She thought of her parents. They’d be worried, desperate to find her. She knew they were feeling helpless just now, unable to do anything but pray for her safe return. Tears welled in her eyes. She ought to have been a better daughter, attended more of those society functions that her mother thought were so important.
“I’ll make it home safe,” she muttered to herself. She’d use her wits to stay alive until her loved ones found her. She could manage it. After all, these villains must have grabbed her for a purpose. Likely they were after ransom. Why else take her?
Ashton’s family had resources as well. Though not as wealthy as hers, they still had enough to make his abduction worthwhile. Perhaps they would be released together. A chill ran up her spine. She ought to be remembering something. She couldn’t quite place what was so important. It didn’t matter. It would come back to her as the fog lifted from her brain.