Page 63 of Daring the Forbidden Earl
“There is a Mrs. Waters requesting an audience with you, My Lord,” Chalke announced. “I have tried to inform her that now is an atrocious time, but she will not be told. She has said that she will wait as long as she has to, until you will see her.”
Mark frowned. “Mrs. Waters? I do not know such a woman.” He sighed. “Might you ask her what she wants from me?”
“I have already done so, My Lord. She replied that it pertains to a Lady Clevedon, though I am unfamiliar with the name.” Chalke raised his eyebrows slightly, as if to say, “But perhaps you know of such a lady?”
Mark shot up out of his armchair and was halfway to the door before Chalke could say another word. He pushed right past the manservant and out into the entrance hall, where he found a short, gray-haired older woman standing awkwardly in the center. He did not recognize her, but that did not matter, for if she had news of Johanna, then she was entirely welcome.
“Mrs. Waters.” Mark dipped his head. “I hear you have news for me?”
The woman nodded stiffly. “Is Lady Keswick here?”
“She is.” Mark took the older woman gently by the arm, and led her into the drawing room, past a dumbstruck Chalke. As soon as she stepped into the room, Nora let out a gasp.
“My admirer!”
Mrs. Waters’ expression relaxed. “Oh, thank goodness. I heard you’d been hurt, and I was beside myself with worry.”
“I am tougher than I appear, Mrs. Waters. You ought to know that better than most.” Nora flashed a conspiratorial wink that Mark did not understand. Nor did he care, he just wanted to hear what the older woman had to say about Johanna.
Mrs. Waters chuckled anxiously, her gaze flitting between Nora, Kenneth, and Mark. “I’m sorry to intrude like this, but I… couldn’t help overhearing the… unpleasantness that you endured at my Master’s apartments. I shouldn’t have been listening, but the walls are very thin.” Her cheeks flushed with an embarrassed shade of pink. “However, I knew I couldn’t sit idly by, when there is something my Master didn’t tell you. I liked Lady Clevedon, and I was appalled to hear that she’d been taken.”
“What did he fail to say?” Mark pressed, eager to skirt past the rest of the conversation.
Mrs. Waters fidgeted. “Well… there’s another man with the initials ‘HS,’ that my Master knows very well indeed. And that man was in the apartments at the same time as Lady Clevedon and Lady Keswick. Indeed, I saw him listening by the drawing room door, and when he saw me, he hurried away like a rat with its tail on fire. So, he couldn’t have left the apartments more than a few minutes before Lady Keswick and Lady Clevedon.”
“Who is this fellow?” Mark urged, feeling as though his eyes were about to bulge out of his head.
Mrs. Waters adjusted the collar of her chemisette. “His name is Hugh Snow… but most people know him better as, The Mastiff.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Johanna’s heart thundered in her chest as her captor set a lantern on top of a nearby stack of crates and came closer. She might not have recognized him in the general sense, but she knew him to be the man who had attacked her and Nora. Thanks to Lizzie’s somewhat vague replies, she at least had an understanding of why he had taken her.
It is to punish Mark… but that is the part I do not understand. What complaint does this fellow have against my beloved?
“You did well, Darling.” The man swept Lizzie into his arms and kissed her unashamedly on the lips. She reciprocated in kind, melting into his embrace as Johanna had done with Mark what felt like a lifetime ago.
He does not speak the way she does.
Indeed, his accent seemed to be a peculiar blend of a commoner and a member of the peerage, as though it could not decide where it ought to be situated. Johanna was accustomed to such accents, for her father’s had been the same.
“Ye’ll not hurt her, will ye?” Lizzie broke their kiss and peered adoringly up into his eyes, for he was almost twice her height.
The man smiled. “I promised you I wouldn’t, so I won’t. As long as Lord Sinclair obeys my instructions, everyone will be unharmed, and we will be able to start our life afresh.”
“Do ye think ye can take that gag out of her mouth? I don’t like to see it on her.” Lizzie gestured to Johanna.
The man’s smile faded slightly. “I suppose I can do that, for you, but only on one condition.” He looked straight at Johanna. “You’re not to say a word, Mrs. Carlton, or try to scream, or anything like that—nod if you understand.”
Johanna nodded.
With a weary sigh, the huge beast of a man approached Johanna, and all but snatched the tied fabric and the ball of material out of her mouth. She flinched at his aggression, fearing there might be more of it, but he simply discarded the fabric and stared down at her.
“I suppose you’re wondering why you’re here?” he said, stating the obvious.
Johanna scowled up at him. “You were the one knocking on my door, were you not?”
“I’ve got to say, I thought you might actually catch me the night you decided to give chase.” He chuckled coldly. “But I’ve got a fairly long stride, and those children held you up, which was kind of them. Tell me, did you pay them in the end?”
