Page 22 of Secrets of a Duke's Heart
He dug his heels into the horse’s flanks and decided he would worry about that later.
CHAPTERTEN
“Gone?”
Clarissa had spent most of the night tossing and turning, thinking about all the things she wanted to say to Jude. Revising them, then discarding them altogether, only to decide a few minutes later that she absolutely must speak her mind, then change it again when courage failed her.
Thus, she awoke late and chose the coward’s option to take a breakfast tray in her room instead of going down for a communal meal. By the time she had summoned the fortitude to make an appearance, Mr. Montague had already left.
Her stomach sank. Now she was going to have to stew in this emotional cauldron until his return.
“A messenger arrived early with news of his niece. He left right away,” said Mrs. Gosling, Nathaniel’s housekeeper. In her white cap and apron, she bore an uncanny resemblance to the white geese that guarded Cavalier Cove.
“I pray they have found the poor girl,” she muttered, her mind spinning. “Mrs. Gosling, may I ask you something?” The older woman looked at her expectantly. “Is my cousin engaged in the trade? You know. Smuggling.”
The tiniest flare of surprise in the housekeeper’s eyes sent an electric current up her spine. But the woman demurred.
“I wouldn’t know anything about that,” she said. “Whatever talk you’ve heard about his visits to London is just that. Talk. Nothing more. The local gossips have little excitement to speculate about, I’m afraid.”
“I see. If one did wish to find out more about the smuggling trade in Cavalier Cove, where would I start?”
“The Cock and Bull would be a fine place to start asking, if one was so inclined. But don’t expect anyone to give a straight answer to an outsider.”
“Right back to where we began,” sighed Clarissa at the woman’s retreating back. At that moment, Mr. Montague burst in with a furious young woman she didn’t recognize.
“I told you he is innocent!” she shouted.
“How can you say that, Harriet? That rogue stole you! He kidnapped you in broad daylight. Tossed you over his shoulder and took you like a prize pig.”
“A charming description, Uncle Monty.” The girl’s hair was blond and disheveled, her dress askew and freckles dotted her reddened cheeks. Her hazel eyes snapped with fury.
“Are you saying you coordinated this?” Jude’s hair looked like he’d been pulling it by the roots for hours. It stood in a tangled halo around his head. Gray smudges lurked beneath his haunted eyes. Clarissa’s heart twinged with pity. Wrecked and haunted, he speared her with a furious glare before continuing to press his niece. “If you didn’t want to marry Lord Lucarran, you hadweeksto speak up! When we left Acton Heath you were sure this was the right course. Now what am I supposed to tell him?”
She had never heard him sound so angry. The name Acton Heath sounded familiar but she couldn’t quite place it, and it was hardly relevant right now.
“I didn’t know there was another option open to me until I met Rémy,” Harriet exclaimed. “Where is he?”
“Prescott and the Riders are taking him to the wine cellar. There’s an unused cage they can use as a cell.”
“Which way is it?” Harriet cast about.
“I can show you, Miss Turner, if your uncle agrees.” An awkward silence descended over them.
“I do not,” he said stiffly.
“I had gathered. Perhaps both of you ought to freshen up and have something to eat before you continue this conversation?” She pressed her palm to her chest and said, “I am Clarissa Penfirth. You must be Mr. Montague’s niece.”
“It’s lor?—”
“Enough,” Montague cut her off with a sharp look. Harriet glared. He tugged her close, firmly but not roughly, and whispered in her ear. She nodded once, her expression turning pensive.
“Yes, I am Harriet Turner,” she mumbled.
Peculiar. Not only was Jude concealing something, his niece was apparently in on the secret. Were they engaged in the trade, too? That would explain so much.
“Miss Penfirth, if I may be so bold as to request your aid as a woman to ensure my niece is unharmed, I would be grateful for your assistance. I have a smuggler to interrogate and an urgent message to post,” said Jude. He strode away without waiting for her confirmation.
Goodness, he could be abrupt and arrogant.
