Page 15 of To Claim the Long-Lost Lover
They were home at Winshire House by mid-morning. Elias and his nanny disappeared up the stairs to the nursery. Sarah paused at the bottom of the steps to watch him eagerly leading the way.
“He has come a long way in the last six months,” Drew observed.
She turned to him with a smile. “He is naturally a sunny-natured fellow, I think, Drew. That helps.”
“You know,” Drew said, “marriage is for a very long time, cousin. If you cannot find Elias a father who also suits you, he does have a number of uncles who will be proud to love him and support him.”
Sarah swallowed a lump in her throat. “I appreciate that more than I can say.”
Drew gave her a quick one-armed hug and turned to the butler to change the subject. “Has my father returned, Grosvenor?”
“No, my lord, and we have no word to expect him today.”
Drew nodded. “Thank you.” He put one foot on the first stair and then turned back to Sarah. “I’m going to change and then eat. Will you join me for a second breakfast, cousin?”
“For a cup of tea, at least. Is my sister up, Grosvenor?”
“Lady Charlotte has not yet returned from the Ashbury Clinic, my lady, though we expect her shortly.” An infinitesimal relaxation in his stiff demeanour preceded an explanation that, for Grosvenor, was decidedly chatty. “The boy she had staying with her was kidnapped, escaped and was then injured. She has gone to fetch him. The, er, female persons she sent to us have been accommodated in the minor guest bedrooms.”
Sarah exchanged a questioning glance with Drew. Female persons? But the butler had taken a step closer to the front door. “Ah! That may be them, now!”
8
In the end, Aldridge had accepted his dismissal and gone home, while Nate and Lady Charlotte took a Winshire barouche, with plenty of room for a stretcher, to the clinic. Half-a-dozen horsemen escorted them, which suggested to Nate the danger to Lady Charlotte was not just in Aldridge’s imagination.
At the clinic, all was quiet, today not being a public clinic day. Nate introduced himself to the orderly who bustled out when the bell on the door jangled. “I am Dr Beauclair, a new volunteer here. I was on duty last night, with Dr Blythe, and I have returned to collect the patient we brought in, a boy called Tony. This lady is his employer.”
The orderly squinted at Lady Charlotte, then stammered, “I don’t know nuthin’ about that, sir. Dr Blythe is asleep, sir. I’ll just get the doctor on duty, shall I?”
He sidled off and returned a few minutes later with a doctor Nate had met on the day of his interview, and was therefore able to present to Lady Charlotte. Soon, they were being shown upstairs to the ward.
“I gave the boy some laudanum,” the man explained. “Pain, you know.”
Probably as well for, as gentle as Lady Charlotte’s men were, being moved while conscious would have been hard on the lad. Still, another dose so soon after the last would not have been Nate’s choice. He kept his opinions to himself and followed the stretcher out to the barouche.
It was a well-sprung carriage, and young Tony was deeply unconscious. The driver avoided deeply rutted streets and went slowly. Even so, the unavoidable bumps wrenched groans from the boy, and Nate was relieved when they finally turned into the courtyard of the Winshire mansion.
The front door opened while one of the men was handing Lady Charlotte from the barouche and Nate was untying the straps that secured the stretcher to the seats.
“Charlotte!” It was her. Sarah. She didn’t notice him standing there, gaping. He bent to his task again while she flew to her sister and demanded to know what was happening. “Grosvenor said there was a kidnapping!”
Perhaps I can slip away without being noticed, as she did from the dinner party at Lord and Lady Hamner’s. He was exhausted, ready to drop in his tracks. He needed to be alert and refreshed before he explained himself to her.
But he heard Lady Charlotte say his name, and turned to find Lady Sarah at the carriage’s steps, looking up at him. All the words he wanted to say to her melted away as she stood within reach at last, and only the steely glint in her eye and the certainty that the Winshire warriors would gut him prevented him from reaching out and filling his empty arms with the love he had never forgotten.
* * *
“A kidnapping, yes,” Charlotte answered Sarah. “Tony was taken from the garden, but he managed to escape. He was injured, though. We don’t know how. Lord Bentham found him and treated him at Ruth’s clinic.” She nodded towards the barouche, and Sarah turned to see Nate.
“He’s a doctor,” Charlotte muttered. “Trained in Edinburgh.”
Nate quirked one eyebrow. “Not quite. I was sent for before I graduated. Lady Sarah, good morning. I’m skilled enough to keep this boy safe while we move him to the room you have prepared for him.” He gestured to the waiting footmen. “One on each pole, and when you’re ready to lift, wait for my word. We must be as smooth and steady as we can, so we don’t jolt him.”
Good morning? That is it?He waltzed back into her life after seven years and managed to fit a ‘good morning’ in between his remarks to her sister and his instructions for the care of his patient?
For a moment, Sarah had thought he was going to embrace her. Not that she would have welcomed it. Of course not. She couldn’t possibly forgive what he had done to her—to her and to Elias. Even if her body yearned for his.
Ridiculous. Of course, it does not.He was not the boy Sarah remembered in any way. Taller, broader, more confident and powerful, the easy charm modulated into a stern, commanding air.What has happened to him? Where has he been?
