Page 8 of The Miracle of Love
“Is this why you are really here? To take me to them?” Her head began to spin, and she felt herself in danger of fainting, something she had never done in her life.
He reached over and took her hands in his. “Steady, Grace. It will be all right. I am here to make certain they do not take you.”
“Oh, thank goodness,” his mother whispered.
“But the best way to assure this does not happen is for us to find the crown and return it to its rightful owners. We have no more than one week to accomplish this task before their agents insist you be turned over to them. They have already arrived in London.”
Lady Miranda stared at him. “Dear heaven…what can I do to help? What can any of us in the family do?”
“Nothing for the moment. Just let me handle it.” He gave Grace’s hands a light squeeze. “I am not going to let them take you, whether or not we ever find the crown.”
She was suddenly glad this big man who moved with the stealth of a predator and seemed to have the soul of one, too, had declared himself to be her protector. What had her brother been thinking to steal a royal treasure?
“This is why I was assigned back to London,” he continued, his touch warm and reassuring. “More is at stake than merely finding the stolen crown or protecting you, Grace. This incident could start a war between our two countries. If it does, there is no way I will allow you to be caught in the middle. No one is sending you from England if I have any say in the matter.”
“But who will listen to you if their taking me might avert a war?”
He cast her that soft, lethally attractive grin of his. “It is more a question of whether I will listen to them.”
She gasped. “No, you are talking nonsense. It is treason to go against the orders of our own royal family and our Home Office. I will never allow you to do this. Think of what it would do to your own family. Is it not enough mine is in ruins?”
He gave her cheek a light caress. “Grace, calm down. We are getting ahead of ourselves, are we not? Let’s just concentrate on finding that crown. I’ll need your full cooperation.”
“Of course. You will have it. I will help in any way I can. But I promise you, I was not a part of any family schemes and would not even know where to begin hunting for this lost treasure.”
“Do you think you can talk sense into your brother? He needs to tell you where it is hidden before the foreign agents get their hands on you.”
She shook her head. “You think my brother cares what happens to me? He is my half-brother. We are born of different mothers. I assure you, he does not care a whit about anyone but himself. His only thought is for his survival. He will not even blink an eye if my father is hanged for this dirty business. No. If he is withholding this information, then he means for that precious crown to be his bargaining chip to gain his freedom.”
“Is that so?” His expression turned hard.
He released her hands and began to pace across the elegant carpet that covered most of the wood floor. The carpet itself was of oriental design, an intricate pattern in shades of deep red, gold, and blue. The velvet drapes matched the blue of the carpet. Combined with the dark, mahogany red of the massive pieces of furniture, the room was decidedly masculine.
So was he.
He continued topace.
This is why he reminded her of a jungle beast, the way he now quietly prowled back and forth, and that devastatingly sharp look in his eyes.
He paused a moment and turned to her. “He is mad if he believes he will escape retribution. The English government will not need to lift a finger against him. He will be done in by those foreign agents. However, by telling us where it is hidden, he can save you from abduction and England from possible war.”
“Save your breath. He will only listen if you can offer him freedom as well as protection against those foreign agents.” Grace wanted to fall back to sleep and pretend this was all a bad dream. But she knew it was merely a continuation of the living nightmare her father and brother had plunged them in when they turned to stealing precious artifacts. “Well, happy Christmas to me,” she said with gallows humor. “Mr. Quinton, you will get nothing from my brother. Our only hope is to permit me to see my father. We have to start there.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Do you think he knows anything?”
“I have no idea what to think anymore. But unlike my brother, I do not believe my father will lie to me. Nor do I believe he wishes to see his wife and children suffer. I know he was meant to be kept in isolation. But everything has changed now, hasn’t it? I may be the only person able to get the truth out of him, assuming he knows anything. Truly, I have no idea if it will lead anywhere helpful. But my father loves me. I am the one who stands the best chance of convincing him to spill any secrets he may be holding back.”
He nodded. “Let me clear this with the higher-ups in the Home Office.”
“Do you think they will continue to deny me access to my father? They have to let me see him. I am not going to stand by and do nothing to help myself or England. What he and my brother have done is bad enough. I cannot allow their stupidity to start a war. As for myself, if I am to be abducted, then what choice do I have but to do all in my power to prevent it? We must start by questioning my father. Is there a reason we cannot go to him right now?”
“In the middle of the night?” He shook his head to express his dismissal of her suggestion. “We’ll head to the Home Office first thing in the morning. All right?”
“No, it is not all right. But do I have a choice?”
He took her by the shoulders and gently turned her to face him. “I know waiting is hard, but we’ll just get angry refusals if we start waking people now. However, I appreciate your willingness to cooperate. I think I am going to like being assigned to you, Grace.”
She was already liking him more than was safe.
