Page 74 of Romancing the Scot
Mrs. Douglas’s involvement was difficult to understand. From all accounts, the woman lacked for nothing. As the recent widow of a highly placed minister, she traveled in the elite echelons of government leaders and the haute ton. She had a comfortable fortune that allowed her to live as she pleased. Perhaps when it came to greed, Grace thought, she had indeed led a sheltered life.
Or maybe this attack was not about wealth, at all.
Fears and speculations about her father were also nagging at her. She’d always been a dutiful daughter, believing that Daniel Ware was an honorable and self-sacrificing man, incapable of wrongdoing. But there was so much about this jewel that bothered her.
“I don’t know what to think anymore.” The words were spoken aloud and drew Hugh from his reveries.
“About my father,” Grace continued. “I cannot resolve in my mind if this diamond was intended as a gift to Queen Julie from her husband, or if it was meant to fund the emperor’s followers. And did my father know the danger surrounding it?”
“Thinking of him not as a military commander, but as a loving father, I cannot imagine him knowingly exposing you to dangers he couldn’t protect you from. I prefer to believe he was as ignorant as you were of the diamond we found sewn into your dress.”
“I want to believe that,” she agreed. “To be sure, Daniel Ware was no expert in women’s fashions. I know for sure that in all his years as an only parent, not once did he speak to a dressmaker. No. If he wanted to hide a jewel he was charged with delivering, there were a dozen other ways he would have considered. He wore a money belt; why not keep it there? Or the small chest we traveled with? It had a false bottom for documents and would easily have held the diamond. It may even have fit in the hollowed-out head of his cane. I believe you have hit on the answer. He simply couldn’t have known.”
He took her cold hand in his and brought it to his lips. She was so grateful he understood that, regardless of her own doubts, she was still her father’s daughter. And distrusting him wounded her. She would not believe, now that he was gone, that his love was all a lie. Her father wouldn’t knowingly put her in danger. But the question of who secreted the diamond in her dress remained unanswered.
Grace’s mind returned to Mrs. Douglas and her hasty departure from the Borders.
“But how did Mrs. Douglas know we were carrying the diamond? I’m certain she didn’t travel from America on the same ship, and she wasn’t in Philadelphia while we were there, to my knowledge.” But the woman did know about the jewel, and it angered Grace to think how close she’d come to being ensnared in her net.
“I find it hard to believe she was working alone. She may have had correspondents in America. But as far as her motive for any of this . . .” He shook his head. “The more I think about it, the more inconceivable it becomes that she would expose herself to ruin the way she has simply to steal a diamond.”
Light from the rising moon filtered through the trees and passed over his face. He was again immersed in his thoughts.
When Hugh joined them at the inn, he’d told her and Truscott that he’d issued orders by express to the constables and the military commanders at Newcastle, Carlisle, and York to take Mrs. Douglas into custody when she traveled through going south. Truscott had predicted that, as lord justice, he would see to it that she was pursued all the way to London. He’d also hinted that Hugh considered the attack on Grace to be a personal attack on himself, and “God help the woman when he finds her.”
Grace’s mind returned to his proposal. Even now, she wondered if, at some forgotten moment in her history, she’d done something exceptionally good for someone. Or if, without knowing it, she’d been blessed by some kind person who’d wished her well in life. It had to be the latter, she thought, for she certainly didn’t deserve this happiness. To fall in love with this magnificent man and have him reciprocate her affection and even ask for her hand in marriage . . . ? It was too much. Her heart yearned for him, and yet ached at the same time.
She could lose him. Hugh’s request might be denied, and Grace would not ruin his life for the sake of her own happiness. But for today and tomorrow and for every day until an answer from his Prince Regent arrived, she would allow herself to bask in the glow of happy thoughts of a future.
Grace stole another glance at Hugh. The tension in his face and his shoulders had not eased. A pang of guilt stabbed at her. Here she was, daydreaming about a life that she might never have while he fretted over her present circumstances.
“Mrs. Douglas has a day’s head start. Do you think they’ll find her?”
“Not between here and London,” he said, turning his attention to her. “She lied to Nithsdale about her destination to throw off any pursuers. But I couldn’t take the chance. If Mrs. Douglas’s involvement ties her to Antwerp or America, she won’t stay in England. Regardless of her connections, she was frightened enough to run. I would wager she fled toward either Edinburgh or Glasgow yesterday.”
“Where she can board a ship,” Grace concluded. Of course, this made sense. At least two men were in shackles who would gladly testify against the woman’s manservant. If her man in turn informed on Mrs. Douglas, she’d have nowhere to hide in England or Scotland, in spite of her wealth and position.
“Before we left, I also sent orders to the Master of Police in Glasgow, and to the Chief Constable in Edinburgh to have their men watch for her and to check every outgoing ship’s passenger list,” he explained. “But again, she’s too smart to travel under her own name.”
And it would be easy to disappear once she set sail. Grace’s family had mastered the art decades ago. There were many who gladly offered shelter to anyone at odds with England.
“What will happen if she does get away?” she asked.
Moonlight shone full on his face when he looked at her, and she could read the concern there.
“Whether she’s captured or not, I don’t believe you are out of danger. Others must be involved. We’re not done with this.”
“But Iwishto be done with it,” she said, speaking from her heart. “I know nothing of this diamond or its value. I want to be rid of it.”
His arm slipped around her, and he drew her closer to his side. “I am sorry. I wish I could make it go away.”
An old thought lingered at the edge of her mind. “I’d like to send a letter to Queen Julie.”
“Let’s not begin that again,” he said pleadingly. “I am not letting you go to Brussels.”
She leaned her head against his shoulder, knowing that after the words they’d spoken today, after his proposal, she couldn’t go. That is, she wouldn’t go unless she was forced to.
“I need only to send a letter and explain what happened in Antwerp and tell her that I’m here. I’ll make no mention of the diamond,” she told him. “This way, if the jewel was intended to go to the queen—if my father was indeed doing a favor for Joseph—then she’ll tell me.”
