Page 83 of A Secret Consequence for the Viscount
‘Get in,’ the man inside said as the door opened and her heart hit the bottom of her stomach in a horrible jolt of surprise. She pushed Lucy behind her, fearing that the gun Nash Bowles held in his hand was about to go off.
‘I will shoot twice if you do not get in, Lady Eleanor, for I have absolutely nothing left to lose. I will allow you only the one warning.’
* * *
The new address of Nash Bowles proved more elusive to find than they hoped it would be.
‘I know he left town for a while a few months back for he got in trouble with a gambling debt and went into hiding somewhere in the English countryside. But when he returned, I thought we had some sort of an address for him.’ Frederick was now crouched at a cupboard full of paper and rifling through it.
‘Keep looking. It must be here somewhere.’ Jacob emptied another drawer on the desk and was sorting through the sheets of information carefully when a messenger arrived.
Frederick took it from the man it had been sent with and handed it over.
‘It’s for you, Nick.’
The missive was sealed by dark scented wax and tied with two strands of equally dark ribbon. Not recognising the handwriting, Nicholas tore it open and read the message inside.
If you want to see your lover and her daughter again, meet me on the north-west corner of Hampstead Heath before the hour is up. Come alone.
Fury consumed him, the red-hot waves of hatred that ran through him making his whole body shake.
‘He has Eleanor and Lucy. He’s taken her to Hampstead Heath.’
‘Who has her?’ Oliver asked this.
‘Bowles. The note’s from him.’ Nick handed it across to Jacob, who swore roundly, and he could barely breathe as he strode to the door, leaving the note there in the unbelieving hands of his friends.
‘Wait, Nick, we will come, too.’
But the violence and savagery had taken over completely now and he was a man who only wanted his guns in hand and a horse beneath him, the red-hot waves of intensity fuelling the savage need for vengeance.
He hailed a passing cabriole and made for the Heath, leaving the others there in his wake to do as they wished.
He would kill Nash Bowles if the man had even touched one hair on either Eleanor’s or Lucy’s head. If he had done more, it would be a slow death and no clemency in it. He did not have a moment to waste.
If Bowles used his little knife on an inch of her skin... He pushed that thought aside and concentrated instead on calming himself for what he needed to do to deal with one such as Bowles.
* * *
She knew Nicholas would come as soon as she sat in the carriage that was now parked on the edge of Hampstead Heath. Bowles had exited the conveyance a few moments ago, striding into the undergrowth behind them and telling her to stay absolutely still and quiet.
Lucy was finally speaking again and for that one small normality Eleanor was eternally grateful. Her daughter had spent the entire trip from Hyde Park to Hampstead Heath cowering behind her skirts and crying, her shaking body the one moving point in an otherwise still carriage.
Nash Bowles was demented, she was sure of it, his eyes unfocused and wide. He hadn’t spoken much, but he had written a note and given it to a messenger as they had pulled over at the side of the road in the city. A ransom demand, perhaps? When Nicholas received it he would be furious and he would come for them.
‘Your papa will be here soon, my darling, to take us home.’
That information made her daughter stop sniffling as nothing else would.
‘My papa is coming...?’ Light shone from eyes that looked exactly the colour of Nicholas’s.
‘He is, sweetheart. He will be collecting his things and coming to get us.’
‘Things?’
‘His present for you.’ She felt in the pocket of her skirt for the small outline of the box from Rundells. She had not wanted to give Lucy the necklace after what had happened, but now she used it as a carrot on the end of a long and difficult stick.
‘Wait until you see it, for I know you will love it, darling. Let us think of all the lovely things it could possibly be.’
