Page 112 of Love in a Mist
“As would his payments to Jean-François,” Nicolette added.
“But what reason did D’Aubert have?” Aldric could not piece together that man’s role in any of it.
“We haven’t sorted that out,” Henri said.
“Pierre’s plot aided his.” Céleste spoke quietly from within his arms. He felt her next breath shudder from her. “Jean-François’s extortion of M. D’Aubert would be eliminated if ...Iwas eliminated. That was all he cared about. Pierre’s plan was always to have me killed in order to lure Henri to the rescue and torture Aldric.”
“Torture me?”
“You weren’t supposed to find me in time,” she whispered.
Blast those men to purgatory. He almosthadn’t. Another few minutes, and he would have been too late.
He would have lost her forever.
Aldric hardly slept. Visions of Pierre Léandre aiming a pistol at Céleste had haunted him throughout the night. He was supposed to have arrived too late. That had been Pierre’s plan from the beginning. What Aldric would have seen at the Anvil and Raven if they’d not reached her in time ...
“I suspected I would find you somewhere in this house torturing yourself.” Of all the voices he might have heard in Eu Plate in the midmorning, Digby’s was not one he would have guessed.
“When did—? Why are—?”
“I have left you speechless, I see.” Digby sauntered into the sitting room where Aldric had been furiously pacing the past hour or more. “That is, I assure you,alwaysthe goal.”
From behind him, Lucas stepped into the room as well. Aldric breathed a sigh of relief; Julia and Lucas had made it safely out of France.
“I thought your goal, Digby, was ‘cutting a dash,’” Lucas said.
“One and the same, my friend.”
Henri entered next, trailed by Niles. He and Penelope had arrived too, apparently.
“We’ll have to thank the Beaumonts for hosting this impromptu Gents’ gathering,” Aldric said, disguising behind a gruff tone the surge of emotion he felt at having them there.
Kes stepped inside next, saying, “We already have, General.”
They were there, every Gent. Except Stanley.
“How are you all here?” Aldric asked. “I only sent word to Niles, and there wouldn’t have been time to get word to the north of England, let alone for Digby and Kes to reach here afterward.”
“They were at Lampton Park,” Lucas said.
“Why were you at the Park?” Aldric turned to Digby and Kes, who had crossed to where he stood.
“Attempting to secure the title of Best Honorary Uncle,” Digby said with a casual shrug. “The competition was stiff, but I am confident I have emerged victorious.”
Aldric turned his gaze to Kes, knowing he was far more likely to get a more direct answer from Grumpy Uncle than they ever did from the King.
“Violet and I heard rumblings of trouble in France and knew Lucas’s mother would be worried,” Kes said. “We made directly for Nottinghamshire to be with her.” He motioned to Digby. “His Majesty, here, was worried about the boys.”
“Imagine our shock when we both arrived at Lampton Park on the same day,” Digby said with a laughing smile.
“And imagineourshock,” Niles said, “when Penelope and I paused at Lampton Park on our way here to see if word had arrived of Julia and Lucas’s situation, only to find the Jester, the King, and Grumpy Uncle all there. Once we told them of your note to us, there was no question that the whole group would rush to Derbyshire.”
Aldric spun to face Lucas. “You should be at home with your boys, with your family. Being pulled away from them because I didn’t—” He pushed out a tense breath. “You should be with your family. I won’t be the reason you aren’t.”
Lucas’s expression grew solemn as he closed the distance between them, moving to stand directly in front of him. “Your quick thinking is the reason Julia and I were able to get safely out of France. You are the reason we can be with our boys.”
Aldric shook his head. “You should be with them now.”
