Page 52 of With Good Grace
‘Try to keep busy, Jane,’ Olivia said as she picked up her gloves and stocking purse. ‘It will help to keep your mind off things.’
‘If you can be strong, madam,’ Jane said, blowing her nose and straightening her spine, ‘then so too can I.’
‘I shall be back soon. Reed knows where to find us if anything…’ Olivia’s voice caught in her throat. She swallowed down the lump that had formed there and took a moment to compose herself. ‘If any urgent messages arrive for me.’
Olivia reached the turn of the stairs and could see Jake pacing back and forth across the wide expanse of the vestibule as he waited for her, his heels sounding a loud rat-a-tat on the chequered marble flooring. He had not seen her yet and so she paused to scrutinise him. His expression was sombre, a frown etched deep into his forehead, and she would give much to know what thoughts were passing through his head at that particular moment. It would be pointless asking him since she was well aware he would tell her only that which he wished her to know; the infuriating man! He looked up, saw her standing there and his mouth curved into an enticing smile, all traces of anxiety eradicated from his expression.
‘There you are,’ he said unnecessarily, placing her hand on his sleeve when she reached him and conducting her to the waiting carriage.
Parker travelled on the box seat, leaving Olivia alone with Jake inside the conveyance. Raw, gut-wrenching pain ripped through her whenever she thought how afraid poor Tom must be. A lead weight threatened to drag her into the depths of despair, but Olivia could not allow herself to fall into her own version of hell. She needed to stay strong for Tom’s sake. That was the one thing she could do to make up for her neglect because, no matter what Jake said to the contrary, no one would ever convince her that his abduction was not her fault. Besides, if she appeared fragile, Jake would shut her out of the investigation completely; even though Olivia was firmly determined to be fully involved with it. By using her son in such a cowardly fashion Hubert, or whoever was behind his snatching, would soon discover the extremes to which a mother was prepared to go in order to protect her child.
‘That’s better.’ Jake, seated beside her, squeezed her gloved hand.
‘What is?’
‘I can tell from the range of emotions that have just passed through your expression that you have gone from deep despondency, through self-condemnation and settled upon fighting mad. I am very glad that the anger in your eyes is not directed at me.’ His theatrical shudder made her smile. ‘Well, I assume it is not.’
‘You have promised me that Tom will not be harmed and that we will get him back. I depend upon you to deliver on that promise.’ She lowered her voice to little more than a hoarse whisper. ‘I should go out of mind if I thought you were merely telling me what I wished to hear.’
Jake took her hand and lowered his own voice as he caressed her with an ardent look. ‘I have undertaken many sensitive missions for Thorndike; ones that could have adversely affected the standing of the entire British Empire if I had failed. But they all pale into insignificance compared with my determination to get Tom back.’ He squeezed her fingers and kissed the back of her gloved hand. ‘Never doubt that for a moment.’
Olivia could tell that his words of reassurance came from the heart and felt a fresh rush of adoration for this highly principled, complex aristocrat. If anyone could rescue Tom, she had every confidence in Jake’s ability to do so.
‘Thank you. I know that you will.’
‘Is this it?’ Jake asked when the carriage stopped a short time later in front of a four-storied terraced house with a blue door and railings that separated its narrow frontage from the pavement.
‘Yes,’ Olivia replied.
A fat thrush sat on the railings, watching them with apparent disinterest as they disembarked from the carriage. A cat slunk along the edge of the railings watching the thrush with considerably more intent. There were external stairs down to the basement of the house—the servants’ quarters, Olivia assumed. A narrow bow window on the ground floor, Olivia knew from previous visits, gave a view of the street from the drawing room. She looked up at the windows on the floors above but no small child peered through them. Not that Olivia imagined Sarah had anything at all to do with Tom’s abduction, but still…
‘I can see a light in the drawing room,’ she remarked. ‘Presumably Sarah is at home.’
‘There is one way to find out.’
They ascended the two steps to the blue door, and Jake gave a sharp rap with the brass knocker that was shaped like a boar’s head. Parker, Olivia noticed, slipped down the stairs to the basement and let himself in through the kitchen door. The main door was opened by a footman whom Olivia did not recognise wearing a livery that did not look new. Jake gave their names and asked if his mistress was at home.
‘I shall enquire, my lord. Be so kind as to wait in here.’
They were shown into a tiny room that appeared to be Granville’s study. There was a desk littered with papers, boxes half unpacked and a smattering of books lined the walls. There were gaps on a lot of the shelves waiting to be filled, presumably, by the contents of those boxes. Olivia had never set foot in the room before but assumed it was the only other one on this floor, apart from the drawing room and the dining parlour. They had barely had time to examine their surroundings, or exchange a single word, when the footman returned.
‘My mistress will see you now, if you would be so kind as to follow me.’
‘Olivia, what a pleasant surprise!’ Sarah stood, smiling as Olivia and Jake entered the rather dreary drawing room. The walls were papered in striped burgundy; faded and bulging in places. A sparse fire failed to disguise a faint aroma of mildew. The narrow bow window facing north let in little light and the lamps were already lit even though it was not yet lunchtime. ‘I was planning to call upon you this week.’
Olivia embraced her friend, who looked gaunt and unwell. ‘Then I have saved you the trouble. May I present Lord Torbay?’
Olivia watched Jake assessing Sarah as he dispensed charm and impeccable manners with an even hand.
‘Thank you for seeing us, Mrs Granville,’ Jake said, waiting for the ladies to seat themselves before he took his own chair. Olivia observed the worn cushions sink beneath his weight and heard the springs protest with a loud squeak. ‘Olivia did not know if you had returned to England.’
‘We got back just last week. We are still opening up the house again so you must excuse the way it looks.’
‘You shut it down?’ Olivia asked.
Sarah hesitated. ‘Actually we had a tenant until last month.’
Olivia nodded, thinking that would explain why Sarah’s husband had packed away his personal possessions from his library.
