Henry tossed the note without reading it onto the mountainous pile of calling cards and invitations that had come in from people who didn’t know the Malorys of this particular household weren’t in residence. A normal butler would never have let the tray on the hall table overflow with invitations and letters. But in the eight years since Henry and Artie had begun sharing the job, neither of them had learned how to be a proper butler.
That afternoon when Boyd Anderson returned to the Malory house in Berkeley Square, he found the note on his tray, along with a few other cards that had slid off the larger pile next to it. He didn’t usually have a tray of his own in his sister Georgina’s house, but then he usually only visited for a week or two, never as long as several months as this visit had turned out to be. Nor was it the first time Georgina’s mail had got mixed up with his.
Despite having given it a lot more thought, Boyd still hadn’t made up his mind yet about settling in England. But that wasn’t why he was still here. He hadn’t returned to sea yet because he was doing his sister a favor. Although Georgina had married into the large Malory family and any one of her numerous in-laws would have been delighted to take care of her children while she was gone, Georgina’s seven-year-old daughter, Jacqueline, balked at joining her young twin siblings at the country home of their cousin Lady Regina Eden, because she didn’t want to be that far away from her best friend and cousin, Judith. Other Malorys in London could have taken her, but since Boyd was staying at her London house, Georgina had asked him to keep an eye on Jacqueline until he sailed again.
He would have preferred to go along for the rescue. That would have been a fine bit of work to tease his brother Drew about. But he had, in fact, done Georgina another good turn by not insisting on going, since her husband didn’t get along well with any of her brothers, himself included. The man didn’t even get along with his own brothers. And there was no way he and James Malory wouldn’t come to blows if they ended up on a ship together. Besides, the look on James’s face when Boyd had suggested accompanying him, well, it had made Boyd glad he had an excuse to stay behind after all.
“We all know where she’d rather stay,” Georgina had remarked. “But Roslynn mentioned in passing that she might be enceinte again, so she needs peace and quiet in her household just now, which won’t be the case with Judy and Jack in residence. When you’re ready to sail will be soon enough to deposit her there.”
Roslynn Malory turned out not to be pregnant. Boyd ended up not sailing as expected. And Jack, as her father had named her at birth, was happy enough where she was, since she still got to visit with her cousin Judith as often as she liked.
Boyd wasn’t exactly worried about Drew, anyway. Georgina did enough worrying for all of them. But Boyd knew his brother well and had no doubt that he’d extricate himself from whatever trouble he’d gotten into long before Georgina and her husband arrived to help. Hell, considering how long they’d been gone, he was beginning to suspect they hadn’t even caught up to Drew’s ship yet!
Georgina hadn’t expected Boyd to stay in London this long. No one had, himself included. But when his ship, The Oceanus, returned from the short run he’d sent her on, instead of leaving with her, he sent her off again. And gave more thought to giving up the sea for good.
The Andersons’ family business, Skylark Shipping, also had an office in London now. While the family had avoided England for many years due to the old war and the hard feelings that had ensued from that, they were once again firmly entrenched in trading with the English. In fact, now that England was central to all of their newly acquired routes, the London office had grown considerably in the last eight years. Boyd wouldn’t half mind taking over the running of it.
Become landlocked? God, why didn’t he just do it already? Because oddly enough, he loved the sea. He just hated what it did to him.
Georgina had introduced him to London society more than once on his visits here. He even kept a wardrobe at her house specifically for his London stays that was more appropriate for a gentleman, since the English dressed quite a bit more fancily than sailors did! He didn’t go excessive in frilly cravats or lacy cuffs as some of them did. In fact, he took a cue from his brother-in-law, James—well-tailored, but subdued and even open-collared. And he had a few velvet jackets that spruced him up for evening social events.
On this extended visit he’d been receiving invitations to balls and soirées from Georgina’s acquaintances that knew he was still in town, and he’d occasionally accepted. He wasn’t actively looking for a wife, but if the right woman showed up, that would be incentive to settle down. He’d thought he’d found her. Katey Tyler would have been the perfect woman for him—if she wasn’t already taken!
God, how did he let her sneak into his mind again? Once she did, it took days and a good bout of drinking to get her out again. But only briefly. She was somewhere in his thoughts more often than not. It seemed that knowing he couldn’t have her because she already had a husband made him want her even more! He’d never been able to figure out what exactly it was about Katey Tyler that had twisted him inside out on that voyage. She wasn’t even the kind of woman that usually caught his eye.
She was too tall for one thing, only a few inches shorter than he was. He preferred to feel tall where his women were concerned, and Mrs. Tyler didn’t give him that feeling when she stood eye to eye with him. But it didn’t matter. One look at her lushly abundant curves and nothing else mattered.
She could talk a lot—about nothing. That was a remarkable feat. Even more remarkable, he’d never found that annoying! Her dimples often made her seem like she was smiling when she wasn’t. And she contradicted herself a lot, which could be quite confusing, but he actually found that endearing. It made her seem charmingly absentminded. Her nose was slim, almost patrician, her brows rather thin, her mouth—he could never think about her mouth without becoming aroused.
No woman had ever affected him like that before, or stayed in his thoughts this long.
Gabrielle Brooks had caught his interest though. What a relief that had been, assuring him that he wasn’t a lost cause! She could have banished Katey from his mind—well, that had been his original hope. Gabby had arrived in London at about the same time he did and had become Georgina and James’s houseguest because her father, an old friend of James’s, had asked James to sponsor her for the Season.
A pretty thing, Gabby could have turned his thoughts toward marriage if Drew hadn’t been taken with her, too. Not that his carefree brother ever intended to get leg-shackled, as the English put it. But Gabby seemed to be fascinated with Drew, too, so Boyd had stopped thinking about her as a possible wife. Besides, she was the daughter of a pirate, as it turned out, and Boyd would have had a hard time getting past that simple fact. Pirates were the nemesis of honest sailors.
He glanced at the two invitations on his tray that were actually for him and carefully put back the four that were addressed to his sister. He opened the folded note since he couldn’t tell whom that was for. He had to read it twice before the meaning sank in. And then he was bolting up the stairs shouting his niece’s name.
When he found Jacqueline in her room, the color returned to his cheeks and his heart slowly returned to its normal beat. He read the note once more.
I have your daughter. Start gathering a fortune if you want her back. You’ll be told where to bring it.
Boyd shoved the note in his pocket, deciding it had obviously been delivered to the wrong house. He wondered if any of Georgina’s neighbors had daughters. He didn’t know, but he’d have to take that note to the authorities.
“What’s wrong, Uncle?”
Glancing at Jack’s woebegone expression, Boyd replied, “I could ask you the same thing.”
She started to shrug, but then she sighed and said, “Judy’s riding her first horse today in Hyde Park. Not a pony, a real horse Uncle Tony bought her.”
“And you weren’t invited to watch?” he guessed.
“I
was, but—I think only Uncle Tony should share that with her. He’s so been looking forward to it.”
Boyd managed to stifle a grin. His niece was only seven years old, but sometimes she amazed him with her insight and consideration for others. She obviously wanted to be in the park watching her best friend ride her first real horse, but she’d taken the girl’s father’s feelings into account instead.
Boyd had known about the outing and had been afraid that Jack would feel left out. He’d actually considered buying her a horse as well, but then he realized his sister might have a fit if he did. Actually, it was James’s likely reaction that had decided him against it. If Sir Anthony had been looking forward to seeing his daughter’s excitement upon riding her first real horse, James was probably looking forward to the same.
“Besides,” Jacqueline added. “Judy’s coming over tonight to spend the weekend, so I’ll be hearing—”
She didn’t finish because Henry burst in completely out of breath, as if he’d run up the stairs just as Boyd had done. Without saying what had brought him upstairs in such a hurry, he glanced at the daughter of the house then motioned for Boyd to come out into the corridor. Henry knew that small children had big ears, and this was one thing he was going to make absolutely sure Jack didn’t overhear.
“A messenger just came from Sir Anthony,” Henry whispered urgently in Boyd’s ear. “’E’s asked for every man in the ’ouse to come and ’elp ’im search for ’is daughter. She’s gone missing in the park.”
“Damn,” Boyd said, and pulled Henry downstairs with him before he showed the old salt the note.
It made sense now. The note hadn’t been delivered to the wrong house on the street, just the wrong Malory house, which mistake happened frequently with eight separate Malory households in the city.
“A search isn’t going to be necessary,” Boyd said grimly. “But I need to get this note to Sir Anthony immediately.”
“Bleedin’ ’ell, the cap’n is going to be furious ’e ain’t ’ere to ’elp.”
Boyd didn’t doubt that the captain Henry referred to was James Malory. The two younger Malory brothers were quite close, just as Boyd was close to Drew and Georgina, they being the three youngest in their family.
“Then I’ll just have to represent him,” Boyd said as he rushed out of the house.
Chapter 2
THE COACH RIDE WAS TERRIFYING. It was an old coach. The seats didn’t even have padding on them. They might have had padding when the coach was new, but how many centuries ago was that? Both windows were open to the elements. Any glass that might have been there had long since been broken and removed.
Mere cloth had been tacked over each opening to at least keep the wind from blowing in, but it kept out most of the daylight as well. At least there was no chance of freezing when it was merely the middle of October. Judith was grateful for one less thing to fear.
She hadn’t cried yet. She kept telling herself she was a Malory and Malorys were made of sterner stuff. And besides, her eyes would sting if she cried. She knew they would. And her hands were tied so she couldn’t wipe her eyes. But it was hard to keep those tears from falling.
What had started as a thrilling day had turned into a nightmare the likes of which she’d never before experienced. She’d been showing off in the park. She didn’t want her father to worry that the horse he’d bought her was too big for her, or that she couldn’t handle it properly.
It was a beautiful mare, a slender horse only a few hands taller than her pony. And she was well balanced in the seat. Her father had bought her a normal saddle, not a sidesaddle, and had told her she had a few more years to go before she needed to learn how to ride like a lady. She’d just wanted to see how fast the mare would go and prove that he didn’t need to worry about her.
But her short gallop had taken her around a bend in the path, far away from where her father had been standing watching her and out of his sight. She’d already been slowing the mare down to turn around and go back when she’d been yanked off her. The mare had been slapped and raced away, and Judith had been dragged through the thick foliage beside the path with a hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming.
Still a voice had threatened, “Make any noise and I’ll cut yer throat and toss yer dead body in the bushes.”
She didn’t make any noise. She fainted instead.
When she woke, her hands were tied, her feet were tied, and her mouth was gagged. Falling off the cushionless bench to the floor of the coach had woken her.
She didn’t try to get back up on the bench, didn’t think she could manage it. And the fear took over. She knew that the coach was speeding recklessly. Her small body was bounced all over the dirty floor. Wherever she was being taken, she was sure she’d never get there. The old coach was going to wreck and crumple around her.
But eventually it did stop in a normal manner and the door was opened. Something was immediately thrown over her, a cloak or a blanket, giving her no time to turn to see who was there. She was rolled in the cloak so that it covered every inch of her before she was dragged across the floor by her feet and then had the wind knocked out of her as she was dropped over a bony shoulder to be carted somewhere.
She still hadn’t gotten a look at who had stolen her, but the voice that had threatened her, while gruff, had sounded like a woman’s. But that didn’t lessen Judith’s fear.
She heard sounds now, lots of them, and voices, even a bit of laughter. And the smell of food was strong, making her realize how hungry she was. But Judith no sooner took all that in than it faded away, as if they’d merely passed by an open doorway or a kitchen or a dining room and were now leaving it far behind. She could see nothing from under that cloak, but she could tell that she was being carried upstairs. The person toting her began to breathe more heavily from the exertion.
A door was opened. It creaked. And then she was dumped on something soft. A bed?
The cloak wasn’t removed from her. She tried to wiggle out of it so she could see again.
“Stop that,” a voice growled at her. “Be still, be quiet, and ye willna be getting hurt.”
She went still. She’d already been quiet. And the door opened again, but she wasn’t being left alone. Someone else had arrived.
“I thought that was ye I saw slinking past the door tae the tavern room,” a man said in an accusing tone. “Where the devil ha’ ye been, womon? When ye dragged me down here tae visit yer aunt, ye didna say ye’d be disappearing for an entire day. I wake tae find ye gone this morning. What was I tae think, eh?”
He’d approached the bed as he spoke, but he backed away from it now with a gasp and turned around to snarl at the woman. “What is that?”
“That’s yer fortune,” she said with a chuckle.
The cloak was snatched off her. The lamplight in the room blinded her for a moment, but as soon as her eyes adjusted, Judith stared wide-eyed at a tall man with bright carrot-red hair and light blue eyes. He wasn’t ugly or mean-looking. He was dressed decently, too, like most gentry. And she watched his face grow pale as he stared down at her. She was frightened, but for some reason the man seemed to be even more frightened of her.
He turned his horrified expression on the woman. “Her hair? His eyes?” he choked out. “D’ye think I didna ken who she belongs tae?”
“Did ye think I’d be trying tae hide it?”
“Ye’ve lost yer mind, there’s nae other excuse!” he exclaimed. “Look at this crooked nose. Did ye think I was born wi’ it? Look at these scars on my face! D’ye know how many bones of mine that mon broke? I’m lucky tae be alive after the beating he gave me, and ye steal his daughter? How could ye do this? Why?”
“Every time ye put a few drinks in ye I’ve had tae listen tae ye whine aboot the fortune that should’ve been yers. Well, ye should be glad I’ve finally agreed wi’ ye. Aye, it should’ve been yers, it ne’er should’ve gone tae some silly chit who didna need it then and certainly doesna need it now, after marry
ing intae a rich family. So it’s coming home where it belongs, tae us.”
Geordie Cameron shook his head incredulously. He’d never really regretted marrying this woman—until now. He’d hired her to run his first shop in Edinburgh, since he knew nothing about owning a shop. He’d ended up succumbing to her flirtations and asked her to marry him. She was from the lower classes, but at that point in his life, he didn’t care. He might have done something like this himself back then. In fact, he had tried to force this child’s mother to marry him. In the end, Roslynn had changed his mind with her generosity.
“What a mon says when he’s foxed isna usually what he thinks when he’s sober. I gave up on that fortune years ago. My great-uncle had every right tae give it tae whom he pleased, and my cousin was his closer relative, so he gave it tae her. He would ne’er ha’ give any part of it tae me, hating me as he did.”
“Ye still should ha’—”
“Shut up, womon, and listen tae me. I’m telling ye why ye’ve lost yer mind. My cousin Roslynn gave me the means tae open our shops. Ten thousand pounds she gave me, slipped it in my valise wi’oout my knowing, wi’oout wanting a thank ye for it. It was enough tae open all three of our shops, and they’ve supported us well enough. We’re no’ rich, but we’re no’ lacking, either. And this is how we repay her?”
“And ye think I’ve lost my mind when ye just told the lass who we are?”
“Ye did that the moment ye mentioned that bloody fortune in relation tae her mother.”
She tsked, then grumbled, “And I took such precautions tae hide who we were. I even stole an old coach this morning afore I set oout tae London Town, just in case I might be noticed hying off. But nae one saw me. It was all tae easy. I had a plan tae get intae their house, but while I was watching it, oout comes the bonny lass here wi’ her father. Sae I followed them instead tae a big park, a much better place for a nabbing, I was thinking, until I realized the mon wasna letting her oout of his sight. I was aboot tae leave when the lass rode right intae my hands.”