Married to the Rogue (Season of Scandal #3) - Mary Lancaster Page 0,55

said impatiently. “Try the breakfast parlor.”

“Neither of them are in the breakfast parlor.”

“Then ask the servants where they are,” Christopher said. “They always know,”

Dudley sat down on the edge of Christopher’s bed and buried his head in his hands. “Rupert is gone,” he said indistinctly. “He has left nothing in his room, and he has taken my horse.”

“He didn’t come with much to leave in his chamber. He has probably ridden out with Georgianna. I imagine they need to clear the air. Have you spoken to Deborah?”

Dudley shook his head. “I haven’t seen her. But what worries me more than anything is that no one can find Marvin, either. She is Georgianna’s maid, and she never goes anywhere without her.”

Christopher paused in the act of fastening his waistcoat buttons. “You really believe she has run away with Rupert?”

“Don’t you?”

“No,” Christopher said flatly. “She never showed the remotest signs of pining for Rupert, and if he pined for her longer than a week, I’ll eat my own coat.”

“Perhaps they were carried away by seeing each other again.”

“What, in twelve hours? During most of which, they were both asleep? Separately!” Leaving Dudley to digest that, he rang the bell and demanded Hunter’s presence.

Dudley frowned at him, but with a hint of hope in his eyes. “You really believe I’m making a cake of myself?”

“Completely. She didn’t just marry you because she couldn’t have Rupert, you know. There’s too much trouble attached to our family for anyone to think that would be an easy option. Ah, Hunter, close the door.”

The butler entered and obeyed.

“Hunter, is Lady Bilston aware that Mr. Rupert was here?”

“Yes, sir, I believe Mrs. Dawson told her.”

“Did they spend the evening together?”

“No, sir. Mr. Rupert didn’t come downstairs after you left. He went to bed. Her ladyship ate a light supper and retired.”

“Thank you, Hunter,” Christopher said, casting his cousin an I-told-you-so look that made him grin reluctantly. “And where are they now?”

“I believe they went riding together, sir.”

Dudley’s face fell, and Christopher groaned.

Dismissing the butler, he said cajolingly, “There’s no reason they shouldn’t take a ride together.”

“Taking Marvin? And clearing out Rupert’s chamber?”

Christopher waved one disparaging hand. “You are making too much of that. Go and have breakfast. I’ll speak to Deborah.” What a fool love makes of us, he thought ruefully as Dudley left all but wringing his hands. For example, his heart should not be trying to jump into his throat just because he was going to talk to his wife in her bedchamber.

He made a point of sauntering there, though he could not help thinking that this was the first time he had ever called on her in her own rooms. It felt a little like a diplomatic visit to a foreign potentate whose friendship was not assured. Laughing at himself, he knocked on her door. Receiving no response—after all, he was her husband—he walked in.

She was not in her rooms. He knew that before he looked, by a sense of emptiness, an absence of Deborah.

No doubt she was in the library or working on some other apartments. She was an industrious little… His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a crumpled piece of paper on the dressing table.

He hesitated, for they had agreed to respect each other’s privacy. And if he was going to change the rules of their marriage, he would have to do so with her agreement. Only…only despite his dismissive words to Dudley, there really was something ominous about all these people vanishing so early in the morning.

He picked up the crumpled ball and smoothed it out. My thanks for everything. I find it necessary to return to the ship at once. Hope you understand. R.

Rupert had gone. Foolish with his arm not yet fully healed.

And if he had gone back to his ship, where was Georgianna? Unease twisted through him.

Five minutes later, he entered the breakfast parlor where Dudley breakfasted alone and morose.

“Rupert has gone back to his ship,” he said abruptly. “He left a note. But Dudley, because they left together, does not mean they are together.”

Dudley let his knife and fork fall with a clatter. He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them to stare up at Christopher. “This is my fault. He was right, you know. I never told you about his claims after the duel, that he had never fired his pistol. I didn’t believe him, didn’t want to, and I made no effort to find out because I thought if he was innocent and came