The Countess Page 0,109

Richard. The man must have known al along.

"Yes, George's valet," Suzette said now. "We realized that he might not have been fooled by the switch George made and if he somehow saw you the last day or two may realize you are not George. If so, he could be the blackmailer."

"Of course," Richard growled, and then glanced up the hal as Haversham came hurrying out of the kitchens, heading their way. He knew at once that there was trouble. Haversham was a proper En-glish butler to the core of his being and simply never hurried anywhere. It was considered unseemly, and butlers were never unseemly. Stil , Richard was more interested in Christiana's whereabouts than any smal emergency the butler may be approaching about and asked, "Haversham, have you seen my wife? She apparently went looking for you to have you send Freddy to her."

"Actual y, my lord, I was just coming to seek you out about that. It appears Lady Christiana was unable to find me and went in search of your valet herself and has now found herself in something of a fix."

"What kind of a fix?" Richard asked grimly.

"Wel , I happened to be passing Freddy's room and overheard him saying that he intended to take her and force you to pay to get her back safely," he admitted grimly. "I believe he is planning to take her around to the office to try to find something first, however, so if we were to hide ourselves away in there and wait for him to approach we may be able to take him by surprise and relieve him of Lady Christiana without her coming to harm."

"That's actual y a good plan," Daniel said with some surprise and eyed the butler with a new respect. He then glanced to Richard and said, "We should move quickly though, I don't recal a lot of places in the office to hide."

Richard had already turned to head to his office when Robert announced, "I am coming too."

"And me," Lord Madison said firmly.

"Me too," Suzette announced.

Richard paused abruptly and glanced back to see that everyone was fol owing, including Lisa and Haversham. Scowling, he shook his head. "There aren't enough hiding spaces for everyone. Robert and Daniel only wil come. The rest of you need to get into the parlor and out of the hal so you don't scare Freddy off." His gaze slid to Lord Madison, who opened his mouth to protest, and forestal ed him by adding, "I trust you are the only person here who could keep Suzette and Lisa in that parlor."

Lord Madison let his mouth close with a sigh and nodded.

Richard started to turn away then, but paused and swung back to ask, "Might I borrow your pistol, my lord?"

"Of course." Madison held out the pistol and said grimly, "Keep her safe."

"I intend to," Richard assured him as he took the weapon. He then stepped back and waited as Christiana's father turned to take Suzette and Lisa each by an arm to lead them to the parlor. Both girls began to protest at once, but he merely said, "I am your father and you wil go in the parlor and like it."

When Richard's gaze next slid to Haversham, the butler hesitated, but then nodded stiffly and turned to fol ow the others. Richard immediately turned and led Robert and Daniel to the office to seek out hiding spots and await the arrival of his wife and her captor. Christiana groaned, or tried to, as consciousness returned to her. However, her groan was stifled by the gag in her mouth. She blinked her eyes open, and immediately wished she hadn't and closed them again. The sight of the ground moving by below was only her first hint that she was not in a position she wanted to be in. The pain of the shoulder lodged in her stomach was her second hint.

Freddy had obviously knocked her out, bound and gagged her and was now carting her about over his shoulder like a sack of wheat. Her head was dangling down his back and aching. Though she wasn't sure whether the aching was from the blow she'd taken to the head, her position, which had the blood pooling in that same abused head, or a combination of both. Al Christiana real y knew was that her head hurt, her stomach hurt from the jarring it was taking with each step, and the corners of her mouth hurt where the gag