father to her, but he had been a calming, compassionate presence in her life for as long as she could remember, and she cared for him deeply.
“I will lose no sleep over him.” Georgie flicked her head toward Freddie, who was still seething on the ground. “But if you were punished because we did not see to his injuries properly, I would never forgive myself.”
Thamesly’s pale blue eyes turned watery.
“We need to get him help,” Georgie said, “and then we need to get him out of here.”
Thamesly nodded. “I will summon your parents.”
“No!” Georgie clutched his arm with surprising urgency. “It will be better if no one knows he was here.”
“He should pay for what he’s done.”
“I agree, but we both know I’m the one who will pay. There is no way we’ll be able to keep it quiet if anyone else becomes involved.” Georgie twisted her mouth into a frown, looking quickly to the house and then off toward the stables. “Can you hitch a cart?”
“What are you thinking?”
“Can you hitch a cart?” she repeated.
“Of course,” he replied. He sniffed, clearly offended that she’d questioned his skills.
“I’m going to run inside to get shoes and a coat and something we can use for bandages. You get a cart hitched and we’ll take him somewhere out of the way.”
“And then what?”
“And then we …” She thought, grimacing as she kicked a toe through the grass. “And then we …”
What was she going to do?
“My lady?”
She raised her head. There was really only one thing they could do.
“And then we get Nicholas.”
Chapter 10
“Sir.”
Nicholas batted away whatever insect was buzzing in his ear and rolled over.
“Sir! Sir!”
He came awake with a giant indrawn breath, shaking as he sat up straight. He never had woken well when his sleep was interrupted.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
… was what he thought he said. The reality was probably a great deal more garbled. He blinked his eyes open. Wheelock was standing next to his bed, holding a candle.
“Wheelock? What the devil?”
“You’re needed,” Wheelock whispered. “Thamesly was here.”
If sleep was still fogging his brain, it was gone in an instant. “Thamesly? Why? What? Is someone hurt?”
“I was not able to obtain all the details,” Wheelock said. “But I thought you should know that he asked that I wake you and only you.”
“What the hell?” Nicholas mumbled to himself.
Wheelock held out a piece of paper. “He left this for you.”
“He’s no longer here?”
“No. He departed immediately. He said he could not leave Miss Georgiana alone for much longer.”
“Georgiana!” Nicholas flew out of bed, stumbling to the wardrobe for his clothes. Wheelock was already there, holding out a shirt, but Nicholas wanted to read Thamesly’s message first.
“What does he say?” Wheelock asked.
Nicholas read the few short sentences by the light of Wheelock’s candle. “Not much. Just that he and Georgiana need my help and I’m to go to the old Millston farmhouse.”
“I believe that’s the one—”
“—where Billie sprained her ankle all those years ago, yes. I believe it is still in disrepair, is it not?”
“It is being used for storage, but no one lives there.”
Nicholas yanked on his clothing with fear-fueled haste. “Did Thamesly tell you anything? Is it Georgiana? Is she ill? Has she been injured?”
Wheelock shook his head. “I don’t think so, no. He said that someone else was in need of medical attention.”
“Someone else? Who the devil would be out with her at—” Nicholas looked up toward the clock, but it was too dark to make out the face. “What the hell time is it?”
“Half two, sir.”
Nicholas swore under his breath. Something was very wrong.
“Your boots, sir.” Wheelock held them up. “May I suggest you don them outside, so as to make less noise?”
Nicholas nodded, in both agreement and admiration. “You do think of everything, don’t you?”
“It is my job to do so, sir.”
They slipped out of the room on stockinged feet, moving silently down the grand staircase. Nicholas rarely walked through Crake this late at night. All the Rokesbys tended to turn in early in the country. It wasn’t like London where myriad engagements and entertainments could keep one busy until the wee hours of the morning.
The house was different in the dark. Moonlight whispered through the great hall, casting pale stripes and shadows that slid along the floor and up the walls. Absolute quiet reigned, but the air was oddly expectant, almost as if it were holding its breath, waiting for something—or someone—to pierce the silence.
Nicholas wasn’t sure if he liked it.
At the bottom