dark eyes greeted them.
“My lords, what can I do for you? Have you worked up a bit of thirst on the road this morning? Perhaps I can bring you some ale and a bite to eat. Perhaps some bread and cheese?”
“No,” Dez said succinctly. “We seek information.”
He removed a guinea from his pocket and tossed it to the man, who caught it and stared at it in surprise.
“Yes, my lord?” he asked anxiously.
“We are looking for Gollingham Asylum and know it lies nearby.”
The man nodded sagely. “Have a lady need putting away, I assume.”
“Why would you say that?” he demanded.
The man shrugged. “That’s them who goes there. Ever since the Madhouses Act.”
“The what?”
“Parliament passed it. Must be a good thirty years or so now. They began regulating madhouses in London. It kept new ones from being established. That’s why the trade in lunacy sprang up. Private madhouses dot all of England now, my lord. Gollingham Asylum is but one of those which came into existence. Being outside of London, it can get around the law—if you know what I mean.”
Dez was afraid he did know. How that might affect Anna.
“Can you give us directions to it?”
“Of course.” The man grinned. “Anything for a guinea.”
The innkeeper told them and they had him repeat it once to make sure they wouldn’t get lost. Shelton passed along the instructions to his driver and they started up again. Nervous energy rippled through Dez.
He worried what they would find when they arrived at the asylum. That Anna had been there and was gone. Or worse—dead. If she were truly alive, he had to prepare himself. She would not be the Anna he knew. The girl he had known and loved years ago would have changed after being locked away from the world for a good dozen years. She would be angry at having been abandoned. Most likely hurt and withdrawn. He would need to go slowly.
Because if he did find her, he planned never to leave her again. She would become his countess. They would have the marriage they had sought so many years ago. They would raise the family they had talked about.
And they would find her father’s grave and spit on it.
“I think we’re close. Look.” Shelton pointed out the window.
Dez saw a large house. He swallowed, his mouth dry as if it had been stuffed with cotton. His heart began pounding. He urged himself to remain calm. Not to knock out the teeth of this Dr. Cheshire who had written, asking for his yearly sum to keep treating Anna.
His gaze met Shelton’s and both men nodded at one another, an unspoken agreement between them to save the woman they hoped would be found inside.
The carriage slowed and then stopped. He threw open the door and hurried toward the house, Shelton on his heels. Knocking on the door, Dez took a calming breath.
He was about to knock again when the door swung open. A servant wearing a surly expression glanced at them.
“No one’s expected.”
“We are here to see Dr. Cheshire,” Shelton said.
The man screwed up his face. “He might be in. I’ll see.”
Before he could close the door, Dez placed his foot over the threshold and said, “We will wait inside.”
The servant shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
He turned and walked away. Dez and Shelton stepped into a small foyer. The man disappeared and they stood there, an eerie silence blanketing them. His gut told him there was something very wrong with this place.
Then from a distance, a piercing scream erupted, sounding like a wounded animal whose leg had been caught within a trap in the forest. It chilled Dez to his soul. Abruptly, it ended and the silence grew.
Finally, the servant reappeared. “The doctor can see you now before he goes on his rounds. You got somebody you need put away?” he asked, sounding cheery.
“No,” Dez said flatly, tamping down his anger.
The servant walked away again and they followed him. He indicated a door and they entered without knocking.
The man he assumed to be Dr. Cheshire sat behind the desk. He was thin. Brown hair and brown eyes. Nondescript in every way. His lips twitched as they came to stand before him.
“Their names?” he asked in a tired tone, glancing at the servant.
“Uh, I forgot that part, Doctor.”
“Very well. You are dismissed. Go see if you can help upstairs.”
“Yes, Doctor.”
Dez waited for the servant to leave and then said, “I am the Earl of Torrington. My companion is the Viscount of Shelton.”
That got the little