When the Earl Met His Match (Wedded by Scandal #4) - Stacy Reid Page 0,90

and should you dare try to rob them from me, I will not stop until I have made you regret it!”

Shock flared in her brother’s eyes, and when he stepped toward her, it was his wife who touched his arm, pulling all his attention to her. Taking a deep breath and ignoring her mother, who seemed prostrate with nerves on the sofa, Phoebe turned and walked away, hating that she felt so helpless.

I shall not stay here waiting for rescue. But how could she organize to leave? She could not command any of Richard’s servant to ready the carriage and take her away. Phoebe had no friends in town she could turn to for aid, and she had no money to hire a private coach for such a journey.

Blast it!

Will you come for me, Hugh? she silently asked. Deep in her heart, she desperately, foolishly wished he would. Because perhaps then, she might hope that he was falling in love with her, as she had fallen with her whole heart into love with him.

Reckless, silly heart.

Chapter Seventeen

Money granted power and information, so before Hugh arrived in London, his man of affairs had known Phoebe’s location and exactly where she would be this evening. Hugh had only arrived at his townhouse in Grosvenor Square a little after nine in the evening and was greeted by the under butler and housekeeper, the only two staff who knew how to speak his language.

Only the old earl had known that Hugh invested heavily into schools for the deaf and mute in London and Scotland and that he had given a significant amount of money to ensure those schools were funded for those who could not afford private tutoring. He had instructed his man of affairs to hire staff for his homes in England from amongst those who had studied at the schools he had helped his tutor to launch.

His man of affairs, James Humboldt, hadn’t been able to find a worker of great experience who knew enough of the language to act as butler, but they were able to hire an under butler who himself was hearing impaired and so was competent in sign. His housekeeper, Shirley Bramwell, also was adept at signing and impressively could speak, even if slowly. She was young but very efficient and glad to be working in such a prestigious household without worrying her disadvantages would cost her a job.

The twelve-room townhouse had been in order, with heavy scents of lemon, beeswax, and freshly cut flowers redolent in the air. Dinner had been waiting, and he had quickly eaten, taken a bath, and then read the report his man had left for him in the study. His wife had been seen about town in the company of her brother, the Marquess of Westfall, and his pregnant wife, Lady Westfall. Phoebe’s brother had a fearsome reputation about town, and his society was more wary than accepting of his presence amongst their lofty ranks.

He filed that information away and scanned the rest of the report. Yesterday Phoebe had attended a ball, the day before a picnic in Hyde Park, and tonight she would be at Lady Lillian Harte’s ball. One Viscount Malfoy was also seen in the company of his wife, and that man was a close associate of her brother. He lowered the report. Nothing there showed a lady eager to return home to her husband and child. Drumming his fingers on the desk, he assessed the situation from all sides. If her parents and brother were determined to keep her from “the mistake” he had hinted about in his letter, Phoebe would be powerless to fight a man of his reach.

Perhaps she is just unable to leave, a small voice of reasoning whispered.

Hugh carefully dressed himself in the appropriate evening style, and the carriage was brought around for his convenience. The ball was not far from his home, and when he arrived, the queue for the ball went past the fronts of several townhouses. Instead of waiting, he exited the carriage and walked past several carriages toward the revelry in the distance. Though his man of affair had procured an invitation, Hugh made his way around the side entrance of the ball and entered through the gardens.

The merry noises of conversation and laughter spilled outside from the hall and stairs. The sound of an orchestra playing wafted down from the ballroom above. Many ladies and gentlemen loitered outside, and he even detected a couple scandalously kissing in the shadows.