An Earl to Enchant (27 page)

“I don’t have it. You have it,” she said, retreating until the back of her thighs hit the desk.

“He was a sly
bhagidar
, your
pitaji
,” Mr. Rajaratnum said. “He wrote it down somewhere else and only pretended to write in the journal he always carried with him.”

She was confused. Her glance darted from Mr. Warburton to Mr. Rajaratnum. “You mean you don’t have the formula after all?”

“No, but I am not worried, Miss Sweet,” the Indian said. “We will get it.”

Her father had fooled them both!

Arianna suddenly felt lighter. The thought that her father had outsmarted his killers thrilled her. Her fear dissipated. Renewed strength flooded through her.

“Yes, you will give it to us,” Mr. Warburton added. “Rajaratnum is well versed in how to make people talk, and it doesn’t take long for him to accomplish it.”

Arianna’s euphoria waned, and she swallowed hard. They didn’t believe that she didn’t have the formula. What could she do? They were between her and the door, and it was locked. She remembered there were containers of liquids on the desk. Did they hold water, alcohol, or something else? Could she use one of them as a weapon? Whatever the liquids were, would they sting and burn if they got in the eyes?

“We were just discussing how and when to approach you about this complication, and you came to us,” Mr. Rajaratnum said. He folded his arms indolently across his chest, widened his stance, and smiled lecherously at her. “I’ve always wanted to spend some time alone with you.”

The idea of being touched by either of these vile men made her throat ache with a suppressed scream. But screams would do her no good. There were no windows for Beabe, Benson, or anyone else to hear.

“My maid and driver are outside, and my entire staff knows I’m here,” she said, remembering Morgan’s warning for her not to leave her house until he returned.

Mr. Rajaratnum laughed. “But they do not know I am here, Miss Sweet.”

“That’s true,” Mr. Warburton agreed. “Once he’s finished with you, and I know where the formula is, he can bind my hands and feet to a chair before he leaves you dead. The authorities will be looking for him and never know of my involvement in your murder. I’ll present the formula in my name and secure my place in history. Rajaratnum gets the rest of his money from me.”

“You can’t take credit for the formula,” she said. “I’ve told others that you were helping me recreate the formula for my father.”

“That is very easy to remedy. I’ll simply tell them that you wanted to believe your dead father discovered it, so you told several untruths about his accomplishments. The Academy will believe me, because neither you nor your father will be around to plead your case.”

Anger grew inside Arianna, and she inched closer to the containers lined up on the desk. Her father had trusted these two men, and they had betrayed him, murdered him. She was not going to let them get away with that.

“If you kill me, you will never find the formula,” she said, stalling for time so she could move closer to the liquids.

“Oh, I won’t kill you until after you have told me where the formula is,” Mr. Rajaratnum said.

Fury rose up inside her again. “Even if I knew where it was, I would never tell you.”

Mr. Rajaratnum smiled; his eyes glinted with malice that shot fear to her core. “You think not?”

“There are mixtures I can force you to swallow that will lower your inhibitions,” Mr. Warburton said. “We will get the formula, Miss Sweet. It’s up to you how much pain it will cost you before you succumb.”

Arianna ignored the fear and anger mounting in her chest and focused on her plan. Warburton was the closest one to her. She could grab the first container and fling it on him, and try to get another to hurl on Mr. Rajaratnum before he reached her. It was her only chance.

But did the containers hold something more than water?

If she could disable one of them, she would fight the other as if she were one of the tigers that roamed India.

Without further thought, Arianna swayed, feigning dizziness. She turned toward the desk and clasped the nearest jar in her hand.

Mr. Warburton took a step toward her, and she threw the liquid into his shocked face. He screamed. Clawing and tearing at his eyes, he fell to the floor, writhing in pain.

She turned and grabbed a second jar. Mr. Rajaratnum appeared before her, snarling. He knocked the container from her grasp and slammed the back of his hand across her cheek.

Arianna’s head snapped back. Pain splintered up her face, and lights flashed in her eyes. Gritting her teeth against the blinding pain, she stumbled. Finding her footing, she scrambled to get away from the Indian, but his hand snaked around her arm. He threw her against the wall. Both his hands clutched her neck, his thumbs sinking into the hollow of her throat. Terror rose up in her.

She couldn’t breathe!

“The formula, Miss Sweet,” the man yelled in her face. “Where is the formula?”

Her chest burned. She struggled to drag in air. She raised her hands to pry at his fingers and felt the weight of Lord Chesterfield’s book in her velvet reticule. She fumbled with the purse. If she could somehow manage to strike him with the book, maybe she could… But the thought was lost.

Black spots formed in front of her eyes. She couldn’t die here. Morgan would never know how much she loved him. Her father would never get his recognition.

The door slammed against the wall, and Arianna heard Morgan call her name.

Mr. Rajaratnum released her and spun, pulling a pistol from his pocket. He pointed it at Morgan.

“No!” she screamed with her first gasping breath. With every ounce of strength she had left, she swung the book. It connected with the Indian’s head at the same moment she saw the spark of fire leave the barrel. The Indian howled in pain. Another shot rang out. Mr. Rajaratnum jerked. A red stain appeared on his white shirt, and his eyes widened. Moments later, he crumpled to the floor.

Morgan’s arms circled her. He pressed her face to his chest, and with his body, he shielded her from the two men lying on the floor.

“Get them out of here,” Morgan yelled to someone.

Arianna coughed and struggled to regain her breath. She heard the sound of shuffling. She didn’t know how long she stood there, just letting Morgan hold her, but when the room became quiet and her breathing eased, she looked up at Morgan. His eyes were heavy with concern. He touched the side of her face, under her eye, and she winced and turned away.

“You’re hurt.”

“I’m fine,” she lied. Her throat felt raw, and her chest burned from struggling to breathe. “Where are…?”

“The runners are taking care of them. It’s you I’m concerned about.”

“Mr. Warburton was Mr. Rajaratnum’s partner, not my father’s. Together they planned my father’s murder.”

“I’m sorry about that, Arianna, but there is no reason for you to worry about either of them again. Rajaratnum is dead, and the runners are taking Mr. Warburton to the magistrate as we speak. I can assure you, I will see to it that he will never be a free man again.”

“How did you know I was here?” she asked, pushing out of his arms.

“I told you I had runners watching your house. Their instructions were not to let anyone get in. I didn’t think it was necessary to tell them not to let anyone get out of the house, but knowing you, I should have. Luckily, two of the men followed you here, and once you came inside, one of them rushed back to tell me. When the maid refused to let us in, we forced our way inside.”

Morgan reached for her, but she stepped away. There was comfort in his touch, in his arms, but she didn’t want to be comforted. Not now. She wanted to go home. She had to find a way to deal with the heartbreaking fact that her father’s formula was lost. Mr. Rajaratnum didn’t have it. She had given Mr. Warburton everything she had of her father’s. If he couldn’t find the cure for consumption written in the notes, there was no way she could ever find it. Her father’s discovery would be lost forever, and that was almost more than she could bear.

Arianna had a sudden overwhelming feeling of loss. “I am very tired, Morgan,” she said, trying to hold herself together. “Would you please let whoever is in charge know that I will come back at a later time for my father’s papers?”

“I’ll see they are collected and returned safely to you.”

“My book.” She searched the floor and saw it. “I must have my book.” She bent down to pick it up, but Morgan got to it first. He looked at the cover. “Is this what you hit Rajaratnum with?”

She nodded and took the book from him and held it to her chest.

“Do you realize that because you hit that man with Chesterfield’s book, you saved my life? You caused his bullet to miss me.”

She nodded. “I’m thankful, and I’m thankful you saved me.”

He ran the backs of his fingers down the side of her cheek that wasn’t bruised and smiled. “Looks to me as though you were taking good care of yourself before I got here.”

“I need to go home now.”

“All right. I must speak to the magistrate about what happened here. I’ll come to your house after I’m finished with what needs to be done about this.”

She shook her head and turned away from him. “Please don’t. I can’t talk to anyone right now.”

He touched her arm, trying to get her to respond to him, to look at him, but she couldn’t. “Arianna, you don’t need to be alone.”

“But that is what I want.”

“All right, if you are sure.”

She saw confusion in his eyes but didn’t have it in her to settle his mind.

“I am,” she said and turned and walked out of the laboratory.

Twenty-One

My Dear Grandson Lucas,

One of the many things I loved about Lord Chesterfield was his enchanting wit. “Nobody can be more willing or ready to obey orders than I am: but then I must like the orders and the orderer.”

Your loving Grandmother,

Lady Elder

Feeling quite pleased with himself, Morgan stood on Arianna’s doorstep, waiting for the door to open. He could hardly wait to tell her the good news he’d discovered earlier in the day and what he’d just come from doing. He wanted to tell her all that was in his heart, too. He wanted to pick her up, swing her around, and tell her he loved her.

He reached into his pocket and palmed the bottle her perfumed water had been in and smiled. He still couldn’t believe he’d been so impulsive as to have made love to her in her drawing room. Not that he was unhappy they had, but not even in his youth had he been reckless enough to seduce a lady in her drawing room. But then Arianna had him doing a lot of things he would have never done before meeting her.

The door opened. He took off his hat and said, “Good afternoon, Mrs. Hartford, I’m here to see Miss Sweet.”

Her eyes rounded, and she blinked rapidly for a few seconds before saying, “I’m sorry, my lord, Miss Sweet is not here.”

“No matter, I’m sure she will not mind my waiting until she returns, if you will be so kind as to show me where I might wait for her.”

Her eyes widened more, and Morgan got the first hint that all was not well.

“But, my lord, I don’t know when she will return.”

“Nonetheless, Mrs. Hartford, I have valuable information for her that I know she will want to hear. If it takes all evening, I shall wait for her.” Morgan walked past the woman and into the vestibule. He handed the woman his hat and started taking off his gloves.

“But, but…”

“But what, Mrs. Hartford?”

“I don’t think she’s coming back today. She took her trunks with her.”

Morgan’s hands went still on his gloves. He felt as if he turned to stone. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. Arianna had left? She had wanted to run yesterday when she’d first heard about Jessup and Post. But he thought he’d settled that for her last night when Rajaratnum was killed and Warburton was turned over to the magistrate.

“Where did she go?” he asked.

“She didn’t say.”

“Do you expect me to believe she just packed her bags and left with no word to you about where she was going or when she would return?”

“Yes, my lord. It’s the truth. Benson already had the carriage ready by the time I came below stairs.”

“What exactly did she say?”

“For me to take care of everything until she returned.”

That gave him some comfort. At least she didn’t expect to be gone forever. But why would she have left without telling him?

“Who went with her?”

“Just her maid Beabe, Benson her driver, and the footman.”

Thank God she wasn’t alone. “What time did they leave?”

“Sunrise.”

Morgan swore under his breath. It was already after five. Wherever she was going, she had a full day’s head start.

“Have you checked her room? Perhaps she left a note.”

“Yes, my lord. Her room has been cleaned, and there was no note.”

Morgan felt as if his stomach was twisting. “Then I want you to assemble all the servants immediately. I want to talk to them, maybe the scullery maid, the gardener, or perhaps the cook overheard a conversation. I want to talk to them all.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Immediately, Mrs. Hartford.”

The housekeeper rushed away. Morgan felt like putting his fist through a door. After what she went through with Warburton and Rajaratnum, Morgan should have insisted he come over last night. Why had he listened to her and stayed away? Because he had to plan everything out. He had to put everything in order, and what did Arianna do, she simply left. No planning, no thought.

But he would find her. He had no doubt he would find her. He just needed to think about where she might have gone. He knew she was overwrought because she didn’t have the formula. She wanted that legacy for her father. He was trying to be sensitive to her needs about that last night and give her the time she needed to collect herself.

Maybe she’d sent a note to his house. He hadn’t been home since early morning. It could have arrived after he left. Yes, there was the strong possibility that she had sent him word about where she was going. As soon as he talked to the servants, he’d go home.

Morgan swallowed past a lump in his throat. Surely she wouldn’t leave town without saying something to him, would she?

She would. She was impulsive, and it was one of the things he loved about her. He remembered seeing her dressed in the sari, when on impulse she had walked to the paddock. He was sure it was on that same kind of impetus that she’d donned the dance costume that afternoon in her room, and the thing that drove her to race to Warburton’s after he had told her to not to leave her house.

Yes, one of the things he loved about her was also one of the things he found so frustrating about her.

Morgan paced in the small vestibule, waiting for the servants to arrive. Damnation, why hadn’t he told her he loved her when he made love to her? Because he wasn’t sure he had fully realized it himself at that time. He’d been so selfish when he’d first taken her and then so eager to make it up to her. Maybe that had scared her. No. He shook his head. He was certain that hadn’t made her run away. She would never have responded to him the way she had after that if he had traumatized her, would she?

Why hadn’t he told her he loved her?

Because he didn’t want to believe it. He didn’t want to love her. He didn’t want to marry. Probably all those reasons. But last night when he’d seen her shoved against the wall with Rajaratnum’s hand around her neck… he knew then he couldn’t live without her.

Why hadn’t he told her he loved her then?

Because he had to make plans first. He had to do everything right, get everything settled. He wanted everything in place before he told her the good news he had for her and before he told her he loved her.

A low, bitter chuckle passed his lips, and he shook his head. And what had all his planning gotten him? He had just come from applying for a license to marry her, and now he didn’t even know where she was.

What would he do if she had gone back to India to look for that blasted formula? Could she have booked passage on a ship that quickly?

No, she wouldn’t go all the way back to India, looking for the formula, would she?

Yes, Arianna would.

But she hated being on that ship, and she had been so sick.

Morgan swore softly again and combed his hand through his hair. He was making himself crazy with ideas. He had to stop letting his imagination run wild. He had to plan. If none of the servants knew where she was, he would go home and see if he had a note from her. Constance’s house was on the way to his, so he’d stop there first and see if she had news from Arianna. If not, he’d pray he had a note from her. He couldn’t plan past that.

Less than half an hour later, Morgan was walking through his door, throwing off his coat, hat, and gloves as he went.

“My lord,” his butler said, rushing into the front hall, “Sir Randolph is in your book room, waiting to see you.”

“Did I receive a letter, a note, or anything this morning?”

“Several, my lord. Most everyone knows you are back in Town, and the invitations are pouring in. They are all on your desk.”

Morgan strode down the corridor toward his book room. He was in no mood for Gibby’s antics. What could the old fellow want anyway? Morgan couldn’t remember the last time Gibby had come to his house.

It had been raining almost steadily for two days, and the gloomy weather matched Morgan’s mood. He walked into the book room and saw Gibby standing at the window, but Morgan went immediately to his desk and started looking through the mail.

“It’s about time you got home. I’ve been waiting for you for over an hour.”

“You should have told me you were coming,” Morgan said without looking up from the correspondence. If he couldn’t tell who the note was from by the outside, he ripped it open, letting it fall to the desk and picking up another as soon as he could see it wasn’t from Arianna.

“You must be looking for something,” Gibby said, walking over to stand in front of the desk.

“Yes, but damnation, it isn’t here.” Morgan let the last letter flutter to his desk.

“You seem full of merriment this afternoon. What has you so happy?”

Morgan plopped down in his chair. “I’m not in the mood for your humor, Gib.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell by the gloomy look on your face or the frantic way you tore into your mail.”

Gibby walked over to Morgan’s sideboard and splashed port in two glasses. He set one down in front of Morgan and said, “Thank you, I don’t mind if I do have a drink with you,” when Morgan remained quiet.

Morgan picked up the glass and took a long drink before bringing the glass down from his mouth, coughing as he did. Port was too strong to drink so fast, but right now, he didn’t care. He didn’t want to believe Arianna had left without sending him some kind of word about where she was going. His denial that she had done that was fast turning to anger that she had.

“Since you are always minding my business, I think I might better mind yours for a while.”

“There’s a difference,” Morgan muttered. “You like for me to mind your affairs.”

“The hell I do,” Gibby said, taking a seat in front of the desk. “So did you ask her to marry you, and she turned you down?”

“Not exactly,” Morgan said, swirling the port around in the glass.

“What does ‘not exactly’ mean? She wants time to think about it? Most women do. That shouldn’t have you so riled.”

“It means I applied for a license today to marry her, but I haven’t told her about that because she’s left town, and I don’t know where the hell she’s gone. Now are you happy that you know?”

It was Gibby’s turn to take a long drink. “That puts you in one hell of a situation.”

“I don’t need you to state the blasted obvious, Gib.”

“I’m assuming you’ve checked with all the pertinent people who might know where she went. Servants, family, and friends. Mail.”

The old man’s attempt at humor didn’t get past Morgan but he was in no mood to be coddled. “Her servants and Constance are the only people who know her, and none of them have any idea where she went.”

Gibby got up and poured more wine into Morgan’s glass. “All right, let’s go backward and see if we can come up with something. Where did she come from?”

Morgan’s stomach rumbled, and his chest tightened. “India, and I sure as hell don’t want to think she’s gone back there.”

“First thing in the morning, I’ll have someone checking to see if any ships left for India today.”

“Blast it, Gib! I don’t know what I’ll do if she boarded a ship today.”

“Does she want or need to hide for any reason?”

Not now. Not with Rajaratnum dead and Warburton on his way to Newgate.

“Hide? No.”

“If she’s in any kind of trouble, or if she was frightened of anything, is India where she would feel safe?”

“I don’t know. I remember she told me one time that she felt safe at Valleydale.” Morgan jumped to his feet. “That’s it! She’s gone to Valleydale! That should have been the first place I thought of. Gib, you are a genius.”

The old man puffed out his chest and smiled. “I’m glad you finally realized that.”

Morgan emptied his glass, placed it on the desk, and headed toward the door.

Gibby rose. “Wait a minute, don’t you want to hear why I came over here and waited over an hour for you?”

Morgan stopped. “Oh, sorry, Gib, but I don’t have time to listen right now.”