The Duke Conspiracy (33 page)

“I have a concern I would like to discuss
with you as quietly as possible,” Elizabeth glanced around as she
spoke, heightening Alex's awareness of the young lady's
distress.

“Is everything all right with you, Lady
Elizabeth?” Alex asked, as he offered her his elbow and guided her
toward a small alcove that was momentarily abandoned.

Elizabeth did not bother with beating around
the bush, merely launching into her explanation. “I apologize for
disturbing you, Your Grace, and please excuse my forward behavior,
but I did not know who else to turn to.”

Alex blinked over the girl's words, but
merely nodded encouragingly, unsure what this was leading to.

Elizabeth took a deep breath and began her
tale. “I was standing on the side of the dance floor waiting for my
next partner when I saw Rose for the first time this evening. She
looked preoccupied, but when our eyes met she smiled a greeting and
looked as though she were about to wave and come towards me. But
just as she was raising her arm, I saw Sir Broderick grab it. He
said a few words to her and then they left the room together. She
did not struggle or anything like that, but I cannot believe she
would have voluntarily left with him. Rose really does not like
him.”

At the lady's mention of Broderick, Alex had
felt all the air rush out of his lungs and he had felt lightheaded
for a brief moment, but he managed to contain himself and listened
to whatever she had to share.

“I thought to tell Rose's parents, or at
least her mother, who I saw sitting with the other chaperones
across the room over there, but there would be too much explanation
required. Do you know what I should do, Your Grace? I am terribly
afraid that something bad has just happened to my friend.”

Lady Elizabeth finally stopped talking and
stood before him wringing her hands. Alex didn't wish to terrify
her, but he very much feared the same thing. Keeping his voice as
calm as possible, he asked her a few questions.

“How long ago was this, my lady?”

“I cannot be certain, but I believe it is no
more than fifteen minutes ago, although it feels longer because I
have become increasingly scared. But it was just before the waltz,
then there was a quadrille, and now they are just striking up the
cotillion.”

“Very good, my lady, now are you absolutely
certain it was Sir Broderick who approached Miss Smythe?”

“Yes, Your Grace, I am absolutely certain. I
would recognize his distinctive face and short stature anywhere.
Besides, the look of distaste upon Rose's face was also very
recognizable.” Despite her nerves, Elizabeth smiled over this
thought.

“Thank you, my lady, you are being most
helpful. Now, are you certain no one else noticed this exchange
between them?”

Elizabeth shook her head. “Not completely
certain, Your Grace, but even if anyone remarked upon it, there was
no evidence of anything. Rose did not struggle or call out, and
aside from his grip on her arm, there did not seem to be anything
he was doing to force her. If I did not know her feelings about
him, I would not have thought much of it. But I
do
know. And
that, coupled with the fact that I cannot now find her, leads me to
believe that he has taken her somewhere.”

Alex could see that Rose's friend was getting
worked up and he tried to soothe her to avoid any attention being
drawn to their predicament. “Perhaps we are getting worried over
nothing, but I will look into the matter. Can you remember which
direction they went?”

He was relieved as Elizabeth pulled her
fraying wits back together and looked out from the alcove. Pointing
toward the orchestra she said, “I was over there, facing toward the
dance floor, with my back toward the musicians. Rose was almost
directly across from me. When they turned away I could see their
backs, so they went in the direction of the retiring rooms, but I
already looked there.”

“Very good, thank you. That was an
excellently detailed description. I am going to go and do some
discreet investigating of my own. Could you find Lord Dunbar and
tell him what you have just told me?”

Elizabeth appeared to be grateful to receive
an assignment and without another word hurried away to do as he had
asked. Alex stood looking around, glad for his height as he was
able to get a better idea of what was around. Seeing a few doors
and passageways at the back of the ballroom in the direction
Elizabeth had indicated he set off at once. Passing the wall of
windows on his way by, Alex glanced toward them, but there was
nothing he could see except the reflection of the dancing
crowds.

It was so very difficult to hurry in a
crowded ballroom, especially when one is a duke. Alex tried to keep
a pleasant expression on his face and made every attempt to avoid
being drawn into any conversation as he made his way through. With
a smile and a nod to whoever hailed him, he finally reached his
destination. The first door he reached was locked. He hoped
Broderick and Rose had had as much difficulty getting through the
crowds as he had, he thought distractedly,
or else they will
have an even greater lead on me.

Next to the locked door there was a hallway
that was not lit welcomingly like the rest of the space opened up
to the Rotherhams' guests. Alex set off down that passage, hoping
he was not chasing a dead end. There were a couple of doors off
this passage, but his investigation proved they were merely closets
and storage areas, not large enough to be containing a missing lady
and a wayward knight.

Alex finally reached a door at the end, he
surmised from the turns he had taken that it might lead outside. It
was not locked. Opening the door, he stepped out into the cool
night, angry and terrified to see a carriage in the distance as it
pulled out onto the street. Even if it contained his Rose, there
was nothing he could do to stop it from this distance. With disgust
he turned back to the doorway and nearly collided with Wesley.

Cursing in his frustration, Alex gritted his
teeth to stem the flow of his vitriol. He was glad to see the
viscount and it was not his fault they were too late to save the
lady.

“Thank you for coming, Dunbar. Unfortunately,
I think we just missed her. If Broderick has taken her, they just
drove away in that carriage.”

“Are you sure? Did you see her?” Alex had not
seen Elizabeth and was surprised to see her stepping out from
behind Wesley.

Alex's look of disbelief directed at the
viscount merely produced a sheepish shrug. “She would not be denied
the opportunity of looking for her missing friend. I did not wish
to waste my time arguing with her when I could be helping you with
the search.”

“I do not think a search will produce
anything but causing a commotion. If at all possible we shall have
to try to retrieve Rose without anyone amongst the
ton
finding out that she has gone missing. I am quite certain that they
have left the premises, so we shall have to formulate a plan to
figure out where they might have taken her. And why.” Alex looked
at Lady Elizabeth, feeling sorry for his next words. “I am so sorry
to have to tell you this, my lady, but you will not be able to
accompany us. You will have the difficult task of getting through
the rest of your night pretending as though nothing is amiss. I
will try my best to keep you informed as soon as we know anything,
but it most likely will not be before tomorrow. Do you think you
can manage that? We might need to call on you soon in order to
preserve Rose's reputation.”

“I will keep myself in readiness, Your Grace.
Do not trouble yourself about me. I am not in any danger, except
that of boredom. I do believe I shall soon find my mother and plead
a headache, as there is no way I will be able to enjoy the rest of
the ball. But you two hurry along and do whatever needs to be
done.” Alex was about to dismiss her from his mind as he had so
many things to do, but then Elizabeth continued with another
thought. “Your Grace, did I do the right thing in telling you
instead of her parents? Do you not think we should tell them? Now
that you are chasing after her, should I find Lady Smythe and let
her know what is going on?”

Alex hesitated. He knew Rose had planned on
telling her father about Sir Broderick, but he was unsure if she
had managed to keep his name out of the situation. The fact that
she had been at the ball this evening proved she had not been
banished as she had feared. But did that also mean she had not had
a chance to tell her father anything?

“Clearly Lady Smythe has to be told
something, or else she will cause a scene when she cannot find her
daughter,” Wesley pointed out reasonably.

Alex laughed. “Lady Smythe does not cause
scenes. It is her abiding motto. But you are quite correct. She
must be told something. I would prefer to deal with Lord Smythe
myself. Do either of you know if he is here this evening?”

“I did not see him, Your Grace,” Elizabeth
replied, while Wesley merely shrugged and shook his head.

“All right. I will collect my servants and
try to glean as much information as possible. The good news is I
had already set someone to the task of watching Broderick, so
hopefully we will know something very soon. I will go and try to
speak to Lord Smythe, if you two could try to get Lady Smythe out
of here without her raising a hue and a cry over her daughter.”

Wesley cast a skeptical glance at his friend.
“Are you quite certain you are up to the task of facing Lord Smythe
on your own?”

“There is very little other choice, my
friend, but thank you for your concern,” Alex grinned at the
viscount. “I actually am of the opinion that the two of you have
the harder task. At least in the privacy of his own home the baron
can react however he sees fit.”

“Thank you, Your Grace, for your help in this
matter. I will speak with Lady Smythe, and then perhaps Lord Dunbar
can escort her home. I will collect my own mama and wait at our
home for any news. I dearly wish that I could be helping in some
way.”

Before he left, Alex squeezed the young
woman's hand comfortingly. “Do not mistake the matter, my lady, you
have been a great deal of help. If not for you, we would not even
realize that anything was amiss until it was much later. Now we
might be able to get this all straightened out before
daybreak.”

Rose still had her teeth clenched together to
control the chatter they wished to make. She could see very little
through the carriage's dirty windows. Being unfamiliar with the
part of town they were driving through anyway, she would not have
been able to figure out where they were, even if she could see
well. She tried again to reason with her captor.

“Where are you taking me, my lord?”

“Somewhere where you won't be causing me any
more grief,” came the flat reply.

“Are you planning on killing me?” she asked
with as firm a voice as she could muster.

“You really aren't the usual sort of Miss,
are you?” Broderick stated, with a glimmer of respect showing in
his tone. “Any young lady I've ever had the misfortune of dealing
with would be screaming blue murder by this point, or else
prostrate in a dead faint.”

“Have you had much experience in abducting
young ladies in the past, my lord?” Rose asked tartly.

This brought an amused twist to his lips.
“Not overmuch experience, Miss, but I do find your sort to usually
be much less in control of their wits than you.”

Broderick finally looked straight at her
which caused a sense of foreboding to descend upon Rose. She tried
valiantly to ignore it.

“How did you find out about my plans for the
Duke of Wrentham?” he asked almost pleasantly.

She didn't see any point in avoiding the
truth. “I overheard you speaking to Lord Austen at the Countess of
Yorkleigh's musicale. It was during the intermission. The two of
you were sitting a couple of rows behind me. You obviously did not
notice me, or else you thought I was too far away to hear you. In
fact, I did not hear most of what you were saying as I was
distracted by watching everyone milling about, but when you
mentioned Wrentham's name my ears perked up.”

“And so then you had to run out and tell him
about it, didn't you?” Broderick sneered.

Rose shrugged, refusing to be cowed by the
likes of him. “It seemed like the best course of action at the
time.”

“What did you hope to gain by telling His
Grace?”

“I hoped to save him from your clutches,”
Rose brazenly replied.

“But instead it is you who is in my
clutches,” Broderick taunted.

Again Rose shrugged, although this time it
was a bit forced. “I am most certain my father will save me.”

“Your father will not even know of your
disappearance for a few more hours yet, and then when he does there
will be the note you are going to write to explain it all
away.”

“What do you hope to gain by all of this?”
Rose inquired, ignoring his reference to any note writing. At the
back of her mind, she was busily trying to compose a note that
would send a message to her father without alerting Broderick to
her plans.

“I guess there's no harm in telling you. If I
can keep your father distracted and you out of the way, I plan to
get the Prince to sign over to me control of the lands he is about
to regain during the negotiations in Paris.”

“But why would he sign them over to you? Are
you even acquainted with His Majesty?” Rose was puzzled over the
knight's ambitions.

“Of course I am acquainted with Prinny. And
he is going to sign them over to me because I have been working
studiously at convincing him that I would be the best man for the
job. I would have had the duke's influence to seal the deal if not
for your interference, but if your father isn't around to sway him
otherwise, I should still be able to make it all come about.”