McGee stomped to his hideaway in an enclosed butler’s chair and climbed inside. He pulled his head back into the shadows—to hide his aggravated expression, Dominic supposed.
“Now we’ll suffer,” Nathan said, his eyebrows raised in the middle. “You suggested he isn’t following directions when he is and always does. He could hardly get Miss Weller to Mama if the girl hasn’t shown up yet.”
Dominic took his brother by the arm, pulled him to the back of the great hall and behind the staircase. “Stay there,” he said. “If Jane Weller does come, let McGee answer the door but be ready to pounce on the girl before she can enter, then carry her off to the Dower House. It would be a disaster if Gussy saw her.”
“She’ll scream. Have you thought of that?”
“Put your hand over her mouth until you’ve reassured her. Say Brother Juste sent you and she’s not to mention him, not to anyone. Then just tell her about Gussy being in the house and that will be enough. She’ll be grateful to be swept off her feet then. Mama won’t be so easily diverted. Take her aside and explain how we’re helping a monk.”
“Dominic! If Mama discovers you’ve turned into a liar, she’ll be crushed.” Nathan looked truly concerned.
“Please do it,” Dominic said. “Trust me. She’ll do what we ask and she would do something similar if we were in need of help. Now I have to make sure Gussy doesn’t get wind of anything.”
Nathan wrinkled his nose. “I must say I was a bit miffed when I learned Gussy was here to see you. Always thought she had a thing for me.”
“She probably isn’t here to further any romantic notions.”
“Why is she, then?”
“I hope to find that out shortly, don’t I?” Dominic said, not looking forward to the interview. “Before I go in there…any rumors floating around? Anything that might be useful dealing with this kidnapper?”
“Not a thing. No hint of an abduction last night. But then, we wouldn’t expect an announcement, would we? We’ll have to rely mostly on luck and we need to question the Weller girl at length.”
“And we will,” Dominic said. He glanced at Nathan. “If she shows up, as I rather think she will.”
“She could have lost her nerve and made a run for it. Gone home perhaps.” Nathan looked glum.
“Cheer up,” Dominic said. “A man doesn’t think straight when he’s feeling sorry for himself.” When his brother’s green eyes took on the quality of a depressed cat, trouble was almost always on the horizon. They said Nathan’s flamboyant good looks drove the women wild but Dominic couldn’t see it himself.
Nathan’s mouth had thinned and only a fool would fail to sense a gathering storm. “It may be easy for you to take a devil-may-care attitude toward the flowers of womanhood being borne off by a pervert. Not for me. How long can it be before this twisted criminal decides he may as well have his way with them? After all, he’s worked out his little plan very well. If they won’t mention being stolen away because they’re afraid of innuendo, they’re unlikely to announce that they’ve been ravished.”
“Quite.” Dominic lost sleep over the same fears, but he’d allow Nathan to think he’d invented these black thoughts. “Let’s not worry until we have to.”
“All very well for you to say,” Nathan grumbled. “From the look of you when you left your cozy session with Miss Toogood, your necessities had been—if not satisfied—pleasurably excited. A very healthy thing, that. My own necessities show signs of withering away. I need some stimulation.”
“Withering away?” Dominic said, glancing toward the corridor where the study awaited him. “Not sure I should like to witness that. Do something about it, old chap.”
Nathan crossed his arms and said, “Have your fun. The last laugh will be mine. Did you get a message from brother John? About Noel DeBeaufort?”
“Yes.” Dominic closed his eyes. “Does John think he’s the only Elliot with a great deal on his mind? Having new grounds designed at this point is overwhelming.”
“The trouble is,” Nathan said, “I think John’s trying to show his interest and do something nice for the property and the family. And everyone’s doing it so we might as well be prepared for upheaval.”
“Heatherly is beautiful as it is,” Dominic said, with more than a little anger. “We’ll have to keep an eye out for marauding villains in heavy boots. I must get on. I can’t put Gussy off any longer.”
“Agreed,” Nathan said helpfully.
“McGee,” Dominic said, crossing to the butler’s wicker chair and sticking his head inside. “No offense, man. Things are a bit tense. Sure you understand. If this Miss Weller comes, Lord Nathan will stop her from coming into the house and take her to Mama himself. Not a thing for you to worry about.” He sighed. “And now I suppose I must join Miss Arbuthnot.”
McGee nodded and rested his head in a corner again.
Bloody servants, Dominic thought. The more you were inclined to treat a man with respect, the more he made you suffer for living at all.
Now to Gussy. Dominic entered the corridor with reluctance and scuffed over a long, dark, Chinese runner until he reached his destination. He applied a knuckle to the door and walked in.
Gussy Arbuthnot, with surprising purple marks beneath her brown eyes, stood motionless, a few feet inside the door. When she saw Dominic, she smiled and some of her natural impishness returned.
“Good afternoon, Gussy,” Dominic said, disconcerted by the subdued manner of this long-term acquaintance.
“Hello, Dominic. Forgive me for arriving unexpectedly but I had to see you.”
A leap of hope quickly followed Dominic’s idea that she might be about to confide in him about the kidnapper. Although that might mean there was some suspicion about his own activities in this and certain other matters. “You’re always welcome,” he told her. “You don’t seem your usual cheerful self. Does that have something to do with your being here?”
Gussy, of average height but with a voluptuous body, walked slowly around the paneled study, the rich materials of her dress and pelisse rustling as she went. Nathan always suggested she was plain but in fact Gussy’s golden hair and bright eyes, her dimpled cheeks, her softly curving mouth—and her softly curving body—made for a delightful package and the failure of some man to snap her up only underscored Dominic’s opinion that a good many fellows were light-brains.
“Sit down,” he said, more abruptly than he’d intended. “Here, take this chair. I’ll call for refreshments. Hot chocolate, perhaps.” She looked as if a restorative would be in order.
“No, thank you.” She clutched her gloved hands together in her lap. “Nothing at all. I wish to talk to you about my reputation.”
It was possible, thought Dominic while his spine prickled, that he had in his presence the answer to his prayers. She was going to spill the beans about her ordeal.
“Has something unfortunate happened to you, Gussy?” he asked, pulling up a straight-backed chair and sitting with their legs all but touching. “Has someone…done something to you? Say it isn’t so.”
“No.” Color rose in her pale cheeks. “That’s just it. Nothing has happened and I’m about to enter my third Season. Third. I’m on the shelf!” She burst into wracking sobs and covered her face.
She took advantage of Dominic’s vulnerable position, his being so close, and rose from the chair to throw herself into his arms—and land on his lap.
Hellfire. “Hush, Gussy, hush. Collect yourself.”
“I c-can’t.” She gripped him around the neck and pressed her face against his shoulder. “I need a f-friend. I have been turned aside by the man I loved. Turned aside repeatedly…ignored. No, not ignored. He doesn’t know I’m alive.”
Dominic longed to ask the fellow’s name. “Everything will be all right,” he said and patted her back awkwardly.
“Will you help me, Dominic?” She raised her head and the misery in her face touched him. “Everyone knows you are to be at every affair this year because of your poor little charge. One of your servants spoke to one of ours, you know. You’ve taken in an impoverished relative? Really, you are so generous. Look after me, too. I won’t be any trouble. Only dance with me now and again and show some interest in me and I shall be sought after. You—could—change—” She sobbed so hard she had to pause. “You could change—my life, Dominic. My very life. You could save me.”
For an instant he’d feared the story of Jane Weller was out. But bloody hell. What to say? “You know I will be a friend, Gussy. Not that I think you need one when you are as attractive a woman as you are.”
She sniffed and blew her nose in a tiny, lace-edged handkerchief. “You think so?”
“Absolutely.” He must be mad, but the poor thing’s confidence had been badly shaken and a dance or two wouldn’t cost him anything. Although…by Jove, he needed help himself. Not one or even two, but three women would expect his attention. Dominic smelled disaster. That brother of his must do his part.
“I have to go, Gussy,” he said. “I’m sorry to desert you at such a time, but estate business calls.”
“Of course, my angel.” She smiled adoringly at him. “And you are my angel. I will be very kind to your little relation, you know, and I’ll make sure all the ladies welcome her.”
“Thank you, Gussy. That’s kind.” He meant it but rapidly helped Gussy to her feet and gave her a moment to shake out her skirts and poke at her hair before ushering her from the room.
He heard the great front door open an instant before Nathan rushed past the end of the corridor. “My pet!” he roared, arms outstretched. “You’re here at last.”
“That was Nathan,” Gussy said and hastened her walk to the great hall. “I wasn’t very polite to him when I arrived. Nathan!”
Other than leaping to restrain her, Dominic couldn’t imagine a way to stop Gussy’s headlong flight after his brother.
They skidded into the hall where McGee, his wig askew to reveal a shock of graying red hair, made flapping gestures as if urging Dominic and his guest to return to the study.
Muffled squeals seemed very loud.
“Nathan,” Gussy cried.
Dominic was barely in time to see his tall brother retreating through the front door with a pair of slim female ankles and well-polished black boots kicking up white petticoats at the level of his broad shoulders.