Addicted to the Duke (Imperfect Lords #1)(70)

Alex gave up searching for the soap and lay back in the tub. “What now?”

“Lady Hestia is not in her room. I thought she might be with you.”

Alex bolted upright and reached for a towel. “She must be here. Where was she last seen?”

“My daughter said after her bath she decided to walk in the olive grove. She should be perfectly safe there.”

“Have you alerted Jacob and David?”

“Jacob is already organizing a search, but I cannot find Mr. Foxhall.”

Alex stopped rubbing himself dry and jumped from the tub, fear encasing his skin in ice. David and Hestia missing could not be a coincidence. How stupid could he be? Alex knew David was not happy with his decision to marry her. David most likely thought he was saving the girl from being married to a laudanum fiend, but David could get her killed, or worse, captured by Murad.

He threw the towel in the corner and pulled on his breeches. “How long has she been missing?” He had to know the head start the pair had.

“At least an hour.”

Hestia would not go quietly. That should slow them down. He stopped pulling his shirt over his head with the dreaded thought that David might drug her.

“David’s taken her.”

Costa’s mouth fell open.

“Believe me. He has. It’s a long story, my friend.”

Costa ran a hand through his hair. “But where could he take her? Unless you know the path through the cliffs, there is no way out of this bay.”

“He’s been here before. He knows.” As he finished dressing, Alex came to the only conclusion. “Can he access any of your boats?”

“He could, but he needs to know the exact route to take through the passageway or else he’s likely to sink any boat on the rocks.”

At least David had never navigated the passage. “The path then.” Alex moved even faster at that. “We have to stop him whichever way he’s chosen to leave.”

Alex, with Costa close behind, made his way through the night following the white bricks at the edge of the path to the beach. Jacob met him as he stepped down on the sand.

“None of the boats appear to be missing.”

“Then where the hell are they? Costa, did you send any men to check the path through the cliffs?”

“Yes. No sign of anyone going that way.”

“Then where the hell are they?” Jacob asked once again.

Alex paced the foreshore. Think, damn it. Where would you take her? He stopped and turned and began to run back to the village. “He hasn’t left. He’s still in the village.” Was he waiting for someone to arrive? Had he sold them out to Fredrick Cary? Or worse still, Murad?

Alex began to jog back to the village.

Jacob was at his heels behind him. “He may want the girl, but he’d never turn you over to Murad.”

“No, but he would give up her father to Fredrick Cary in exchange for Fredrick agreeing to let him wed Hestia. He doesn’t care about her money. He’d likely give it to Cary as well, as long as he gets Hestia as his wife.”

Jacob spat. “He can’t be that stupid. Cary can’t be trusted.”

“Perhaps he has another plan?”

They reached the cluster of white houses and Alex stopped so abruptly that Jacob almost crashed into him.

“Where would you hide?”

Jacob thought for a moment. “It can’t be in a house, unless one of the houses is empty.”

Costa, who’d caught up with them, shook his head. “None of the houses are empty.”

Alex’s nerves jangled. Where? Where could he be?

“The church.” Alex turned to Costa. “Is it left unlocked?”

“Of course.”

All three men took off at a run. Alex liked the feel of his two pistols banging against his hip in his coat pockets.

When they neared the church the men slowed and tried to be quiet as they stealthily surrounded the building.

“Alex, you and I will take the cloister rooms at the back. Costa and his men will cover the front.”

He merely brushed past Jacob and began to move toward the back of the church.

—

“Come on, Roberts, you’ve been paid enough money. There is no need to wait until she wakens.”

“She is unconscious. You told me it was in the woman’s best interest to marry you so I had assumed she was in agreement. I am not sure about being party to a forced marriage.”

“This is not about me being after her money. It’s about protecting her.”

The clergyman looked at Foxhall in disbelief. “Perhaps I should wait until she awakens and ask the lady. His Grace thinks he’s marrying the young lady, and I will not be party to wrongdoing where the Duke of Bedford is concerned, unless it is to save the girl.”

Foxhall’s fists curled and he bit back his terse reply. He looked toward the doors and wondered how long it would take Bedford to realize that he had not left Pentati. Not long. Alex was not stupid.

“It is to save the girl. His Grace is a man who will hurt her. He’s enthralled with opium and her life will be a misery.”

“During our discussion he sounded very lucid to me. I thought the lady was in fear of him, and that’s why I agreed to this plan. When we met in Mallorca you implied it was a matter of life and death for this young woman. That is why I agreed to meet you here at Pentati. It does not seem that is the case. No, I will not marry you until she can confirm her agreement.”