Deadly Peril Read Online Free PDF Page B

pardon my nephew for statin’ the bleedin’ obvious!”
    “Stop it! Both of you!” she demanded and rapped the old man on the velvet knee with the closed sticks of her fan. “I know what you’re about—both of you!”
    “You do?” uncle and nephew said in unison.
    “You’re trying to divert me from the horrid fact Emily is in the clutches of a Continental lunatic! But I won’t be diverted. Please! Don’t apologize.” She appealed to Alec. “Just be serious a moment, and tell me truthfully that you know, in your heart of hearts, this Prince Viktor isn’t the sort of mad monster who would kidnap a sweet girl and a gentleman who couldn’t hurt a fly and demand a treasure chest of gems and coin. Can you do that…?”
    Alec did not hesitate. “Yes, I can do that, but—”
    “Oh, thank God!” the Duchess said on a loud sigh and closed her eyes, a gloved hand pressed to the little silk bows of her heaving bodice. And then she caught the word but and opened her eyes wide. “There is a but ?!”
    “Yes. Viktor has two elder siblings. A half brother and sister—twins. Prince Ernst and Princess Joanna. Prince Ernst is the Margrave you mentioned in your letter who is holding firm in the north. Castle Herzfeld is located there, on the hill of the coastal port. It is an impregnable fortress. Enormous. Thick outer walls, an inner wall, and a deep moat between both. And in its center a magnificent castle, with turrets, towers, and a labyrinth of palace buildings.”
    The Duchess’s shoulders slumped. “So you think it is this brother, this Prince Ernst, who is holding Emily and Cosmo prisoner?”
    “Yes. In all probability,” Alec said and huffed his exasperation. “But it’s conjecture until I’ve spoken with Lord Cobham, and read the letter for myself. Only then can I make better sense of this imbroglio, and hopefully have a much clearer notion of Emily and Cosmo’s situation, and what I must do to ensure I bring them safely home. What is it, Wantage?” he asked, as his butler trod lightly across the room.
    “Lord Cobham and Sir Gilbert Parsons, my lord.”
    Alec had only time to raise his eyebrows in surprise when the Duchess burst out,
    “Splendid! I demanded they come here first thing this morning. They’re late. Now you will have your answers, my boy, and then we can finally do something!”
    Alec refrained from commenting that he would have preferred to call on the head of the Foreign Department in his office, and said to his butler, “Thank you, Wantage. We will see his lordship and Sir Gilbert in here.”
    “Yes, my lord,” the butler responded, and with a slight clearing of his throat added quietly, “Mr. Jeffries would like a word…”
    “He will have to wait,” Alec said, staring past his butler’s shoulder and out the window at the blue sky above the Green Park. “And so will Cromwell and Mazarin…”
    “If I could make a suggestion, my lord…?” Wantage asked, and continued when his master gave a nod of assent. “As Mr. Jeffries is now your lordship’s valet, perhaps he could take the hounds for a run about the park?”
    “Yes, perhaps he could,” Alec responded placidly, ignoring his butler’s self-satisfied smile.
    He knew very well Wantage was pleased Hadrian Jeffries had replaced Tam as his lordship’s gentleman’s gentleman. His butler had never taken to Tam Fisher. But telling Wantage the good news that Tam was returning to St. James’s Place as a member of the household and not a servant could wait until he had spoken with Jeffries. But Lord Cobham and Sir Gilbert could not wait. Though it did not mean his two faithful greyhounds should forego their morning exercise, however much he wished he could take them off their leads for a run about in the sunshine. Giving the task to Jeffries would certainly test that man’s mettle—having his immaculate person pawed and nuzzled by a couple of friendly hounds. He might even get the chance to peer out the window to see how