The Seduction (55 page)

"Margaret laughed at them," Cornelia went on, her shaking voice breaking into his thoughts. "She laughed. She thought you were behind it, that you'd sent Italian bandits to kidnap her again. She thought it was a joke. Oh, God!"

"Darling," Edward said, pulling back to give her a hard shake, "try to get hold of yourself. Where did they go?"

"I don't know. They hit Howell over the head and took Maggie away on horseback. They t-told me t-to come back here and t-tell you that they'll be sending you instructions later," she said to Trevor. "And, and . . ." She paused, shuddering, then went on, "They said this is a vendetta against you. If you contact the police or anyone else, they'll kill her."

Trevor turned to the white-faced servants who had gathered by the front steps. "
Chivers
," he said to the butler, "Have a footman send for Doctor Travers to see to Howell. He's hurt."

"Very good, sir. Shall I send for the magistrate?"

"No, not yet. Alice?" He turned to the
parlormaid
. "Fetch some brandy for Lady Kettering and bring it into the drawing room. Edward, let's get her inside."

Edward nodded and escorted his sobbing wife into the house. They took her into the drawing room, where a shot of brandy helped her compose herself.

"Why?" she asked helplessly. "Why would they do this?"

"For money?" Edward guessed. "Maybe we'll get a ransom note."

Trevor shook his head. "No, it wouldn't be for money." He considered for a moment. "Over the necklace?" he murmured, raking a hand through his hair. "Why would he take Margaret because of the necklace? That doesn't make sense."

"What necklace?" Cornelia asked. "Do you know who these men are?"

"I've a pretty good idea, yes."

She sniffed into a handkerchief and snuggled closer to her husband. "They didn't say anything about a necklace."

Trevor sat motionless for a few minutes, thinking back on every encounter he'd had with Lucci during the past ten years. Every time Lucci had appropriated one of his finds, he'd either been able to get it back or steal something of equal value in return. It had always been something of a game between them, and Lucci had never done anything like this before.

Another possibility struck him, one that made far more sense. Isabella.

All of this had to be because of Isabella, because he'd slept with Isabella on his last night in Cairo. He'd slept with
Lucci's
wife, and now Lucci was going to—

"Oh, Christ! I'll kill him!" He jumped to his feet and ran for the door, oblivious to Edward and Cornelia, who were staring at him as if he'd suddenly gone mad. Perhaps he had. Thoughts and memories and bits of conversation were tumbling through his mind like the shifting colors of a kaleidoscope. "
Chivers
!" he shouted. "
Chivers
, get in here!"

The butler appeared within moments, as unruffled and calm as only an English butler could be under such circumstances. "Yes, sir?"

"
Chivers
, what was it you were telling me a month ago about the
kitchenmaid
? She was walking out with an Italian, wasn't she?"

"Yes, sir. An Italian sailor, staying at a rooming house in Dover." The butler's long nose quivered with disapproval. "You said at the time, sir, that who Annie walked out with on her afternoon off was no one else's business."

"It is now," Trevor answered grimly. "Send her in here, would you?"

"Very good, sir." The butler bowed and departed.

"What are you thinking?" Edward asked. "Could there be a connection?"

"I don't know, but they must have been spying on the house, waiting for an opportunity to take Maggie. How would four Italian men go unnoticed in a quiet English village?"

"They wouldn't. Staying in Dover, claiming to be sailors on leave would be a perfect disguise, if they could get information about the house and its routine."

"Who better to give them that information than a
kitchenmaid
?"

Edward shook his head. "But again, why?
Lucci's
never done anything like this out of spite. You don't think it's money. What other reason could there be?"

"A very good one, I think. The leader mentioned a vendetta." He glanced at Cornelia. Wanting her out of the room, he said, "You're still distraught. Perhaps you should lie down."

She frowned at him. "I'm not going anywhere. Why would these men want revenge on Maggie?"

"Not Maggie. Me." Trevor briefly related the history of his contact with Lucci, ending with circumstances of
Henet's
necklace and his brief tryst with Isabella. Cornelia's reaction was exactly what he expected.

"You slept with that man's wife? How could you?" She rose to her feet, her distressed expression giving way to outrage. She twisted the handkerchief in her hands as if she wanted to wring his neck with it. "No wonder he's after you. If Maggie gets hurt because of you-"

"I never claimed to lead a blameless life, madam," he snapped, angrier with himself than he was with her. He knew that at this moment Maggie could be suffering the worst possible consequences of his actions. "It happened before I ever met Maggie. And if it's any consolation to you," he added grimly, "you may flay me with a
buggywhip
when this is all over. It's nothing less than I'd do to myself, I assure you."

"Don't tempt me," she shot back.

"Stop this, both of you. Recrimination and guilt are hardly useful now. The question is, what do we do next?" Edward asked.

At that moment, Annie arrived. The red-haired maid bobbed a curtsy and gazed at Trevor with wide green eyes. "You sent for me, sir?"

"Yes, Annie. Sit down."

She plopped down in the nearest chair as if afraid to come any further into the room.

Trevor leaned against the fireplace and folded his arms. "I understand from
Chivers
that you've been walking out with an Italian sailor from Dover?"

"Yes, sir. Mr.
Chivers
told me I shouldn't, that it don't look respectable, him being a foreigner, sir, and a sailor." She swallowed hard. "Am I in trouble, sir?"

"No, Annie, but your mistress might be."

Astonished, she stared at him. "It's true, then? Alice came
runnin
' in
ter
the kitchen and told us her ladyship been kidnapped by bandits, but Alice is always
makin
' up stories, and Cook and me thought she was
havin
' us on, sir."

"Well, we don't know what's happened yet, Annie, but we think the Italian fellow you've been walking out with might be involved in her disappearance."

Annie burst into a flood of tearful explanations. "Oh, sir, I wasn't
meanin
' anything by it. Indeed, I wasn't. But he was ever so handsome, and had the nicest manners. Mr.
Chivers
, he said I shouldn't be
walkin
' out with no foreigner, but I don't see why that's so. I usually walks out with Davy—he's the fishmonger's son, sir. But Davy was starting to take me for granted." She tossed her head. "Fit to be tied, I was, and—"

"Yes, I'm sure," Trevor cut in tersely, uninterested in his
kitchenmaid's
love life. "Annie, tell me about this Italian fellow."

She sniffed into her sleeve. "His name's Antonio, sir. Tony, we all call him."

The name confirmed Trevor's suspicions. Antonio was
Lucci's
brother.

"Well, sir," Annie went on, "I met him at the bakery about a month ago. Sunday, it was, just after service. He was
goin
' to pay three pence for a current bun and dish of tea, and I told him that was highway robbery—" She broke off, and flushed a deep red at her poor choice of words. "Anyway, sir, that's how we met."

"And so, you started walking out with him? Did he ask you questions about the house?"

"Yes, sir, ever so curious he was. He wanted to know the routine, sir, and when her ladyship went riding, and was she going to town for the Season. Things like that."

"Annie, if Tony were involved in the disappearance of my wife, do you know where he and his friends might have taken her?"

She blushed again, lowering her head. "Well, sir, sometimes I'd meet him in the grove just past Purvis Lodge," she mumbled. "The house is locked up since old Purvis died last summer and they're still
tryin
' to find his son who's off in Australia or someplace like that, so it's deserted there. But I'm sure Tony wouldn't kidnap her ladyship. He has the nicest manners."

Trevor turned to Edward. "Purvis Lodge. That's it."

Annie stood up. "Will that be all, sir?"

He waved at her to go, and the maid scurried out like a frightened mouse. Cornelia shook her head, watching Annie depart. "Silly girl, walking out with a man she doesn't even know." She glanced at Trevor. "Do you really think they're at Purvis Lodge?"

"Why not?" he countered. "It's the perfect place. It's deserted, it's surrounded by woods, it's boarded up like a fortress, and it's only a mile from here. What better place to take her?"

Edward rose to his feet. "What are you going to do?"

"Lucci wants to see me. I'll just pay him a visit before he makes the invitation."

"You're not going alone," Edward said stoutly. "I'm coming with you."

"No." Trevor shook his head. "I'm sending you for the magistrate."

Margaret strained against the ropes that bound her wrists behind the back of her chair, but her struggles were futile. The ropes simply would not loosen, and she was rubbing her wrists raw by trying. The bonds around her ankles were no more cooperative. They hadn't gagged her, but Margaret didn't see how that was going to help her. They were deep in the woods— if she screamed, no one would hear her.

She glanced across the dusty drawing room at the two men playing cards. The windows were boarded up, and the room was lit only by a lamp on the table between the two men. She knew the other two were outside, but that was all she knew. Their conversation was always in Italian.

And they were villains. She thought of the other time she'd been kidnapped and how she had thought Emilio an evil, horrible man. But he had been kindness itself in comparison with these blackguards. She shivered, remembering the groping fingers of the animal who had tied her up, who now sat playing cards as if he hadn't a care in the world. Lucci, the others called him.