Read Online Ducal Encounters 02 - With the Duke's Approval by Wendy Soliman - Free Book Online

drowned out before now by the storm. She looked more closely, astonished to see such a large tree in the area. A large tree with strong branches. Just like the ones she and boys delighted in climbing when they were younger. She shook her head. It was many years since she had climbed a tree. Besides, those trees had not been covered in frost and snow, nor had they been situated in an area with which she was unfamiliar. Even if she escaped, she was in a derelict part of town, wearing a ball gown and sacking slippers. She would be set upon in seconds, if only for the value of the silk gown.
    She shook her head and returned to her chair, the brief hope that had flared quickly diminished. Escape was impossible.
    Close to tears of despair, her head jerked up when she heard a new voice on the other side of the wall. A voice that exuded authority, and to which the other two men deferred. This, presumably, was the person who had come to talk to her.
    “Is she here?”
    “Yes, sir. In there.”
    “Let me see.”
    Anna straightened her spine, expecting the door to open at any moment. Instead, a flap was pushed up in the wall beside the door and a light shone through it. It blinded Anna, and she covered her eyes. The light was abruptly withdrawn, the flap closed, and Anna’s ears were assaulted by colourful swearing.
    “You fools! You got the wrong woman.”
    “But…but you said to get the one with the colourful shawl. You said she would be on the terrace at some point. She was the only one out there, and she was wearing a colourful shawl.”
    Dear God, it wasn’t her they had wanted, Anna thought desperately. It was Frankie. What would they do with her now? She wasn’t left in ignorance for long.
    “That is Lady Annalise Sheridan, the sister to a duke,” the newcomer said. “Perdition, the duke will make the devil of a stink about this.”
    Most certainly!
    “How were we to know?” one of the men asked peevishly.
    Anna heard a sharp slapping noise—a hand striking flesh—and someone cried out. She thought it was her original abductor. Anna hoped it hurt like the devil. She tried to still the frantic beating of her heart and think what this latest development signified. Nothing to her benefit, that much was immediately apparent. Her mind felt sluggish, affected by the biting cold, and thinking was almost too much effort. The newcomer knew who she was, but Anna didn’t recognise his voice. He sounded foreign, speaking English with a heavy accent. Thoughts of Count von Hessel, Miss Outwood’s future husband, flooded her brain, she was unsure why. There had been a lot of foreign dignities at the ball that evening, and she had been introduced to several of them, but not von Hessel. He and Frankie knew one another, but she knew a lot of the others, too. What possible reason would any of them have to abduct her?
    One factor did manage to penetrate her addled brain. It was unlikely she would be offered an apology and returned home.
    “You will have to get rid of her,” the newcomer said. Anna gasped, her worse fears realised. “But leave it until I am well clear of the district.”
    ***
    “Whom do I think abducted Lady Annalise?” Clarence repeated Winchester’s question in a measured tone, cupping his chin in his hand as he thought about it. “I would give a very great deal to know not only whom by, but why. I am completely without firm intelligence to guide me. I had absolutely no idea anything like this was planned, which in itself is unusual. It’s such an audacious crime that word really ought to have leaked out.”
    “You both think this was no opportunistic abduction?” Vince asked, sharing a glance between Clarence and Winchester.
    “Romsey’s situation has given him the opportunity to make a lot of enemies,” Winchester told his brother.
    “Part and parcel of my role,” Clarence replied indifferently.
    “There were a lot of foreigners at the duchess’s ball,” Nate remarked.
    “The prince regent