The Handmaiden's Necklace (22 page)

Preparations for the journey began. Caro helped Dani pack for the weeklong trip, but instead of being excited, Danielle’s worry continued to build.

She loved Rafael—she knew that now, knew, as well, the more time she spent with him, the deeper that love would grow. And the awful truth was, there was every chance she would lose him.

At the time of the wedding, she had never considered it. Aunt Flora had believed Rafe owed her marriage, but neither she nor her aunt had any idea how desperately his family needed an heir. Neither of them had ever imagined that Rafe might consider divorce.

She was thinking about the grim possibility when Rafael called her into his study the day before their departure.

Though he smiled at her as he rose from behind his desk, her heart beat with uncertainty. “You wished to see me?”

“I’m sorry, love, something’s come up and it looks as if I’m going to have to change my plans.”

“What’s happened?”

“I’ve just received a note from Colonel Pendleton. Hal has requested a meeting, and as it is a matter of some importance, I am obliged to attend.”

Rafe wasn’t going with them! Dani felt a dizzying wave of relief. She could travel to the country with Caro and her aunt, escape her husband’s powerful presence at least for the next several days, long enough to collect her scattered thoughts.

“I understand completely. Of course you must stay.”

“Unless there is something more I’ll need to do, I can leave the day after the meeting and join you.”

It was a long day’s journey, but no more. If Rafael left in the morning, he would be in Wycombe before dark.

Dani bit her lip. She needed this time apart from him, no matter how brief it was. “We only planned to be gone for a
week. If you recall, you also have a meeting with your solicitor next Friday. It seems a lot of trouble to go to when you can stay but such a short time.”

Rafael frowned. “Are you certain? I was rather looking forward to getting out of the damnable fog.”

Dani glanced away. Her chest was squeezing. She was already missing him and she hadn’t even left. Given her uncertain future, it was terrifying.

“Actually, I would enjoy having a bit of time alone with my aunt…I mean, now that the opportunity has arisen.”

Rafe didn’t look happy, and she felt a tug at her heart. He had loved her once. Perhaps, as she had, he was beginning to love her again.

Even if some miracle occurred and his feelings for her returned, there was the matter of a child and Rafe’s duty to his family.

Guilt gnawed at her. Dear God, what had she done?

Dani smiled at him a little too brightly. “I’ll only stay till the end of the week. I’ll come back on Thursday, just as we planned.”

He made a curt nod of his head. “If that is your wish. You can travel with your aunt and I’ll send my carriage to fetch you home.”

Dani just nodded. Blinking against the sudden sting of tears, she rounded the desk and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.” She turned and crossed to the study door without looking his way again.

All the way up to her room, Dani thought of Rafe and the days she would spend without him. By the time she opened the door to her suite, she had begun to regret her decision.

His wife was gone. It was quiet this afternoon and Rafe found himself prowling aimlessly about the house. There was a time he’d been quite comfortable in the big empty rooms and long marble hallways. Now he missed the feminine sound of Dani’s laughter, missed sharing supper with her and discussing the day’s events, missed spending his nights in her bed and the pleasure he took from her body.

It was amazing how fast he’d grown accustomed to being married.

To fill the days, he kept himself busy, looking over Sheffield property ledgers, auditing estate managers’ reports, searching for new investments. As time slipped past, he found himself looking forward to his meeting with Howard Pendleton, a welcome break in the dull routine of waiting for his wife’s return.

It was ridiculous, he told himself. He was behaving like a green lad just out of the schoolroom, becoming as enamored of Danielle as he had been before.

The notion sobered him.

He cared for her, yes. He enjoyed her company, her intelligence, perhaps just as much as the passion they shared. But he was not in love with her. Would not allow himself to fall in love with her again.

That night, he took himself off to his gentlemen’s club as he did each night thereafter. Danielle had a place in his life, but he wasn’t about to let her into his heart.

Instead, he steeled himself against the emotions she stirred and sank even deeper into his legendary reserve.

By the time the day of his meeting arrived, Rafe climbed
into his carriage with a single thought on his mind: had the colonel been able to convince the prime minister and his cabinet how important it was to purchase the Baltimore Clippers?

He was pondering the answer as he climbed the steps in front of Whitehall on his way to the War Office and spotted Cord and Ethan walking toward him.

“I figured I’d see the two of you here,” Rafe said.

“Any idea what’s happening with the purchase of the fleet?” Ethan asked.

Rafe shook his head.

Cord pulled open the heavy front door. “I imagine we’re about to find out.”

Three sets of boots echoed in the corridor leading to the colonel’s office. The men walked into the Spartan room and the colonel rose from behind his desk. As usual, his scarlet uniform jacket was spotless, his silver hair cut very short and neatly combed.

“Have a seat, gentlemen.”

The men sat down in straight-backed chairs on the opposite side of his desk.

“I might as well get to the point. I called you here to tell you Bartel Schrader, the man they call the Dutchman, has been spotted here in London. I’m not certain of his purpose, but he is here.”

“Interesting,” Rafe said, remembering the sandy-haired man he had briefly met in Philadelphia.

“Since Schrader is under the impression that you, Your Grace, are his chief competitor in the purchase of the Baltimore Clippers, I thought it was important that you know.”

“Yes,” Cord said, “and it is likely he’ll believe Ethan is
also involved, as the two of you are known to be friends and Ethan is heavily involved in the shipping trade.”

“My thoughts exactly,” said the colonel. “And that applies to you, Lord Brant, as well, since the three of you have invested in a number of business dealings together.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Cord agreed.

“The man has a dangerous reputation,” the colonel continued, “and there is a great deal of money at stake. You may cross paths with him. If you do, I need to be informed. And until we discover what he’s up to, I advise you all to be careful.”

Rafe just nodded.

“We’ll let you know if we hear the whisper of his name,” Cord said.

“I’ll put the word out among a few of my friends in the shipping business,” Ethan volunteered, “see what they might be able to learn.”

The meeting concluded and the three friends walked together out of Pendleton’s office, their thoughts moving away from the business they had just discussed, turning in a different direction.

“Your wife still out of town?” Ethan asked casually.

“Unfortunately,” Rafe said darkly.

Cord grinned. “I’m happy to say my wife is at home awaiting my return, and I am extremely glad. I have plans for her this afternoon that should keep both of us entertained.”

The gleam in Cord’s golden eyes made his meaning clear, and Ethan laughed. “Now that you suggest it, that is not a bad notion.”

Rafe swore softly. “I think you have both lost your minds.”

“Love will do that to you, my friend,” Ethan said with a smile.

“Exactly why I refuse to fall into such a state.”

Cord and Ethan cast each other a glance. “I’m not certain we had any say in the matter,” Cord said.

Rafe ignored the remark. He wasn’t about to let it happen to him. Not again.

Still, he would be damned glad when Danielle returned.

The edge of his mouth faintly curved. Perhaps his two friends were not so far off the mark. He had plans for Danielle, as well. On Thursday when she returned, he intended to make very thorough love to her. Afterward, she would be surprised to discover, she would no longer be sleeping in her own bed, but spending her nights in his.

His shaft turned to steel at the thought. Damn, he would be glad when she got home.

R
afe’s big black traveling coach, pulled by a team of four matched grays, rumbled down the road toward London. The coachman, Mr. Mullens, capably handled the reins, and at Rafe’s insistence, two footmen rode at the back of the conveyance for protection in case of trouble along the way.

The weather had once more turned chill, but as yet it hadn’t rained, which meant the roads were deeply rutted but not muddy. Inside the coach, Dani and Caro sat across from each other, each warmed by a thick fur lap robe.

“I enjoyed the time in the country,” Dani said with a sigh, “but I will be glad to get home.”

“As will I.” Caro smoothed a tight blond curl back into the bun at the back of her head, her gaze fixed out the window. “Perhaps there will be news of Robert.”

“Yes, perhaps there will.” Dani hoped so, though she was worried. No word had come from McKay save for the notes they had received the day he left prison. Jonas McPhee had been off somewhere digging for information, but his results, so far, had been thin at best.

“Or perhaps Mr. McPhee will have discovered something,” Caro added.

“Rafael says he is very good at his job.”

“I am certain that he is. I hold high hopes that he will discover the proof Robert needs.”

They spoke little more as the coach rumbled along toward home, the jarring, jostling ride tiring, and both of their minds on the men they had left behind. Dani had missed Rafael far more than she liked, and she knew Caro pined for Robert McKay.

The ride and the cold exhausted them and they slept for a while. The rattle of hooves over a wooden bridge as they neared the outskirts of London brought Dani awake and she glanced out the window at the barren winter landscape. The month of January was cold, the ground frozen, the trees leafless and barren. The wheels of the coach rumbled over the bridge and she saw the frothy white water of the stream rushing over the rocks below.

They were halfway across, the coachman urging the team a little faster as he neared the end of his journey, when she heard a loud clap that sounded like thunder, then the sound of grinding wood.

Caro screamed as the front axle cracked loudly, whined, then tore completely in two.

“Hang on!” Dani shouted, groping madly for something to cling to, the carriage tilting wildly, then tipping sideways and rolling completely over. For an instant, it seemed to hang suspended in the air, the body of the coach ripping loose from the horses, careening off the bridge into space.

A sharp jolt and more rending wood, her heart pounding
fiercely. Dani saw the floor of the carriage above her, the ceiling at her feet, then the floor was beneath her once more.

Something tore loose inside the coach, struck her hard in the stomach and pain shot through her. A chunk of wood slammed into the side of her head, and she felt another brutal shot of pain. The last thing she remembered was the chill of the freezing water surging through the wrecked carriage floor, soaking into her skirts and weighing her down, then her eyes slid closed and she tumbled into darkness.

By six o’clock, Rafe began to pace the floor of his study. The carriage should have returned by now. Still, they might have got a late start or a wheel might have broken. Surely they would be home soon.

By eight o’clock, he was beyond worried. Perhaps highwaymen had attacked the coach. Perhaps there had been some kind of an accident. He thought to saddle his horse and ride off for the road he was certain they traveled, but he feared the coach had already entered the city and in the maze of streets, he would miss them.

By ten o’clock he was frantic. He had sent two mounted riders in search of the coach, but they had not returned. If they didn’t reach the house in the next thirty minutes, he would go in search of the vehicle himself.

At ten-fifteen, a commotion in the entry had him bolting from his study at a run. He recognized the coachman, Mr. Mullens, who spoke rapidly to the butler and stood there wringing his hands. His duster was torn and covered with mud, his face battered and bloody, and Rafe’s stomach viciously contracted.

“What is it, Mullen? What’s happened?”

The man looked up at him through swollen, bloodshot eyes. “There were an accident, Yer Grace. Front axle broke while we was goin’ over a bridge.”

“Where is the duchess?”

“She and her maid were injured, sir, and one of the footmen. Coach turned over, went into the stream. We got ’em out. Some folks come along and helped us get ’em to an inn called the Oxbow, and the owner sent for a doctor. I left ’em there and come straight away to fetch you.”

Rafe clamped down on his fear. “How badly were the women hurt?”

“The maid were mostly scuffed up. The duchess…hard to say. She were still unconscious when I left.”

The knot in Rafe’s stomach went tighter. Dani was injured. He didn’t know how badly. He had to get to her as quickly as he could.

“Let’s go.” Rafe started walking. His horse was already saddled, a big black stallion named Thor. He had ordered it done half an hour ago. It was by sheer force of will that he hadn’t yet left the house. Now he was glad he had held on to his senses and made himself wait for word.

“How far is the inn?” he asked as he strode out the door to the stable behind the house, Michael Mullens hurrying along in his wake. The man looked exhausted. Rafe didn’t care. If he found out the coachman was responsible for the accident, he was going to look much worse.

“Not far, Yer Grace. We had nearly reached the edge of the city.”

Ignoring the fear gripping his insides, Rafe ordered one of the grooms to saddle a second horse, and as soon as the task was completed, the men mounted up.

Rafe turned to his head groom. “There’s an inn called the Oxbow on the road leading to Wycombe. We’ll need a carriage to transport the women home. And have Wooster get word to Neil McCauley. Tell him to meet us at the inn.”

McCauley, once a surgeon in the navy, was one of Rafe’s best friends. McCauley had left the service, but not the practice of medicine. He was no longer a surgeon, but now one of London’s most highly respected physicians. The man had delivered both Grace’s and Victoria’s babes, and Rafe trusted him completely.

The groom rapidly nodded his head. “I’ll see to it, meself, Yer Grace.” Turning, he began shouting orders to the rest of the grooms.

In minutes, Rafe and Mullens were riding over the cobbles at a breakneck pace, heading for the inn, Rafe doing his best not to let his worry overwhelm him.

She’ll be all right,
he told himself.

She has to be.

And he said a silent prayer that it was true.

Dani awakened in a haze of pain. There was a man in the room she didn’t know and he stood next to her bed.

“Take it easy, Duchess, you’ve been hurt pretty badly. My name is Neil McCauley. I’m a friend of your husband’s, and I am a physician.”

Danielle moistened her lips, which felt cotton dry. “Is…Rafael here?”

He stepped forward then, and she realized he had been standing in the shadows. His dark hair was mussed, faint smudges darkened the area beneath his blue eyes, and the shadow of a beard lined his jaw.

“I’m right here, love.” He took hold of her hand, bent and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

“The duke came as soon as he heard,” the doctor said. “He’s been pacing the floor for the past half hour, worried sick about you.”

“What…happened?”

Rafe squeezed her hand. “There was a carriage accident. The coach broke an axle and went into the river.”

She tried to remember the events but her mind refused to function. “What…what about Caro…and the others?”

“Your maid is pretty well battered,” the doctor told her, “but she wasn’t seriously injured. One of the footmen broke an arm, but the bone has been set and in time he should heal.”

Thank God none of them were seriously hurt. Dani looked at Rafe and saw the worry in his eyes. During the week she had been gone, she had missed him so much, and dear God, she loved him.

Her eyes slid closed. She was so very tired.

“I’ve given you some laudanum to help you rest,” the doctor said. “In the morning, you’ll feel better. Once you do, your husband can take you home.”

She forced her eyelids to open and looked at the two men standing beside the bed, Rafe tall and handsome even in his wrinkled, mud-spattered clothes, the brown-haired doctor a little shorter, and in his own way attractive. She felt the comforting warmth of Rafe’s hand enclosing hers.

“Everything’s going to be all right,” he said gently.

Dani tried to smile but her eyelids drooped closed. Her entire body felt bruised, and she ached from head to foot.
On top of that, there was this dull ache throbbing below her stomach. The laudanum helped, but it made her unbearably sleepy.

“Get some rest, love.” Rafe’s mouth brushed lightly over hers. He let go of her hand and turned to leave, his footfalls muffled on the carpet. She tried to stay awake a little longer, but her body refused to cooperate and she drifted into a heavy sleep.

She dreamed of Rafe and home, though later she didn’t recall.

As soon as the door was closed, Rafe turned to McCauley. “Is she going to be all right? I want the truth, Neil.”

They stood in an upstairs hallway of the Oxbow Inn. Neil didn’t want to move Danielle until she had regained a little more of her strength.

The doctor set his satchel on the chair beside the door. “As I said, she took one helluva beating when the coach went off the bridge, but nothing seems to be broken.”

“So you’re saying she’ll be fine.”

“For the most part, yes.”

Rafe straightened. “What does that mean?”

“It means there are a few complications.”

Rafe’s pulse kicked up. “What sort of complications?”

McCauley’s face looked grim. “When I went in to see her the first time, she was bleeding from the womb. I examined her and discovered she had reopened an old injury that she had suffered before.”

Rafe frowned. “What kind of injury was it?”

“I’m not sure exactly how it happened. Some sort of fall, I would guess. Whatever occurred, there was damage to her
female organs. The carriage accident tore something loose again.”

He fought a moment of nausea. “Tell me she’ll be all right.”

“Odds are good she’ll heal without a problem as she did before. But there is something I must tell you, Rafael.”

Rafe looked into Neil McCauley’s face, saw the pity, and steeled himself for whatever the man had to say. “Go on.”

“I’m afraid your wife will never have children. Her womb was severely damaged the first time. This has only made matters worse.”

Rafe glanced away, trying to make sense of Neil’s words. No children when they had once planned to have half a dozen? Danielle would be devastated.

“I don’t know what to say, how I’m going to tell her.”

“I’m sure she already knows. The initial injury occurred at least several years back. There would have been changes in her monthly cycle. The doctor would have explained her situation at the time.”

Rafe shook his head. “It isn’t possible. She would have said something. She must not have known.”

McCauley looked away. “Perhaps not.” But it was obvious the man didn’t believe it.

Rafe’s mind spun. Danielle couldn’t have known she was barren. If she had known, she would have told him before they were wed. She knew he needed an heir, knew how crucial it was she bear him a son.

His thoughts slid back to the journey she had made to America. She had planned to marry a widower, a man who already had two children of his own.

I would have had a family,
she had once said.

God’s blood, she had known from the start she was barren!

Rafe’s stomach tightened into a painful knot. He looked at Neil McCauley. “You’re sure she’ll be all right.”

“As sure as I can be under the circumstances. She’s a healthy young woman. Mostly she needs to rest and regain her strength.”

Rafe just nodded. There was a thickness in his throat that made it hard to speak. “Thank you for coming, Neil.”

McCauley gripped Rafe’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Rafael.”

Rafe made no reply. But instead of returning to Dani’s room as he had planned, he swung around and walked off down the hall.