Valentine straightened. Her heart pounding now for another reason entirely, Eleanor stood. "What do you mean, have we seen him?" she snapped. "That"s a rather alarming question."
"Melbourne can take care of himself," Valentine commented, stretching out his long legs. "I think the question is, what"s happened to make you need to find him so urgently, Shay?"
It continued to amaze Eleanor the way her husband could find the exact heart of a matter. "Yes, Shay, why do you want to find him so badly?"
Her brother"s face folded into a frown. "I can"t say."
"You can"t, or you won"t?" she pressed.
"I"ll a.s.sume all of this means you haven"t seen him." Shay turned for the door. "As you were, then."
"Shay, what"s going on?"
"Nothing."
"Valentine, don"t let him leave."
With a sigh her husband pushed to his feet. "Save both of us from a messy bout of fisticuffs and unb.u.t.ton, Charlemagne," he muttered, walking toward the doorway.
"d.a.m.nation. Look. I know we all feel justified in meddling in Melbourne"s...dealings with the princess, but there are some things we-he-have uncovered that tell me this is more serious than we thought."
"More serious?" Eleanor repeated, closing on her brother and grabbing his arm. "You mean between them?"
"No. I mean..." He looked from one of them to the other, swearing under his breath. "I promised him."
"So you and Melbourne know something, and as usual he makes a sweeping p.r.o.nouncement that no one else is permitted to learn anything."
"Nell, don"t make more of this than-"
"We had luncheon today with Princess Josefina, you know," she interrupted. "Sarala, Caro, and I. And I brought Peep along, because she"s been begging to see the princess again. And I"ve invited her family to our next Griffin dinner."
"Don"t," he said abruptly.
"Why not?"
He blew out his breath. "Fine. I took a look at the Costa Habichuela prospectus," he grumbled, sitting beside the fireplace. "It seemed familiar, so I did some comparisons. It"s stolen from several other works, including an old survey done of Jamaica. Seb confronted the princess about it, and apparently didn"t like the answers he got."
""Apparently"?" Valentine repeated.
"He did some more research and found an explorer who"s teaching at Eton. We met with him the day before yesterday. He confirmed that there is nowhere on the Mosquito Coast that resembles a paradise, that he"s never heard of Costa Habichuela, and that the city of San Saturus is an old prospector"s camp where the last three occupants apparently died from swamp gas poisoning and had their bones picked clean by ants."
"No." Eleanor blanched. "He has to be mistaken. That would mean-"
"It would mean that Melbourne"s princess has been telling some untruths," her husband took up. "How convinced is Sebastian that something nefarious is going on?"
"Fairly. I have some new information for him, but he"s not in Parliament, and he"s not at home. Merlin"s gone, as well." Shay ground his fist into his thigh. "I had the feeling-a very strong feeling, actually-that Seb liked Princess Josefina."
"We all did. That"s why we"ve been meddling." Blast. How often had all of them heard Melbourne"s speech about proceeding with caution, about not making a decisive move without having all of the facts to hand? And Peep had already practically added Josefina to the family. d.a.m.nation. "If he had told us what his suspicions were instead of behaving in his usual high-handed manner, I...well, I certainly wouldn"t have invited her anywhere, blast it all."
"Beg off," Shay said. "We have four days. Who"s hosting our dinner this week?"
"Zach and Caro. All the Witfelds will be there, as well."
Valentine snorted. "An hour with Mrs. Witfeld might drive the entire royal family back to South America."
"If only we could rely on that happening." Biting her lip, Eleanor faced her brother again. "We can"t beg off without arousing suspicion. What we need to do is find out what Melbourne"s plans are."
"Hence my coming here to find him. And since you know this business now, we need to inform Zach, too."
"I"ll do that," she said. "You and Valentine keep looking for Sebastian."
Her husband kissed her softly on the mouth. "Time to be heroes," he drawled, and motioned Shay toward the door.
As soon as the men were gone, Eleanor sent word for the coach to be readied again. This was awful. She"d liked Josefina Embry. They all had. Including Sebastian. She wanted to ride to that woman"s house and demand to know exactly what was going on.
If Shay was right, and she had no reason to doubt him, this was more than just a betrayal of friendship. The Costa Habichuela contingent, and Josefina in particular, had put the Griffin reputation at risk. And she had the continuing suspicion that Sebastian had more at risk than his good name.
They all needed some answers. And the sooner, the better.
"Where the devil have you been?"
Sebastian looked away from his dressing mirror as Shay, Valentine at his heels, strode into the bedchamber. "I had some business."
"Business that"s left Merlin looking as though you"ve galloped him from here to the Channel and back?"
"That"s a d.a.m.n good guess." He stood, and Bailey helped him on with his dark gray coat. "Thank you, Bailey. I can manage from here."
"Very good, Your Grace." With a bow the valet left the room, closing the door behind him.
"What do you mean, it"s a good guess?" Shay demanded, his expression angry and concerned.
"I went to Dover. I thought-"
"Dover? Without telling anyone?"
"I haven"t required a wet nurse in some time, Shay. Now are you going to let me finish?"
His brother frowned. "Apologies. Continue."
"Admiral Mattingly is in Dover. I thought he might be able to point me to someone who"d sailed along the Mosquito Coast." Sebastian eyed his brother long enough to remind him whose concern this really was. "Now you may ask your next question."
"Wasn"t what John Rice-Able told us enough?"
"Not for me. That made it one opinion against another, one book against another."
"Did you find someone?" Valentine asked, arms crossed as he leaned against a bed post.
"I did." Sebastian lifted Carroway"s statement from the dressing table. "A promising young lieutenant named Bradshaw Carroway. Apparently you once threatened to gut him, Charlemagne, for dancing with Nell."
"My thanks for that, Shay," Nell"s husband commented.
"Let"s take a look," Shay returned ignoring the commentary as he held out his hand. Sebastian gave him the paper.
"I a.s.sume you"ve broken my confidence and told Valentine all about the Costa Habichuela problem?" Sebastian tucked his watch into his pocket and headed for the door. "Anyone else?"
"By now the whole family knows. Except for Peep and the Witfelds, of course."
"Remind me not to bring you into my confidence any longer," Sebastian returned curtly, pulling open the door.
"Melbourne, wait a moment."
"I have an appointment this evening. Give me back the statement. I may need it." What he wanted to do was burn the thing, but that would mean giving up and letting the farce play out as it would. As a member of the House of Lords he couldn"t do that, though, even if his status as a Griffin would have allowed such a thing.
"If you"ve been gone all day, you probably haven"t heard the latest," Shay said to his back.
Sebastian paused, stifling the retort he"d been about to make concerning the spread of gossip. Shay didn"t pa.s.s on idle rumors, however angry he wished to be with his brother for telling the rest of the family about his conundrum. "What is it, then?"
"This morning in Piccadilly the Embrys attended the opening of the Costa Habichuela land office. They"re selling ten-to hundred-acre lots of land at three shillings an acre. Stories put the queue at a quarter mile long."
"They"re looking for settlers to that G.o.dforsaken place?" Sebastian couldn"t keep the incredulity out of his voice.
"They"re finding them. By the hundreds. Apparently the rey opened another land office while he was in Edinburgh." His brother cleared his throat. "I"m sorry, Seb."
Turning around, Sebastian pinned him with a glare. "What the devil are you sorry for, Shay? I"d certainly rather know than remain ignorant."
"Where are you off to?" Valentine asked.
"I"m hosting a box at Vauxhall."
"Nell didn"t tell me anything about it."
With a slow breath that did nothing to steady him or halt the fresh anger coursing beneath his skin, Sebastian left the room and headed downstairs, the two men behind him. "You"re not invited. I"m hosting the rey and his family."
"What? Why, when you know-"
"Enough. I"ll see you tomorrow."
Not giving them time to protest that, he strode into the playroom to give Peep a kiss and tell her not to wait up, then trotted downstairs to the foyer. Stanton held his black greatcoat while he slipped into it.
"You shouldn"t go alone," Shay said in a low voice.
"I"ll be perfectly fine, unless you"ve wagged your tongue to the rest of London."
His brother squared his shoulders. "I"ve done no such thing, and you know that."
"Fine. This is my concern, and I"ll resolve it. Good evening."
"We know you"re angry, Melbourne," Valentine put in, "but confronting them on your own is pure pride and stupidity."
He rounded on his brother-in-law and closest friend. "And what would you do, Valentine? Go home. Good night."
Valentine watched as Sebastian climbed into his coach and it rolled off into the twilight. "d.a.m.n," he muttered.
"What do we do now? The mighty Melbourne has spoken," Charlemagne commented from beside him on the front portico.
"Well," Valentine returned, collecting his coat and gloves from the butler, "I"m going home, col-"
"You do that, then."
"Let me finish, nitwit. I"m going home, collecting Eleanor, and then we"re driving to Vauxhall and renting the nearest box to Melbourne"s I can get my hands on. And you?"
Shay flashed him a grim smile. "Sarala and I will meet you there. And I"m not a nitwit."
"Right. I was thinking of Zachary. We"d best inform him, as well."
Valentine pulled on his gloves and headed out to his horse. It appeared the Griffin clan, of which he proudly considered himself a part whatever he might say aloud, was going to war. Heaven help Costa Habichuela.
Chapter 15.
S ebastian stood in the downstairs sitting room at Colonel Branbury"s house and refused to pace. Probably no one would ever appreciate how much self-control it took to keep him there, when all he wanted to do was find Josefina and shake her until she told him the d.a.m.ned truth.
At the moment he had to doubt that any conversation he"d ever had with her was sincere. And that meant everything he felt for her, everything he"d done with her, had been part of some kind of plan, a manipulation, to keep him quiet while she and the rey stole funds from England and prepared to send any citizen gullible enough to wish for a new life into a h.e.l.lhole.
He clenched his fists, wishing for a moment that he could be someone other than the Duke of Melbourne, someone who could put his fist through a wall and beat the rey to a b.l.o.o.d.y pulp without sacrificing his and his family"s reputation.
The door opened. "Your Grace," the rey said with a smile, coming forward to offer his hand. "Thank you for inviting us to join you tonight, and for your continued support."
Putting a matching smile on his face, Sebastian shook hands. "I"m glad you were able to find new a.s.sistance so readily."
"Yes, Charles has been a blessing. He should be here at any moment." The rey walked to the liquor tantalus and unlocked it. "A port while we wait?"
"Certainly." Reminding himself that patience would serve him better than violence, Sebastian accepted the gla.s.s Embry handed him. If Prinny hadn"t made his preference for the rey and his family so public, stopping this nonsense would have been much simpler.
"Did you know that we"ve decided to sell lots of land now? There"s been so much interest that I reckon we"ll have people coming regardless. This should help keep things more orderly."
"Oh, Father, can"t we limit our conversation to social events for one evening?" Josefina entered the sitting room, her breathing fast and her face flushed. "No business tonight, if you please."
The hairs on his arm lifted as she brushed by him to join her father. Belatedly Sebastian realized he was staring. He sketched a bow as she faced him again, offering her hand. "Your Highness," he murmured, gripping her fingers hard as he kissed her knuckles. If the chit had any sense of self-preservation she would immediately distance herself from her father and then throw herself on the nearest duke-him-and beg for forgiveness and protection.
At the thought arousal stirred through him, as if separate from all common sense and better judgment. It was separate, he supposed. It was the only way he could explain being furious with her and wanting to protect her at the same time. It was why he still looked for ways to justify or excuse what she was doing.