CHAPTER SIX
“AND HOW LONG do you expect this endeavor to take?” Uncle Edward studied Derek from behind the massive desk in the library in his London house. Now in his sixty-first year, the Earl of Danby was still a fine figure of a man with graying hair and piercing blue eyes that seemed to notice all sorts of things one wished they wouldn’t. Derek had been the recipient of that look before. He resisted the urge to squirm in his chair like a guilty schoolboy.
“Quite honestly, sir—” Derek braced himself “—I have no idea.”
Derek would have liked nothing better than to have avoided this conversation altogether, but in the months since Uncle Edward’s mandate that he reform his carefree ways, he’d been working with the earl’s estate, property and business managers. No one had been more surprised than Derek to discover he not only had a knack for numbers and business; he enjoyed it. Abandoning his new duties for as long as it took to find Lady Heloise would not sit well with his uncle. At least not without an explanation.
“I see.” Uncle Edward considered him in a noncommittal manner.
“Frankly, sir—” Derek leaned forward and met his uncle’s gaze firmly “—I don’t see that I have a choice. While I did look into hiring private investigators to locate Lady Heloise, such efforts will take funding beyond my resources and a great deal of time.”
“You could have asked me for the money,” Uncle Edward said, his tone deceptively mild.
“I could have, and I did consider it.” Derek chose his words with care. The earl was a clever man, and now was not the time for anything other than complete honesty. “But Lady Blodgett is my mother’s aunt and not a relation of yours.”
“As much as I haven’t seen her in years, I have always been fond of Guinevere. She helped me with an awkward situation once. I wish she had come to me with her financial problems.”
“She would never do that, sir. Indeed, as far as I am aware, she never mentioned any difficulties to my mother.” Without question, Mother would have insisted Aunt Guinevere accept her help. “But as a member of my family she is my responsibility.”
“One does take responsibility for family.”
Derek started to say that was something he’d learned from his uncle but thought better of it. Uncle Edward took a dim view of those who curried favor too overtly, even with the truth. Instead he nodded. “Which is why I did not think it was appropriate to ask for your help in this.”
“So you intend to use your own resources?” The earl’s brow twitched.
“Such as they are.” Derek couldn’t resist a grin. “It seems in recent months, I haven’t been squandering my allowance in the manner I once did.”
Uncle Edward stared at him for an intense moment. “I am aware of that.”
Family money supported Derek, as it had his father before his death and his mother between her first and second husbands. Derek barely remembered his father, but Uncle Edward had said on more than one occasion how reliable and responsible Henry Saunders had been. How his twin brother had taken a significant role in the management of family affairs. As Uncle Edward always made such comments in an especially meaningful manner, the point was not lost on Derek.
“I would have preferred not to have told you about any of this at all.”
The earl nodded. “Understandable.”
Still, Derek hadn’t told his uncle everything. While he had admitted that Aunt Guinevere and her friends had started the Lady Travelers Society and had subsequently misplaced a member, he’d thought it best not to reveal his conviction that the elderly ladies were engaged in fraudulent activities. That would not sit well with the Earl of Danby. Nor would the scandal that would surely erupt if Lady Heloise was not located. He had no doubt Miss Prendergast would make the whole mess horribly public. And there was no reason why she shouldn’t.
“But I did not feel I could shirk the duties you have entrusted to me without telling you why I chose to do so.”
“Prudent of you.” Uncle Edward tapped his pen thoughtfully on his desk. “And you feel the need to take this upon yourself?”
“I’m afraid so. I don’t see any other option. I’m not sure I trust anyone else to do this with the expedience I think it warrants. And I do think time is of the essence.”
“Nor will anyone put the effort into it that you will, am I correct?”
“I believe so, sir.”
“Then you have considered the possibility that something dire might have happened to Lady Heloise.”
“Frankly, that is my greatest fear.” Derek shook his head. “The responsibility would then fall fully on Aunt Guinevere and her friends. It would devastate them, sir, and destroy their organization’s reputation as well as their good names.”
“Without question.” Uncle Edward paused. “Do you think it’s wise to bring Lady Heloise’s niece along with you?”
“I think it’s a disaster in the making.” Derek shuddered. “But I have no choice in the matter. She threatened to follow if I did not permit her to accompany me, and Aunt Guinevere pointed out the blame would then be laid at my feet if anything happened to her.”
“She’s right there.”
“Oh, and it’s not Lady Heloise’s niece but her cousin. Second cousin actually. She is Lady Heloise’s ward.” Derek had thought it wise to check into Miss Prendergast’s background and had called on the services of an old friend, Phineas Chapman, who had turned a brilliant mind to the art of investigation. It seemed there wasn’t much to uncover.
India Prendergast had been orphaned as a young girl when her missionary parents had died of some unknown tropical illness in the South Seas. She’d then made her home with Lady Heloise, apparently her only relative. She had graduated with honors from the prestigious Miss Bicklesham’s Academy for Accomplished Young Ladies. Derek knew quite a few women whose formative years had been spent at Miss Bicklesham’s. Fortunately, the lessons of propriety and decorum taught at the academy did not impress themselves upon those ladies in the way they obviously did Miss Prendergast. She’d been briefly employed as a governess and had an even shorter tenure as a teacher at Miss Bicklesham’s before becoming the secretarial assistant to Sir Martin Luckthorne. Derek had never heard of the man, but apparently he was well regarded in assorted intellectual, scientific and antiquarian circles. While only in his early forties, he was considered somewhat reclusive and a bit eccentric. There was no Lady Luckthorne, which one might think would cast a pall of impropriety over Miss Prendergast’s employment if, of course, one had not made Miss Prendergast’s acquaintance.
According to Chapman, Miss Prendergast had never been engaged, her name had never been linked to any man’s and, at the age of twenty-nine, she was considered a true spinster. Apparently there had been no effort to see her wed, either. Odd, as Chapman said—although Lady Heloise lived frugally—she did seem to have a surprisingly significant fortune. But Miss Prendergast had had no coming-out season, no introduction to society; indeed, society seemed to have no idea of her existence. Odder still, given Lady Heloise’s resources, that Miss Prendergast chose to be employed rather than work at charitable causes or those things with which most ladies occupied their time. Aside from her life with Lady Heloise and her work with Sir Martin, there was little to say about Miss India Prendergast.
“So you intend to wander aimlessly around Paris looking for this woman?”
“Not aimlessly,” Derek said. “I do have something of a plan. I intend to check with hotels and the embassy, make inquiries at the train station and wherever else she might have been and that sort of thing. If necessary, we will progress on to the next point in her itinerary.” It seemed quite clever when he’d first thought of it but, saying it aloud to his uncle, it did seem rather aimless at that.
“I am inclined to offer you my assistance, Derek,” the earl said.
“I didn’t ask—”
His uncle held up a hand to stop him. “Precisely why I intend to give it.” He leaned forward over his desk and met Derek’s gaze firmly. “If something has happened to Lady Heloise, the situation will only be worse if Miss Prendergast is present when such information is discovered.”
“I don’t even want to consider that possibility, sir.”
“Nor do I, but it is a possibility. Admittedly a dismal one, but a possibility nonetheless. Here’s what I’m going to suggest.” He paused thoughtfully. “First, I am pleased that you have taken on the task of protecting your great-aunt and her cohorts. There is nothing in this world more important than family and a family’s good name.”
Derek nodded.
“Secondly, I have a fair number of influential connections as well as more money than even you can spend in a lifetime. I can afford to send out a small army of investigators to track down a missing traveler in a swift and efficient manner. Men who are well trained and know what they’re doing.”
It was indeed a generous offer. “Still, sir, it is my problem.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t your objective to find Lady Heloise as quickly as possible so as to appease Miss Prendergast, thereby avoiding destroying an old lady’s good name?”
As well as keep her out of prison. “Yes, sir.”
“And shouldn’t you employ every means at your disposal to do so?”
“Yes, of course, but—”
“And am I not offering assistance that might help you do just that?”
“Nonetheless, sir, this is my responsibility.”
“Good God, you’re stubborn.” Uncle Edward grinned. “But then, so am I. Here’s my proposal. Travel as planned with Miss Prendergast to Paris and keep her there. The longer she’s out of London, the less likely she is to cause problems for Lady Blodgett. You did say she had contacted the police?”
Derek nodded.
“You will restrict your search to the confines of Paris. I will hire trained investigators to proceed with the utmost haste in searching elsewhere.”
Derek drew his brows together. “Regardless of my lack of training, you do realize there is every possibility that I will find Lady Heloise.”
“If she is alive and well, there is indeed. And we will hope for that. Do not mistake my words, Derek. You are an intelligent man, and my offer is not due to any lack of confidence in you. Rather, I want to help. Besides, I have always been fond of a good mystery.” The older man’s eyes twinkled in a way Derek could not recall having seen in a long time. In recent years, whenever they talked, the look in his uncle’s eyes tended toward irritation. “I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but I am quite fond of detective novels and stories of mystery. And, as much as I hate to admit it, all these responsibilities I am currently training you for tend not to be terribly exciting. After a while, one does long for a taste of adventure.”
“Determining the whereabouts of an elderly lady does not strike me as a significant adventure, sir.”
“One takes what one can get, my boy. I’d accompany you if I could but that’s impossible at the moment. Still, the idea of managing a search like this, being the mastermind behind it, if you will, sounds rather like an adventure.”
“Mastermind?” Derek’s brow rose.
“Excellent word. It denotes power, perception, a fine intellect and perhaps a touch of wickedness.” His uncle grinned. “Give me a week. Better yet—a fortnight.”
His uncle was right. If his purpose was to find Lady Heloise as quickly as possible, he would be an idiot to turn down help.
“Why not a month?” he said blithely.
“Excellent.” Uncle Edward beamed.
“I wasn’t serious.” Derek glared. “How am I to keep Miss Prendergast in Paris for a month?”
“Come now, Derek—it’s Paris.” Uncle Edward settled back in his chair and considered him thoughtfully. “You can’t have forgotten the charms of Paris. You’ve been there in recent years. I know. I paid for it.”
“Well, yes, but—”
“Aside from the fact that the entire world is flocking to the Paris Exposition, Paris itself has always had a certain charm—part utter elegance, part ancient history and part Bohemian decadence.”
“Decadence will not appeal to Miss Prendergast.”
“She’s a woman, isn’t she?”
“One would think.” Nonetheless it was hard to picture the very disapproving India Prendergast in Paris.
“And you are a man with a rather significant reputation when it comes to women.”
Derek started to deny it, but what was the point?
“Between your charms and those of the City of Light, I can’t imagine you can’t come up with dozens of ways to delay Miss Prendergast.”
“But an entire month in Paris...” Derek shook his head. “I’m not sure that’s possible.”
“It may not take a month for either of us to find Lady Heloise. I shall telegraph you to keep you apprised of my progress.” The earl chuckled. “I think it sounds like fun.”
“Fun?” Derek snorted. “You haven’t met Miss Prendergast.”
His uncle waved off the comment. “She’s simply an obstacle tossed in your way to make things more interesting.”
“Good God, Uncle Edward, this is not a game.”
“You’re right, of course.” Uncle Edward had the grace to look chagrined. “Why don’t we just call it a test?”
“A test?” Derek stared.
“Or would you rather make it a wager?” A wicked gleam shone in Uncle Edward’s eyes.
“A wager,” Derek said slowly. He’d always loved a good wager. Still, his uncle wanted him to mend his wild ways. As much as he wanted to agree, the thought occurred to him that perhaps this was the test. “I’m not sure that’s wise, Uncle.”
The earl snorted back a laugh. “Bloody hell, man, I never intended to break your spirit. An interesting wager between two honorable men is not objectionable.”
“Given what’s at stake, I’m not sure a wager is appropriate.”
“Perhaps.” His uncle shrugged. “Then we are back to a test. Succeed in keeping Miss Prendergast occupied while I use my resources to learn what happened to her cousin. And then avoid dragging your great-aunt’s name through the mud, as well as evade any legal problems that might arise from all this—” Uncle Edward was apparently even more perceptive than Derek realized “—and it will prove to me that you do indeed have what it takes to handle my affairs after I’m gone. Any idiot can inherit a title and a fortune, Derek, but managing property, finances and, more important, people takes experience, skill and instinct.”
“And if I pass this test of yours?”
“Then I shall withdraw the threat of leaving you penniless.” Uncle Edward grinned.
Derek stared at the older man. “I’m not quite sure I believe you.”
“Wise of you.” His uncle chuckled. “Show me that you can manage a situation as fraught with disaster as this one and you have my word. You will inherit everything you deserve.”
“Everything I deserve?” Derek was fairly certain his uncle’s phrasing left something to be desired. “Who decides what I deserve?”
Uncle Edward laughed. “Excellent catch, my boy.” He sobered. “But I am serious about this. If you pull this off, then you will have earned your inheritance as well as my respect. There’s nothing I can do about who inherits my title, but I’ll be damned if I’ll leave my money and property to a man I don’t respect. Prove to me you can be that man.”
“I shall try, sir.”
“Then I can ask nothing more. But regardless of how this turns out, I will still expect you to continue to tread the straight and narrower path you have been walking of late.” His grin widened if possible. “I just won’t be such an ass about it.”
“Oh well, that makes it all worthwhile then,” Derek said without thinking, then winced. He hadn’t meant to be quite so glib. Uncle Edward had never taken Derek’s quips particularly well, especially when they were aimed at him.
But Uncle Edward laughed, and Derek had the distinct impression they had just crossed some sort of threshold in their relationship. Helped, no doubt, by Derek’s embrace of his uncle’s edict about reforming his questionable behavior. For the first time, Derek felt like an adult in his uncle’s presence. A feeling strengthened by the look of respect in the older man’s eyes. As well as the laughter.
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you, sir?”
“Why wouldn’t I enjoy seeing my heir live up to expectations?”
Derek blew a long breath. “I hope I can.”
“As do I. Indeed, you may well be on the way to becoming the man I always thought you could be. A man your father would be proud of.” The earl pinned him with a hard look. “Don’t muck it up.”