out the lure of information just received, was quickly done—Royd knew how to pique the ex-spymaster’s interest. Once the missive was dispatched via Declan’s senior footman, Royd leaned back in the chair behind the desk and waited for the inevitable interrogation.
It commenced the instant the door clicked shut.
Robert fixed Royd with a direct look. “What the devil is Isobel doing here?”
In his mildest tone, Royd replied, “She’s searching for one of her cousins—Katherine Fortescue.” Briefly, Royd outlined Katherine’s story as Isobel had related it to him. “When Isobel and Iona finally got word of Katherine’s disappearance, Isobel presumed on our past to ask that I take her to Freetown. I’d just received Wolverstone’s summons, so...” He waved. “Here we both are.”
Neither of his brothers knew quite what to make of that.
Eventually, Robert humphed. “A happy coincidence, then, that Caleb actually met Katherine, so he could report that he spoke with her and heard directly from her that she was well.” Robert grimaced. “As well as could be in such circumstances.”
Royd nodded. “Which, of course, means that Isobel knows where Katherine is.”
Declan stared at him—whether in horror or shock, Royd wasn’t sure. “You’re not going to take Isobel into the jungle with you? To the compound?”
Royd opened his eyes wide. “Do you think I could stop her? Or that I’m fool enough to waste time and effort trying? Now she knows her cousin’s in that compound, she’s going to be by my side every step of the way.” Because of Katherine, and for another reason entirely, but his brothers didn’t need to know about that. They’d be taken aback, but for Royd’s money, they should look to their own ladies before concerning themselves with Isobel.
He would lay odds that, at that very moment, the three women were exchanging confidences. And once the other two learned that Isobel would sail with him—and would go into the jungle to the mining compound, too—he seriously doubted Edwina and Aileen would settle for any more-restricted roles. From their reactions to his plan, he’d gathered they, too, were committed to the mission—that like his brothers, they felt a burning desire to see the captives released and justice done. Although he’d met Edwina before, those encounters had perforce been on a social stage. Now he’d learned of her contribution during Declan’s leg of the mission, he was leaning to the view that although Edwina and Isobel were very different women, they shared significant similarity under the skin.
And if he was any judge, Aileen Hopkins was another cut from the same cloth.
Which meant the last leg of this mission, run according to his plan, looked set to be exceedingly interesting for the three oldest Frobisher brothers. He wished Robert and Declan luck; he was going to have his hands full leading the mission and dealing with Isobel.
Neither Declan nor Robert had discovered any further comment they wished to make on the subject of Isobel. While Royd appreciated that a significant part of their concern was driven by a wish to support and—yes—protect him from a woman they believed had run roughshod over his heart, there was far more between him and her than his brothers knew. Than he wished them to know. The time for revelations—including Duncan—was not yet.
Declan stirred and threw him a puzzled look. “One thing—you don’t seem overly perturbed by Caleb filching the reins as he did.”
Royd shrugged. “Given he’d learned of the ongoing mission, I wouldn’t have expected him to do anything else. And for once, he seems to be behaving with the gravity due command.”
Robert snorted. “Taking on Kale and his men like that?”
“It was a bold move, but a highly strategic one.” It was almost certainly what Royd would have done had he been in Caleb’s place. “And judging by Lascelle’s comments, Caleb behaved with the right blend of caution and forcefulness. He covered every contingency and had everything in place before he went in.” Royd shrugged. “Our little brother is finally growing up.” His lips twitched. “Thank God.”
“Amen to that,” Declan murmured.
Robert still looked unconvinced.
But Royd had been waiting for just such a sign of evolving maturity in his youngest brother; he felt vindicated that his faith in Caleb was proving well founded. Aside from all else, he had a strong suspicion he was going to need a more mature Caleb in order to steer his own future in the direction he wanted.
Robert glanced at the clock. “Edwina said seven, didn’t she?”
It was just after six.
Declan sighed and rose. “We’d better get ourselves washed and brushed.”
It was an old saying from their childhood. Royd grinned, rose, and joined his brothers on the trek up the stairs.
* * *
The conversation over the dinner table was revealing. Seated at Edwina’s left with Royd beside her, Isobel ate, listened, and learned.
She wasn’t surprised by the assessing glances Robert and Declan directed her way when they thought she wasn’t looking. Both knew her temper—and Royd’s—well enough not to directly engage her on the point, but they were clearly wondering what was going on between her and Royd. She took a certain delight in pretending to be oblivious to their curiosity.
As she’d expected, she’d got on well with Edwina and Aileen. The pair had accompanied her to the room Edwina had assigned her. Declan and Edwina’s bedchamber lay to the left of the upstairs drawing room, which faced the head of the stairs. Aileen had mentioned that she and Robert had rooms along the corridor to the right of the stairs. The room to which Edwina had steered Isobel lay to the left of the stairs, had a lovely view over the rear garden, and, as Edwina informed her, was next door to the room she’d given Royd.
Isobel hadn’t reacted, but Edwina hadn’t appeared to expect her to. Her hostess had sat in the chair by the fireplace, Aileen had sat in the window seat, and while Isobel had prowled the room, checking to see where her things had been put, the pair had engaged in a quick-fire exchange, not about Isobel and Royd but about the mission, the likely weather, and the necessity of commencing their packing forthwith.
Isobel had found it impossible to keep a straight face. She had a strong suspicion that Robert’s and Declan’s views regarding their ladies’ involvement in the mission did not match that of said ladies. She knew whom she favored to win the upcoming arguments.
When Edwina had declared they would leave her to change and had pushed up out of the chair, Isobel had realized her hostess was pregnant; until that telltale move, the fall of Edwina’s gown had hidden the evidence.
“Five months,” Edwina had confirmed, with a smile the quality of which would have made her condition plain to the most undiscerning eye. “But I’m entirely well, and if I wasn’t ill on the way back from Freetown—and I wasn’t—then I doubt I will be on the way down again.” She’d nodded at Aileen. “And we think Aileen might be increasing, too, but she’s decided not to tell Robert yet.”
“I daresay he’ll want to wrap me in wool like some delicate porcelain, which I am most definitely not.” A militant gleam had shone in Aileen’s eyes. “No power on earth will keep me from getting to that compound and finding Will.”
Isobel
