A Spinster’s Guide to Danger and Dukes (Ladies Most Scandalous Book 3)

When Langham went in search of Poppy, he was informed that she’d gone with the rest of the ladies to the picnic on the other side of the lake. Cursing, he remembered that the gentlemen had been meant to join them after their ride. His interview with Jarvis had pushed the outing from his mind.

He took the stairs two at a time, and when he reached the entry hall where the rest of the men were donning their outer clothes before they set out for the picnic, he pulled Val aside. “Stay here for a moment.”

Then turning to Jenkins, he asked, “Have Eversham and my brother left for the picnic yet?”

“I don’t believe so, Your Grace,” Jenkins said with a frown. “Shall I send one of the footmen—”

Before the butler could finish the question, Eversham and Lord Adrian appeared at the top of the stairs.

With instincts no doubt honed by years of policework, Eversham’s gaze sharpened at once. “What’s amiss?” he asked as he and Adrian all but ran down the stairs to meet Langham and Val.

Deciding it would be best to keep their conversation from being overheard, Langham gestured for the others to join him in a small parlor off the entry hall.

Quickly, he told the men what he’d learned from Ned about Stannings.

“But you’ve known Stannings since you were a boy,” Adrian said with a shake of his head. “He’s one of the most respected members of this part of Buckinghamshire, not to mention England.”

“Before our great-grandfather’s involvement in the Lucifer Society became known,” Langham reminded his brother, “he, too, was well respected.”

“What could Lovell have been blackmailing the fellow over?” Eversham asked. “We know Lovell used his knowledge of Short’s schemes in order to gain a wife, but if Stannings was cheated out of funds by Short, that would hardly be something to hold against the man being cheated.”

Telling them that Lovell had mentioned “bringing down the whole society,” Langham related what he and Poppy had seen last night in the cave.

Val whistled. “Someone has revived your ancestor’s satanic club?”

“You aristocrats never cease to amaze me with the more and more outlandish ways you find to get into trouble.” Eversham sounded disgusted.

Ignoring the detective’s taunt, Langham said, “I need to find Poppy and tell her about Stannings. Whoever locked us in may have deduced that we were in the caves. If Stannings has heard about this, then he could have reason to hurt her.”

“And you too, brother,” Adrian said with a scowl. “I have no wish to become duke.”

“I have no intention of allowing that to happen anytime soon,” Langham assured his brother as he moved toward the doorway. To the others he said, “We need to get to the picnic. If I know Poppy and your wives, then they are taking the opportunity to do a little investigating. And if Stannings finds them, he might seize the opportunity to harm them.”

“Lead on,” Val said, “though we might better arm ourselves before we confront Stannings. If he’s our man, he’s already killed once. “

“The gun room is this way,” Langham said, leading the men out to the hall.

Once they were equipped with the necessary weaponry, they set out.

When they reached the area where the picnic had been laid out, Langham was alarmed to see that neither Poppy nor Kate nor Caro were among the group.

“Where are Miss Delamere and her friends?” he asked his sister Charlotte, who was peeling an apple.

“Oh, they wandered off on the other side of the folly,” she said with a wave in that direction. “Well, that’s not entirely accurate. Poppy went chasing after Grandmama’s little beast of a dog. You know what a devil Percy can be when he doesn’t wish to be caught. Then Lady Katherine said something about it being a rather long time since she’d gone, and she and Lady Wrackham left their own unfinished plates here and disappeared after her. I do like your Poppy, but she and her friends are odd ones, make no mistake on it, Joshua.”

Not bothering to reply, Langham raced off toward the folly, Adrian, Eversham, and Val not far behind. When he reached the far side of the folly, he saw Kate and Caro standing near a tree and staring down at the ground.

When they saw him, he saw Kate give a sigh of relief.

“Thank heavens you’re here,” she said, as Eversham strode toward her. But she held up a hand. “Don’t come any farther. There’s a trapdoor of some sort right here. I believe Poppy must have fallen down it, but Caro and I have no way of knowing for certain. We cannot see anything down there, it’s so dark.”

Langham remembered that there had been an entrance to the caves embedded in the ground near here. He and Stannings had climbed a rope ladder leading in and out of the tunnel beneath often as children.

“Have either of you seen anyone else wandering around up here?” he asked the two ladies. “A gentleman?” He described the man he’d known almost as well as he’d known himself when they were youths. It was hard to believe someone could change so much, but he supposed it had been some time since he really had any sort of meaningful conversation with the man. They’d both been busy with their own lives and, as sometimes happened, drifted apart.

“No,” Caro said frowning. “No one. Who is it you suspect we might have seen?”

“The local magistrate, Sir Geoffrey,” Val said, slipping an arm about his wife’s waist. “Langham thinks he may have reason to harm Poppy.”

“What?” Caro covered her mouth with her hand in shock.

Langham left it to the others to explain his suspicions about Stannings while he headed for the entrance to the folly. Once inside, he lit the lantern and quickly found the mechanism for the hidden door. And then, without a moment’s hesitation, he stepped into the dimly lit stairway and began his descent to the caves below.

*  *  *

The fall wasn’t quite so far as Poppy had feared, and when she landed on the hard ground of what she could now see was part of the network of caves, she saw that there was a rope ladder hanging down from the square of light in the ceiling above her. If her foot had got caught in it she might have broken her neck.

Which was, perhaps, not an unwanted outcome in Stannings’s mind.

As it was, she’d twisted her ankle when she landed, and it hurt like the very devil.

Wincing, she tried to massage it a little as she watched the magistrate descend the ladder.

Stannings leapt nimbly from the last rung and then, with a deft pull, unhooked the ladder from where it was moored at the ceiling.

“I do apologize for that, Miss Delamere,” he said, moving to light a lamp that hung from the wall behind her. “These old cave entrances can be treacherous. Even more so when you’re tossed in, of course.”

He chuckled wryly at his own cruel joke.

“It was you last night,” Poppy said as she saw a golden necklace and pendant like the one she’d found in her sister’s room hanging about the man’s neck, now visible thanks to the tear she’d made in his shirt as they’d scuffled above ground. “Leading the ritual in the cave.”

“Indeed,” he said with a bow. “If I’d known we’d have an audience, I would have arranged for a more exciting performance. Though I suppose the party afterward was display enough for your poor innocent eyes. And if I know Langham, he used the opportunity to press his suit, so to speak.” He laughed as if he’d made an amusing joke, and Poppy felt her insides roil with disgust.

“I had men keeping watch last night, and the one near the folly saw the two of you disappear inside. The clever fellow thought it best to keep you in there for a bit so you couldn’t summon anyone to break up our little gathering,” Stannings continued. “Although poor Langham, he does so hate enclosed spaces. Never did get over that unfortunate incident in the tower. I had no idea it would follow him all these years later.”

He chuckled mirthlessly at the memory, and Poppy went cold at the sound before a fiery anger overtook her.

“You know about his fear?” Poppy demanded. Then she realized the truth. “Of course you know. You were the one who locked him in the tower all those years ago.”

“Very good, Miss Delamere,” Stannings said, clapping his hands sarcastically. “But really, someone had to keep him from becoming full of his own importance. And yet he wasn’t at all interested in the greatest legacy his great-grandfather left him, if you can believe it. I thought spending time alone in St. Lucifer’s might change that. Instead, his time in the tower brought an outcome even better than I could ever have imagined.”

Poppy’s stomach dropped to think of the cruelty Langham had suffered as a boy, and suffered still, but she knew better than to let her emotions show.

Stannings clucked his tongue in disappointment. “It’s really too bad the two of you won’t be able to wed as you’d intended. Unfortunately, you’ll be out of the picture before dear Langham will be able to do right by you. It’s a shame. I thought the two of you made a handsome couple. If you and your interfering sister had just accepted my plan to have her take the blame for Lovell’s murder, none of this would be happening. Though I suppose Lovell himself must accept some of the responsibility. He is the one who decided to blackmail me, after all.”

So, it was clear at last. Lovell had attempted to coerce the wrong man and had paid the price for it. Poppy tried to summon some sympathy for her brother-in-law, but all she felt was disgust.

“That’s enough chatter,” Stannings said now, even though he was the only one who’d been talking. “Let’s go. Up with you.”

Poppy tried to stand, but when she put weight on her foot, the pain was excruciating and her ankle would not hold her.

Her cry of distress didn’t move her captor, however. “Oh, do not pretend you’ve truly hurt yourself, Miss Delamere. That must be the oldest ruse in the maiden’s handbook. Right next to the conveniently timed swoon. Now, get up before I am forced to hurt you in earnest.”

“My ankle is truly injured, Sir Geoffrey,” Poppy said, alarm coursing through her at what he might do to her if she could not follow his demands. “I landed on it when I fell.”

“Of course you did, silly bitch,” Stannings said with disgust. “Come on, then.” He reached an arm down to help her to her feet, and despite her distrust of him, it was clear he’d believed her at last.

They hobbled along together for several feet, going deeper into the caves, before he halted.

“Can’t you go any faster?” he groused. And before Poppy could object, he swung her into his arms. Unable to stop herself, she recoiled away from his body.

“Don’t be such a simpering virgin,” Stannings snapped. “I daresay your darling Langham has probably used you well enough.”

At the mention of Langham, Poppy felt a surge of energy rush through her. She would get out of here alive. Because she didn’t care if he’d proposed to her out of some misguided sense of chivalry. His honor was, for better or worse, part of who he was. And faced with Stannings, who had no honor at all, she realized that it had been a straw she was clutching at in order to protect herself from the vulnerability it would take to tell Langham—Joshua—just how she truly felt about him. She loved him, and if— no, when she got away from this madman, she would tell him so.

Knowing she needed to distract Stannings if she was going to find a way to escape, she asked, “I suppose Lovell used your leadership of the Lucifer Society to blackmail you?”

“He was not the most intelligent of men, your brother-in-law,” said Stannings with a nasty laugh.

They’d been following a circuitous path through the cave system until they reached a room not unlike the one where she and Langham had seen the Lucifer Society gathering the night before.

“Here we are,” said Stannings with an almost gleeful tone. “The perfect location for our virgin sacrifice. Though we’ll just keep the knowledge that you’re probably no longer virginal between us.”

He carried her to a raised dais, a thronelike chair sitting atop it. Setting the lantern down on the floor, he then raised her onto the chair and deposited her with a groan. “You’re much heavier than you look, Miss Delamere. I’d say you might consider foregoing dessert for the next few weeks, but that won’t be an issue, will it?”

Grateful to be away from him at last, Poppy glanced about the room as Stannings went around lighting the lanterns that hung from the walls.

“What is this place?” she asked, thinking that it looked more cavernous than the room where last night’s gathering had taken place.

“We use it for assemblies when the entire society is in attendance,” Stannings said over his shoulder. “Last night we were just a small gathering. One day soon we’ll have a large feast, just as Thaddeus did in the old days.”

Poppy hated to think how many members the entire society encompassed. There was something disturbing about a large number of the county’s most respected leaders agreeing to participate in such a spectacle.

She scanned the room for something—anything—that could be used as a weapon. Finding nothing, she surreptitiously ran her hand along the cushion beneath her. She’d just felt the edge of a hard object when she heard a voice she’d been terrified she’d never hear again.

“Sorry to interrupt your celebration, Stannings old fellow, but I’m afraid your guest of honor is leaving with me.”