“Actually, I was hoping that you might be able to help me discover who some of the other men involved might be.”
His face brightened at that request; he was obviously eager to help, for which Mary was truly grateful. She explained how she and Ryan had worked out who the other physicians were, then reached for the burgundy, leather-bound book that was lying on the table next to her. As reluctant as she was to let it out of her grasp, she had no reason not to trust Robert with it. Besides, if he was going to help her as he said he would, then the least she could do was show a little faith in him. Leaning forward, she handed the book over to him without the least bit of hesitation, watching as a look of reverence came over his face. She knew that her father had done some remarkable work in his time and appreciated that a man as prominent as the Earl of Woodbridge would treat his journal with such care and admiration.
Discovering what Helmsley had done both saddened and angered her beyond compare, but at least she knew that she could still count on Robert. There was also Ryan, whom she knew she could depend upon. Thinking of him now, she briefly wondered if he’d uncovered any new pieces of information. Probably not, or he would have hurried over and told her at once, regardless of their earlier argument. Of that she was certain.
Robert flipped open the journal and ran his fingers across the text.
“Do you see the initials at the end of each paragraph?” Mary asked, observing Robert’s fascinated appreciation of her father’s work.
He nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing slightly as he scanned the page. “I don’t believe that I know who those initials belong to,” he told her regretfully, looking up and meeting her gaze.
“Oh,” Mary muttered. The disappointment she felt was overwhelming. “I had rather hoped you would, considering your connections within the medical community.”
“Yes, I suppose that is true. But let’s not give up hope just yet.” He gave her an optimistic smile. “I have a record at my home of all the physicians and surgeons who have worked in London within the past ten years. Perhaps if we look in it, we might discover something new.”
“Oh, Robert, I knew you would do everything in your power to help, and this is certainly an excellent idea.” She didn’t want to abuse his willingness to help, but she also felt that time was of the essence. Consequently, she only stopped herself momentarily before adding, “I know it is rather late. I don’t suppose you would want to—”
“I don’t mind going over it right away if that is what you wish to do,” he told her gently. “I know how important this is to you.”
Relief washed over her. “Thank you,” she said, hoping she’d think of an appropriate means by which to repay him later. “You have always been very kind to me, and this. . .this means a lot.”
“It means a great deal to me too, Mary,” Robert assured her. “More than you can possibly imagine. After you?”
With a quick nod, stopping only to pick up her spencer and reticule, Mary followed Robert without a moment’s hesitation, only too eager to discover who else her father had been investigating.
“Is that not Woodbridge’s carriage?” William asked, pointing to the landau that was pulling away from the curb in front of Mary’s house. They’d gotten there as fast as they could, running the last hundred yards out of concern for Mary’s safety.
Ryan frowned. “I think so.” He turned and bolted up the stairs leading to the front door of Mary’s home and began hammering at it so furiously that William feared the door might break.
“May I help you?” a perplexed Thornton asked upon opening the door. He looked questioningly from one brother to the other.
“I need to see Mary,” Ryan told him on a gasp of air. “Lady Steepleton, I mean. I would like to ensure that nothing has happened to her.”
“She was well when I last saw her,” Thornton remarked. “A matter of minutes before you arrived.”
Thank God!
Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. “May I speak to her, please? I know it is rather late, but there is a matter of great importance that I must discuss with her at once.”
“Oh, I am afraid not,” Thornton told him. “Her ladyship has gone out for the evening. You are welcome to wait, of course, but I really cannot say how long she will be.”
Ryan’s heart leaped back into action, quickening its pace to a perilous beat.
“Where did she go?” He could scarcely get the question out. He felt faint, as if the world were folding itself in on him.
“I am really not certain, but she did leave with the Earl of Woodbridge, so she is in very good hands.”
Oh, dear God in heaven!
“He is going to kill her,” Ryan murmured, turning his back on the startled butler. “I just know it.”
“Then we have not a moment to lose,” William said as he grabbed his pale-faced brother by the arm and began dragging him along in the direction of Lord Woodbridge’s mansion. “Now, pull yourself together, Ryan; the woman you love is depending on you.”
Love?
He’d almost told her he loved her yesterday, but he hadn’t felt it as strongly as he did now that the words had actually been spoken, even if it had been by William. Hearing it made it so much more real. Yes, he loved her, more dearly than he’d ever loved any other, and he’d be damned if he was going to let a villain like Woodbridge get in the way of that.
“You are quite right,” he told William as he quickened his pace to a run. “I am going to find that bastard, and when I do, he will be sorry that he ever crossed me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“I have always admired your home, Robert,” Mary remarked as she stared up at the vaulted ceiling in the foyer of Woodbridge House. “I remember visiting here as a child when my father would come to call on you, and I always dreamed of what it might be like to live in such a place.”
“And now you know,” he told her cheerfully.
“Oh, my house on Brook Street is nothing compared to this, though you are very kind to imply so.”
“I was actually thinking of Steepleton House.”
Mary looked momentarily confused.
“The estate in Northamptonshire?”
“Oh, yes, of course. Unfortunately, I have not had the time to visit it yet.” She paused for a moment as she ran her eyes along the railing of the wide marble staircase. “But I take it you have been?”
“Once, as a child, when your grandfather was still alive. Your father invited me along one summer. It was quite splendid.
“Come, let us go this way,” he said. With heels clicking against the marble floor and his cane thumping loudly at his side, Robert led Mary through to his study.
“Now, before we get started, I would like to show you something rather special.” He crossed the carpet to a door that stood between two bookcases and opened it.
Mary stepped forward. She walked past Robert, peered inside the room, and simply gaped at what she saw. “Heavens!” she exclaimed.
“Is it not marvelous?”
“It is certainly quite unusual,” she told him as she glanced about the room that Robert had clearly spent much time on converting into his private operating theater.
“And yet it has served me rather well.” His voice was strained with the early tones of annoyance. This room was his pride and joy, and all she had to say was how unusual it was? He wanted to slap her but stopped himself. It wouldn’t do for her to lose faith in him just yet. There would be plenty of time for that later.
“Most members of the ton abhor having to venture into a hospital filled with diseased commoners,” he explained. “Here, in the confines of this room, I am able to offer them absolute discretion with less chance of catching another contagious illness.” He wouldn’t tell her that the members of the gentry weren’t the only ones who’d paid a visit here. After all, he could hardly kill off too many of them before drawing suspicion. Besides, they were the ones funding his rather elaborate lifestyle. That was not to say that he hadn’t been tempted to botch up Lord Hornby’s operation. He simply couldn’t stomach the fool.
Now, the commoners, on the other hand, with all their putrid afflictions—nobody cared if one of them didn’t make it. Oh, the power of the surgeon! He was like a god, holding the life of his patients in the palm of his hand. How many times had he decided to save a life, and how many times had he decided to let the poor unworthy wretch just slip away? The feeling he felt when that vital decision was made was unlike any other. It gave him wings and sent him soaring, knowing that all men who came to him were putting their lives in his hands. And yet, before each surgery began, Robert had no idea which way things would go. That was what excited him the most. Sometimes, it was out of his hands, of course, but in most cases, it would come to him about halfway through, out of nowhere. He’d suddenly know if he was going to allow the person who lay before him to live or to die. And there was nothing in the world that could make him feel more alive. It was quite exhilarating.
As for Mary, her fate had already been determined, of course. He glanced at her now as she paced about the room, examining every little detail. His mouth twisted itself into a leering grin at the prospect of what was to come. If Mary would only have looked, she would have seen it for what it was: a warning to get the hell out of there. But she was too absorbed, too preoccupied, and too trustworthy, so she missed it, focusing her attention on the operating table instead.
“This is really quite something,” she marveled as she ran her hand across one of the leather straps that were hanging from the side of the operating table in the center of the room.
“I must say it works splendidly well,” he told her. “I added enough straps to keep the patient restrained at all times. You see, like this I only need to leave the straps in the area where the surgery is being performed undone. The rest will keep the patient firmly in place.”
He watched her closely, saw her admiration, and decided to exploit it. “Here, how about if you climb up, and I will show you.”
“I’m not exactly dressed for something like this,” Mary told him hesitantly, but he could tell that she was wavering. She was just like her father, too eager to learn of the newest advances that medicine had to offer. How ironic that it would soon be her downfall.
“Come, it will only take a moment. Besides, I would like an honest opinion on the level of comfort this thing has to offer. I have tried it myself, of course, but I fear I am not as finicky as some of the ladies.”
Mary grinned, rising to the challenge—and the bait. “Very well then, I will give it a go.”
Excellent.
“Here, you can use this stool to climb up, then just lean back. . .there you go. . .comfortable?”
“As a matter of fact, I am actually,” she admitted, sounding surprised.
But when she began to sit up again, Robert stopped her with his hand. “Come on, Mary; you cannot say that you have tried it unless you have really tried it. It will only take a moment.” He forced a warm smile as he reached for one of the straps.