The Contract Duchess, a Regency Romance: Key To My Heart Book 1

Chapter 19 - Angela, Robert, and Theo

Angie awoke in a dark room. Regaining consciousness felt like pulling herself out of the relaxing embrace of a warm bath, something she had never relished. Her limbs were limp and even her eyelids felt heavy as though made of brocade that had been saturated in the rain. The sensation was a familiar part of her illness, and she well knew the pull to simply sink back into oblivion; it would certainly be easier than forcing her eyes open and attempting to move her body.

She resisted the sweet temptation to give in and go back to sleep. She remembered that she had been accosted in her room before the darkness had taken her the last time, and she urgently needed to know what had happened while she had been unconscious. The effort just to open her eyes brought a low groan from her lips, but she persisted until her lids parted and light flooded her vision.

Blinking was a task she had to concentrate on, but it was rewarded with a clear view of the room around her. Her groan must have been audible in the quiet room, for she had barely blinked twice when Anne leaned into her sight.

"Oh, it is so good to see you awake again, my lady!" she exclaimed softly. "I was worried that it might be days before you were sensible again, what with all of the chaos of last night!"

Angie sighed in relief. Sometimes, it was a day or two after a major shock before she was able to stay awake or think clearly. That it was not the case this time surely had something to do with her curiosity about recent events. She decided to test out her power of intelligent speech next.

"Who was she?" The words were soft, barely a whisper, but the smile on Anne's face told her they had been heard, another small miracle.

"I am so glad you can speak, mistress. We all had quite a scare last night, and I know you were already poorly after that letter." The expression of disgust on her face indicated her personal opinion on that missive, and Angie felt that something was not right with the mentioned letter, but her thoughts would not gather to it.

Anne continued, "The woman we found in your room has refused to speak her name. She only will laugh and beg and scream all sorts of threats, most of which make no sense. You did well to keep her talking as you did." Anne patted her hand. "The constable was briefed on all that she said once her plot was foiled, and he promised to investigate the matter with all due haste."

A detail from the odd exchange surfaced in her mind, and Angie grasped it like a drowning man would grab onto the gunwales of a lifeboat. "Has anyone discovered anything about this estate that she says Derrick was transported to?"

Anne shook her head slowly, her eyes full of sadness and sympathy. "Without her name, it is impossible to identify her father and locate his holdings. The constable said that he would send out men to all of the properties that are not currently occupied to check for evidence of a break in, but if the man was home, or the kidnappers had a key..."

As Anne's voice trailed off, Angie forced her mind to not complete the sentence. Of course, a general search would not turn up anything definitive, unless the kidnappers left evidence of their comings and goings, and given the clever design of what she understood of the plot, she doubted that there would be any evidence to find. No, it would be up to them to help find Derrick, and Angie had an idea of where to start.

Her first idea was to send her brothers to find information from the deceased Duke of Chesterfield's friends about any particularly enraged gambling partners and their current whereabouts; this turned out to not be as effective as she had hoped, as it turned out that the Duke had fewer friends than he had relatives. At least they discovered this fact quickly, only wasting a half a day's time running around and asking questions. That left her with one other idea for uncovering the identity of the mystery woman, an idea quickly nixed by her older brother.