Free The Wayward One (The De Montforte Brothers Book 5) by Danelle Harmon

supportive words and her moment of missing Perry, the planned exhibition out in the garden for which he’d asked her to watch from the safety of the house. “She went back inside. I demonstrated the explosive, came back into the house, and she was gone.”
    “That makes no sense whatsoever.”
    “Tell me something I don’t already know.”
    “Was she angry with you? About anything?”
    “A bit peeved that I was trying to protect her by sending her back inside, but not enough to desert me and run away.”
    “And this moment of missing Perry. You don’t think she went to him to try and win him back, to change his mind about her?”
    “Lucien, I’ve been there twice. He said he hasn’t seen her.”
    “Did he even offer to help find her?”
    Andrew looked down, his face tragic. “No. He did not.”
    The duke began to pace back and forth on the heavy Aubusson carpet. “Nothing happened to upset her, then. No reason for her to leave the house. There has got to be more to this than what is on the face of it.”
    Andrew, exhausted, just shook his head in defeat.
    Lucien was persistent. “Who else was there at this demonstration? I presume it was a gathering of naval officers.”
    “Yes.”
    “And were they all accounted for? Did any of them remain in the house when you all went outside?”
    “No, not a one.”
    “All servants and staff accounted for?”
    “Yes.”
    Lucien swore under his breath and continued to pace.
    “Wait,” Andrew said, frowning. He looked up at his brother. “There was a fellow there who was a guest of Captain Lord and his wife. An Irishman. Mrs. Lord’s brother, if I remember correctly. Captain Lord wasn’t happy when he turned up, probably because I was demonstrating something that was supposed to be quite secret. There seemed to be a bit of a history between them. But he was a drunken idiot, a fool, and he left before the demonstration began. I can’t imagine that—”
    “Did he return?” Lucien asked sharply.
    “No, but we were all frantic and out searching by then. Maybe he did come back while we were all out combing the streets and knocking on doors. I don’t know. Honestly, Lucien, I don’t think he’s anyone to be concerned about. Didn’t seem very bright, to be honest.”
    But Lucien’s face had hardened like that of a marble bust. “I’ll be the judge of that. Stay here in case anyone delivers any news. I’m going to Captain Lord’s to pay him and his wife a visit.”
    * * *
    “And this,” Captain O’ Devir said, as genial a host as any officer in their own navy might be, “is a gun.”
    “It looks like a cannon to me.”
    “And so it is, lass. On land. But aboard ship, we call it a gun.”
    Nerissa, despite her resentment toward this man who had plucked her from her safe if not altogether happy life and brought her here, was quite glad of the support of his strong, unyielding arm beneath her hand though it would be a sunny day in December before she’d ever admit it. As they moved about the quarterdeck—well, that’s what he said this part of the ship was called—she could feel the immense power of the sea beneath them, and every so often the brig rose on a particularly large swell rolling in from the west and she’d sink her fingers into that arm to keep her balance.
    She felt less fearful of him, out here in the open. He had introduced her to his officers. He was polite and smiling, and surely he wouldn’t dare accost her in front of his crew. The sunlight that filtered down through the clouds gave her a sense of security. Broad daylight. He was behaving like a gentleman. But oh, dear God, what would the night bring?
    Hopefully a Royal Navy ship to rescue me before I have to find out.
    The ship smashed through another deep swell. Nerissa clutched at Captain O’ Devir’s arm, but he seemed to suffer no such trouble keeping his footing. Neither did the many men she saw on deck, all going about tasks that were, for the most part, alien to her.