Free Unexpected Blessings by Barbara Taylor Bradford Page A

‘Okay!’ she answered at once, jumping up, moving across the floor swiftly, hating to be caught offguard in this way.
    ‘What about you, Tessa?’ Linnet asked.
    ‘I couldn’t eat a thing! Food would choke me!’ she cried, shaking her head almost violently.
    ‘India? Do you want something, darling?’ Linnet’s auburn brow lifted questioningly.
    Her cousin nodded. ‘Tea with lemon would be nice, and so would a smoked salmon sandwich. Thanks.’
    ‘I thought you’d had lunch,’ Linnet murmured, and then stopped short. ‘Oh, but you never finished it, did you? Instead you drove here.’ Linnet stared hard at India but her face was quite expressionless.
    ‘That’s correct,’ India responded evenly, her own face as blank as her cousin’s. But she couldn’t help wondering if Linnet had guessed she had been with Dusty at lunchtime. No matter; Linnet was always on her side whatever she did.

    Jack Figg was seated at the large Georgian desk in the panelled library, his eyes on the papers spread out in front of him.
    After a moment he lifted his eyes and looked across at Linnet, who was seated on the sofa with Tessa. She was grim and intent, but holding her own as he knew she would. It was Tessa he was worried about.
    She looked as though she would pass out at any moment; her face was stark, chalky, her eyes swollen and red-rimmed from weeping. He fully understood how anguished and worried she was, and his heart went out to her. Apart from being a kind and compassionate man, he had once lost a child to death and his grief had been searing, a sorrow he could not endure. Now he prayed that Adele was alive. Instinctively he felt that she was, and he wanted more than anything else to trust in those instincts. God damn it, she has to be alive, he thought, willing it to be so.
    Seated on the other sofa near the fireplace were India Standish, whom he had known since she was a child, and Evan Hughes, the newcomer to the family, recently-discovered, and another great-granddaughter of Emma. He could see the concern on their faces as well, and he knew that all of these four young women had been waiting for hours to get an update on the situation from him.
    So had young Emsie and Desmond, who had rushed after him when he had traversed the estate with Wiggs and Joe earlier. They were now sitting on the upholstered library fender, obviously being extremely careful about opening their mouths. He had warned them that if they wanted to stay in the library they had to remain totally quiet. ‘Not one word,’ he had cautioned and they had nodded their agreement.
    Without preamble he began to speak, addressing himself to Linnet and Tessa who sat together. ‘It’s turning four-thirty, and it’s just over five and a half hours since Adele disappeared.’ He paused, his eyes sweeping over them, then he went on: ‘I’m afraid I don’t know where she is. But I do know where she isn’t, and that’s here at Pennistone Royal. She’s not in the fields, the meadows, the woods or the gardens, which have all been thoroughly scoured. And I’ve even had Wiggs drag the pond. Fortunately, all he found were weeds. Nor has Adele been seen in Pennistone Royal village, although two or three people did notice a black Mercedes driving through at high speed around lunchtime. That’s obviously the same car which was seen here in the drive by Wiggs and the stable lads.’
    ‘What about Mark? What about Mark?’ Tessa cried excitedly, repeating herself, and clutching the rag doll to her, as she had done on and off during the day. ‘Have you tried to find him?’
    ‘I have indeed,’ Jack responded softly. ‘I spoke to his secretary who told me he had taken a few days off–’
    ‘He came up here to grab Adele!’ Tessa interrupted, her voice rising. ‘I bet anything he’s in Yorkshire. With Jonathan Ainsley. They’re in this together.’ She looked agitated, and her eyes flared.
    ‘He could be up here, of course,’ Jack said, ‘but he’s