Free ROMANCE: MAIL ORDER BRIDE: The Other Man’s Baby (A Clean Christian Historical Western) (New Adult Inspirational Pregnancy Romance) by Joyce Wright Page B

find him.” His fingers lifted her chin, forcing her to meet his kind gaze. “Richard will be fine, Agnes.”
    “How do you know? He’s just so little. And where is Nurse?” She cried. None of this made any sense.
    Gilbert held out his hands, shaking his head. “I don’t’ know the answers to all your questions. I need you to trust me. I’m here to help.”
    He was right. She couldn’t expect him to know answers Richard’s own parents— Oh no, his parents. His father.  She hadn’t considered her husband. As Duke, he was likely a target of such things. His son, too.   “I should…” She didn’t want to say it, but knew she must. “I should send for Phillip, alert him that Richard might be missing.”
    “Do you know where he is?”
    Agnes frowned. Where was he? The truth was that Phillip often left the house at night, beginning long before he became duke.  He always returned the next day or several days after. Likely a mistress. She hadn’t considered where he was going, just felt relief that he was gone.
    She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
    Gilbert looked skeptical. “You’re certain?’
    Then it was her turn to feel skeptical. She stepped forward. “Gilbert, what’s your visit concerning? Do you know why my son would vanish from his rooms? We’ve gone five years without a word from you.” Five years, two months, and a few weeks , but she didn’t say the words aloud. “
    “Let’s leave that topic until we hear from the search party. Why don’t you order some tea for Richard to warm him once he is found?”
    Yes, tea. Tea would keep her busy and away from Gilbert while she thought. She nodded, then hurried away.
    #
    Gilbert paced to the nursery window. The lights from lanterns danced out over the grounds like fireflies. They wouldn’t find the boy. He just hoped the men would return soon, so he could persuade Agnes to accompany him in the carriage on a search.

Chapter 4
    An hour later, the search was abandoned as Nurse and Richard were not found on the estate, but fresh footprints were found in the soft earth beneath his window and  equally fresh wagon tracks lead away from the manor. Tears threatened to fall, but Agnes kept them at bay.
    Gilbert determined that he and Lionel would venture out, see where the tracks led and alert the constable in Richmond. Before they could leave, however, Agnes insisted on coming, too. He surprised her by agreeing readily enough, only advising that she dress warmly in the night air and gather warm clothes for Richard as well.
    They pulled out onto the road, Lionel in front, and Agnes sitting across from Gilbert in the carriage. The sky was starless, heavy with clouds. She stared out the window, squinting, hoping to see something, but knowing even without the dark, her poor eyesight without spectacles would prevent her sighting much. When the silence became unbearable she turned to him. He sat calmly, his hands folded in his lap, his gaze upon her. It must be his medical training that allowed him such calm stoicism. Even when he was a child, he had excelled at calm.
    “Tell me about your America.” She had of course seen many paintings and read many stories, but none created clear pictures in her mind.
    Gilbert smiled. “My America, eh? Let me see.  I settled in the most British of all cities, Boston,  which boasts a harbor and countryside, as well as city entertainments.”
    Agnes laughed softly. “Boston of infamy.”
    “Yes, that.” He leaned back and closed his eyes, as if picturing it. “Americans are quite different than their English cousins. There is courageousness, a sense of adventure that  we, perhaps,  shared at one time, but they have by the bushel.”
     
    “And you,“ she said, intrigued, “do you share this sense of adventure and courage?”
    He laughed outright. “Me? No, I am not a bit more adventuresome than I was when you knew me. You, my dear, were always the adventurous one.  I do find it a joy to behold.” He