Free Keepsake (The Distinguished Rogues Book 5) by Heather Boyd

once. A situation everyone found unnerving and she tried her best to avoid. This potion, and a retiring lifestyle, had reduced her fatigue considerably and prevented further relapses of late. Dealing with Taverham, however, was bound to increase them.
    She sat back, attempting to slow her breathing and heartbeat while pondering the message. After a time, some of her tension eased.
    “Meet where the roads meet and tally seven. Seven roads. That could be anywhere. Except that Mr. Fenning may have gone to London so he might mean a London location, and perhaps one so well-known to all that we’d be able to guess,” she told Martin.
    “The only one I can think of is Seven Dials. Surely he could not mean there?”
    Miranda’s heart skipped a beat at the idea that Mr. Fenning had retreated to that location. She was grasping at straws, but that was all she had for now.
    She shuddered. Fenning had gone so close to her husband’s London residence that they might even have passed each other on their way about Town. He might have been recognized. Christopher might have been noticed. “Is there another place in London with the same feature of seven roads converging?”
    “None springs to mind. One title lower than you married,” Martin murmured, rubbing his jaw as he stared at the paper. He looked up swiftly. “Earlham Street, off Seven Dials.”
    “The rest is easier. When the sun is high surely means midday. And the end of the week could mean Sunday.” She eased back into her seat, relieved to have new directions for Fenning and Christopher. Her son was surely safe still. “I cannot wait as long as Sunday to have my son back.”
    She pulled the blanket tighter about her. With so much time elapsing since Mr. Fenning had quit the district, Miranda could only hope he still protected what had been entrusted to him.
    Martin shifted to sit beside her. He took up her hand and held it firmly. “Miranda, I cannot allow you to go into the Seven Dials. Regardless of your need to retrieve the boy, it’s no place for a lady.”
    She pulled her hand free and clutched them together. “Fenning will never hand Christopher over to you without seeing me first. That was our agreement.”
    Martin scowled and turned on the bench. “Let me investigate first. Discreetly, and then bring you to the boy when I have found them. You must think of your health. It doesn’t do to become agitated, and traipsing about London’s worst districts isn’t good for you.”
    “Yet, what if Fenning sees you and runs? What if Christopher doesn’t remember you and becomes frightened?” She shook her head vigorously. “I cannot allow that to happen, so I will go, alone if your disapproval is so strong. This has gone on long enough. It is all my fault for listening to those three devils. He should have stayed with me despite what the doctors warned could happen to my heart.”
    Martin grunted a grudging agreement and sat back, folding his arms over his wide chest. The three devils were Taverham’s former guardians. Grown men with a propensity for meddling and causing even more trouble. As the carriage rolled toward London, a brief shower of rain passed over them and promptly disappeared again. Miranda leaned her head against Martin’s shoulder and tried not to worry over who had sought out Mr. Fenning last year and especially what they might have wanted him for.
    Miranda hoped it hadn’t been her husband in that village.

CHAPTER SEVEN

    Kit’s bedchamber door banged open with neither a knock nor apology, and Viscount Carrington rushed toward him. “Tell me it is true and not a cruel hoax?”
    “True. Miranda lives.” Kit frowned. “I thought you’d already left for the country?”
    “Not yet, thankfully.” The viscount, a friend but more importantly related to his wife through his own marriage to his wife’s cousin, Agatha, stopped dead in the center of the room and let out a relieved breath. “Agatha will be so pleased to learn her cousin is