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still not sure why you are here.”
    “I mentioned Harry’s family earlier?” she said as if it were
a question. The lady clearly did not like to have one-sided conversations.
    “Yes,” he supplied.
    “Well, as uncouth and vicious as they are, they are not
stupid. Once they learned of my pregnancy, they knew it couldn’t be Harry’s.”
    Harry’s family was uncouth and vicious? Daniel was
surprised. Harry hadn’t been like that at all. Daniel had a made it a point not
to seek out Harry’s relations or any information about them. He’d made a clean
break of it. As clean as possible, anyway. “It would not take a genius to do
that math, no.”
    “Exactly. And so they are not pleased with me.” He now
understood her pauses to mean she expected a response.
    “I would imagine not.” She did not immediately pick up the
thread of the conversation and he realized she was waiting for more from him,
but he had no earthly idea what. And so the silence stretched uncomfortably. At
last she looked away, drumming her fingers on the arm of the chair.
    “I need protection,” she finally said in a rush. “I believe
that Harry’s family plans to do me in.”

Chapter Four
     
    Daniel had to choke back an incredulous laugh and turn it
into a cough. “I beg your pardon?”
    “I know it sounds absurd, but I’m quite serious,” she said
earnestly as she leaned forward in her chair beseechingly. “Until now, Harry’s
cousin, Theobald Ashbury, was next in line to inherit the family fortune should
Harry die without issue before his father. They were content to wait, sure that
he would meet with an untimely end in America. They refuse to believe news of
his success over there. Instead they fooled themselves into believing it was
only a matter of time. You see, his cousin is far more like Mr. Ashbury than
Harry ever was. But now, should this child be born while I am still married to
Harry, then by law it will have a legal claim on Ashbury’s fortune. Theo covets
that fortune, and Ashbury wants him to have it. So either Harry has to return
and renounce me or I’m a dead woman, and so is this baby.”
    “Is this all conjecture on your part?” Daniel asked in
disbelief.
    Sadly, she shook her head. “No. Someone broke into my home,
intent on violence. My…coachman, he chased him off. I came here straightaway.”
    Daniel got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “And
what exactly do you expect me to do to help you?” he asked with trepidation.
    “I need you to protect me and find Harry and bring him back
to England so he can fix this,” she explained slowly as if she were speaking to
a simpleton. “And we haven’t much time.”
    “How much time?” Daniel dreaded the answer.
    “About four months, give or take a few weeks.”
    Daniel closed his eyes. “It will take that long for
correspondence to cross the ocean, find the proper recipient, and an answer to
be returned.”
    “I know. I’ve sent letters already. I had Harry’s solicitor sending
letters. To no avail. No one seems to know where Harry is or even if he’s still
alive. If he isn’t, I need to know that too. It would be enough to appease his
family and leave me breathing.”
    “There is no possible way I can find Harry Ashbury for you,”
Daniel said firmly. “I have no better idea where to look than his solicitor
would, I’m sure. As you said, I haven’t seen him since the war. And even then
he was a passing acquaintance. I knew nothing of his life outside of the
military.”
    She slumped back in her seat, her dejection evident. “I see.
I was afraid of this.”
    “I’m truly sorry, Mrs. Ashbury, but I cannot help you.”
    The deep breath she took looked more as if she were building
up to something rather than being let down. He was on guard immediately.
    “I was hoping to spare us both the embarrassment of
discussing it,” she said quietly, looking off to the side instead of at Daniel.
“But I’m well aware of your relationship with