Noble hugged his son fiercely. “No, son, you didn’t do anything wrong. Now, I want you to tell me from the very beginning when you first noticed that man at Gentleman Jackson’s.”

***

Lord Rosse, riding one of the Black Earl’s horses, was surprised to see Noble’s carriage suddenly stop. He rode up and leaned down to ask if everything was all right.

Noble stepped out and handed Nick up to John Coachman. “You can ride up there with John for a bit, son. If you’re good, he’ll let you handle the whip.”

Noble turned back to his friend. “Tie him off.” He nodded at the horse as he climbed back into the carriage. “We have to talk.”

“What’s all this about?” Rosse asked a minute later as the coach once again started off at a fast clip. “You’ll have to change horses at Rowley at the rate you’re pushing them.”

Noble ignored the comment, his face hard and bitter. “It’s Tolly.”

Rosse stared at him, not understanding his cryptic comment.

A spasm of pain swept across Noble’s face. “God help me, I thought the man was my friend, but it’s been Tolly all along. He’s been behind McGregor’s attacks on me, I’m sure of it. Tolly was the man who killed Elizabeth.”

“Tolly?” Rosse asked, disbelieving. “Our Tolly? Are you sure? He’s the one who told us to look at Carlisle’s house…oh.”

“Exactly. Nick identified him, right down to those blasted seals and fobs he always decks himself out with. He told me…” Noble’s voice choked to a stop. It took him a few moments before he could continue. “He told me how Tolly would visit Elizabeth and they’d play their little games in front of Nick. My God, Harry, how could she do that to him? How could she hate him so much that she’d want to see him suffer like that?”

Rosse swallowed back his own lump. “She never liked him, Noble, you knew that.”

“I knew it, and I thought I’d protected him from her wrath at not being able to have children…but I didn’t. I failed him, Harry, and that thought will haunt me till the day I die. And now—” Noble stared blindly out the window. “What if I fail Gillian, too?” he whispered.

“You won’t,” Rosse said in a hearty voice. “We’ll stop at Rowley and change horses, and see if the Runner left any message about their direction. We’ll find them.”

“You know what he did to Elizabeth,” Noble said hoarsely. “He beat her. He cut her. He abused her in ways no man should abuse a woman. He must be mad—mad with jealousy or hate or—God knows what. What’s to stop him from taking out his rage at me on Gillian? What’s to stop him from doing the same inhuman things to her that he did to Elizabeth?”

His last words were almost a sob. Rosse put out a hand and grasped his friend by the arm. “Noble, stop torturing yourself. It won’t do you any good, or Nick, or Gillian. Now get hold of yourself, man, and let’s consider all the places Tolly might have gone.”