The butler grimaced, and said, “It was a certain sack that Lord Richard is awaiting in the office.” He glanced to the cook and then back before continuing, “I just thought to follow and be sure he was headed to the office as expected.”

Suzette frowned. It was possible the man holding Christiana had decided to go around to the office via the yard rather than risk carrying her through the house where he might be spotted by servants. However, if Chrissy was the sack over his shoulder, that wasn’t a good sign. And the men were no doubt expecting him to come in through the hall door. They wouldn’t be prepared for his arrival via the French doors. If he should approach the glass doors and spot something that spooked him, he might simply slip away with Christiana completely unnoticed.

“Good idea. I shall join you,” Lord Madison said suddenly, selecting the largest of the knives remaining in a wooden block on the counter. “You girls return to the parlor. We shall be back as soon as it is over.”

On that note, he moved to the door and followed Haversham out.

“Are we going back to the parlor?” Lisa asked.

“What do you think?” Suzette asked dryly, snatching up the rolling pin the cook had been using and moving toward the door.

“Wait for me,” Lisa gasped.

Suzette glanced over her shoulder to see Lisa picking up and discarding several kitchen items before settling on a long, wicked-looking two-pronged cooking fork. Apparently satisfied that it would do, she hurried after her as Suzette pushed through the door.

Suzette crept along the back of the house, staying as close to the wall as she could. She didn’t have to glance around to be sure Lisa was still behind her. Her younger sister had one hand on her back as they crept along several feet behind their father and Haversham.

The butler was in the lead, with her father on his heels, and beyond them Suzette could see their quarry. The man was standing outside the French doors to the office, peering in through the window panels. He had Christiana slung over his shoulder like a sack, holding her in place with an arm around her legs, and at first Suzette thought her sister was unconscious, but as her captor eased one of the office doors open and began to slip inside, she noticed that Christiana’s eyes were open, and she was peering about to take in what she could see.

“She’s alive,” Lisa whispered with relief behind her.

Suzette nodded, but didn’t say anything and continued forward, raising her rolling pin in case the fellow burst back out of the office and made it past Haversham and her father. She would feel no compunction at all about bashing him over the head with the item rather than let him escape with Christiana.