“Not from that, sir, no.” She glanced at Giff. “Should we not confide this latest business to the Reverend Gaunt?”
“What, about Piers?”
“Yes, of course. He may have good advice for you.”
The reverend was glancing from one to the other. “What’s this? Has my other nephew surfaced again?”
Giff let out a grunt and proceeded to relate the circumstances of Delia’s morning meeting on the beach. He was looking decidedly sulky. Really, he was so boyish. Merely because he did not get his own way. Which, if her suspicions were correct, was probably just as well. The whole matter of their relationship was too distressing to endure discussion. Especially when he would not say anything until he had gained his earldom. But what if he never did? She thrust this thought to the back of her mind and tried to concentrate on the discussion going forward.
“I am with Delia on this, my dear boy. I find it suspicious that Piers should invite you to the Keep.”
“Yes, but if I can’t find him here, I will have to go, sir.”
“Why not have Sattar hunt him down in Weymouth? He seems to be eminently capable.”
“He is, but if Piers does not show his face in town, how should he find him? Besides, he may already have left for Waldiche.”
“Then you must go armed. And accompanied.”
Delia chimed in at this point. “Will you go with him, sir?”
The Reverend Gaunt gave a faint grimace. “I fear I will be of scant use. This is young men’s work.”
“Well, I said he should take Captain Rhoades, only he is so stubborn and stupid —” casting a vengeful look at Giff “— he won’t do it.”
“I didn’t say I won’t. I just don’t want the fellow. And you know why!”
Delia fairly glared at him. Why must he choose this moment to be idiotically possessive? As if she had the slightest interest in the captain! Or indeed vice versa. Why must he obstinately continue to believe otherwise? After her assurances too.
“It seems to me an eminently sensible notion, Giffard. Indeed, you might go accompanied by a whole platoon of militia, if the captain is willing.”
At that Giff let out a rather wild laugh. “I hardly think I’ll need an army to subdue Piers. I can manage him. As long as I have Sattar.”
The rector seemed less than satisfied. “That is all very well, my boy, but the fellow must have a plethora of servants at the Keep. Not to mention these creatures of his who have been plaguing you. They may not choose to show their faces in Weymouth, but —”
“The deuce! I had not thought of that!”
Delia watched Giff fretting in silence for a space. His uncle waited, clearly anxious. As was she, if truth be told. How was she to contain herself in patience, obliged to sit about doing nothing while Giff took himself off to Waldiche Keep and the Lord knew what fate? When he was too pig-headed to take sensible reinforcements too.
He snapped his fingers suddenly. “Young Tarporley! He’s a neighbour after all and knows the place. I’ll take him.”
The rector’s brows rose. “You will trust an untried youngster instead of a seasoned soldier? Come, Giffard, this is foolish beyond permission!”
The stubborn tilt to Giff’s chin did not drop. “Or I could ignore Piers and refuse to co-operate.” A look of satisfaction crossed his face. “That’s it. I won’t go at all and be damned to him!”
“Quite improvident, my dear boy. Not that I believe for a moment you will be able to resist.”
Giff at once took issue with this dictum, but Delia paid no heed to the ensuing argument. As little as his uncle did she place any reliance on Giff having the patience to refrain from finding out what Piers wanted. But a notion was filtering into her head.
Need she stand idle after all? Perhaps there was something she could do. Preferably without Giff’s knowledge. He had flown up into the boughs when she’d raised the matter of approaching his family yesterday. But need he know anything of it?
She regarded the rector in a speculative fashion. He would know where to find them. Might she suborn him into helping her?
The first necessity was to engineer an opportunity to talk to him alone. To this end, she waited for a break in the discussion which came sooner than she might have hoped.
“Oh, for pity’s sake, sir, very well!” The exclamation was accompanied by Giff throwing up his hands and rolling his eyes. “I’d best go and track the blasted man down now.”
Her attention caught, Delia quickly rose from the boulder. “If you are talking of the captain, Giff, you must promise me you will not accuse him or — or even mention this idiotic notion you have in your head.”