Defended by a Duke (The Beresford Adventures Book 6) by Cheryl Bolen

Author:Cheryl Bolen [Bolen, Cheryl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, romance, Historical
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2023-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

By half past eleven, Bentley was finished at Tolley’s house. He’d spent over an hour scanning through the rest of James Cook’s journals, looking for any reference to the island of New Londinium. Not a single reference appeared after the initial entries from the first expedition.

At first, Bentley thought he must have missed such a reference. Therefore, he looked through those hundreds of pages one more time. Still, the result was the same. Captain James Cook never returned to New Londinium. He never wrote in any way about trying to locate a gold mine on the island. He never intended to go back to the diminutive island in the Atlantic.

Where did those potential investors acquire information that would encourage them to sink a fortune into so shaky an investment? It was bad enough they were risking their own money, but as he understood it, the British government was poised to contribute hefty amounts into the endeavor, money the kingdom could ill afford to lose. Especially now, when the costly war had depleted the treasury.

It wasn’t until he was leaving Tolley’s house that he remembered he’d come in a hackney because he’d gone off to Parliament in Monty’s coach instead of his own. He stood little chance of finding a hackney in this residential neighborhood. If he walked down to High Holborn, his chances of catching one would be better.

From Tolley’s house, which was just around the corner from the Duke of Bedford’s Russell Square, he walked out into the misty night, heading in the direction of High Holborn. What a pity he had no coat! It was beastly cold. Thick fog shortened his vision so he couldn’t see past the house next to the Tolleys’.

It was obvious this area was populated by families, families all cocooned in their beds at this hour. Nary a window he passed was lighted. No conveyances moved along these streets.

Yet the sound of footsteps on the pavement behind him echoed his own. At first, he did not give it a thought. But when the steps persisted for more than five minutes, it occurred to him that it was possible he was being followed.

To confirm his suspicions, he stopped at the next corner and tried to appear as if he were considering which way to turn. The steps behind him stopped. His chest tightened. I am being followed. A pity he had no weapon. He vowed to be more cautious in the future. But what to do now?

Was he being followed by a thief? Or had his follower been sent by one or more members of the New Londinium Committee? Was he being suspected of aiding Devere in his inquiries? If only Devere could have given him more guidance. Was Devere even ready to challenge the committee members?

Bentley’s first instinct was to confront his follower and demand to know who’d sent him. But what if his follower was nothing more than a common thief? That seemed unlikely, given that Bentley had spent nearly three hours at Tolley’s.

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