Your Darkest Dream (Blackwood & Friends #2)

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Two

By the time the carriage returned to the townhouse, the sun was about to set and Blanche had half a plan formed in her mind. Wilhelmina's suggestion that they visit The Den had given Blanche more drive to make the choices she had to know that she was willing to do anything she needed to find a way to help the man she loved.

The Den would thrive, it was clear there was potential for the establishment, and she would be damned if he was not there to see it. She had to ensure that he was and everything she had changed that afternoon had been an active choice she made with Nate in mind. She wanted him to see the ideas in action, she wanted him to see the changes that were possible.

All this mess, all this nasty business- gone. All you need to do... is agree. Simply, make the right choice.

Despite the minacious intent of Rawdon's words, Blanche had utilized them to enforce her own right decisions the entire day, and now that she was driven towards a goal, she knew the next choice she needed to make had to involve Rawdon himself.

But therein lay the problem.

It was very unlikely while matters were freshly intensified between the two families that the Earl of Rothford would make any move to jeopardise his precarious hold of power that he currently had over them. Any missive, or correspondence, would likely be dismissed, ignored, or intercepted.

Blanche knew that getting Rawdon alone now with any one of the Blackwood's other than his wife would be almost impossible unless he wanted her enough to risk his innocence.

She was mulling this over inside her mind while she trawled in Wilhelmina's wake into the townhouse, setting Penelope down so that the greyhound could speed through the hallways as she was wont to do every time she arrived at a different destination. Familiar voices met her ears, drifting from a nearby parlour, and Blanche veered for it.

She pushed open one of the doors and spied her family along with Lord Oliver Hollingsworth, who hadn't yet departed since earlier, and a silence descended over the occupants.

Several heads turned to her with varying levels of concern, wariness and curiosity. She sensed Wilhelmina standing slightly behind her, awaiting her to enter further into the chamber, but Blanche did not, not yet.

"I need help," she announced suddenly since nobody else was bothering to talk, "and I think I have a plan."

"About time," Wilhelmina griped, pushing past her and demanding Kathleen ring for tea.

For a moment, Blanche stared at her grandmother a bit perplexed but then she moved into the chamber and found a place to sit. She glanced at Jason, whose expression revealed his caution, and then at Oliver, who looked mildly amused. Then again, the younger gentleman seemed to always be amused at something.

"Goodness sake, Bee," Nicola suddenly blurted from where she sat beside Kathleen, "are you going to tell us what you have contrived or not?"

She had really been quiet for some time, she conceded. Straightening her shoulders, she began to explain what had been gnawing at her mind for most of that afternoon. "I want to make Rawdon retract his testimony and the charge he has against Nate and myself."

Jason folded his arms over his chest and considered her astutely. "That is what we have been attempting to figure out this entire time."

Blanche looked at him sharply. "I know. But you haven't figured out how. I know how... well, at least I think I know how. But I need help."

"Tell us how you think Rawdon will do that then, Bee."

Her gaze drifted uneasily to her mother and Lady Wilhelmina, and she began to squirm a little, now uncomfortable. "Perhaps we should meet in private," Blanche hedged tentatively, "so that I may speak more freely about this topic."