“No, no,” Diana said, shaking her head. “You cannot give up now.”
“He ransacked your house; he may have hurt you. How can I continue to risk that?” Lady Ridlington said, stepping back, as though going to release Diana’s hands, but she did not let her. Francis found his feet taking him forward, going to follow her. Josiah shook his head and went to oversee the bags himself, clearly deciding he had no part in the conversation. Francis was not so prepared to let this go.
“You cannot go back to him now,” he said, stepping up to Lady Ridlington’s side and earning her panicked gaze.
“Look at what happened to your sister,” she said with feeling, gesturing toward Diana. “What kind of friend would I be if I continued to let her risk so much for me?”
“What kind of friend would I be if I let you give up now?” Diana exclaimed, much louder than Lady Ridlington had done. “No, you are not going back, you cannot.”
“I…” Lady Ridlington trailed off, looking between the two of them. “I have to. What if he comes after you again?”
Francis couldn’t hear another word of this. He had to put the matter to bed, once and for all.
“Diana and Josiah are going to stay here for a while,” he said loudly, stopping Lady Ridlington from making anymore objections. “Here, they will be safe. He doesn’t know they are here, and he has no need to. You are mad if you think after all this, I am going to let you go back to a man like that now.”
“You won’t?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“I won’t,” he said, staring at her so hard that it was clearly difficult for her to look away. “Quite frankly, if you make any attempt to go back to him, I’ll merely go after him to stop him from ever hurting you again.”
“Francis!” Diana said in surprise, looking at him. “You would hurt him? You could end up in prison for such a thing.”
“What do I care about that?” Francis said, looking to his sister. “If it will keep her safe, then I will quite happily take the sacrifice.”
“You would do that?” Lady Ridlington asked, earning his gaze.
“I would,” he promised her. “So, I will hear no more words about this, my Lady. You are not going back to him, or I will simply have to follow you. Now, let’s get everyone inside.” He took control of the situation, turned and beckoned the bags to be taken in by the footmen, walking in ahead of the others.
He’d made up his mind and was willing to take the sacrifice, fully meaning his words. If Lady Ridlington went back to the Viscount, Francis would take it into his own hands to make sure the Viscount couldn’t ever hurt her.
* * *
“I think I will retire early for the night,” Diana said as she stood to her feet, looking around the room as she left her game of cards with Lady Ridlington. “It has been an eventful day; I’ll be better after some sleep.”
“Sleep well,” Lady Ridlington said as she packed away the cards, offering a smile.
Francis watched them both from where he sat by the fire, reading a book beside Josiah who had another book in his hands. To Francis’ mind, neither of them were doing very well at reading, they kept just looking toward the ladies as they played cards.
“I’ll retire with you too,” Josiah said, closing the book.
“Not taking in a word?” Francis asked with a knowing smile.
“Not one,” Josiah said, shaking his head as he stood to his feet. Francis knew very well what was on his mind, stopping him from reading freely. It was fear for the woman he cared so much about.
At this thought, Francis’ eyes flicked back to Lady Ridlington as she left the cards in the middle of the table and stood to her feet.
“Good night,” Francis bid to his sister and brother-in-law as they left the room, leaving him alone with Lady Ridlington. She moved forward, taking the chair beside him that had just been vacated by Josiah and sitting on the very edge, wringing her hands together. “Finding yourself unable to relax?”
“A little,” she confessed as she stared at the fire beside him. With the sun long gone and the night sky beyond the windows, it was the fire light and the few candles in the room that lit her before him, casting yellow hues across her face, and making her blue eyes almost silver. “I keep thinking of what you were saying earlier today.”
“Yes?” he asked, closing the cover of his book, now having lost all interest in it completely.
“Did you mean what you said?” she asked, keeping her eyes on the fireplace between them as the flames crackled and made the wood snap.
“The part about going after the Viscount?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I meant every word.” This time, his words urged her to look up at him. She didn’t say anything for a minute, she just continued to look at him, apparently searching for something to say. “I have startled you,” he summarized after a moment.
