“I’m there because I want to help the children, of course—but it’s my home, too. I live at the orphanage because I have nowhere else to go. My parents threw me out of their home after I failed to find myself a husband. They were unwilling to have their unmarried daughter living with them any longer… not that they were ever particularly enthused about my living there. My father never wanted a daughter.”
The duke went quiet for a moment.
“Oh,” he said at last. “That sounds… truly awful.”
“Well, I don’t imagine it’s uncommon. Fathers with titles want sons to whom titles can be passed down,” she said. “He wanted an heir, and I wasn’t one.”
“A good father is happy with his child no matter what she is,” Reeves said, his voice tight. “A good father wouldn’t wish his child were someone else to satisfy his own selfish needs.”
It was a thought Bridget had had many times, but to hear it coming out of someone else’s mouth was powerful. She regarded him for a moment. Whether his definition of a good father was strictly true or not, he had inadvertently told her something else here—how much he cared for Emma. He really did want to help her.
She could trust his motives.
She wanted to say something to him, to let him know that she appreciated what he was saying. That Emma was lucky to have a father like him, and that she was sorry she’d had to fight him at every turn. He cared for his daughter. He didn’t deserve to be treated like her enemy. They would find a way forward that didn’t mean working against one another the way they had been so far.
Before she could say it, though, the door to the study burst open, and Agnes came rushing in.
“Reeves,” she said. “Bridget.”
Her face was flushed, and her hair was untidy. She was wringing her hands in front of her. Bridget could tell at once that something was very wrong. She jumped to her feet. On the other side of the desk, the duke did the same. “What is it?” he demanded. “What’s going on?”
“I just went to the nursery to check on Emma—one of the maids let me know that Bridget had come here, you see, and I didn’t want her to be on her own…”
Bridget noticed the way the duke stiffened at the sound of his daughter’s name. “And?”
“And she isn’t in her room,” Agnes burst out. “I don’t know what could have happened, but… Emma is gone!
CHAPTER 12
No. No, no, no. Not again. I just got her back. I can’t bear this.
Reeves felt as if a gong was ringing on the inside of his head. For a split second, the shock and horror of what his sister had said to him held him paralyzed. It couldn’t be. She couldn’t be gone again. Everything was supposed to be all right now…
But the feeling quickly snapped. Action was what was called for now. “Muster the staff,” he snapped at his sister. “Search everywhere. I want the whole grounds covered. Make sure they’re told that no one is to leave the property.”
“She can’t have gone far,” Miss Wetherby agreed, though her face had gone pale. Reeves found himself wondering whether something like this had happened to her in the past. She always talked about the experiences she’d had at the orphanage and how they had prepared her for the reality of caring for Emma now. Was it possible she’d lost a child before?
If I’d known that, I would never have trusted her!
He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. This wasn’t Miss Wetherby’s fault. He had summoned her to his study. He had known that would leave Emma alone in her room. It had beenhisfault, not hers.
It was always his fault.
There was no time to indulge that thought either. He was out the door and running, Miss Wetherby hot on his heels.
He went to Emma’s room first, even though Agnes had alerted him to the fact that she wasn’t there. A part of him held out hope that perhaps she was just hiding, that she’d come out when she saw him.Or maybe seeing Miss Wetherby will draw her out. She’s the one who seems to have the magic touch.At the moment, Reeves didn’t care which of them was the one to bring Emma out of hiding. If his daughter appeared, that would be more than enough for him. He would have no complaints whatsoever.
But she didn’t. They made it to the bedroom and found it empty. Reeves stormed in and pulled open the wardrobe in case she was hiding.
“Your Grace.”
He ignored the voice and bent down to look under the bed.
“Your Grace!”
He whipped back the curtains in case she was hiding among them.
“Reeves!”
