“WHERE IS SHE?”
Despair got hold of Leo. If anything happened to Prim because of his family, because of him… There would be no court, there would be no exposure, no social suicide. Leo was going to kill Aaron in this very drawing room if he admitted to hurting his wife.
“East docks,” Aaron muttered through his torn lip. “see these tributes food there every Tuesday.”
Leo dropped Aaron as if he were a piece of rotten meat. He didn't stay to wait for a reaction. There was no time. Prim was in danger. His Prim, his wife, the only good thing that he had in his life, was in danger. So, he ran.
CHAPTER 29
Riverside
“Faster!” Leo screamed at his driver, hitting the wall of his carriage.
“Your Grace, there is congestion. It is impossible to pass through,” his driver said.
“We need to be at the East Docks. Now!”
“I am sorry, Your Grace, but there must be shipments arriving today.”
Leo cursed through tight teeth when he looked out the window of his carriage. His driver was not exaggerating. The streets were an immovable river of carriages and mail coaches, as they were every time that ships arrived.
He wouldn’t sit around and wait while Prim was somewhere out there in danger. The thought of Prim in the hands of men paid to harm her was enough to spur him on. He flung the door open, got on the street, and ran.
“Your Grace!”
He ignored the cries of his driver, the shouts of startled coachmen as he darted between wheels and horses. He couldn’t stop, not when Prim was out there alone, facing grave danger.
His boot hit the gravel, and everyone was looking at him as he ran. It wasn’t every day that you saw a Duke in a velvet coat, soil his boots in the mud of the streets, running like a madman, hat forgotten and his cravat loose.
He ran not with the grace of an athlete but with the desperation born out of true terror. Each step was a prayer.Don’t be late, don’t be late, don’t be late.Prim’s safety was measured in minutes, and he was wasting each minute away from her. His heart was a frantic drum against his ribs, not just from the physical exertion but from the fear that his mind’s ear offered.
His dread conjured the image of her being dragged away by vile men, far from his reach, her in their mercy. No! He would not allow it. This was not something that would come to pass, not as long as he was around, not now, not ever.
“Prim, I am coming,” he exhaled.
This was his punishment. For all that he had done to her, for all that she had to endure because of him, for all the pain he had caused her, he was sentenced to run helplessly in the streets of London with one dreadful realization in the worst possible moment.
Leo loved her, he loved Prim, he loved his wife with an all-consuming, bone-deep love that rattled the very foundations of his existence. And his punishment was to realize that the moment she was in danger, and not when she was safe in his home, in his bed, in his embrace.
Finally, he turned to the East India Docks and was faced with the chaos of ships loading and unloading. He gazed upon this in despair. There were people everywhere, like ants over sugar, a constant river coming and going, yelling, shrieking.
His eyes raked over the crowd, the crates, the dark mouths of alleys between warehouses. He was looking for a single woman. In this madness, she could be two feet away, and he would never see her.
What was she wearing this morning? Did he notice? He raked his fingers through his hair. An image came of her, boarding the Duchess's carriage, while Mrs. Byrne laughed with her. And Prim laughed back, that bright smile that was once his privilege. She was radiant in her lilac dress. And the matching hat. Lilac.
“Come on, Prim. Come on!” He rushed into the crowd.
Leo thought hard. They talked last night. She gave him a report of her movements for the day, like she did every dinner. She said East India Docks, but where specifically? Why was he focusing on that stray curl that bounced on her shoulder?
“Where are you, Prim? I am coming, please, where are you?”
He thought hard once more. He was watching her from across the table, admiring how the candlelight caught her golden hair and how he missed touching her, when she asked for additional funding. He agreed without arguing. It was for the…
“The Foundling Orphanage!”
It was on the far side of the docks, but it could be on the other side of the world, and he would still run with all his power. Leo headed to the main entrance but found it locked. Hopelessness got hold of him, and then he heard it. Over the clatter and the noise of the docks, he heard it. It was Prim’s voice.
“Let me go!”
