“Why didn’t you stop him?Dammit.You just let him abscond with her?”
Mr.Hodgins’s face fell.But he did not respond, nor did Jim.Rhys glanced between the two men, who he knew cared for their mistress.He let out a long breath.The fact was that their salaries were paid by the duke.They must do as he asked or be out of a plum job.Rhys didn’t fault them for that.Jim said he tried to come get him.But, fuck all, he had let his hurt pride lead him right out of town, and he hadn’t been here when she needed him.
“Don’t worry, boys, I will get her back.Now, where is this Eastwell Park?”
“Kent,” Hodgins replied.
“But where in Kent?”
Hodgins shrugged.“I don’t know.I have never been.I could contact the duke’s staff and find out.”
“Do it.We will need to take a carriage to bring her home.”He turned to Jim.“Will you come?And we will bring her coachman too.I need one hour, and I’ll be back.”
“Yes, sir.”Jim hurried down the hall.
The bell for the front door jangled from the bell rack on the wall.Mr.Hodgins frowned.“Please excuse me.”
Curious who was at Violet’s front door, Rhys followed the butler through the house to the foyer.Hodgins opened the door to find Violet’s parents on the threshold.Lord Blackpool swept into the house with his wife at his heels.“Hodgins, where is my daughter?Is she unwell?”Blackpool came to an abrupt stop when he noticed Rhys.“What are you doing here?”
Lady Blackpool’s eyes narrowed.She turned to Hodgins.“Violet has not answered any of my notes.Where is she?”
“My lord, my lady.She has been taken by Lord Lavensham.”
“Against her will,” Rhys interjected.
“Hodgins, is that true?”Blackpool asked.
“Yes, sir.He came to the house last Monday in a terrible temper and forcibly took her.They were headed to Eastwell Park, I believe.”Hodgins wrung his hands as his gaze bounced from her parents to Rhys and back again.
“I told her that he was going to hear the gossip,” Lady Blackpool muttered.“That she should be careful.You are he, aren’t you?Why else would you be here?”
“What is he?”Violet’s father looked confused.
“Don’t be daft, Gerald.He is her lover.”
“What?!”Blackpool’s frown deepened into a full-blown glower.
Rhys nodded tersely.“I expect that you, of all people, realize the danger she is in, being trapped on that estate with him.I have been out of town on business and did not know what happened until just now, or I would have stopped it.”
Blackpool swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing above his cravat.“He surely wouldn’t hurt her while she carries his heir in her womb.”
“I am certainly not going to take that chance.I’m going to get her,” Rhys replied.“And by the way, I figured out what Fleming’s last wish was about.He wanted me to warn Lady Awbrey to break off her affair with the duke.He knew that the untimely deaths of every single one of the duke’s mistresses were not simply tragic coincidences.He wanted me to protect Lady Awbrey from the same fate.So, no, I am not going to leave the woman that I love in the hands of an unstable murderer.I protect what’s mine.”
Violet’s father took a stumbling step back as though Rhys had slapped him across the face.He nodded, his expression grim.He glanced at his wife, whose eyebrows were raised high in shock, then back to Rhys.He straightened his shoulders.“Good, go get her.I know how to stop Lavensham from hurting anyone else ever again.I will put things into motion here while you are gone.Despite what you believe about me, I do care deeply for my family.The bonds of friendship can only be stretched so far before breaking.Come, dear, we need to pay a visit to the Duke of Hartwick.”
He led his sputtering wife back out the front door.“The Duke of Hartwick?But I thought you hated him?”Her voice echoed loudly as they walked down to the street.
Rhys turned to Hodgins.“I will be back in an hour.”
Chapter Thirty-One
When Violet arrivedback at the manse from church, she immediately went to find Mrs.Wells.She was directed by a maid to the woman’s office in the bowels of the house.Violet knocked politely on the door.Mrs.Wells’s head popped up from her writing.“Lady Sommerset, what can I help you with?”
“I was hoping it would be all right to speak with your mother again.I find myself short of company, and she seemed eager to visit.”
“Certainly, my lady.My mother does enjoy chatting with whoever crosses her path.”She chuckled.“Just remember, her stories are often just pure fiction.The clarity of her thoughts comes and goes these days.”
Violet nodded.
