Gabriel met her gaze without answering. But of course. A scandal would most assuredly ensue if word were to get out that the young lady had traveled alone with the baron. Olivia clamped her mouth shut.
Only she wasn’t alone in her suspicions.
“Would she do such a thing?” Lady Kingsley addressed her oldest son.
Gabriel pushed back his chair and burst to his feet in one startling motion. “I can’t wait to see if they find her. He’s taken her with him. He and I had an… altercation last night and I ordered him off. I wouldn’t put it past him to use Prissy to get back at me.”
And Lady Priscilla would be all too willing.
“I’ll go with you.” Crawford rose and adjusted his coat. He turned to Louella. “Remain here until I return. I’ll feel better knowing my wife is not on the road alone.”
Louella nodded. “Of course. But do be careful.” And then she added, “Both of you.”
Gabriel met Olivia’s eyes, and for the first time while in the company of others, did not act distantly polite toward her. He showed a vulnerability in his gaze and did nothing to hide it. “I’d appreciate, Miss Redfield, if you would remain with your sister.”
He turned to Miss Shipley’s aunt. “I’d ask the same of you and Miss Shipley.”
The older woman looked on in disapproval but nodded, nonetheless.
“Don’t do anything foolish,” Miss Shipley implored.
The two men, unwilling to waste any more precious time, excused themselves and disappeared. Conversation resumed amongst those present almost immediately.
But Louella was unusually quiet, studying Olivia curiously. Ten minutes later, the muffled sounds of horses racing off the property sounded in the room.
* * *
“As long asthey’re headed to London, we shouldn’t have any difficulties catching up with them,” Crawford commented. They’d taken off initially at a gallop, but unwilling to exhaust the horses, slowed to a trot. It would do them no good if they overtired the horses before catching up with Lockley’s carriage.
“I’m going to kill him regardless. But if he’s hurt her in any way, I’ll make sure it’s a slow and painful death.”
Crawford rode silently for the next few minutes. Both of them carried revolvers and Gabriel knew he could not have a more capable person at his side. Crawford had spent nearly a decade in the British navy and was no stranger to confrontation.
“I’ll follow your lead then.” Crawford, too, had sisters. And if Lockley had dared to touch the duchess, he’d be dead already.
The road turned and a suspiciously familiar vehicle looked to be broken down about two hundred feet ahead. Gabriel and Crawford glanced at one another.
Lockley’s carriage.
Crawford drew his revolver in one subtle move. After closing two-thirds of the distance, Gabriel dismounted, tied his horse to a nearby tree, and with all senses alert, approached on foot with cover.
The coach had indeed broken a wheel. Priscilla glanced up at him. Yes, her hands were indeed tied. Despite the icy cold anger running through his veins, Gabriel sent his sister a reassuring glance and raised a finger to his lips to silence her.
The bounder had kidnapped his sister. Gabriel should have killed him last night.
Lockley was preoccupied with the driver and the wheel, so Gabriel took a moment to free Priscilla quietly. It took him less than ten seconds to untie the amateur knot. When Priscilla scampered up and behind him, Lockley finally turned around.
Crawford approached from his position farther back, the revolver steadily pointed at the baron from atop his horse.
“Not a smart move, Lockley,” Gabriel commented as though for all the world he was merely making an observation about the weather. “You should have heeded my warning.”
The baron’s chin was swollen from the hit he’d taken in the garden, and yet a reckless gleam of daring lurked in his cold gaze. “I fancied Miss Redfield, sweet little blonde that she is. Unfortunately, she isn’t the sort gentlemen fight over. Whereas,” he glanced over Gabriel’s shoulder at Priscilla, “Lady Priscilla is a lady. I presumed you’d be more devastated at the loss of your sister. Even if she has a tendency toward… rather unladylike behavior.”
With the hand that still bore the bruise from the evening before, Gabriel swung and connected with the exact spot he’d hit last night. And with his other, he landed a solid hit to the man’s soft middle.
In his anger, however, he’d misjudged the baron’s strengths.
Because a booming sound echoed in his ears at the same time pain exploded in his left hip. A moment later, a second shot fired, and the baron slumped against him.
