Michael hastily opened the velvet-lined case and searched around until locating what he wanted. The stone in the ring was a princess-cut, three-carat yellow diamond in a setting made of twisted platinum. It was the ring he’d always planned on giving her. The night they met, he’d instantly recalled it. The diamond shone like her eyes, and the metal was the color of her hair. He’d never even considered giving it to Lady Natalie. It would have reminded him of what never was…
Shoving it into his pocket, he carefully returned the case to the safe and turned the knob, resetting the lock. He’d ordered his carriage brought around earlier, so it was ready and waiting as he exited.
Lumbering through the cobbled streets toward Curzon Street, he breathed deeply. He was ready for this. He’d been ready for nearly a decade.
There would be no more delay.
The driver covered the short distance quickly, and as the carriage came to a halt, Michael pushed the door open and jumped down to the sidewalk. Skipping every other step, he dashed up to the all-too-familiar doorway and rang the bell.
Jarvis answered quickly, as though waiting for somebody. He looked behind Michael, and upon seeing no one, asked, “She isn’t with you, Your Grace?”
A sense of unease swept over him. “Who, Jarvis?”
Jarvis’s thick black eyebrow lowered in concern. “Lady Beauchamp. She left on foot, hours ago, and has not returned.” The man’s hands gripped one another. He poked his head outside again, looking both up and down the street. “My lady was hoping she had gone to you.”
Just then Miss Beauchamp stepped into the foyer. She had obviously been crying. Her eyes were swollen and her nose,quite red. “Oh, Your Grace. She has been gone for hours! I didn’t mean it when I told her I hated her,” she wailed. “I was so dreadful, and now nobody knows where she has gone.”
Beginning to comprehend the situation, Michael took the distressed young woman’s hands in his and looked her in the eyes. “Did she take a maid or a footman with her? Did she take Miss Fussy?”
Lady Eleanor stepped out of the room behind Glenda. “She did not. Come inside, Your Grace. We have been awaiting her return for quite some time now.” The previously unshakeable lady looked around the room anxiously. “We thought she had merely gone for a walk. She was deeply troubled by that dreadful article.” Pulling the drape aside, she peered out the window, frowning in concern. “After waiting for her for quite some time, Ravensdale and Danbury went searching. She left nearly three hours ago.”
A woman, a lady, walking around London alone was vulnerable to any manner of vile attacks. She’d been gone for almost three hours.
Three hours!
Was it possible she was merely meandering in the park? Making a quick decision, Michael turned back toward the door. “I am going to the park to find her. If she was upset, she would have headed for the gardens. I have two outriders and my driver to come with me. I’ll leave one of them here to fetch me if Danbury and Ravensdale are successful. If—when—I find her, I will return immediately as well.” With that, he left as abruptly as he’d arrived.
Instead of climbing into the carriage this time, he jumped onto the driver’s seat. As they pulled into traffic, Michael described the situation to John, and they devised a plan for an efficient search. Lilly was distraught and alone. Michael ran his hand through his hair trying not to imagine the worst.
By the timeLilly’s panic subsided, she had wandered unthinkingly to her favorite garden in Hyde Park. The statues and fountains reminded her of the beautiful grounds at London Hills Manor. No, she mustn’t allow herself to think of London Hills Manor. There would be plenty of time to dwell on that later.
The shadows were long on the ground, and the sun no longer high in the sky. She must have been walking for hours. She sat down, ruefully. Her aunt must be terribly worried. She had no idea how much time had passed since she’d left so abruptly, with no word of where she was going or when she would return. At first, she had been so angry, she had been completely unaware of her surroundings. Words had repeated themselves over and over in her mind. Words from her father. Words from Lord Beauchamp. Words even from Michael.
She had made a decision; she would no longer be manipulated by guilt. She was not going to be forced into another marriage—to anybody. She was not going to live in shame either.
Upon signing the marriage contracts for Glenda, she had been given a nonreturnable installment on her annuity. She would take it and leave if she must. She was more than sorry for causing her aunt and niece scandal and pain, but neither knew what it was like to be an unwanted wife.
If Joseph Spencer would not fight for Glenda, then perhaps they ought not to marry anyway.
Lilly would not do it again. She’d endured enough for a lifetime. It was time to inform her family and the Spencers of her resolution.
Having come to terms with what must be done, she suddenly felt exhausted. She would cut over to Kensington Road and hail a hack to take her back to her aunt’s home. Butbefore she could flag one down, as she stepped off the path onto the sidewalk, an unfamiliar crested carriage came to a halt beside her.
“Is that you, Lady Beauchamp?”
It was the Earl of Hawthorne—a rather bruised and bloodied Hawthorne, but the earl nonetheless. Looking around nervously, she tentatively approached the carriage. “It is, my lord.”
Hawthorne smiled at her and indicated the cloth he held up to his nose. “Don’t mind this, my lady. I have just come from your aunt’s home. I stopped to offer my apology, as demanded by His Grace, and was informed she has had some sort of attack. I told them I would help find you and return you there as soon as possible.”
“No!” Lilly gasped. “She is unwell?” This was too much!
Dear, dear Aunt Eleanor had only ever offered her kindness. And now she suffered due to Lilly’s own stupid stubbornness. It was nearly enough to shatter her resolution.
The earl and one of his riders assisted her into the carriage. Settling in, she did her best to refrain from panicking. “Please, oh please, hurry,” she begged. She sat in the carriage and looked down at her hands as the earl gave instructions to his driver outside. The footman handed him something and then climbed into the carriage behind the earl.
A footman inside of a carriage was highly unusual. Seeing the earl’s expression, she suddenly had second thoughts about accepting this man’s assistance.
“Oh, we will, my lady. We will.” And then, raising one hand, he pointed a gun directly at her.
