Forrest followed her, close enough so that if there was any threat, he could pull her out of the way. She led them upstairs and down others, and then they were in the passage she’d found.
“There is where the girls were kept. Up there is where I was,” she whispered.
Forrest put her behind him. Nathan and Gabe took the lead. Michael and Zach behind Ruby.
They moved as one up the stairs. At every secret window, Gabe opened it and looked in. He would then shake his head, and they’d move on. They reached the top, and Ruby pointed to a door, and then to her.
Gabe nodded.
She then pointed to the bottom of the wood panel. Forrest dropped down and ran his hands along it. He found the lever. Looking at the others, they nodded, so he released it.
The door swung open, and they walked in, pistols raised. Two men were in there, arguing. Roaring at each other, to be precise.
“Gentlemen, if we could have your attention, please.”
He turned as Ruby gasped, to find her face had lost even more color. Her eyes were locked on the men.
“That is your father?”
She nodded.
Forrest spun back to look at the man who had given him his love. The man who had not loved her enough or cared for his youngest son.
“You!” Forrest roared, but before he could grab him, Ruby had run in front of him.
“You are a perfidious, evil man!” She struck out with her fist, and he saw the shocked surprise on her father’s face before it connected. The man’s head snapped back.
“How could you, Father?”
“You struck me!” he roared, reaching for her.
“I will do worse than that! I thought your only sins were being a dictator and mistreating your youngest child. It seems I was wrong. How could you do this to those women?” She was shrieking now, her fists clenched.
Forrest pulled her aside and then grabbed the lapels of the man’s jacket. He was pleased to see the shock replaced by fear. He shook him hard and then dropped him with a punch. Standing over him, he said, “There is a special place in hell for parents who don’t love their children. But the hell that awaits you, Mr. Knight, will be that and more, for what you have done to these women.”
Both men were bound and locked downstairs, where they found two more women. They searched the premises and rounded up the staff. They, too, were locked away.
Michael tracked down a magistrate in Billericay and roused him from his bed. They searched the house thoroughly, and it was some time before they were able to leave with all the papers they had collected.
Ruby was quiet as they climbed back on their horses, and he knew that her father’s perfidy, and everything else she had endured had now taken its toll. Reaching for her, he pulled her off her horse and settled her before him. Nathan took the reins of her mount.
“What are you doing? Your cousins—”
“Know how I feel about you and that you will be my wife. Now let me hold you. You’re exhausted and about to fall off your horse.”
She looked at the men riding beside him. Zach had found a cart, and the two women were seated in that, wrapped in blankets. They would take them to where the duke and Lord Ryder waited.
“Welcome to the family, Ruby,” Gabe said.
“He has yet to ask me to be his wife, my lord.” She yawned.
“Marry me,” he whispered into her ear.
“Yes.”
“She said yes.”
“Excellent,” Nathan said around a yawn.
