“If you viewed it from my perspective, you’d think so.”
He knew that Violet didn’t always see humor as others did, but he couldn’t imagine admiring anyone more.
His heart swelled when he looked into her green eyes, and in that moment, he finally admitted the one thing he’d tried not to consider before—he was in love with Lady Violet Claxton.
It was a shame she did not return his affection, but he was going to try and earn it regardless, and he wasn’t leaving Laswell until she was his.
“Into the carriage, Eardly,” Emory stated.
“I will not.”
“Then bleed to death in the middle of the road. I’m happy to wait for it to happen.” Actually, it’s what Emory preferred, given what the man had done.
Eardly turned to his driver. “You’ll get me away from them,” he ordered.
“I don’t take orders from you. You’ve already sacked me.”
“You’ll do as I say, or you’ll never find employment again.”
The driver shrugged and looked to Emory. “Are we to return to Laswell?”
“I’ll not stand for this insubordination,” Eardly yelled and took off at a run toward the thicket.
It was all rather hilarious, at least to Emory, as Eardly was a poor runner, and he dripped blood as he ran, and would soon collapse.
“I’ll get him and bring him back.” The driver climbed down from the carriage.
When Eardly tripped and dropped to his knees, the driver hauled him to his feet, none too gently then led him back to the carriage and pushed the man inside, slamming the door on the viscount.
“I apologize for whatever part I played in your kidnapping, Lady Violet,” the driver claimed. “I didn’t know what Eardly was about last night until it was too late.”
“You could have stopped him.”
“I was not armed and knew that he was and didn’t want to risk injury to you. So long as I knew you were not being harmed, I waited for an opportunity.”
“If he had attempted to harm her in the carriage?” Emory demanded.
“It would not have been allowed,” the driver insisted. “Once Lord Eardly got to snoring like he was, I knew that he’d likely sleep for hours, so I pulled over and pretended to go about my business until I saw Lady Violet exit the carriage and run across the road, then continued on my journey.”
“What if I wouldn’t have done so?” Violet asked.
“Then you’d prove to be a lot more foolish than most,” he answered with conviction. “I’ll follow you back to Laswell, Lord Ferrard, and yell if Eardly starts giving me any trouble.”
“See that you do,” Emory said as he led Violet to the curricle and helped her up before taking his seat and then the reins to turn the horses back in the direction of Laswell.
“Thank goodness you hadn’t left any earlier for Sussex or you might not have come upon us.”
Emory frowned. “Violet, I wasn’t returning home.”
“You weren’t?” then she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what you were about, I’m just thankful you came along when you did.”
“Violet, I am here because I was looking for you.”
She pulled back and looked up into his eyes. “You were? How did you know where to find me?”
He then told her how he’d come to his conclusion that it was Eardly who had taken her, and that he was likely headed to Gretna Green.
“Thank you for rescuing me.”
