Page 69 of Drowned in the Pleasure of a Devilish Baron
She followed him to the window, where he swung easily out and onto the tree there, taking a moment to look around in case the servant had come out onto the grounds early, but all was silent and still.
“Come back tomorrow,” she said. “If you can.”
“I will,” he promised. He leaned across the windowsill and kissed her once more, harder this time, and she felt her knees go weak. Then, without a sound, he was gone, slipping below the branches and dropping to the ground below. He waved up at her and began to walk down the road, where in the distance she could see Acorn tied to a tree.
She felt very cold without him there with her, as if she had been left alone in the belly of the beast, but she squared her shoulders and stood tall in the cold pre-dawn light of her little bedroom.
Together, we will make sure that this sham marriage to Lord Ashton never happens. No matter what it takes.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Felix rose the next morning feeling sharp and focused, the grief of the previous day pushed firmly to the back of his mind. If Sarah was to be married off in just two weeks’ time, there was simply no time to waste in being disheartened. Yes, his heart ached when he saw the destruction outside his window and thought of the days of labor that had been brought to dust, but it was time to take a step forward. Moaning about it would do nothing.
He saddled Acorn himself, too impatient to wait for the stable hand, and took off to see Leonard. Though he hated to lean on his brother-in-law, they were in this together, and he could not waste time being too prideful to look for help.
Mr. Beeton quickly ushered him in when he arrived and led him to the drawing room, where Leonard and Juliet were sitting together, faces pale and shadowed as if they had not had much sleep the night before.
“Felix!” Juliet rose at once and embraced him. “I’m so glad you’ve come. I was just about to write to you.”
He smiled at the concern in his sister’s voice. A married lady with a family of her own or not, she would always worry about her big brother. She led him in and poured him tea from the pot left on the center table.
“Has something else happened? You both look grim,” he said, looking between them. He was also surprised to see the baby was not in the room. Though Juliet had an arsenal of household staff and the best nursemaids money could hire, she rarely let George out of her sight.
Leonard rubbed a weary hand across his forehead, Juliet taking his other hand in hers and looking at him with concern. “Yes, unfortunately. More has happened.”
“Just since last evening?” Felix could not imagine what might have occurred to have him so beat down in so little time.
“My largest shipment of the year, the one that generates the majority of Whitfield Wine’s profits, was attacked and burned to the ground yesterday,” he said heavily. “All of it… lost. All that work, all the money that went into it, is gone.”
Felix leaned forward. “You mean to say that the two of us both had devastating fires which affected the business in one day?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“He rode out before dawn this morning to take a look for himself, and it was nothing but destruction,” Juliet said with a frown. “The constable said he would look into it, but what can he do?”
“What can I do?” Leonard said, his eyes closed. “Except look on at the terrible loss my family’s company has suffered? The numbers now, after everything that happened yesterday are too devastating. I’ve written to Charles, who knows my business nearly as well as I do, and he agrees. I have told the foremen to halt work for the rest of the week, because I cannot be sure that there will still be a Whitfield Wines now.”
If this news had come at the same time as his fire back home, Felix knew he would have crumpled beneath the weight of it and lost hope entirely. He had never seen Leonard so beaten before, and yesterday, he would have seen it as a sign that they had to give up and retreat.
Today was a different story. They had two weeks, two short weeks in which to solve this. Otherwise, for Felix at least, all would be lost. For he could not imagine continuing on if Sarah were married to another man, especially if she were unhappy in the marriage. It would kill him each day.
Though if it comes to that, I’ll steal her away and we can flee, make a life somewhere new. Anything but see her live unhappily with a man she does not love.
He brought himself back to the present. It was time for action. “No,” he said, and the sharpness of his voice had both Leonard and Juliet looking up at him in surprise.
“No what?” Leonard asked.
“No to this. No to giving up. No to packing up.” Felix stood, energy coursing through him now, the desire to take action, to get things done too strong to allow him to stay seated. “We will get to the bottom of this, Leonard, for we have learned something critically important by these events.”
“And what’s that?”
“There is foul play involved here,” Felix said grimly.
Something sharpened in Leonard’s eyes at that. “Foul play,” he repeated.
“There is no natural reason that would lead to two targeted fires in the space of one day. Someone is after us, me or you, or maybe us both. Someone who wants to harm Whitfield Wines as best they can, to have you saying precisely the things you just said to me.”
“But who?” Leonard breathed.
