Page 99 of A Rescue by the Rakish Duke
When he saw Mrs. Albright running toward him with her face pale and her eyes wide with fear, he staggered backward.
“No,” he muttered. “No.”
His chest constricted. He felt like he was dying, unable to breathe.
“Your Grace, I’m glad you’re here. Something has happened,” the housekeeper said.
Up close, Damian could see the tears rolling down her cheeks.
No. No. No.
“W-What happened, Mrs. Albright?” he asked in a voice he could barely recognize.
“She’s gone. Her Grace is gone,” sobbed Mrs. Albright, shaking her head.
“What do you mean gone?” Damian demanded sharply. “How is she gone?”
Words didn’t seem to register well. His ears were ringing as he grappled with the information he was receiving.
“Hannah will explain everything, Your Grace. She left. Before that, she had an altercation with one of the guards.”
Damian stormed into the house, his boots pounding against the marble floor. In the foyer, the young guard sat on a bench, trembling not from pain but fear. From the way he was looking up at him, Damian could tell that the guard was afraid of him and not of whatever happened to him.
“What happened to you?” he asked, deeply annoyed.
Why did he hire someone who couldn’t be trusted to do his job right?
“I tried to stop Her Grace,” the guard responded, scrambling to his feet and executing an awkward bow. “Uh, Your Grace.”
“Stop her from what exactly?” Damian asked, seeing red.
“She said she needed to leave Greyvale, Your Grace,” the young man explained in a rush. “I told her that she wasn’t allowed to, but she, uh, fought back.”
“She fought you?” Damian asked incredulously, looking the boy up and down.
The guard was only about an inch shorter than him, but he was still so slender.
“Aye, Your Grace,” the guard said hastily. He could barely hide his admiration for his charge. “She twisted my arm behind my back and kicked me. And before she fled, she apologized profusely.”
Pride and panic battled within Damian. Gwendoline had gotten what she wanted, using something he taught her. She was trying to prove something—or perhaps she really wanted to escape. Still, he worried about her. There were too many people like Montrose all around them.
“Did she say where she was going?” he demanded. He tried his best to keep his voice low so as not to alarm the younger man.
“No, Your Grace. All I know is that she was determined, and whatever she was planning to do must have been important.”
Suddenly, Damian felt a presence behind him. Somebody was watching him. He turned around to look at his wife’s maid. She was present when his wife received the poisoned chocolates.
Anger coursed through his veins.
“You,” he bellowed. “What do you know about this? I thought I was clear that Gwendoline should never leave the estate without me. Now, I’m hearing that she left at night on a horse, not even a carriage, and alone?”
Despite how nervous she was, Hannah managed to curtsy. She was trembling like a leaf.
“She left to help you, Your Grace,” she all but whispered. “She couldn’t bear to sit here and wait, not knowing what could have befallen you. She—I found a letter between the Earl of Montrose and Lord Marston. I found it in a corridor, as if someone was in haste to pass it on to somebody. I believe Her Grace was on her way to speak with him.”
“With him? With Lord Marston?” Damian asked, his heart sinking.
He couldn’t believe his wife had gone to a dangerous opportunist on her own. Marston was one of the named associates in the documents. However, he was also his own man. He had his own business, separate from that of Montrose. He was older and wiser. More cunning.
