Page 34 of His Scandalous Lessons
Dear Richard,
I know how alarmed you must be right now, and for that I’m sorry. I had to leave Ravenhill in some haste.
My father sent a telegram this morning. He sends notes for when he requires my attention with regards to a person he finds of immediate interest. Richard, the telegram was about you. I cannot be selfish and put my happiness and needs first, not when he intends to harm you. You are more important to me than that.
I beg your forgiveness, and have left you with the remaining information on his allies, as promised. I will help you the way you helped me.
Yours,
Anne
Richard shut his eyes and crumpled the letter. “Fuck.” He shoved his hand through his hair. “You let her leave?”
“Let her? Of course Ilet her. She’s not a prisoner, Richard.” Her gaze softened. “Are you going to read her papers or not?”
“Later. I need to go to London, find her, and put her on the first bloody train to Scotland so I can marry her.”
“I suggest you find another course of action, because short of kidnapping her, she is not going to come willingly. She cares too deeply for you.”
“More fool, her.” His laugh was dry. “And me.”
Caroline stood and came around the desk. “Listen to me, Richard. Ignore this foolish impulse to stampede into the Prime Minister’s home and throw his daughter over your shoulder like a barbarian. She’s not a sack of potatoes, and she’s told you what she needs to do.”
“What if I strangled her father instead?”
Caroline glared at him. “You cannot be serious.”
“I wasn’t until I read that fucking note.”
The duchess gripped his hands. “You’re not listening to me. You’re being a stupid, emotional man and that is never a good combination.Listen to me.Are you listening?”
Richard stared down at where she had his hands so tightly in a vise that he wondered if she were about to break his fingers. “Do I have a choice?”
“No.” She gestured with her head to the stack of papers. “You will take that information she gave you. You will secure your votes. You will let her gather what else she can, andthen— when you are calm — you will make further plans.” She released him. “Understood?”
Good god, his hands were marked where she’d gripped them. “I’m almost too afraid of what you’d do if I said no. I’ve never known you to be so terrifying.”
Caroline smiled brilliantly. “Good. Now pack your things and go secure your votes.”
Chapter 19
Anne didn’t have much time. She knew it wasn’t long before the duchess’s house party became the subject of gossip. If her father caught wind of it, he'd subject her to questioning. Guests saw her with Lord Granby, and though their extremely brief engagement was not announced, it would no doubt be rumored.
She had just entered the house and sent her luggage upstairs when her father’s butler, Bates, mentioned her father wished to speak with her. “Oh? When did he return from his trip?”
“Late yesterday evening, Miss,” Bates said.
Yesterday evening. Then he must have had the telegram sent right when the office opened this morning. The Duchess of Hastings’s butler had discreetly knocked on the cottage door while she was still in bed with Richard. He’d been so exhausted that he hadn’t heard Anne slip on her clothes and leave in haste.
The telegram had given her a sickening sense of dread.
Come home. R. Grey requiring immediate attention. — SS
Immediate attentionwas her father’s very polite way of saying he intended to destroy a person.
Anne had seen men brought to ruin from her father’s information — good men, some of them. They had their whole families driven out of London in either shame or bankruptcy. When her father had it in his mind to ruin a man, he usually succeeded.
And she had helped him.
