Page 94 of The Fighter who Needed Me
And when he raised it to his nose, the strong smell of chloroform made him stagger.
He dropped the handkerchief to the ground and took a few deep breaths and saw the recent impressions of a carriage.
He saw boot prints as well, and they led from the front of their cabin to here and stopped.
As they had turned around, the boot prints were deeper, as if the person had something heavy in his arms.
Brooks dropped to his knees in the dirt and let out an agonized yell.
She was gone. Someone had taken her from him, and he knew exactly who it was.
They had found her, again. Just when he thought they had given up. And left her be.
He felt a tear slide free and he clutched his hair, squeezing his eyes shut against the pain.
He heard a horse on the road behind him, but he did not care. He could not.
He needed to come up with a plan to get her back. Surging to his feet, Brooks walked back into the cabin and pulled on his jacket and walked back out.
He needed to get to London, and he needed his horse.
“Brooks! What are you doing?”
Brooks looked up at Aidan and Rhia as they sat together on Aidan’s horse.
He had another horse saddled behind him and Brooks gave Aidan a grateful look.
“Someone took her Aidan. They drugged her and took her from me. Again!”
Rhia gasped, and Aidan said, “Come, I will send a note to Cole. Although, you will probably beat him there. Take my horse and I will come as quickly as I can.”
Brooks vaulted into the saddle and gave Aidan a nod, “Thank you Aidan. You don’t know what this means to me.”
He held out his hand to the Duke and Aidan shook it. “Yes, I do. If anyone had taken Rhia from me, I would find them.”
Brooks nodded and he took off down the road, galloping as hard as he could to London and to his wife.
* * *
He arrived in London within a few hours. He rode straight for their salon and to his brother.
Burk had come back to London with Lily for a few weeks to get ready for the arrival of their child, so they could stay in the country after its birth.
And Brooks knew that Burk would do everything he could to help him.
The entire ride to London, Brooks was on edge. He hated Kitty and Bruce and would have just stormed their house if he knew Persephone would be all right.
But knowing those hateful and horrible people that had dared to call themselves her parents? They would do anything in their power to keep her from him.
When his salon came into view, Brooks took a deep breath and vaulted from his horse the moment he stopped in front of the building.
One of the stable hands they employed came out and his eyes widened when he saw who it was.
“Brooks! Welcome home.”
Brooks nodded, “Please take care of my horse. Is Burk home?”
The man nodded and took the reins from Brooks.
