Page 72 of A Vow for the Viscount
“And no one does anything!” Mary-Ann said, voice rising. “Theyknow. My father. Barrington. Quinton. Everyone’s circling this threat like it’s a fire they’re afraid to smother. But it’s burning through my family. Through our business. Through me.”
She stood. Her chest rose and fell, her breath shallow and uneven. “My mother would have never stood for this,” she said, the words escaping before she could temper them. “She would have made them answer for it.”
Mrs. Bainbridge rose too, her expression shifting as grief transformed into fury.
“I won’t stand by while Wilkinson turns my father into a puppet and calls it business. I won’t pretend I don’t see what he’sdoing. If no one else will stop him—” Her voice cracked, but she forced it through. “—then I will. I’ll get the proof I need if I have to go into the cave and retrieve it myself.
A beat of silence passed between them.
Then Mrs. Bainbridge said, with no theatricality at all, “You are the bravest woman I know.”
Her pulse thundered, but her spine held straight. She wasn’t her mother’s shadow. She was her echo, sharpened by grief and grown by truth. If the men couldn’t bring down the Order, she would. If no one else would protect her family’s name, she’d do it herself.
Mary-Ann laughed bitterly. “I’m exhausted.”
“I know. And I don’t blame you for what you want to do. But I’m asking you to wait until you can think clearly. As you said yourself, you’re exhausted.”
“I don’t want to wait. But I will. For now.”
Mrs. Bainbridge crossed the room and took her hands. “You have nothing to prove. Not to them. Not to anyone. But if youmust, let me speak first. Let me try.”
Mary-Ann nodded once. Her voice was barely audible. “Very well.”
Mrs. Bainbridge lingered for a moment, her grip firm. “I’ve seen what happens to women who speak the truth too soon. I’ve watched wives lose their reputations for asking the wrong questions. I’ve seen daughters disinherited for daring to see too clearly. And you, God help them, you see everything. You ask for answers from men who think silence is safer. I won’t let that be your end.”
*
Barrington leaned backin his chair, one brow lifted. “So you’re saying the second ship wasn’t registered under its original name?”
“No,” Quinton said. “It was renamed and moved through Scarborough’s south inlet. Someone’s forged at least three manifests.”
“TheArgent Wind?”
“Still docked. But the markings are gone. She’s being repainted.”
Barrington’s jaw tightened. “They’re preparing to disappear.”
Quinton nodded, the motion sharp. “And if they succeed, we lose any hope of proving the connection.” He sat without saying a word. After a long pause, he glanced at Barrington. “And we leave Seaton with a broken company and the primary suspect in smuggling.”
He didn’t say her name. He didn’t have to.
Barrington noticed the silence. “You did the right thing, you know. Not telling her about any of this.”
Quinton’s gaze didn’t leave the fire. “Did I?”
“She would’ve been a target.”
“She alreadywas,” Quinton snapped. “You gave me an order to protect her by shutting her out. You told me to stand back and watch while she unraveled everything on her own.
Barrington looked away, and for a fleeting moment, Quinton thought he saw regret. Maybe he’d honestly believed he was shielding her. Playing the long game. But in doing so, he’d underestimated not just her abilities, but her heart. He hadn’t counted on Quinton falling in love with her all over again, or on Mary-Ann seeing the cracks in their entire foundation.
“I followed that order.” Quinton lifted his chin to his former commanding officer. “But not every order is right.”
Barrington didn’t speak.
Quinton had watched her gather herself from grief, step back into her father’s house like a woman determined to build something lasting, and he hadn’t trusted her with the truth. Not because she wasn’t capable. But because some foolish, broken part of him still believed silence could shield her. That part of him had been wrong.
“I should’ve changed your mind,” Quinton said. “You’re a fair man. You would have listened.”
