Page 91 of The Duke and the Unwanted Bride

He took his wife’s hand, and the two sat up straight, their eyes fixed on the door as they waited. And Hannah, doing her best not to get her hopes up, ignoring the way her heart thundered in her chest, did the same.

Oh, she wanted to believe that if Lord William was here to beg her to go back to Frederick, she would turn him away. Only… could she do it? Was she strong enough?

“Lord Ramsbury!” Lord William called as he strode into the dining room.

Hannah gasped when she saw him, for he was the spitting image of his older brother. Not as big in size, nowhere near as imposing. But his face was similar, enough that Hannah could not help but stare.

“Lady Ramsbury, I am so sorry to disturb you like this.”

“What is the meaning of this?” Lord Ramsbury barked.

“Your Grace.” Lord William turned and looked at Hannah with a soft smile, a tinge of sadness in his eyes… which was quicklygone as his expression suddenly turned serious. “I am sorry to come, but I had little choice.”

“W-what is it?” Hannah asked, doing what she could to keep the hope out of her voice.

“It is Amelia,” he said. “She is missing.”

Hannah’s eyes went wide. “What? Missing? How?”

Without thinking, she jumped to her feet, as if she meant to bolt out of the room.

“We do not know,” Lord William said quickly. “She ran away, it seems. We thought she could not have gone far, which led us to search the estate. But it was when he got as far as the surrounding forest that Frederick had a thought.”

“H-he did?”

Her heart was racing. Part fear. Part worry. Part elation that Frederick’s thoughts had led Lord William here.

“That she might have come to you,” Lord William admitted. “He knows how much Amelia loves you—and with the way she has been acting these last few days, it only lends credence to his theory.”

“The way she has been…” Her voice caught in her throat. “Acting? How has she been acting?”

He gave her a knowing smile. “She has been upset, Your Grace. Like Frederick, she has been miserable.”

“Really?” Again, hope in her voice.

“She was not happy to hear of what happened, and Frederick thinks she might have come here as a form of protest. He is searching the neighboring estates as we speak, but he asked that I come here immediately.”

Despite her worry, Hannah could not help but feel a strange sense of elation at Lord William’s words. Even pride. Oh, she had known how close she and Amelia had grown these last two weeks, but to think that the little girl was that upset with her leaving, and to think that even Frederick might have assumed that she had run all the way here just to see her. It was… it was… it was enough that Hannah could not help but smile.

She was not the little girl’s mother, and yet she felt a sudden kinship that she had never expected. A bond that she had seen between her sisters and their children, that desire to protect and love that all mothers must feel.

Hannah wanted children of her own, but was it possible that Amelia, the little girl who she had grown so close with, might be enough? And had Hannah been too selfish to see that as a possibility?

“Is she here?” Lord William asked desperately. “Have you seen her?”

“She is not here,” Lord Ramsbury said. “And you can tell His Grace that perhaps he should take better care of his children, that is if he was not so busy ruining?—”

“Father!” Hannah snapped at him. “Will you be quiet?!”

“Hannah!” her mother gasped. “Do not speak to your father like that!”

Hannah ignored her as she turned to Lord William, her mind racing as she tried to think what to do. “When was the last time you saw her?”

“Only a few hours ago,” Lord William explained. “She was sent to the back garden on her own and has not been seen since!”

“And you said you searched the estate?”

“As far as the forest.”

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