Page 1 of Savage Redemption

PROLOGUE

Yorkshire, United Kingdom, August 2021

Rosie

The final strains ofAve Mariafaded,hovered briefly on the still air,then dissolved into the hushed silence. The performance was greeted with polite but enthusiastic applause. Rosie surveyed her audience through eyes misted with tears. She lowered her instrument, the violin in her left hand, the bow in her right. She bent her head in deference to the solid ash coffin beside her and whispered her goodbye.

She was not entirely certain how she made it back to her place in the congregation, but somehow, she did. She retook her seat on the front pew, nestled between her parents.

“That was beautiful, princess,” her father murmured. “You did her proud.”

Rosie bit back her sobs in a self-conscious attempt not to break down with everyone watching. “She was always so kind to me,” she managed. “I don’t know how…”

“We’ll cope, sweetheart. We have to.” Nathan put his arm around his daughter.

Rosie leaned in to his solid, protective presence. Her heart might well be breaking, but she’d always be safe as long as herdaddy was close. That was how it had always been, as long as she could remember.

On her other side, Eva wept silently. Technically, Eva was her stepmother, but Rosie always thought of her as more like a sister. Barely ten years older than she was, Eva had come into their lives and completed their family. Rosie adored her, and Eva transformed an already happy childhood into an idyllic one. She’d taught Rosie to play the violin and so much else besides.

Eva reached for Rosie’s hand and gave her fingers a quick squeeze. “We’ll miss her so much,” she whispered.

Rosie could only manage a nod.

The three of them sat in silence, listening to the final words from the pulpit.

“In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty God our sister, Grace, and we commit her body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” The vicar intoned the words of committal, then nodded to the pallbearers to approach for their final duty.

“Grace Richardson was always one for tradition,” Nathan muttered, rising to take his place at the head of the casket.

“Have you asked him yet?” Rosie dropped onto the sofa beside Eva, clutching a plate of salmon sandwiches and cheese vol-au-vents. Her eyes were red-rimmed from weeping as the coffin containing their old housekeeper and the closest thing she had ever known to a grandmother was lowered into the ground. Already her father was advertising for a new cook and someone to manage their household, but Grace Richardson would never be replaced.

Eva helped herself to one of the vol-au-vents. “No, not yet.”

“But you said you would…” Rosie wailed.

“And I will, if I have to. But it’d be better coming from you.”

“He’ll say no.”

“I know he will, at first. You’ll have to convince him.”

“What if he doesn’t let me go?” Rosie grimaced, not relishing the conversation she knew she needed to have with her father.

“Then, you won’t be going, will you? But he’s not unreasonable, you know that. You just need to tell him where you’re going, who with, and when you’ll be back.”

“He’ll demand to know every little detail.”

“Yup.” Eva grinned at her. “Welcome to my world.”

Rosie gave a snort. “It’s all right for you, you’re a professor of something or other exceptionally grand and lofty.”

“Linguistic and digital sciences,” Eva reminded her for the umpteenth time. “People pay good money for my advice. You should listen.”

“He’lllisten. He respects you.”

Eva wasn’t having that. “He respects you, too, sweetheart. More important, he adores the very bones of you. Just talk to him.”

“Talk to me about what?” Nathan Darke wrapped his arms around his wife’s waist from behind and kissed her neck. “I assume youweretalking about me.”

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