Page 63 of His Abandoned Duchess

In any case, one thing was clear. Isaac had been spying on her.

“I have been the one at your side, protecting you. Predators lurk around you at every turn, Amelia. I only wish that I had been able to deal with your horrible husband more permanently.”

Her eyes flared wide, wholly stunned by Isaac’s words, and her fear tripled in intensity. Would he go so far as to harm her husband? Richard was a Duke and attacking him would come with severe consequences. Indeed, the Earl had to know better than to do such a thing—if not for morals than for the punishment he might face.

Still,hedid not look afraid. If anything, it was the conviction of a man driven mad with want that exuded from Isaac’s eyes. Amelia didn’t understand. Had she done something to encourage the man’s feelings like this? She didn’t think she was responsible for giving the Earl the wrong idea. Amelia had always been friendly but respectable with Isaac.

And what could this unhinged man mean about predators? She was as safe as ever with her husband and nearly all of her friends, present company now expressly excluded.

“What are you talking about? There are no predators, Isaac.”

She wanted to snap at him, to tell him that the only danger that existed in her life was him. Still, Amelia was not that foolish. Isaac was a threat, and she could not provoke him much further if she did not want his ire turned on her.

“Did you think I was really going to allow some man to come at you on the street? First, he tried at your drum and then after the Earl’s dinner party. I would not have it.”

“Richard is my husband. I…Wait…” Amelia’s skull ached as she put more of the facts together, including Isaac’s mention of the drum. Her husband had never attended any of her gatherings. He’d been gone for five years and missed them all. Who could Isaac be referring to?

And then an inkling of understanding tickled at the back of her mind.

No, he couldn’t have. That is too far. He…

But Amelia could not be so confident anymore. Isaac had captured her, used a drugged handkerchief to knock her unconscious, and taken her away from Heartwick. It was evident that the lengths to which Isaac would go to secure her were great indeed.

“What are you talking about, Isaac? Who was the threat at the drum, the dinner party?”

Amelia sat rigid as a pole in the carriage, her mind cutting to the side momentarily to worry over where Isaac was taking her. But she had to deal with one problem at a time. Right now, she sought to understand the depths of Isaac’s convictions.

Who was he talking about, and what had he done?

“Don’t play stupid, Amelia. It is not only your husband who was concerned over the Viscount’s affections.”

Her stomach dropped, her mouth following suit. “The Viscount?”

Isaac clapped in front of her face, the gesture making Amelia jerk away as she yelped.

“Wake up! Your husband returned after he tried to get into your skirts at the drum because even that bastard could see what a problem he was. The entirety of the Ton understands what theViscount is like. But who do you think it was that got the man to run off? Hmm?”

Amelia couldn’t speak. It was all too much, and the fear and panic and revulsion were stirring together in a cauldron of poison that was sure to send Amelia running for the doctor.

“And he didn’t stop there, now did he? That man was all over you at the dinner party, and again, your blasted husband sought to take my credit and shove him from the table. Ah, but he couldn’t claim the prize of truly delivering the Viscount to justice. You ran off, and before that man could ever get to you, I took care of it.”

“Took care…Isaac, please tell me you didn’t.”

“Didn’t what?” he scoffed. “Ensure that the infernal rake couldn’t lay a finger on you? Of course, I did. I will not have anyone touching what belongs to me. And if that means I have to break every damn bone in their body, then so be it!”

All this time, through the conversations at Charlotte’s, Isaac sat right there, calm as ever in the face of our outrage for his crime. It was Isaac. It had always been Isaac, and it was he who was responsible for beating the poor Viscount like some common ruffian.

And Amelia had seen nothing, no hint of his true colors. The carriage bounced over a pothole in the road, and she was tossed to her side. Isaac had abducted her, and he was taking her Lord knew where.

What am I going to do?

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“You nearly killed him!” Amelia cried out in the carriage.

A fury she’d rarely known powered through her blood behind the terror and disgust. Isaac had been willing to go the lengths of murder to ensure her hand, his delusional thinking suggesting that she might still wish to be with him after something so heinous.

“I did what I had to! Was I to let the man plunder you?! Had I the opportunity the Duke would not be so lucky as to have claimed first taste either.”

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