Page 66 of His Abandoned Duchess

“It was a valiant effort, Your Grace, but I am afraid all you have done is convince me that you require a firmer hand.”

At once, Isaac gripped her by the back of the head, yanking on her hair. Her vision tunneled as she tried to focus on him, and then there was a sharp pain in her face as his fist came into focus. It did not last over long before unconsciousness claimed her.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

It had been too long since Richard had learned of Amelia’s disappearance, and he had yet to find her. His stomach churned, the tension in his muscles so strong it threatened to bend his bones. Where was she? What had that bastard done with her?

He’d sent out word with the servants, and there were several who had taken to the streets to see if any rumblings existed throughout London as to where she could have gone.

I cannot wait for them to return. I must do something myself.

Richard had informed the constables about her kidnapping, and he was providing updates to them. Still, none of it was moving quickly enough for them. So, instead, Richard stood from his desk in the study and went for the door. He would find her himself.

Snagging his waistcoat from where his valet had hung it on the coat rack near the door, Richard slung the fabric around himself and hurried toward the main entrance, where he procured his walking stick, aggressive uses in mind for it. It was quite possible that the staff hollered at him to wait or inquired about what he might be doing, but he heard none of it, too set on his goal.

The air outside his London home was chilled, the overcast sky darkening the streets and bringing with it a cooler day than the last. He knew where Isaac lived, so with no other notion as to where to begin, Richard approached the carriage set outside his house and informed the tiger waiting at it to carry him to Seton Manor.

It was not a long journey, and when they arrived, Richard dropped down from the coach before it fully came to rest and stormed up to the front door. Knocking, he was greeted by the estate’s butler.

“Your Grace. I regret to inform you that the Earl is not at home at present. Would you care to leave a message that I might deliver for you?”

Rage chomped at the bit, and Richard reached for the butler’s overly fluffy cravat and yanked him forward. As he leered over him, two more servants rushed to the door from the inside but paused as they saw who it was.

“You will tell me where your master has gone,” Richard demanded, his voice a deep growl.

“I-I do not know, Your Grace! I swear it!” The man shook in his hold, his voice now an octave higher. “The Earl took his carriage from the manor over two hours ago. He did not give a word as to where he was going, and the tiger seemed to already know the destination.”

Fury gnawed on Richard’s spine, making him grip the man’s shirt all the tighter. “Dammit, that is not good enough. Where would he go? Tell me!”

As Richard shook the man once more, he whimpered lightly, and as much as he knew that the butler was hardly to blame for his master’s actions, there would be no reasoning with him right now.

“W-What do you mean?” Richard growled once more, putting the blunt head of his walking stick beneath the man’s chin. “I don’t understand!”

“Your Earl has taken the Duchess of Blackford against her will. Where would he take her?!”

The butler’s eyes widened and even as the fear clung to him, his expression morphed into one of concern and sorrow.

“Amelia? Oh, Lord, no. I-I cannot believe it. This…” The man sagged slightly in Richard’s hold. “We all worried over this.”

Exhaling hard, Richard set the man back down on his feet but kept his stick pressed into the man’s neck. “Explain.”

“We—the other servants and I—have heard the Earl speak on his affections for Amelia in private. He becomes…loud when he is angry or ill at ease.”

“Affections? What do?—”

But the Duke stopped himself, the cogs of his mind whirring quicker like a clock being wound up. Isaac coveted Amelia. He wanted her for himself. That was why he had taken her from Heartwick. While the idea may have been laid at the back of his mind, hearing the butler’s words had pulled it to the forefront.

The way he looked at her…those eyes he gave me when I fetched her from the hall at Frederick’s dinner party…

Returning his attention to the butler, Richard looked down at him from beneath his brows. “You have this one final chance to tell me where he would take her.Now.”

“I swear, I don’t—Wait. The Earl has access to another estate abroad. He rarely travels to it, so not many would think to look for him there. It belonged to his late mother’s side of the family and sits in disrepair, from what I understand. He would need to travel there by ship.”

Pieces of the ghastly puzzle fell into place, and Richard’s nerves doubled down on their flaring of warning bells. He was going to take her out of England. It would be nearly impossible to return Amelia from that.

“The nearest port?” Richard demanded.

“Just there, Your Grace. You may take the main thoroughfare down to the water’s edge. I warn you that you will be entering less…hospitable territory. Many a cit dwell there as well as many more a bulk and file.”

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