Page 15 of A Villain for a Duke

“She’s missing.Isaac chased after her.I-I—”

“Don’t worry about anything.”Michael braced her with his hands.“Everything is going to be fine.”His authoritative tone and steely gaze had Mavis and Astrid transfixed.

“Listen to me, you need to go back to the house.I’ll find out what’s going on.”Then he barked out orders to the footmen present and had the guests packed up in the carriages to return home.

He spoke with such aplomb, no one questioned his instructions.He knew exactly what to do.He could be trusted.

Nothing terrified Astrid more.

She had hope that by the time they reached Snowick Abbey that some tranquility would have been restored.Surely Hope had only wandered off or taken a short ride with a friend.Alas, the frenzy only persisted upon arrival.

Mavis was a wreck, understandably so.Michael told her to go to her room and wait.Servants were attending to her.A long bath, a meal, and tea were part of the instructions Astrid had overheard.Michael had also taken care of the day’s activities by telling guests they were still welcome to take a stroll on the grounds and that meals would be served in the rooms out of respect for Hope’s absence.

It was the right decision.It would have been foolish to expect the guests to sit and converse under such duress.Never had anyone she known been subject to such a crisis before, yet Michael had commandeered the party with the expertise of a weathered sea captain.But when the dinner meal came, Astrid felt sick to her stomach.

Her brother was gone, and she prayed that he would find Hope.Her desire for comfort was consuming her.Before her courage could desert her, she snuck down the hallway to Michael’s room.A quick knock, a faster call to enter, and she was inside.

“Astrid?”

She pressed her palms against the closed door.She should have been expecting him in dishabille, but the sight of him in only a shirt (and open at that) and trousers was shocking to her system.But she wouldn’t flinch in front of him.

She didn’t waste any time in asking for what she needed.“Do you think Hope is all right?”

“Yes,” he said without hesitation.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Isaac is in love with her.He won’t let any harm come to her.”

“He might not be able to find her.How can you be so sure?”

“I just know.”It came out sounding harsh, and Astrid wanted to recoil, so vulnerable in the moment.

“He’s not perfect.He might not be able to—” she broke off, not wanting to speak the awful words.“No one’s perfect.”

Michael scoffed, but she didn’t know why.She had to ask him.“What?I suppose you think you’re perfect?”

“Far from it.”

Astrid stepped into the room.She sensed he was harboring something, but how could she make him divulge his secret.It was probably something silly, like taking the last scone at tea.The man was as virtuous as a monk.Her fragile state opted for a mocking tone.“What has the great Duke of Tinsder done that’s so awful?”

He leveled a withering stare her way, and there was no chance for her to prepare for the words he spoke.“I killed my brother and stole his inheritance.”

And that confession did make her wince.Never in a million years had she expected such a gruesome confession from the man who always held himself together.The rigid, principled man.The stoic saint.The mannered monk.“What?”

When he didn’t answer, she spoke again.“There’s no reason for me to believe that you could have possibly done that.”

“I may as well have.I knew that we were supposed to stick together.Hali, Jeremy, and I.”Michael sank into a chair and she cautiously joined him in an adjacent seat.

“What happened?”

She watched as his head fell to his hands.“Stay together.That was the only rule when we went out.But,” he rubbed his hand over his forehead, “one day, we didn’t.We had all been swimming and boating on the lake.When it started to rain, I wanted to go in and eat, and Jeremy wanted to stay and swim.I told him…I told him we should go in.”Michael’s voice broke.“But he was insistent.He laughed at the rain.Neither of us expected the lightning.I never saw him alive again.”

“I’m sorry, Michael.”

“I learned my lesson.”He rubbed his hands over his thighs.

“What lesson was that?”

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