Page 4 of Her Duke to Tempt
She glanced at him sharply, as though she were surprised by his words.“You are not going to argue with me?”
“Why should I?”he asked.“If my son is with your niece they should be found.I will need some time to prepare and make my own inquiries, but it shouldn’t be a problem.Go home and pack your valise.I will pick you up in my carriage in an hour.”
“An hour…” She shook her head.“We shouldn’t wait that long.”
“An hour more will not make a difference.They have had an entire night already.Go.Ask more questions and find out whatever you can.Talk to your servants.Someone must know something.I will be there in an hour,” he said again.“Now go and prepare.You do not have much time and I have to make my own preparations.”He hated to shoo her off, but it was for the best.She would be by his side again soon and well, he considered this his own adventure with the woman he found most intriguing by far.It would be a glorious few days indeed.
Enid’s lips parted as though she might respond but seemed to reconsider.Slowly, she nodded and then stood.She left the room without saying another word.Which worked in Logan’s favor.He rung a nearby bell for his butler.He had orders he needed filled before he could leave.Originally, he had been fully prepared to strangle his son for his reckless actions, but he might just owe him for what he’d done.This gave him an opportunity he never thought he would have.Hours upon hours alone with Enid.The woman that had kept him riveted for nearly a decade now, and one that also kept him at arm’s length.Almost as if she knew that if she allowed him to get too close, she’d lose herself in him.Well, it was about time she did.Logan had been lost in her from the first moment he’d seen her.Fair was fair, and she should be just as lost as he was, and he hoped this search would lead her where he wanted her.Where he believed she belonged.In his arms…
Logan leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping lightly against the wooden armrest as his mind raced.Enid had left the room, and he couldn’t help but watch her go, the graceful sway of her skirts catching his eye.The thought of what lay ahead, the long days of travel and the searching, filled him with an unexpected sense of purpose.He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed being close to her.There was something in the way she had looked at him—so determined, yet fragile beneath the surface—that stirred something in him he hadn’t felt in years.
He couldn’t deny it.There was a magnetic pull between them that had been there since the beginning, one that had only grown stronger as the years passed.He had never understood why she kept him at a distance, but today, something felt different.She had trusted him, if only for a moment, and that trust had ignited a spark of hope he hadn’t known he still carried.
The soft click of the door brought him out of his thoughts, and he turned to see his butler enter.“Your Grace, you’ve called for me?”
“Yes,” Logan replied, his voice steady but laced with urgency.“I need you to gather a few things for me.I’ll be heading out shortly.”
The butler nodded, and Logan dictated him a list of tasks.“I’ll need a few more supplies packed, as well.We’ll be gone for several days.”
"Of course, Your Grace," the butler said with a slight bow before turning to carry out the orders.
Left to his thoughts once again, Logan’s gaze flickered toward the window.He could hear the distant sounds of the estate stirring with the onset of the day—footsteps in the halls, the hum of activity as preparations were made.But none of it seemed to matter now.His thoughts kept returning to Enid.Her strength, her beauty, the way she carried herself with such grace despite the turmoil in her heart.She had a tenacity about her that Logan found both frustrating and irresistible.
He ran a hand through his hair, the weight of everything that had happened pressing down on him.He had spent so many years trying to suppress his feelings for her.But this—this search, this quest they were about to embark on together—could be the chance he had been waiting for.
Logan knew he couldn’t waste any more time.This wasn’t just about finding her niece.It was time for him to make his move, before she could slip away again.With a deep breath, he rose from his chair and moved toward the door.The butler returned with the necessary preparations, and Logan’s mind was made up.He would be with her, side by side, every step of the way.He wasn’t going to let her slip through his fingers.Not this time.
As the door to the study closed behind him, Logan set his gaze firmly ahead.Whatever happened during their search, he was determined to make this work.The clock was ticking, and the only thing that mattered now was Enid.He would search for Aiden and Felicity with her, but he honestly did not care if they were found.At least not right away.The more time he had with Enid alone, the better…
Three
Enid sat back against the cushioned seat of the carriage, the rhythmic clop of the horses’ hooves on the road the only sound accompanying her thoughts.She was still fuming from the argument she had with Logan, her frustration only mounting as the journey continued.The further they traveled, the more she doubted their plan.They were both trying to act as if they knew what they were doing, but neither of them had the faintest clue where to look for Felicity and Redding.The unknowns weighed heavily on her mind, and it gnawed at her with each beat of the horse’s hooves on the road.
Logan, seated opposite her, exhaled heavily, his brows furrowed.“I still don’t understand why you’re so convinced that your niece went in this direction” he muttered, looking out the window at the passing countryside.
Enid rolled her eyes.“And I still don’t understand why you think we should be heading toward the northern roads.It makes more sense to start looking toward the coast.”
Logan’s lips twisted, though it didn’t hide the frustration in his eyes.“She may have gone toward the coast, but she could be anywhere.And it’s not like we have any concrete information.”
She had spoken in length with the stable hand on her estate that had not been present during their initial search for Felicity.That man had seen everything and what he said both made sense and no sense at the same time.She had not yet explained it to the duke yet.Enid did not know what to make of it.Felicity had actually knocked the marquess unconscious.Her reckless niece had struck a lord and run off as if that was what a lady did every damn day.She was beyond frustrated now.She was terrified what Felicity might do next.Felicity had struck the marquess… If she repeated that in her mind enough she might be able to come to terms with it.It just wasn’t like her—she wasn’t violent.And yet, in the face of what she believed her fate would be, perhaps it was the only way she felt she could escape the possibility of marriage.
“Then we’ll have to speak with those who might know more,” she said curtly, keeping her gaze on the road ahead.“We’ll stop at the next village, and perhaps someone there has seen her or knows something of the marquess’s movements.”
The carriage rumbled on, their bickering simmering beneath the surface of their conversation, neither willing to back down.But as they passed through a small hamlet a short while later, Enid caught sight of a man carrying a bucket toward a nearby house.Without thinking, she called for the driver to stop.
The carriage came to a halt, and Enid swiftly opened the door, hopping down before the duke could protest.She approached the man, a sense of urgency pulling at her every step.“Excuse me,” she said, her voice soft but firm.“Have you seen a young woman, quite distressed, traveling through here in the past day or so?”
The man looked up at her, scratching the back of his head thoughtfully.“I may have…” He frowned.“Could you give me a better description?”
Enid nearly rolled her eyes.Not at him, but how ridiculous she sounded to her own ears.Of course he would need to know more.That original description could have been for any young miss.What had her stable hand said?Wait… She hadn’t been dressed as a lady had she?“She would have been in a gentleman’s attire,” Enid began.“She has flaxen hair and grey eyes.”
The man frowned.“She was dressed as a man?”He tilted his head to the side.“Then how would I have known she was a woman.”
Enid nearly stomped her foot in frustration.This was not getting her anywhere.“Did you see her or not?”
“I may have,” he said again.“But I could be wrong.”The man shrugged.“You’re not the first person to come looking for her.”He grinned.“There was a marquess that asked as well.What was his name again?”He tapped his chin thoughtfully.
Enid’s heart skipped a beat, her stomach tightening.“The Marquess of Redding?”she asked, her voice low.
