Page 75 of Taken By the Dangerous Duke

He moved past the staff and out of the door, circling the house quickly. The entirely of the grounds could be seen from the house, and he ran around the four stone walls quickly, hoping to catch up with her. He gazed out toward the wall that surrounded the property, but he saw no one except for the gardener.

He returned back to the front of the house, and the butler was standing at the door; a worked look on his face.

“Has anyone seen her?” asked the duke. “Has she left a note or word of where she has gone. Perhaps she took a carriage.”

“No, nothing, Your Grace,” said the butler. “She must have left the grounds.”

“She would not do so without a reason, and she would have said,” said the duke to himself. He was becoming worried now. “I will go and look for her. Get together as many of the staff as you can and have them start to search for the duchess.”

“You do not think anything has happened to her, do you?” asked the butler. He was worried too.

“I am sure she is fine,” reassured the duke, not believing his own words. “But, better to be safe than sorry.” He left the butler at the door and ran to the gate. He had no idea where she would have gone, but he was going to find her. He tried to reassure himself that he could not lose her—not when he had finally realized how much she meant to him.

CHAPTER36

Returning Home

Margaret wanted to lean forward, but that would bring her closer to her mother, but she could not sit still between her father and Gerald. She was trapped in every sense of the word. The carriage bumped along the street, the curtains drawn on both sides so she could not see out, and so that no one could see in.

“Mother,” hissed Margaret.

“Shush!” called her father.

“Mother,” she whispered. “Please, don’t do this. You can’t do this to me.”

“This is for your own good,” her mother responded.

“My own good?” she asked, astonished. “How can you even think that? How can this be for my own good?”

“We are your parents, Margaret. We know what is best for you!”

“You won’t get away with this,” said Margaret.

“We will,” said her father from her side. “You should have listened to us, but you had to fight us.”

“This is because of the trial?”

“It's about more than that,” said her father. “We tried to play nice, but you thought you were better than all that, so you forced our hand.”

“The duke will find me. You expect to take me from my husband and for him to not come after me?” asked Margaret. She thought about lunging for the door, but she knew she would not be able to overpower her father or Gerald, and Gerald had already threatened to strike her if she stepped out of line. Her mother had not liked that, but she had not said anything either.

“Your husband. Please,” spat her father. “You have been together for months, and you are still not pregnant. We can have that marriage annulled quite easily, and then you can wed Gerald as you should have in the first place.”

“But I am pregnant,” claimed Margaret. “I went to the doctor to have it confirmed.”

“You really will say anything to get your own way. We really did spoil you, Margaret,” said James.

“Don’t worry, you will be with a real man soon,” said Gerald, placing his hand on her thigh.

“Get your hands off me!” shouted Margaret, slapping his hand away.

Gerald swung his hand quickly and slapped Margaret across the cheek. Margaret yelped, and so did her mother, but her mother did nothing to try and help.

“That was a warning,” said Gerald. “Don’t try that with me again, and keep your voice down or the next one will be worse.” Gerald glanced across at her father.

“Yes,” he agreed. “Margaret, do as your told and this will be made easy on you. I know you are not pregnant, you told me only two days ago.”

“I was lying to you,” hissed Margaret, keeping her voice low for fear of being struck again. Her cheek was throbbing. “I lied to you because I don’t want to expose a child to either of you. I could not wait to get out of London. I’m not raising my child anywhere near you.”

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