James suddenly remembered something his wife had said. “She told me that you helped her find the solicitor that drew up the papers!”
“I most certainly did not!” Lady Carfield gasped. “She only mentioned it last night—right after the ball, when you two had that terrible argument in front of half of the ton. It was the first time she had threatened you with an annulment, and I was adamant that she should try to fix things with you.”
“That confirms it, then,” James said. All the pieces of the puzzle were slotting into place in his mind. “The annulment was the work of Jebediah Crampton. He somehow found a way to draw up the papers and get them to her, along with some sort of threat that convinced her she had no other choice. He was probably threatening to harm Miss Rosalie. Violet would do anything to protect her. And if Jebediah was able to reach her, then she knew he’d be able to reach Miss Rosalie.”
Even amid all the worry that was currently making him sick to his stomach, James couldn’t help but hold on to the smallest glimmer of hope.
She didn’t want to annul our marriage! There is still a chance for us!
But first, he had to find her.
“Where could she be?” he asked, turning to Lady Carfield. “Where would your husband have taken her? And why? If we know the why, it may help us narrow down the where.”
“I don’t know,” Lady Carfield mumbled, her eyes going wide. “I haven’t lived with my husband for a decade. I don’t know where he might have gone to hide, especially with a young lady.”
“I think the why is easy enough to figure out,” Nathan said slowly. “If he wanted to simply kill Violet”—James’s heart stuttered—“then he wouldn’t have needed to get an annulment. He must need Violet to be unmarried, which means he has plans to marry her off to someone else.”
“Or he simply wants to make sure she is his property, not her husband’s,” Lady Carfield said, but James’s mouth had suddenly gone very dry.
“You’re right,” he said to Nathan. “That’s the reason. I know it in my gut. She said she wanted to be a mother. Lord Carfield must need her to marry someone who needs an heir.Why?I don’t know. Maybe it’s someone who can help him reclaim his title or wealth—someone he needs a favor from.”
He closed his eyes briefly as the horror of that thought washed over him. Violet, married to someone else… someone of her father’s choosing, who was no doubt as evil and cruel as he was. It was the worst fate he could imagine for the kind, thoughtful, sensitive, beautiful soul that was his wife.
Or was she his ex-wife now?
Had she filed the paperwork yet? How long would it take for the annulment to go through?
“I need to remember the name of the lawyer,” he said suddenly. “If I can remember the name of the lawyer on the annulment papers, then we can go to his office and stop this from going through. Miss Rosalie, did she say anything to you about the name of the solicitor?”
“No,” Rosalie said, shaking her head.
“Did she say anything?” he pressed. “Anything that might give us a clue as to where she might have gone?”
Rosalie frowned, her brow furrowing in thought. For several tense seconds, every person in the hall stared at her—even the butler—with bated breath, waiting to see if there might be any clue that could help them find Violet.
Then, suddenly, her eyes lit up. “She did say something odd! I mentioned Mr. Cain, the man I danced with at the ball and who called on me this morning, and she grabbed my wrist quite painfully and said, ‘You must promise me you will never see that man again. He is a snake, Rosalie, and he will only cause you pain.’But she’d had no objection to him earlier that day when he’d visited. And he’d left before she could speak with him. I don’t know what might have changed her mind about him, unless he was in league with my father…”
Suddenly, the color drained from her face, and she swallowed. “Oh my God, do you think he has been in on it? Was he only courting me to help my father get to Violet?”
James’s jaw was set, and his hands were already clenched into fists. “I don’t know. But we’re going to find out.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“You are a sick, twisted man,” Violet spat as she stared across the carriage at Mr. Cain. “How could you do this to Rosalie? She trusted you. She believed you were genuinely interested in her!”
Mr. Cain said nothing, as he had done for the last few minutes. While Violet had spat diatribes at him against her father and anyone who was working with him, he had kept a maddeningly neutral expression. He hadn’t so much as made eye contact with her, except when he’d taken the annulment papers from her and put them in his briefcase.
This time, however, something about her words must have gotten to him, because at last, he glanced at her. It was only a split second of eye contact, but it was enough to make Violet realize that this was the topic that might elicit a response.
“I know she is innocent and naive,” she continued, “but she is a good person. And she doesn’t deserve to have her feelingsmanipulated by one of my father’s henchmen. Did you even stop to consider how devastated she will be once she learns I am being forced to marry a man as repugnant as Lord Redfield, and that the man who had called on her is one of those responsible!”
“Miss Rosalie does not need to know about my involvement in this unfortunate affair,” Mr. Cain said at last, and Violet felt a momentary sense of triumph.
Now keep him talking. Find out as much information as you can. Information is power.
“Of course, she will know about your involvement,” she snarled. “I will tell her.”
Mr. Cain blinked and looked Violet right in the eye. This time, he didn’t look away.
