“We still haven’t gotten to the bottom of this,” he said. “We need to figure out who exactly is running the opium ring. Despite allour attempts, we aren’t any closer to discovering it.” He looked at Redfield. “Why were you so convinced that I was involved? Just because I own the duchy next to you?”
“Well, and Lord Cain said that you were involved.”
“What?!” Nathan stared at him. “You spoke to Lord Cain?”
“Only briefly,” Redfield said. “He had worked with my father, so after he was released from prison and acquitted of charges, I went to go see him. He said he hadn’t worked for my father in a while and that his loyalty had been to Lord Carfield, but he did mention that my father had told him you were the one encouraging the distribution of opium.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” Nathan demanded. His heart had started hammering, but he wasn’t entirely sure why. A strange buzzing had also begun to fill his ears.
Cain has hurt Rosalie in the past. How is he involved in this now? What does he want?
“Well, I didn’t think I should mention it when you came to my home,” Redfield said. “Especially because Cain said that things were sour between you two. He said that you’d offered him work in the opium production but that he’d said the only payment he wanted wasn’t money but permission to take up, clandestinely, with your wife. He said that you’d refused him?—”
“Damn right I would have refused to sell my wife!”
“—but then, when I saw him earlier this evening, he said that he and the Duchess of Carramere had rekindled the flame of their earlier courtship all on their own. That you were happy to let them be together because you were so busy with your opium business.”
Nathan was speechless. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Not for a moment did he believe that Rosalie had rekindled her spark with that worm, but he couldn’t fathom that anyone thought he would actually let his wife take up with another man—and with his consent.
“But then I told him it was likely you would be arrested imminently for your part in the opium smuggling, and he looked particularly pleased. When I questioned him further, he told me that he and the Duchess had plans to run off together and that your arrest would help facilitate the ease of that. Which made me wonder if you really were so happy to let them be together…” Redfield stopped speaking, and his eyes grew wide. “Oh Lord, did I just?—”
“You just played right into his hand,” Nathan breathed. His heart felt as if it had stopped. “He set this whole thing up to get me out of the picture. He isn’t after the profits from the opium, although I’m sure he won’t say no to them. He’s after Rosalie.”
His whole body seemed to turn back on at once. Not only his heart but all his organs, his muscles, and all of his energy and drive. Adrenaline coursed through him. He had never felt so sure and purposeful in all his life, so focused on the one task that mattered—the one person that mattered.
“You said you saw him here tonight?” he asked Redfield.
“Yes, and?—”
“And he knows I’m supposed to be arrested tonight?”
“Yes…”
Nathan didn’t hesitate a moment longer. Before anyone could stop him, he had pushed his way through the assembled men and begun to sprint back across the gardens toward the house.
Rosalie was in danger, and he would do whatever it took to keep her safe.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“You look ravishing tonight, Rosalie,” Lord Cain murmured. His voice was soft, but there was a cold, sharp note in it that told her he would not hesitate to stop her from trying to leave. That and the fact he was blocking her way entirely. She tried to shift to the left, but he moved with her, even holding out an arm to block her path.
“Where are you going?” he crooned. “I came to speak with you.”
She straightened up and glared at him. “Well, I do not wish to speak to you, Lord Cain. And I would also ask you to refer to me the proper way by my title. My surname is reserved only for my intimates, of which you are certainly not one!”
Lord Cain smiled indulgently. “You were always a spitfire, Rosalie. That’s what I love most about you.”
Rosalie rolled her eyes and tried to see around him to where her husband had gone, but Nathan was nowhere to be seen, and she felt her stomach curl with dread.
I don’t like to be here alone with Lord Cain.
Considering their history, she would not put it past him to try and kidnap her. Again. Her only comfort was that they were in a crowded ballroom surrounded by members of theton.
Surely he will not attempt a kidnapping in front of so many eyewitnesses…
“Please refrain from using such language, My Lord,” she snapped. “It is not appropriate. I am a married woman.”
“Oh yes, I know,” he sneered. “And such a husband you have! An unrivaled gentleman! TheBeast of Carramere:every young lady’s dream husband.” He laughed derisively, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. “But you don’t need to worry about your dear husband much longer, my dear. Very soon, he will be caught for his crimes, and then you will not have to pretend to love him any longer.”
