It was almost two in the morning by the time they arrived back at Lord and Lady Forthwell’s London townhouse. Winston was not tired—he was used to staying up until all hours of the night carrying out his vengeance—but as he helped Lady Vanessa off the horse, he could see that her eyes were drooping.
“What shall become of Lord Langdon?” she asked once she was standing on the ground again.
“We will take him to the Bow Street Runners and report what he did,” Winston replied. “They will probably come to interview you in the next few days.”
“No! You must not!” Lady Vanessa gasped, surprising him.
“Whyever not?” he asked, scowling. “The man needs to be locked in irons for what he has done!”
“But if the rest of thetonknows that I was alone with him for so long—that he even took me to an inn—then they will assume the worst, and my reputation will be ruined!” Her eyes were full of fear, and she reached out and grabbed his arm, as if to impress this point on him. “Please, Your Grace, as hard as it is, you must let him go.”
Winston stared down at her incredulously. “You expect me tolet him go?”he repeated, not quite believing his own words even as he said them.
“You must,” she insisted. “Otherwise, I will be ruined.”
“You will be the Duchess of Thornfield. You cannot be ruined.”
“Even a duchess can be relegated to thedemimonde,” she murmured. “Please.”
Winston glanced at Leo, who had just dismounted from the carriage. “Keep him in there for now,” he said to Leo. “We will figure out what to do with him later. And stay watch over him while I go inside to deal with Lord and Lady Forthwell.”
“Deal with…?” Lady Vanessa repeated as he brushed past her and began to storm toward the front door of her parents’ home. She hurried to keep up with him. “What are you going to say to them?”
“What I should have said the moment I declared my intention to marry you,” Winston said brusquely.
Lord and Lady Forthwell, it turned out, had just returned from the ball and were both in the parlor, sipping night caps when Winston burst through the door and came barging in.
“Upon my honor!” Lord Forthwell cried, his hands flying to his heart. “What on earth is the meaning of this?!”
“Your Grace!” Lady Forthwell gushed, jumping to her feet at once. “What an honor it is to see you! To what can we owe the pleasure of this late-night visit.”
“It is no honor and no pleasure,” Winston growled, glaring at both of them. Next to him, Lady Vanessa stood very still. “I came here to tell you both what selfish and negligent parents you both are!”
Lady Forthwell gaped at him. “Good gracious!” she said weakly. “What in heaven’s name can you mean by that?”
Lord Forthwell, meanwhile, puffed himself up immediately. “How dare you!” he roared. “To come into my house and?—”
“You both let your daughter leave a ball unchaperoned!” Winston shouted over Lord Forthwell, cowering him into silence. “You let an unmarried young lady leave a ball alone and unprotected, to wander the streets of London, and why? So you both could get drunk and stumble home at two in the morning?”
Lady Forthwell looked scandalized, but Winston could tell from the glassy look in her eyes that she was deep in her cups.
“You both ought to be deeply ashamed of yourselves,” he snarled. “Because of your negligence, your daughter was kidnapped by Lord Langdon. He tried to take her to Scotland, and if I hadn’t interfered, she would be forced into marriage with that treacherous, evil man.”
Lord Forthwell’s mouth fell open while Lady Forthwell tilted her head to one side, as if trying to understand what he was saying.
“This incident has convinced me that we have not a day to lose,” Winston continued. “I shall be procuring a special license from the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lady Vanessa and I shall wed tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow!” This gasp came from Lady Vanessa, and Winston turned to see her staring at him in shock. “We cannot wed tomorrow,” she said more quietly. “Nothing has been prepared.”
“It matters not,” Winston said, waving a dismissive hand. “I will not leave you in the care of your parents for a day longer. I want you under my protection so that I can be sure Lord Langdon no longer poses a threat to you. Until then, I shall not rest easy.”
“But—”
“It is decided,” Winston snarled. “The special license will be with me by the afternoon, and then we will be married. You have untilthen to make whatever preparations you like—although you will not be leaving this house.”
“You cannot lock me in my own home!” Lady Vanessa protested, but Winston had already turned and was heading for the door.
“Yes, I can,” he said over his shoulder. “Do not think I am not also angry with you, Lady Vanessa. You also left the ball without insisting upon a chaperone which you must have known was very foolish. I am not letting you off the hook for this either.”
