Her features went momentarily blank. “Say?” Her brows furrowed. “Something about his attempts at reconciling having failed.”
Drake clenched his jaw. “Is that all?”
She nodded. “And he asked that I pass the letter along. Why? Is something wrong?”
“I’m not sure,” Drake admitted. “Except that my uncle is a very dangerous man. If he approaches you again, flee.”
“Flee? Is he that bad? I mean, he did have a rather cold air about him.”
“Trust me on this. He approached you to send a message and not the one in the letter. It was a message to me. All of us. He can get to the people we care about whenever he wants. That’s why I came today. To collect you.”
“You just said I should run, now you wish to collect me?”
“That was a figure of speech, love. You’re not safe at your shop anymore.”
“Well, then,” she stepped out of his embrace. “It’s good that I’m leaving today.”
Drake had nearly forgotten about that. “That’s not possible.”
She crossed her arms. “And why is that?”
“You’ll be beyond our protection, Violet. When I say my uncle made a move to approach you, I damn well mean it.”
“You know, ever since I’ve met you, I’ve been in nothing but danger. Have you considered that if I leave, whatever interest your uncle may have would vanish as well?”
“His interest doesn’t work that way,” Drake said, holding her gaze, wanting nothing more than to pull her back against him. “He believes you are a weakness to me.”
“And am I?”
“What a fabulous question,” a grating voice drawled from Drake’s back. “One I’d love to know the answer to as well.”
Violet’s face paled—enough to warn him—but Drake acted one step too late. Pain exploded at the back of his head. A curse rolled off his tongue, or perhaps his mind, he couldn’t be certain, but darkness claimed him once again.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Drake!” Violet criedas the man collapsed at her feet for the third time since she met him. But where the first two times had been concerning, this one was supremely frightening. She rushed over, falling onto her knees beside him, slowly lifting his head to inspect the wound. Blood gushed from where Percival, her blackguard former fiancé, had stuck him with a cane of all things.
Her fingers trembled against Drake’s temple, slick with this blood, and a newfound loathing for canes bloomed in her breast. Of all the absurd, posturing weapons a man might choose, leave it to Percival to turn a gentleman’s walking stick into something vile.
“Drake, wake up,” Violet choked. “You arenotdying in my garden,” she said fiercely, as though the command alone might make it so.
“How touching, my dear. Truly.”
She glared at Percival. “What is the meaning of this, you wretched man?”
“Meaningof this?” His brow furrowed even while his lips hooked upward. “My dear, you ran away before our wedding. Did you imagine I’d simply let it stand?”
Yes! “The fact that I left means I broke our engagement! I even wrote you a formal letter to make the dissolutionabundantly clear. In the eyes of theton, we are done. I’m probably ruined too for causing such a scandal anyway.”
“The eyes of theton?” Percival laughed. “Dear, in the eyes of theton, we are still very much betrothed.” He patted his breast pocket. “I even have a special license for the occasion. Youwillbe my wife.”
Dread filled her. “Do you believe I shall stand for this?”
Percival’s smile widened, and he took a step closer, his gaze never leaving her face. “You aren’t standing now, are you, Evangeline?”
He wasenjoyingher distress. The horrible blackguard.
By all the blazes. She had to escape this disaster. She glanced down at Drake, tracing a finger over his scar. But she couldn’t leave him. There was no possible way she could abandon him. Him departing this earth simply wasn’t an option.
