Page 10 of Unbound Duchess

“I want you to escort my sister home,” Laurence said, turning to meet Solomon’s gaze. “She did not want to come anyway; it should not take much to convince her that she should leave. Just tell her she was right about the appropriateness of the party and I was wrong.”

Solomon smirked.

“She will love that,” he mused. “Should I come back after I escort her home?”

“No,” Laurence stated. “Stay there with her until I return home. Do not make it obvious, though. Let her retire to her rooms, or whatever she wishes, and if she asks you why you are staying, just say there is some paperwork in my office that you need to read up on.”

“Done,” Solomon vowed, then gave Laurence a stern look. “Do not get caught.”

Laurence gave a curt nod, and without another word, his friend walked over to Madalene and whispered something in her ear. She then turned to Laurence and flashed him an arrogant, ‘I was right’ grin. Laurence bowed his head as he drew on a smirk, letting his sister believe whatever she needed to so that Solomon could usher away as quietly and as safely as possible.

He held his breath as he watched his friend and little sister leave the dining room. He went to the nearest window—the one that overlooked the front lawn of the house—and only when he saw Solomon, Madalene, and Madalene’s handmaid get in their carriage together did he release his breath. He had no doubt he was being far too overprotective, but after what happened to Annabel, there were some risks he was no longer willing to take.

Once his family carriage was out of sight, Laurence drew his gaze back to the dining room, in time to see Benedict reappear with a pretty, young woman pressed close to his side.

“Friends!” Benedict stated loudly, drawing the room into a hushed silence as all eyes turned to him.

Laurence noted how the young woman at his side blushed deeply and dropped her gaze to the floor at the attention, her face void of any happiness. The urge to protect her rose quickly as he took in her pinched brow and bowed shoulders, and it was so intense that it startled him. He looked closely at her, wondering why he felt such things. He did not know her… or did he?

“I have an announcement to make,” Benedict went on, raising a glass. “My sweet cousin Ellen and I mourn the loss of a great man this last week; it is true. However, to honor that man, I have made a decision.”

He looked down at the woman beside him, then, a strange smile slowly forming on his lips. “This is not just any party. This, my friends, is our engagement party.”

Gasps filled the room as Laurence watched the woman’s gaze snap up to Benedict’s with shock written across her suddenly pale face.

“You did not know this, sweet Ellie, but your father and I discussed this at length. If something were to happen to him, he made me vow that I would take your hand in marriage and protect you for the rest of your life,” Benedict said to her.

He reached for her hand then, and Laurence did not miss how the woman flinched against his touch. That urge to protect rose up in him again, fiercer than before. He gritted his teeth against it, knowing that even as he registered the fear in her face, there was nothing he could do about it. Not in front of all these people who were already gossiping about her. Not while he still had to search through Benedict’s study.

So he ignored the way he was pulled to break Benedict’s hand from hers, and moved quietly toward the doorway. He waited, growing more impatient by the moment as the whispers of the surprise engagement—an engagement between cousins—grew louder around him. Then, when he was certain that Benedict’s attention was fully turned away, he slipped out and headed down the first hall he could find.

Precious minutes ticked by as he opened door after door, trying to find which one would lead to Benedict’s study. He breathed out a sigh as he finally found a room with a large desk. As he hurried to it, he confirmed his suspicions by reading Benedict’s name on a few letters of correspondence scattered across the top. They were useless, he quickly found as he read through them, and he tossed them aside so he could open and rummage through the drawers. He was so distracted with his need to hurry and find the evidence he wanted that he noticed too late that a shard of light from the hall had stretched across the room.

“What are you doing?” a soft, strangely familiar voice asked.

Laurence stilled, silently cursing himself for not being more careful.

“I ask you again, sir, what are you doing in my father’s study?”

Laurence raised his head then, and as he shut the drawer he was rummaging through, he took in the features of the woman—Ellen, he remembered suddenly. The woman to whom Benedict had just claimed his engagement.

In the dim light, he saw a far different version of the scared woman who had only minutes ago been standing in the dining room. Her blue eyes were narrowed and sharp. Her chin was raised defiantly, as if she were ready to protect the room he had improperly entered.

“Your father’s study?” Laurence asked, rising to his full height. “I was told to retrieve some paperwork from Benedict Page’s study. I assumed this was it.”

Some of that sparkling defiance faded as he asked the clarifying question, and she took another step toward him. She turned her head to the nearest shelf, and almost lovingly traced her fingertips across it.

“I suppose it is Benedict’s now,” she murmured, the sadness in her tone akin to the loss he felt for his own departed family.

“I have not come in here since he…” her whispered voice trailed off as her delicate brows tensed. “I had not realized Benedict had taken it over so quickly.”

Ask her, a voice demanded within Laurence’s mind. Ask why she fears him. Why she looked so forlorn and shocked as Benedict expressed his intentions.

Laurence shoved that voice away, knowing he could not. Not if he wanted to get out of the office without her asking him more questions.

“You did not realize that your betrothed had already moved himself into your home?” he asked.

Ellen’s expression hardened once again as she turned her sharp gaze back to him.