Page 66 of Unbound Duchess

Solomon glowered right back.

“You think that is not enough?” he countered. “You held me back from pummeling Benedict when he spoke so flippantly about Annabel, yet the second you thought Benedict was going to touch Ellen, you were ready to break his wrist! You threatened to cut his hand off!”

“I promised her my protection!” Laurence roared.

“And she had it!” Solomon roared back, neither dominant man willing to back down. “You and I were both there! If he had tried to hurt her, we could have handled it. We could have gotten between them.”

“I was not going to allow him to lay a single finger on her after what he has done,” Laurence snarled back, stepping around his desk.

“You have not seen her, Solomon,” he went on as the two men stepped up to one another. “You did not see how she would flinch at every loud noise when she first arrived. You do not hear her cries of protest through the walls at night, when she is having nightmares about what happened to her. Ellen is not like Annabel! She did not want to go to the auction! She was not just some spoiled, headstrong⁠—”

Laurence’s head snapped back from the force of Solomon’s punch. He ignored the pain blooming through his nose as he clenched his fists and cocked one back, but as his gaze found Solomon again, the urge to fight that had been building between them suddenly vanished. Pain and sadness were etched into Solomon’s face as his chest heaved with deep breaths of rage and hurt.

He raised a trembling finger and shook his head as he bared his teeth.

“Do not dare,” Solomon panted, his deep voice wrought with raw pain. Do not dare even think that Annabel wanted what happened to her, or I swear to God, I will put you in the ground right now!”

Laurence slowly lowered his fist as he sagged backward to sit on his desk. He bowed his head and expelled a deep breath, sorrow and regret flooding through him.

“Of course I do not think that,” he rasped out. “Solomon, I am sorry. You are right. I am distracted.”

He rubbed at his face in frustration, and winced as fresh pain ebbed from his nose. It wasn’t broken. Wasn’t even bleeding, but Solomon had cocked him good.

“Corker of a right hook, by the way,” he muttered, wiggling his nose. “Did not even see it coming.”

He glanced up at Solomon, and was relieved that a ghost of a smile had lit across his friend’s lips.

“More proof of your distraction,” he countered matter of factly.

Laurence shot him a tired look, and Solomon’s stiff stature relaxed.

“I should not have cocked you,” Solomon said by way of an apology. “I just…I want this to be over, Laurence. I want the auction destroyed and I want…”

He paused with a heavy sigh.

“I want to try to move on with my life,” he continued, his deep voice trembling. “I cannot hold onto this sorrow…this rage… for much longer.”

“I know,” Laurence agreed, soul-weary and tortured. “Neither can I.”

He scraped his teeth over his bottom lip, doing his best to ignore the awful feeling rising within him.

“Madalene has told me that the Wellingtons are throwing a garden party in two weeks. Their daughter is a friend of hers, and my sister was able to sway their guest list. Benedict is now also invited. I shall speak to Ellen about being our bait again,” he explained.

Solomon gave a terse nod.

“That is all well and good, but I cannot simply do nothing for two weeks,” he countered.

“What do you suggest then?” Laurence replied.

“How would you feel about a bit of burglary?” Solomon cocked a brow as he crossed his arms.

Laurence’s eyes widened. “I assume you are about to explain?” he asked.

“While you have been doing…” Solomon paused to gesture toward the splintered mark upon the floor. “Whatever it is you have been doing these past few days, I have been visiting Scraper’s Tavern in the evenings.”

Laurence cocked his head in intrigue. Scraper’s Tavern was no illustrious public house or private club. In fact, it was the exact opposite. A little tavern known on Servant’s Alley for the working folks of Mayfair to get a drink in.

“What in the world have you been doing there?” he asked.