Page 52 of The Baron Takes a Wife

“Elena,” he repeated her name as if saying it would calm the rising panic in the air. Even Goliath was not immune as he began frantically pacing the room. “Think, please. Why does he want you alone? There is no good reason for that. Why didn’t he write the government? Why—”

“It doesn’t matter why. I need to know!” She tore her hands away and made for the doorway. David grabbed her hand again and pulled her back.

“Please, Elena, listen, there is no reason he would need you to go by yourself.”

“I’ll take Goliath—”

“Goliath can do nothing against a gun.” The words came out harsher than he meant them to, but he was truly afraid now.

“You don’t understand!” She pulled on her hand, but he didn’t let go. “You don’t want me to find them. You don’t want me to have to choose between them and you because you fear I will choose them.” Her next words were clipped and quiet as if saying them softly would take away the sting. “Anatole said he loved me, but he tried to control me. And because I thought I loved him, I let him. Aren’t you doing the same thing, claiming that you love me and not giving me a choice?” Her composure began to break, and he could hear the pain and panic in her voice. “This is why I can’t love anymore because it muddies everything!” She broke away and disappeared through the door, leaving David standing, gutted, in front of Goliath.

He looked down at Goliath and rasped, "Go after her!”

Goliath moved as quickly as a dog with three working legs could go, gone in a black and tan blur. David sat back in his armchair, his shoulders sagging in despair.

While he knew he was right about how suspicious the circumstances were, he had to admit there was some truth in her words. He had given her an out to this marriage if she desired it, and he was a man of his word. He knew how much she longed to be with her family again, and no scandal nor distance would stop her from being with them if she could. Alone now, he could admit that in his heart of hearts, he was afraid she would choose her family over him and leave him forever. How empty his life would be without her, just like those days in Balaclava when he would wake up and remember his legs didn’t work, and he would cycle through long days and endless nightmares until she would come read to him again. But he would have no hope of ever seeing her again if she left. He knew with the same absolute clarity that had moved him to ask her to marry him that there would never be anyone else for him. This was it. His heart was inextricably tethered to her. But what would happen to that tether if she put thousands of miles between them? His mind went to a newspaper article he had read about the telegraph wire laid across the ocean that was almost completed. Could that tether survive across seas and oceans like the telegraph wire? He stood and began to pace the hall with his cane.

He thought she was coming to care for him, but he knew her heart was still closed off. He had thought loving her would be enough, but a small voice inside reminded him that loving her meant listening to what she wanted. To working toward her happiness, even if it came at the cost of his own.

As he arrived at this conclusion, he was still convinced that the note was suspicious and that she should not go alone or at all. How did Anatole know she was looking for her family? Did he speak to the ambassador? That was unlikely. Perhaps he actually had news, but that seemed doubtful as well. The most probable case was that he had heard Elena talk about her family and wanted to lure her out, which meant he had gotten close enough to her in London to eavesdrop. That thought chilled David’s blood to ice. He would protect her, even if she hated him for it, he vowed to himself.

By this point, he had walked to her bedchamber and found her face down at her vanity, Goliath’s head in her lap. He was reminded of statues of weeping angels in graveyards, so still and sad she sat. He stood in the doorway, unsure of what to say or do.

“I’m sorry.”

Her voice was soft, but it carried across the room. He walked in, set down his cane, and sat on her bed. He had to put some distance between them. He didn’t think he could touch her, or he would fall apart.

Slowly, she lifted her head. She didn’t look like she had been crying, but she looked hollow and defeated, the light gone out from behind her eyes. He hated to see that look on her face.

“You are right. There is no reason he should ask me to come alone. It…it would likely not be wise to go.” Her chest shook as if she were crying, but no tears spilled. He realized he had never seen her cry before.

As his need to hold her trumped his self-preservation, he moved so that he was kneeling at her vanity and took her trembling body in his arms.

She was still shaking, but she managed to get the words out. “My family, they are a powder keg for me. I am sorry I could not see reason. I saw it as you trying to control me. I became afraid, and that fear made me lash out.”

“I just wanted you to be safe, Elena. I don’t want him to hurt you again. I don’t think you can trust him.”

“I know. Sitting here, I remembered he had come to my village and lied to everyone. He lied to me. He did this.” She gestured to her face. She spoke distantly as if she were outside herself.

“He didn’t deserve you.” He nestled his head in the crook of her neck, inhaling that sweet scent of honey and amber. He knew he hated this man as he had never hated anyone from the first time she told him what he had done, but suddenly, that hate felt real and tangible.

They sat in silence for a moment. Elena seemed numb and devoid of emotion, so he wrapped himself around her more deeply, trying to ground her, to bring back the light in her eyes. He had an idea but wasn’t sure how she would take it.

“Elena, I am going to make a suggestion. You may not like it, but I hope you’ll hear me out.” She turned her head to look at him. Some of the warmth was returning to her eyes, which he took as a good sign.

“I think we should leave London.”

She seemed to drink this in and took a breath. He continued quickly. “Irene wants to get away from the Season, and you, I want to get away from Anatole. This letter makes me think he wants to hurt you. To enact some kind of revenge. Otherwise, why couldn’t he have written you from Russia or the Ottoman Empire or wherever he ended up with information about your family? There was no reason to see you in person. It chills me to the bone that he found you and wanted to get you into the open.” David could not put into words how terrifying the thought of her being hurt was to him. “ I will send something to the Foreign Office immediately to see if they can apprehend him where he was supposed to meet you if he is here as a spy or otherwise.”

“They can do that?” David pulled back a little and regarded her, still struggling with what to do or say next. He knew he had to do something productive with all his hate and fear, as his primal side wanted to rip Anatole to shreds. He did not think Elena or Irene would appreciate it if he were found guilty of murder.

He noticed her hair had come down and pushed a lock behind her ear. He kept his hand there and was struck as he once was by the steel of her. Even sad and shaking in his arms, she was so resilient, this beautiful warrior angel.

Finally, she met his gaze. “I suppose I wouldn’t mind getting away from the Season either. But the hospital—”

“It should be safe in Mrs. Raeburn’s very capable hands for a while. We still have a few more events, like dinner at Lord Gaius’s, but after that, we should be able to leave town.”

She hummed in agreement and laid her head against his shoulder. “I have only been to the estate but once. It would be nice to go for a little longer, I suppose. Give Goliath some room to run once his legs recover.”