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Aunt Sarah chuckled. “She’s just like me when I was younger. Your mother never could control me, and I got into all sorts of pickles.” She sighed. “One time, I found myself held down with an extremely notorious rake and I had to ram my knee right into his nether regions.” Her grin expanded. “He folded like a piece of paper.”
“We have all had to knee in the nether regions once or twice,” Chastity agreed.
Wide-eyed, Cassie stared at her sisters. “You have?”
Chastity lifted a shoulder. “Aunt Sarah showed us how.”
“I can show you too if you like!” Aunt Sarah offered.
“There’s no time. We need to find Luke. I wanted to go with him, but he trapped me in there.” She gestured to the drawing room.
“I’m finding that man more and more appealing these days,” Chastity commented.
Hands to her hips, Cassie gave her sister a pointed look. “He should not have gone alone.”
“No, he should not have done,” Eleanor agreed. “Are you certain he did not take any of the hired men with him?”
“And leave us unprotected?” Cassie shook her head. “Not likely.”
Which made his behavior this morning all the more strange. He had been so determined to defend them all, most especially her, and she had seen the fear in his eyes last night when he thought her harmed. She did not believe that it was out of mere duty to Anton that he worried for her.
Which meant he had pushed her away deliberately—most likely out of some desire to protect her. But why?
“We must go to him,” she pleaded. “He could get hurt and it will be all my fault. He did not even wish to be involved in this matter.”
Eleanor looked to Chastity, who glanced at Demeter. Finally, Chastity nodded. “We shall go to him, but this might take more than a knee to the nether regions. I suggest Aunt Sarah takes her pistol.”
Cassie nodded. Aunt Sarah was an excellent shot, and despite her loathing the things, it would be silly to go up against such a man without a weapon. Especially when Cassie feared it might well be more than one man.
Because if Luke had been right and the man was following Harding, how was it someone had also been seen on their grounds? Not to mention the man who had pushed her down—
the man with the red fingers—had been different to the man following them at the docks.
Deep down, she knew this was bigger than one man. And that meant Luke had gone into the situation entirely unprepared.
***
NO ONE PAID Luke any attention when he paced through the mill. Either the workers were too busy, or they’d get in trouble for dallying. Most likely the latter.
The racket of the machines vibrated through his bones as he set his jaw and strode past the vast vats of dye. Red like Cassie had said. But he saw no sign of the man with a limp amongst the workers. Could she have been mistaken?
He pressed a breath through clenched teeth. This had to be over. Today. He could not spend another moment under the same roof as Cassie or he might very well break.
Once he’d made his way past the vats and bundles of fabric, workers dissipated, and he pushed through a door. He entered a vast room, piled high with crates and barrels. He supposed the mill stored additional supplies here but how much did one business need? He’d already seen their supplies of cotton and the mill did not seem big enough to need this much fabric or dye. He paused at one of the crates and eased aside the loosened lid.
“What the devil...?” he murmured.
Bottles tucked carefully amongst straw filled the box. Lifting one, he held it up to the thin stream of light and eyed the label. He hadn’t seen this make of wine in some time. It had been notoriously hard to get hold of since the war with France. Either it was counterfeit or smuggled over. He put the bottle back and moved to another container to find stacks of what he suspected was spice. A quick sniff confirmed his suspicions.
He shook his head. How in the hell did Theodore get involved in such things? If the man with the limp was really responsible for his disappearance, it seemed he was quite the criminal. Theodore had gambled heavily in the past years but had given up cards and repaid his debts. What possible reason could he have for being involved with a smuggler?
Luke froze at the sound of voices. He eased behind a crate but the voices didn’t grow any louder, so he eased out from behind it and moved cautiously in the direction of the conversation. Whoever they were, they were gathered in a room at the rear of the building.
He pressed his back to the wall and eased around to catch sight of them. Three men. One sat on a spindly chair, his feet upon a desk laden with paper. Another perched upon the desk and the final one stood. He might have his back to him, but Luke recognized the hat. And the one who was seated.
The man who had pushed Cassie down.
He curled a fist until his knuckles hurt and pressed his back against the wall again. He suspected the way he felt he could take on all three of them, but he might not come out in one piece.
