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However, it seemed as though the day was not yet done, inflicting nasty surprises upon the couple. As they stepped back out of the shop, the order placed, Rose came to a horrified standstill as she saw the man standing on the street opposite. He stumbled across the road toward them, narrowly avoiding being struck by a carriage who either had not seen him or did not care if they ran him down.
“Father?” Rose gasped, her throat tightening.
He swayed on the pavement and reached out a hand toward her, which Dorian wasted no time in grasping and wrenching up behind her father’s back.
Her father let out a yelp of alarm. “Unhand me!”
“I will not! I have half a mind to walk you directly to Bow Street, so you may confess to your crimes against my fiancée,” Dorian hissed, his face a sudden mask of fury. “I looked for you, Bill Parker, but you had already absconded from my estate. No doubt, you knew you would be severely punished if I caught you after attacking my bride in so vicious a manner!”
Her father scrunched up his face. “What attack? I haven’t absconded from anywhere, other than the Red Lion Inn. I haven’t even been to your estate, though I did consider going there a few times.” He chuckled drunkenly. “Besides, why would I attack my daughter, when she’s done so well for herself? Engaged to an Earl. I’d never have thought it possible.”
Rose squinted at her father. “You haven’t been to Langston House? But… I saw you there.”At least, I thought I did…Doubt slithered into the back of her mind, bringing the realization that she had never actually seen her father’s face; she had only assumed that it was him. For she had not been able to think of anyone else who would want to cause her harm.
“I don’t think you did.” Her father snorted. “I haven’t left London since this fellow took you away. You can ask anyone. As I said, I thought about going there to drag you back, but I decided it wasn’t worth wasting perfectly good gambling money.”
“Then you must have instructed someone else to come to my estate to attack her on your behalf!” Dorian snarled, for he clearly realized, at the same moment that Rose did, that her father would not have been capable of riding a horse, let alone throwing a blade with such lethal precision.
Her father shook his head, sobering slightly. “I hate to say it, but you both sound somewhat delusional. I haven’t been anywhere near your estate or my daughter. As I said, I have no coin for such things, nor do I have the desire.”
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Rose muttered, looking to Dorian, who appeared equally perplexed.
“I haven’t come over here to cause any trouble, My Lord,” her father continued, oblivious to the depth of their confusion. “I don’t know what attack you’re talking about, but I’m sorry if you’ve been hurt, Rose.” He offered her a thin smile. “I heard on the street that Lord Langston had come here with his bride-to-be, so I hurried over. But only because I wanted to talk to you, my daughter, to beg your forgiveness… and perhaps beg a small loan for after you’re married.” He squinted a hopeful eye at Dorian. “A bride price of sorts.”
Rose touched Dorian gently on the shoulder. “Release him, my love. I don’t think he’s lying.” She knew her father well enough to be able to smell deceit on him, but she could see only greed for her future wealth in his bleary eyes. Indeed, what he had said was painfully true—whywouldhe have attacked his daughter, when she had come into such fortune? And they were already engaged when the blade was thrown at her. Her father would not have tried to sabotage an easy sum of money.
But then, who did I see in the estate grounds, if my assumptions were wrong? Who wrote me that letter? If it wasn’t my father, then who else would be out there, wanting me to keep my distance from Dorian?She thought of what he had said when he thought her to be asleep, and a shiver of dread ran through her. What if it was the young lady that he had ‘shamed,’ who came to prevent her from being with Dorian?
“What do you say?” Her father winked at Dorian. “A small sum, perhaps monthly, to see your father-in-law safe and well in London?”
Rose pulled her husband-to-be away. “Leave us be, Father. This isn’t the time to ask for such things.”
“Then don’t be surprised if I have to earn some coin elsewhere,” her father retorted, his lips twisting up into a grimace. “You’d leave your own father, who cared for you all these years, to rot in the gutter? You’re an ungrateful little wretch. You always have been! I don’t know who attacked you, but I wish I did, so I could buy them a drink!”
Dorian looked as though he might punch her father, urging her to hurry her fiancé away from the scene and back into their waiting carriage before there could be any further conflict between the two men. People were already congregating to stare, and she had been embarrassed quite enough for one afternoon.
“Forget it, Dorian. Ignore him,” Rose begged, tugging Dorian along behind her.
As they got back into the carriage and Rose breathed a sigh of relief, she turned to look out of the window and saw her father glowering in their direction. But that was not what disconcerted her the most. She had grown used to that scowl since her mother died. No, the thing that troubled her the most was the fact that she was now deadly certain that her father was not the one who had been watching her.
Dorian pressed her hand to his lips, his forehead furrowed. “Are you well, my doe? I apologize if I became angry back there, but I cannot abide him speaking to you like that, after all the wrongs he has done to you.”
“There is one wrong that he has not done to me,” she replied, her voice shaking. “He did not attack me. And if it was not him, then… who was it?”
“Hudson and I will make a list when we return.” Dorian put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “Someone must know something.”
Rose swallowed and dug her fingernails into her palm. There was a question she dearly wanted to ask, but she did not know how to, without bringing that clouded sadness back to her future husband’s eyes.Could it be the young lady from your past? Is there a chance that she might be seeking revenge?
And so, she said nothing. Instead, she conjured a plan to search the grounds herself, with Hudson or Mrs. Whittaker accompanying her. If that proved fruitless, then she was determined to look into the history of this mysterious woman, to find the answer to those questions on her own.
I said I’d protect you, as you’ve vowed to protect me.After all, she had said she would face any danger, any rider, any threat…If the identity of her attacker lay in the secrets of his past, then she would have to face those, too.
