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“Nonsense. I’ll go straight to my father,” Aden replied.
“I’m afraid that won’t work. Not this time.”
“Why the hell not?” Graeme demanded.
Aden’s eyes narrowed to obsidian slits. “Watch your tone with my wife, lad.”
Vivien patted her husband’s knee. “No, Graeme has every right to be upset.”
Graeme forced down the choking anger. Now was not the time to lose control. He’d do that later, when he had the bastard in his sights.
“I’m sorry, Vivien. I’m just . . . surprised,” he said in a softer voice.
“I was, too. I almost fell out of my chair when Sabrina told me.”
“I thought we’d driven him right out of England,” Graeme said.
“He returned seven weeks ago,” Aden replied, “and has been living in seclusion in the country. Sir Dominic and I made it clear that he risked a great deal of trouble if he returned to town, but our warning obviously didn’t sink in firmly enough.”
“And you never thought to tell me he was back?” Graeme asked.
“Since you would have run off half-cocked, I did not. I wrote to Lord Arnprior, as well as to Royal and Ainsley, and assured them I would deal with it. At the time, I deemed that to be enough.”
Graeme covered his eyes, fatigue warring with fury in every muscle. He couldn’t believe his family was again faced with the nightmare that was the Marquess of Cringlewood.
The man had once been a force to reckon with. From a distinguished family and with deep connections in the aristocracy, the marquess had been a prime catch on the marriage mart.
Cringlewood was also a rapist. He’d assaulted his fiancée, the beautiful and very wealthy Ainsley Matthews. Impregnated by her attacker, Lady Ainsley had fled to Scotland to bear her child in secret. She’d then turned to the only man she trusted to care for her daughter and to keep her secrets safe.
That man was Graeme’s brother, Royal.
As befitted the finest man who’d ever walked the planet, Royal had claimed little Tira as his own daughter, and eventually married Ainsley. The pair had been building a new life in Glasgow until Cringlewood ferreted out Ainsley’s secret. With a band of hired thugs, the marquess had traveled north and kidnapped mother and daughter. Since Cringlewood had been massively in debt from bad investments and in need of Ainsley’s fortune, he’d intended to blackmail her into using Scotland’s more lenient marriage laws to obtain a divorce and marry him.
The Kendricks had rescued the lassies, but Ainsley had shot and wounded Cringlewood in the process. Angus, Graeme’s grandfather, had also killed one of the thugs in the ensuing mayhem. That had put them all in legal jeopardy. Cringlewood was a monster, but he was also Tira’s fatheranda nobleman. Royal and Ainsley had been forced to flee to Canada, taking Tira and Angus with them.
In the ensuing months, Nick and Victoria, along with Aden and other influential friends, had exerted pressure to keep a lid on the scandal and convince Cringlewood to draw in his horns. The threat of even more dire financial consequences had done the trick, and they’d finally wrung an agreement from him. The marquess had departed for the Continent to lick his wounds and escape his creditors.
In the meantime, Graeme had made it his personal mission to track down all the remaining kidnappers and bring them to justice. His success in that regard had attracted Aden’s notice and the invitation to work for him.
Just this past spring, Royal and Ainsley had finally returned home, secure in the knowledge that Cringlewood, ostensibly still in exile on the Continent, was no longer a threat.
Now, though, the bastard was back and likely to cause trouble.
Graeme lifted his head to look at Aden. “We have to contain the situation, before Royal gets wind of it.”
“Of course we do.” Aden turned to his wife. “I haven’t spoken to the king in a few weeks. Why do you think I won’t be able to get him to boot the scum out of town?”
“Sabrina mentioned that Cringlewood and Lady Conyngham are close, and you know what that means. I suspect her ladyship is running interference for him.”
“Dammit to hell,” Graeme muttered. Lady Conyngham was the king’s latest mistress.
“My father is an idiot,” Aden said with a sigh.
Although not particularly fond of his royal parent, Aden maintained a cordial relationship with the king, who generally took the advice of his spymaster son. But His Majesty was also greatly influenced by whomever his current mistress happened to be, so this was not a good development.
“We can assume that Cringlewood is after Lady Sabrina’s fortune,” Graeme said, “which he needs to repair his pathetic finances.”
“No doubt,” Vivien said. “But he’s been canny enough to keep a modest profile, and avoid those who would snub him or gossip to Lady Sabrina. He’s a monster, but he’s not stupid.”
