But Everley had said inherit.
“My bride will gift me the land on the sea that I require, and her untimely death will give me everything else I need.”
An icy fear gripped his heart as Rupert put the pieces together. The arranged marriage, his lack of attempt to woo her or even get to know her.
He’d never planned to keep her as his bride.
He just wanted to get the land that came with her dowry and then…what? Just kill her off? But why? Was he so very merciless? So undeniably evil?
Rupert’s mind was racing ahead of him as his gut turned to a heavy weight and ice crept into his veins. Why would he go to so much trouble to marry her and then kill her?
It made no sense. Unless he had another bride in mind…
He’d stopped paying attention to the conversation but Everley’s next words brought him back with a jolt.
“Do not worry about the details. The land will be mine as soon as I’m wed and now that I’ve been granted special license, I plan to get the deed done first thing in the morrow.”
The sailor let out a cackle. “Then my best wishes to you, sir.”
He planned to wed her tomorrow? Terror plagued him. If this man’s plans included a wedding in the morning, he must have eyes on her. Did he know she was not at her home?
When he turned to face Tolston, the other man’s face was set and determined as he jerked a head toward the door. Go. Protect your woman, his stern gaze seemed to say.
Rupert was just about to leap into action when the sailor spoke again. “You’re marrying tomorrow and yet you’re here with me. Ain’t your bride-to-be waiting on you, my lord?”
Everley’s smile was cold. “Do not fret about my bride. She is in good hands. As we speak, my partner is ensuring that she will be ready, willing, and able to marry me at first light.”
My partner.
The words somehow felt more ominous than anything else Everley had said this night. Tolston had frozen as well and the other men were exchanging glances that held one question.
Who is Everley’s partner?
Since when did he work with an accomplice? If he was telling the truth—and he had no reason not to be—then that meant they’d underestimated him. They hadn’t properly planned. That meant he’d…
His heart plummeted into his stomach.
He’d left Delilah vulnerable.
He had to get to her. His mind was already working out the fastest way out of this warehouse without alerting Everley and his men to his presence. He could be out of here and back to the School of Charm before this partner had a chance to nab her.
“If your bride has any sense, she’ll have run for the hills by now,” the sailor said with another chuckle.
“If my bride had any sense, she’d have fled her own home years ago,” Everley answered, his voice so mild. So uncaring. He was talking about Delilah like she was some stranger, someone of no worth or merit.
It made him want to shove a hand through the man’s chest and rip out his cold, useless heart.
Rupert wanted to end her miserable father’s existence while he was at it. He’d never thought well of the old man, not even as a child, and any respect he might have had for him died a quick death when the man promised his beautiful, surprisingly sweet, incredibly strong, and utterly vulnerable only daughter to this vile man.
But now, what Everley was suggesting…
Her father could not have known that Everley intended to kill her…could he?
“You’re awfully sure of your partner,” the sailor said.
“As well I should be,” Everley said. “She is highly competent.”
His head whipped to the side to meet Tolston’s hard glare.
She.
Everley had said…she.
And just like that it clicked. The only person it could be. The one woman who’d been there all along, negotiating Delilah’s wedding and the dowry that would come with it.
The woman who’d sent Delilah off on her own in a carriage bound for her ruin.
Tolston edged toward the warehouse doors at the same time he did, and when they met outside, there was no debate about what next to do.
They had to protect their women.
Lord Tumberland met them as well. “What about Everley?” he asked.
Rupert shook his head. “If our men don’t grab him tonight, we’ll chase him down eventually.”
Tolston added, “Between the shipment we saw tonight and what we heard, we have more than enough to prove that he’s a criminal. But for right now…”
Rupert was already ahead of them, his blood pounding in his ears as panic and determination and a million emotions he never knew he could experience took over.
“You go to the school,” he said to Tolston and Tumberland. “Make sure the ladies are safe.”
“Where will you go?”
“Her family home,” he said. “Just in case Everley is right and Delilah has been caught.”
Tolston froze. “You think this partner he spoke of lives at her home?”
Rupert’s jaw clenched in anger. “I know it.”
Everything in him ached to head straight to the school.
She’d be at the school. She had to be. He was just being overly cautious by keeping an eye on her stepmother.
He’d make sure the stepmother was not a threat, and then he’d go to her. He’d seek her out at the school, and when he found her there safe and sound…
Well, then he wouldn’t let her out of his arms until she promised to marry him.
15
Delilah stared at the man lying unconscious on the ground before her, her mouth bone dry with horror. “Is he…” She tried to swallow. “Is he dead?”
“Hmm?” Her stepmother looked up from the letter she was reading as that blasted clock ticked away the hour. Her gaze fell on Delilah’s guard who’d been unceremoniously attacked and felled the moment they’d entered the house.
The baroness sniffed. “Really, Delilah. I never took you to be so morbid. Of course he is not dead.”
Delilah continued to
