They looked up to find the Duke of Lorchester standing in the doorway, his sharp features twisted into a dark smile as he surveyed all of them as if they were the dirt beneath his boots.
The Marquess shared a slight resemblance to him, although the son had softer features, and none of the evil that seeped from his father’s very pores.
Years of debauchery had given him a slight paunch and although his clothes were of fine quality, there were signs of wear that indicated they were quite old. His beard, though neatly trimmed, could not hide the cruel smile that graced his cold lips.
Smithson gave them all an oily smile as he stepped back to make way for the Duke of Lorchester.
“You have given us quite a headache with your meddling, young man,” he chuckled. “But all that comes to an end right now.”
He took his hand out from behind his back and waved some papers in front of them. “I wanted my disappointment of a son to marry the Lady without a fuss but since you decided to step in, we could only do it this way.”
He turned to Claire and grinned at her. “See here? I have managed to hire the talents of a very gifted young man who specializes in making quite believable replicas of official documents.”
Claire looked at him in horror as realization dawned on her.
“That is right,” the evil duke continued. “Since you refused to marry my son in an amicable manner, we have decided to take a rather…highhandedapproach to things and forged the marriage documents. Now, if you will just kindly sign it, then we can all get on with our merry lives as if this never happened.”
Claire glared at him. “Since Your Grace has already managed to forge the documents, why not forge my signature on them as well?”
“Your father was very careful in making sure that your inheritance stayed safe,” the duke said angrily. “We could not find a copy of it and as you can see, we have turned your house upside down!”
Her heart pounding in her chest, Claire realized that she never really signed anything of consequence before. The loving letters she wrote to her father were endearingly signed with the nicknames he had given her through childhood.
“Your darling bunny.”
“Your sunbeam.”
She wanted to laugh at it but found she was unable to do so due to their predicament. Instead, she could only be thankful that her father and her own mischievousness had kept the Duke of Lorchester from fully carrying out his devious plans.
But how were they ever going to get out this alive?
“Your Grace,” he turned to Oliver, “your fate has always been death, ever since you meddled with our plans. However, I am not an unreasonable man so I will give you a choice.”
He walked towards the Oliver, who glared at him with deep-seated hatred, as if by his looks alone, he could murder the older man.
“You are the man in charge of your family so I shall leave it up to you to decide,” he said silkily. “If you and Lady Claire sign these papers, handing over her inheritance to my son, the rest of the ladies can live. Or,” he paused and grinned evilly at Claire, “I can go ahead and forge the signature, as you so brilliantly suggested, and claim that you married my son in secret. After you are found dead, your inheritance passes to him anyway.”
He took out his pocket watch and flipped the tarnished cover over. “You have precisely one hour to decide.”
Chuckling, both the Duke of Lorchester and Smithson left the room.
“What are we going to do?” Lady Suzanna gasped. “We cannot just let him murder Oliver or Claire!”
“That man is pure evil!” Trixie added in angrily. “He deserves to die a thousand deaths! Oh, I wish we had never met him and his kind!”
Oliver paused as the fretful voices filtered through his consciousness. From what the Duke had promised them, either way, he was going to die. His only choice was whether he was going to take the rest of his family with him.
It seemed that the Duke and his “trusted” steward had things all planned out from the very beginning.
But if so…why do they still need to kidnap Artemus and keep him locked up here? What’s the point?
He turned his eyes to the unconscious Marquess. He had to find out the truth and get to the bottom of this.
If not, he could at least die assured that the morally gray nobleman was going to protect Claire, Suzanna, and Trixie for the rest of his sorry existence.
The answers all lay with Artemus.
He had to wake up!
