“A pity.”
Willow gave her sister’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “I won’t let it come to that. But it might be best if you put some distance between you and the city.”
A lot of distance.
“The marquis has agreed to escort me to one of his properties in—”
Willow held up her hand, stopping Holly midsentence. “Do not tell me where you are going. I don’t want to take the chance of spilling your whereabouts, however unintentional.” She glanced at Warton, considering him a moment.
He was a man of passionate temper, but a gentleman of honor. They made quite the pair, these two. Almost like pork and apples, an odd combination, but somehow the flavors worked. “What of your servants? Are they aware of your destination?”
“I assure you, madam,” Warton drawled, “my servants do not gossip.”
How utterly male of him to assume that.
“Servants gossip among each other, if nothing else,” Willow pointed out. “And you’ve given yours the night off in the wake of a huge scandal. They may not realize the significance, but others may draw suspicion from that.”
“Point taken,” Warton grumbled.
Willow suppressed a smile. She wondered what could have driven Warton to help Holly. It wasn’t precisely in line with his reputation or character. The man was a well-known grump. By all accounts, the marquis ought to have dragged Holly back to their father and washed his hands of her, not dive straight into the hornet’s nest.
Was there something more to it than simply help? He was difficult to read, but she noticed how he always seemed to keep his eyes on Holly. That, if nothing else, would likely keep her out of trouble.
And Willow trusted Warton.
“We shall be careful to remain undetected,” Holly reassured.
Willow nodded. “Stop only where you are confident no one will recognize you. For the time being, the duke doesn’t suspect you have a protector. That gives you an advantage, Holly, so use it wisely. I will do what I can from here, but we must think of an alternative plan in case I fail to convince the duke to let the matter go.”
“No one will catch us off guard,” Warton griped.
“Thank you.” Willow knew she needed to assure him that they were all grateful for his aiding Holly. “I owe you a great debt for aiding my sister.”
He grunted. “The duke will not get his hands on her.”
Willow turned to her sister, one brow arched. She said with her eyes what she could not speak out loud with Warton within earshot:Now is not the time to fall in love with this man.
Holly shrugged noncommittally and Willow fought the urge to huff out in frustration. She adored her sister, but Holly was too quick to fall head over heels.
“How will you appeal to St. Ives to accept an olive branch?”
“I have no clue, but I shall figure something out. The man is as stubborn as an ox, intent on dictating the lives of others. It shall give me great pleasure to bring him down a notch or two.”
“He has not hurt you?”
Willow heard the fear in Holly’s tone, but she truly didn’t think that her husband was that kind of man. He would’ve shown those colors already if he was. Instead, he’d threatened to deny her pleasure. Intolerable behavior, certainly, but she felt that his “rules” and “boundaries” were the worst of it.
“No, dear, I do not believe he shall. He seeks only to control me, and I daresay, should he discover me gone, it will give him quite the fit! But that’s the most of it.”
“You are so terrible, Willow,” Holly said with a smile. “Best hope he does not realize you are gone.”
“It might do him some good to discover his wife is in possession of a fine backbone.”
“I cannot express enough how sorry I am,” Holly murmured.
“Stop apologizing,” Willow demanded. She glanced at Warton. “I came to see if you were all right, and I am pleased to find you have chanced upon a champion of sorts, however shocking.”
Warton lifted one dark brow.
