Page 45 of A Lady’s Rules for Seaside Romance (The Harp & Thistle #3)

A nne’s blood ran cold upon hearing that name.

Mr. Felton Ashby had run away to elope with her daughter? The thirty-two-year-old man who had spent months wooing Anne ? He had run away with her seventeen-year-old daughter?

Anne lifted her head to look up at Victor. He stared down at her with his piercing, green gaze, doing his best to keep his face level, but he never could cover up the emotion in his eyes. He was furious . And she was oddly comforted by the fact that his anger mirrored hers.

She rested her head upon him again and closed her eyes.

It had hit her that she had gone to Victor for comfort.

She’d felt so lost, so distraught, so confused upon reading Mary’s note that she’d immediately gone to him because she’d had to.

And she hadn’t even thought about it, either.

It had been her natural reaction to seek him out.

All she wanted right now was Victor to hold her as she worried herself sick over her daughter.

And he did, even after the row they’d just had.

He was her support, her rock, her comfort. He had even offered his solace to Freddy, who needed it just as badly as Anne.

Warmth sprung within her heart and she choked on another sob.

Anne took several deep, shaky breaths, then wiped at her eyes. Mary, her baby, had run away to get married in Gretna Green to elope with a horrible man! She could only imagine what his motive was. Prestige? Money? Perhaps Mary’s very young age?

Anne pulled away from Victor with a bit of regret and turned to Mrs. Ashby, finally regaining the ability to talk. “What do you mean, my daughter ran away with your eldest son?”

Mrs. Ashby began wringing her hands as everyone watched and waited for her response. “Don’t ask me. I had no idea! I thought she and Lucas liked each other. I had no idea Felton had designs on her. He never said a word to me about it!”

“But—”

A large, warm hand gently rested on her shoulder. Victor. “What time did you discover Ashby was missing?” Victor asked.

Mrs. Ashby swallowed. “This morning. He also left a note. I immediately came here.”

“Did you have any idea he would do something like this?”

“No.” She paused and shook her head. “No, Felton is the responsible one. I have no idea what got into him. A seventeen-year-old? Even if the daughter of a marquess… It isn’t unheard of, but… Well, I’m quite surprised, to say the least.”

Anne’s thoughts were a jumble. She couldn’t allow this to happen. “I need to stop it from happening,” Anne said with finality. But she felt frozen in place. She looked up at Victor again and could feel how colorless she probably looked. Her heart was racing with fear and she was so confused.

Victor stiffened and looked around the room. “Mrs. Ashby, return home in case your son or Lady Mary returns. Send word if they do.”

“I will,” Mrs. Ashby replied with a nod.

“Dantes,” Victor turned to his younger brother. “I need your help finding out the quickest way to get to Gretna Green from Brighton.”

“On it.” Dantes hurried off.

“Ollie.” Victor turned to Ollie. And he paused.

Ollie, the youngest of the McNab brothers, and the most carefree of them all.

Their stark difference in personalities had always put tension between them.

But Ollie had grown up, hadn’t he? Victor could rely on Ollie for this.

“I need you to visit the hotels in Brighton and make sure they aren’t holed up in one of them. If they are, drag them back here.”

“You want me to do that?” Ollie asked, surprise ringing clear in his voice.

Victor narrowed his eyes. “Unless you can’t handle it?”

Ollie grinned widely and kissed Evelyn on the cheek. “I’ll be back right quick,” he said to her before dashing out the front door.

Victor looked down at Anne. “Dantes will be able to tell you which trains will get you to Gretna Green quickest. Hopefully, you will get there before Mary does something idiotic.”

Anne frowned. “You’re coming with me, aren’t you?”

“I—” Victor wasn’t even sure what to say. Go with her?

“Please.” Anne lowered her voice as Freddy looked between the two of them. “I need you to come with me. I can’t do this without you.”

He frowned. “But—”

She placed a hand on his forearm. “I need you, Victor.”

He swallowed but nodded.

She gave him a brief flash of a smile before turning to her son. “Freddy, I need you to stay here with your grandfather in case your sister returns. And then you’re both to nail her windows closed and lock her in her room.”

The duke came up to the young man and gave him a brief squeeze on his shoulder, while giving Anne a reassuring nod. Freddy chuckled as he wiped the back of his hand over his eyes. “We can do that.”

Anne then finally turned to Miss Stewart, who rushed forward with more tear-filled apologies.

Anne put up a halting hand. “Miss Stewart, please, I would not expect you to have known my daughter had snuck out of the house in the middle of the night. Could you please find Dutton and let her know she and I are to leave posthaste? And why?”

Miss Stewart wrung her hands as she visibly shook.

“Dutton went into town, remember? Lady Mary had a bee in her bonnet yesterday about some boots she had seen in a window. And as Dutton already had errands to run for you this week, she offered to go this morning to see if they had the boots in her size.”

Anne sighed. “She thought of everything to delay me, didn’t she? No matter. I can throw together a bag and travel just fine without her help.” Anne was just about to suggest the governess join her when she began having a fit.

“Oh, Lady Litchfield, I wish I could have predicted this! There must have been signs she was planning this behind our backs! How could I not have seen? How could I have missed it?” She looked as if she were about to let out a wail but instead turned quite pale and crumpled to the floor.

The Duke of Chalworth immediately ambled over to her and put two fingers to her neck, checking for a pulse. “She’s not dead,” he proclaimed after a moment.

“Of course she’s not dead—she fainted!” Vivian set her fists on her hips.

As father and daughter went back and forth, Anne began to think of more important matters.

It was sheer luck that they only had to switch trains once in London.

From Brighton, they managed to make the express train to London, and from London, they only had to wait about half an hour for their next train on the London & Northwestern Railway, which took them all the way up past the Scottish border, past the city of Carlisle, and to their final destination: Gretna Junction.

They were expected to be at their destination three hours from now.

It was an entire day of travel on train, and Anne hated travel.

But the trip so far had been a hazy blur.

She didn’t talk much to Victor, and he seemed to sense she had nothing to say and didn’t interact with her more than required.

He was present. And it was everything she needed in the moment.

But she had now had hours to take in the news that Mary had run away with Mr. Ashby. No one knew what time they’d left. They could already be married by now.

“What did I miss?” Anne finally asked, her eyes still out the window, though she didn’t see the lush countryside.

“Sorry, I don’t know what you mean,” Victor said after a moment.

Anne looked over to him and she was surprised at how disheveled he looked.

“Why am I so surprised she did this? Does that mean I don’t know her, don’t know my own daughter?

I mean, this isn’t a small mistake. This is life-altering.

Elopement is an enormous humiliation to bring upon one’s family.

And with Mr. Ashby, of all people! What does he want from a seventeen-year-old? ”

Victor clenched his jaw and looked at his lap.

“Don’t answer that.” Anne rubbed the bridge of her nose. “But it still makes no sense. I thought he was pursuing me.” She stilled. “Do you think that was a ruse?”

Victor looked up. “You think Ashby used you to get close to Mary?” He looked off to the side. “I suppose that could be possible. It would explain a lot. It could also be he’s a fortune hunter and didn’t much care which one of you went off with him.”

Anne frowned at this thought. With a sigh, she asked, “Am I that terrible of a mother?”

Victor frowned deeply at this. “Absolutely not.”

“Then what did I do that made her into a young lady who would do something this idiotic?” Anne, feeling despair rising again, looked at the empty seat across from them.

It was just the two of them in the private compartment.

And she was only now realizing Victor had chosen to sit beside her, not across from her. She swallowed.

“I don’t know. Maybe you did something. Maybe you didn’t do something. Mary has always been spirited.”

There was a heavy pause that made Anne think Victor was going to say more but had stopped himself. She looked up at him and his jaw was tense again. “What is it?”

But he shook his head.

She turned her body to face him better. “I need to know whatever is on your mind. Please .”

“I don’t think my opinion much matters. And I worry it will upset you, which I do not want to do.”

But Anne was desperate to know. She placed a hand on his upper arm. “Tell me.”

He glanced down at her hand quickly. “I think you’ve been so worried about Freddy taking after his father that it didn’t occur to you that Mary could be the one to do that.”