Page 42 of Enlightened
David stared at him, his throat clogged with emotion. “The feeling’s mutual,” he managed at last, his voice little more than a whisper. Then he pulled Murdo down, pressing their lips together in a fierce kiss.
Chapter Fourteen
They dined early, neither of them having eaten much since the day before. Murdo instructed the meal to be served in his private sitting room, which meant they could sit down in their shirtsleeves and rest their elbows on the small table, eating from each other’s plates with impunity. While they ate, David told Murdo about his visit to Elizabeth and Euan, and his subsequent interview with Mr. Carr.
Murdo frowned when he was finished. “I don’t like the thought of you being mixed up in all this again. Kinnell already bears a grudge against you, and he’s a vindictive bastard. In all likelihood, the only reason he’s left you alone since the accident is that he knows he was lucky not to be prosecuted for what he did. If he suspects you’re assisting Elizabeth, he may come after you.”
David considered that. He hadn’t pushed for a prosecution after the accident, thinking it best to leave well alone for Elizabeth’s sake. Now that he knew Kinnell was trying to track her down, David wondered if he ought to have done so. It would be unusual for an aristocrat to face punishment for assaulting a man so far beneath him, but in this case, the incident had been witnessed by dozens of other people, including, of course, Lord Murdo Balfour, another peer of the realm, whose word would carry just as much clout as Sir Alasdair Kinnell’s.
Perhaps he could make the complaint now?
Even as the thought occurred to David, he rejected it. He’d waited far too long, and even if he had not, it would be imprudent to bring his association with Murdo under scrutiny.
“Don’t worry,” he said now, touching Murdo’s wrist. “I’ll stay well away from Kinnell and leave protecting Elizabeth to Euan. All I have to do is move the administration of the trust to another solicitor, and that shouldn’t take long at all—I can make the arrangements as soon as I know where Elizabeth and Euan plan to settle. Though I may have to beg the use of your carriage again to do so.”
“Where are they thinking of going?”
“Somewhere industrial, I’d imagine, somewhere Kinnell would have little reason to go. Birmingham, perhaps, or Manchester.”
“That’ll be quite a journey,” Murdo said. “You can have the carriage, of course, but you’ll have to put up with my company if you’re going anywhere. I have no intention of letting you out of my sight anytime soon.”
“You have your own problems to resolve,” David pointed out.
“And resolve them I will,” Murdo assured him. “But I won’t make the mistake of leaving you alone. You have a tendency to run into trouble when left to your own devices. Don’t fight me on this, David.”
Murdo’s overbearing protectiveness didn’t sit well with David. He opened his mouth to protest, but before he could do so, there was a knock at the door. It was Mr. Liddle.
“There’s a gentleman asking for Mr. Lauriston,” the man said. “A Mr. MacLennan.”
“Euan?” David looked up, concerned. Why would Euan come here? “Where is he?”
“In the drawing room, sir,” Mr. Liddle said. “I should say that he seems very agitated. He was most adamant that he speak to you straight away.”
David stood up quickly, forgetting about his leg, as he occasionally did. He gave an impatient wince at the jarring pain that accompanied his precipitous action and turned to Murdo, who was also on his feet.
“Something’s wrong, isn’t it?” Murdo said.
“I can’t think why else he’d come here,” David admitted.
Euan was pacing the floor when they entered the drawing room. He turned at their entrance, and his face was a mask of grief.
“Davy,” he said, “Kinnell’s taken Lizzie. His men came for her after you left, and I wasn’t there to stop them. I don’t know what to do!”
“Christ, no,” David said, his heart plummeting.
“He’s had her for hours now and—” Euan broke off, turning away as a harsh sob tore from his chest.
David went to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll get her back,” he said firmly, forcing a note of confidence into his voice that in truth he didn’t feel.
“Why don’t you tell us what happened?” Murdo said, making Euan look up and seem to notice him for the first time. Euan stared at Murdo for a long beat and David wondered if he was remembering the last time he’d encountered the other man—the wariness and desperation in his gaze suggested he might be.
“I hardly know anything,” Euan said at last. “I came home at four o’clock, and she wasn’t there. The kitchen was in a mess—she’d been cooking. I was calling her name, looking for her. That’s when our neighbour Lily came round. She’d been waiting for me to come back for ages.” He swallowed. “Lily saw the carriage arrive. It had to be Kinnell’s; there was a crest on the door. Then she saw two men come out of the house with Lizzie between them. Servants, probably, since neither of them sounded like Kinnell. Lily said they bundled Lizzie into the carriage, and a moment later, they were gone. She was near frantic, not knowing what to do till I got back. And that’s it. That’s all I know.” His voice was raw with pain.
“I must’ve led him to you,” David said slowly. “I came to your house yesterday, and the very next day— God, Euan, I’m so sorry!” He felt sick inside at the thought that he was to blame for this. If only he’d been more careful, taken more precautions.
Euan just stared at him with an agonised expression, and David could see he’d reached the same conclusion.
“It’s not your fault, Davy. I just—I have to get her back,” Euan said. “But what the hell can I do? If Kinnell has her locked up in that house of his, I won’t be able to get anywhere near her.”