Your Darkest Dream (Blackwood & Friends #2)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

It had been simple enough for Nate to deduce that Blanche was in trouble the moment he spied the Northwick carriage bearing the family's crest of arms on the side heading in another direction than the one it was supposed to be going- the direction that would take her to her family's residence on Grosvenor Street in Mayfair. He had been observing its progress since he had bid her goodnight on the steps of Lady Carrington's townhouse a short distance away on Bruton Street, hence his unease once the vehicle began to list in a direction that was not favoured when heading towards the Blackwood's from this particular location.

Simply going in another direction shouldn't strike him as odd, but Nate felt unsettled as he watched the carriage disappear down the street it had turned into from the steps of Lady Carrington's. It took him all but several minutes to acquire a private hackney and instead of taking off towards his club, where he had intended to go after bidding his betrothed a goodnight just moments before, Nate had ordered the driver to continue in the direction of the other vehicle.

If Nate hadn't recently encountered Rawdon at his club the evening prior, he may not have come to the conclusion as easily as he had that somehow the earl was involved in the unsuspecting act of merely taking another route to her residence, but there was a twisting sensation in his gut that made him react and surmise otherwise. Besides, if he were wrong, there wouldn't be any harm done on his account at simply following the carriage and should it return to the Blackwood's residence nobody would be the wiser and he would be assured that Blanche was safe.

However, the time that it took Nate to hail a hack ensured that he soon lost the other carriage. He instructed the driver to take him to Rothford House, Berkeley Square being the direction that the carriage had been heading and Nate's first inclination was to check there. When he saw the Northwick carriage waiting outside the townhouse in foreboding silence, his worst fears came to the fore with a fury that almost rendered him stricken.

The minutes he had lost in search for a hack could have cost him precious time, the probabilities and thoughts filling him with a terror so consuming he felt his blood rush and pound furiously for it as he practically crashed through the front door of the townhouse. The lock hung off the splintered frame and he stood on the threshold for a moment, listening intently, before he yelled out her name. "Blanche!"

There were sounds from upstairs, scuffling and the barest scrape of furniture, and then he bolted, moving swiftly as his legs ate the stairs two or three at a time. Every part of his body was thrumming with desperation to reach her, to protect and gain her safety. When he heard her yell, his blood almost froze, and the thought of harm befalling her was so unthinkable he couldn't imagine what he would do if he found anything had happened to her as he stepped into the first open door he could see, entering a large parlour room. Even through the veil of darkness shrouding the chamber, Nate could tell that the connecting door to the adjoining room was badly damaged, the wood splintered and jagged in places where a substantial force had met with it. The sight wracked him with a sensation of horror and terror, spurring him forward and into the adjacent parlour.

Rawdon was snarling and cursing foully with his rage while he stood near the windows. Through the shadows it was easier than he realised to see her- sprawled on her hands and knees on the floor, her hair a wild dark mane that had loosened in whatever foray had ensued here. There was evidence of a tussle, and the fact that Blanche was still alive and hopefully unharmed gave him hope and such an overwhelming sense of relief his legs almost gave in for it. But she was still in danger, Rawdon's threat was palpable as the hateful rage emanated from him as he advanced on the woman at his feet. Nate knew he needed to draw Rawdon's attention away from Blanche, to allow her an opportunity to escape and get out of the townhouse.