“I will be back before you know it,” Thomas said as he heard footsteps coming closer, probably James.
“I will start missing you the moment we part but I will be strong. For us.”
For us, Thomas echoed in his mind.
Now knowing that they had company, he only hugged Mary Ann and pecked her forehead before stepping away. As he walked further away, he turned, only to see her taking off the necklace. She had already replaced it with the cheap imitation.
“I love you, Mary Ann,” he called to her in a gentle voice.
“And I love you, Thomas.”
It felt odd hearing Mary Ann calling him his family name but he liked it. He smiled before walking to the corner where James was. But to his surprise, it wasn’t James, it was the stable boy.
“Your Grace,” he greeted when he must have noticed that it was impossible to hide from him.
“Mark,” he called him by name, surprising the stable boy.
“Yes, Your Grace,” he bowed. “I didn’t see anything, I promise.”
The young boy fidgeted with his eyes to the ground as Thomas stood before him.
“That will be wise of you,” Thomas responded, “carry on.”
He walked away thinking of the implication of what just happened. While he was scared of the repercussions, he didn’t have the time to overthink it like he would usually.
Where was James when he entered?
As he walked out of the stable, he met James outside holding the reins of his horse and looking quite guarded.
“What troubles you, Your Grace?” he asked seeing the frown on Thomas’ face.
He explained what had just happened to him and James apologized.
“It was Lady Rebecca. She ordered him to stay at the stable until she decided otherwise. That is his punishment for bringing her horse late when you were away. I thought he had been released. I beg for your forgiveness, Your Grace.” He bent his head in apology.
After hearing this, his anger was no longer trained at James, but at Rebecca who was treating his servants badly.
“See that you attend to Mark, I do not want word getting out.”
Thomas climbed on the horse without help and just as he commanded the horse to take a step forward, he turned to face James again.
“Tell him to go home after this and find new clothes for him, will you?” he ordered, but James looked skeptical.
“What is it?”
“Lady Rebecca,” he mentioned, “is always sending someone to check if he is here.”
“Well then, when I am back, I will put an end to this nonsense,” he almost yelled as he rode off into the darkness. “Do as I say.”
The rain had already subsided by the time he rode out of his estate. He was thankful that he was dressed for the cold that replaced it. As he thought about the mission ahead his mind went back to what happened in the stable. At first, he was infuriated about Rebecca’s domineering actions. Then he was fearful when he remembered his secret was now known by a very young boy.
Does Rebecca have servants spying around my home? Does she suspect anything?
Thomas knew it was very possible for her to suspect that he was not interested. The more time they spent together, the more he seemed distant from her. Mary Ann was all he could think about. It was easy feigning enthusiasm for a day or two but Rebecca’s nature was too overbearing
Once he arrived at the town, the sun was out, shining in its full glory. His journey through the rain had made his horse muddy and Thomas’ face pale. Bystanders gawked in a strange way as he rode slowly along the street but he held his head high.
“You will have to bear with me,” he told himself as his stomach grumbled in protest due to lack of food.
The journey to Phillip’s factory did not take more than half an hour. As he entered, the workers around cast grim looks at him. At first, he did not care. It wasn’t as if they were jovial the first time he came. But looking more keenly at them, he realized something. The look on their faces wasn’t that of exhaustion, but sadness and endurance. It was a look he had seen more often among peasants.
What could have happened to them? he asked himself but he couldn’t think of a thing past the fact that their wages might have been reduced.
He climbed down from his horse and tied it on a pole beside a pail of water for it to drink. He was amused at how the horse lapped up the water without raising its head to take a break.
“Be good now.” He patted it’s back, leaving it under the shade.
Unlike the first time he was there, he knew precisely who he was looking for. He met up with a worker; a woman bigger in size than the rest, but with delicate features. Her bright smile radiated kindness.
“May I trouble you with a question, Ma’am?” he asked, after they greeted each other.
“After what has happened here, I don’t think a question can be counted as trouble,” she teased.
Thomas wanted to ask what she meant but decided to focus on his reason for being there.
“May I know where Oliver is?” he inquired.
He noticed her previously tan face turning pale at the mention of Oliver.
“I take it back,” the woman replied sharply, “there are some questions that can be too much trouble at this point.”
Without saying anymore words, she took her leave quickly. Thomas was stunned by her reaction.
But she had been pleasant before.
He didn’t let that put him down. He walked to the next couple of workers but they all had the same reaction – leaving in a hurry without giving him any information. When he had exhausted all of his options, he decided to go to the place he had last seen Oliver.
As he got closer, he followed the smell of tobacco. He became very hopeful. His frown immediately turning into a broad grin. However, as quickly as the smile came, it disappeared and was replaced immediately by frustration on seeing that the person with the tobacco wasn’t who he was looking for.
“Good day! Sir, you are back again? What is it you are here for this time?” The old man said before going into a coughing fit.
“Oliver.” It was the only words Thomas could utter. He was scared the man would stand and leave or tell him to leave. Just as he had thought, the man rose to his feet. He moved closer to him and stared at him as if sizing him up.
“I am John.” The man introduced himself while Thomas did the same.
“You seem like a gentleman,” he spoke again in a quiet tone. “So, I am going to tell you this, but you didn’t hear this from me, right?”
Thomas nodded and didn’t say a thing afterwards. John approved of that with a smile before he began to speak.
“Last night,” his voice became even lower than before, “Oliver was at the tavern. He was quite drunk but that was usual for him. Then he started blurting out that he told a man the secret of the Egertones and unlike the others the man believed him.”
Without giving much thought about it, Thomas knew he was the man Oliver was referring to.
“What happened?” Thomas asked eagerly, glad that someone was finally telling him something.
“We all jeered at him for his twaddle causing him to leave the tavern, never to be seen again.”
“Did he die?” Thomas asked, his mind thinking of the worst possibility.
“No,” the man replied in a somewhat loud voice, but covered his mouth as soon as he realized his mistake. “He didn’t, I think.”
“Then what happened?” Thomas questioned hastily.
“When the news of his disappearance spread like wild fire, there was a rumor that he was nabbed on his way home by two hefty men in a dark alley,” he finally let out.
“If the rumor turns out to be true, I think speaking with you about the Egertones has landed old man Oliver into a big mess. People are afraid to even talk about his disappearance for the fear of something bad happening.”
“I’m…” Thomas stuttered, “I am sorry. I didn’t—”
“Of course, you di
dn’t, but it’s about time someone did something about the Egertones,” the man muttered, leaving Thomas alone with his thoughts. John took a narrow path opposite where they stood not bothering to look back to see if Thomas was also leaving. Thomas remained. He figured the man wouldn’t want anyone to know he spoke with him.
Who would have done that? he asked himself.
When he was convinced that he gave John enough head start, he started walking back to his horse.
What have I done? Could it be that Phillip did this?
Phillip had left his manor the same day Oliver was nabbed. But this wasn’t enough to make him think Phillip was capable of something so heinous.
Even if he did it, would it be wise to meet him alone?
He was in a state of dilemma. Confronting Phillip only to find out he could be dangerous, would mean Thomas might get hurt. Or worse, lose his life. He couldn’t shake the guilt off.
I have to make it up to him. I have to find out what happened. I owe it to him.
Thomas was definitely no coward. He turned his horse back to the road but instead of leaving the vicinity of the factory, he rode further inside to where Phillip’s office was.
It was a two-story building that had beautiful lamps hanging at the corners. When he climbed down from his horse, he saw a burly man staring hard at him. Regardless of this, he walked toward the building, causing the burly man to move in his direction too.
“You can’t be here right now, Mister,” he ordered as he stood in his way.
“I am here to see the His Grace, the Duke of Ruxbell,” he replied in a cordial manner, keeping his anger in check.
“His Grace is not around,” he answered curtly.
Thomas ignored him for some time. He took a moment to look toward the door to Phillip’s office. Although he didn’t believe what the burly man had said, there was nothing he could do.
“Where do you suppose he might be?” he asked calmly.
“His estate, perhaps. You need to leave here right away.”
Thomas wasn’t sure if it was his unpersuasive way of speaking or the fact that he wanted him off the property as quickly as possible. All he knew was the man was lying.
“Funny, he told me to meet him here,” Thomas smirked confidently hoping that would fool him but the man was no fool.
“This is your—”
He didn’t get to finish what he wanted to say, when he heard a loud noise from upstairs. They looked toward the office at the same time and Thomas used that opportunity to sneak through.
“Good sir!” the hefty man called after him. “Where do you think you are going?”
He caught up with him fast and held one of his hands.
“Let go of me this instant,” he ordered, but the man only scowled at him.
“Or what?” he dared.
Or this!
Thomas twisted his body in a way that made it possible for him to throw his elbow and attack the man. The attack wasn’t successful however, as the man had seen through his move. So he pushed him off before his elbow could hit his face.
“This is your final warning,” the man said again, but he wasn’t going to back down now. He couldn’t.
He was face to face with the man now.
“You don’t want to do this,” he told the man who had already taken a defensive stance. Thomas smirked and threw a punch at him. The man dodged his attempt to hit him the second time but unknowingly fell into Thomas’ trap. By blocking Thomas’ punch, he had left the lower part of his body unprotected. Thomas moved quickly and dealt blows to his stomach. Then when his hands were down, he head butted him, almost breaking his nose.
He allowed him to move away but was still prepared to attack in case there was a need.
“I need to see your employer,” Thomas snapped at the man.
“I said no!” the big man shouted back angrily.
By the time he turned to him, blood was gushing out of his nose onto his hand. He clenched his fist and moved daringly toward Thomas once again.
I really don’t want to do this, but for Oliver, I will.
When he got closer, Thomas attacked him but this time, he was wiser. He blocked most of his attacks, and was able to connect his fist to Thomas’ jaw. He groaned in pain but didn’t back down. He crouched to the ground and swept up the man’s feet with a kick. The man fell head first to the ground and couldn’t get up. Just as this was happening, another burly man appeared from the door beside the office building. It was at this point that Thomas realized something.
Two hefty men nabbed Oliver last night. I am staring at two hefty men.
Thomas waved off the idea as it could just be a coincidence.
Hefty men are not so hard to find, are they?.
“You will live to regret that,” the other man threatened.
The pain in his jaw was already becoming more excruciating by the minute but this wasn’t the time to nurse his wound. The man sped forward and wrapped his arms around Thomas’ waist. Thomas struck him with his elbows but this did not make him loosen his grip. Instead, he lifted Thomas off the ground and slammed him down. He groaned but stood to his feet one more time. His heart was beating rapidly and it made his thoughts clearer and more defined. Adrenaline had kicked in. When the man came running again, he was prepared for him. He spun away just a few inches and struck him hard with a punch. The man fell, but was already trying to get up.
Thomas didn’t wait for him to fully get up and went after him once more. He launched a series of punches to the man’s face until he was sure he would not be able to get up and fight again. Sadly, the first man was already standing when he got up from the man on the ground.
“You want to go again?” Thomas asked spitting blood from his injured jaw to the ground.
“This won’t be like the last time,” the first man he fought responded.
Thomas didn’t want to keep fighting so he decided to end it once and for all.
“Are you certain you want to go again?” Thomas asked now pulling out his sword slightly for the man to see.
The man raised his hand in surrender. Realizing that he was powerless to Thomas’ sword, the man finally allowed him to pass. Thomas refused to drop his guard.
Why does Phillip have hoodlums protecting his office?
As Thomas began to climb up the stairs, his heart began to race faster.
With each step, he drew closer to the truth.
As he neared the door, he had only one question in his mind.
Will I like what I am about to hear?
He turned the knob of the door cautiously. The last thing he wanted was to rush into a trap. When he discovered the door gave away upon touching it, he became even more wary.
I think I am expected, he thought.
Chapter 31
The inside of the office had not changed a bit from how Thomas remembered it the last time he was there. It was spacious with lots of shelves and frames on the wall. He could see large paintings on the walls also. Thomas looked around the office trying to see if could see anything odd. He was still at this when he heard a creaking sound. Even though he was sure the sound came from inside the office, there was no one there. At the far edge of the office was a large desk and a couple of chairs.
Where is he?
When he walked even further inside, he saw what had caused the previous loud noise he heard when he was outside of the office. Two big boxes laid on the ground broken. It was as if they had been pushed from the top of one of the shelves. Inside the boxes were documents. Out of curiosity, he bent to pick up one when suddenly he heard the creaking again. Thomas at first thought it was the door but when he looked at it, the door didn’t look is if it had moved.
Are the men coning after me again? he questioned inwardly.
Even with the sound, he kept looking through the documents he was holding. It was then that he heard the sound again. He stood by a door he hadn’t noticed when looking around the first time. He had initially thought it was part of the w
all, but unknown to him, it was a doorway that led to another room. He walked closer to the door when suddenly, it opened from inside. Thomas was able to swing away to avoid the door from hitting him. While he was able to escape the door, Phillip came crashing in him with a few documents in his hand.
“Oh dear!” he exclaimed. “You are such—”
“Phillip,” Thomas called, interrupting him.
Phillip, who had been frantically trying to get the documents back to his arms looked up, startled by the voice that he heard.
A Fiery Duchess for the Dashing Duke: A Steamy Historical Regency Romance Novel Page 24