A Lord Loves Again by McColl Charity

Author:McColl, Charity
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PureRead
Published: 2019-04-27T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

“You again,” Doris blurted as soon as the studio door opened and Victor walked in.

“Aren’t you pleased to see me?” He moved further into the room and started looking around. “Do you always have these window open even as you’re working?”

“What’s with all the questions?” Doris didn’t want the person who had sent the note to see Victor in her premises. She was sure that she was being watched and it gave her a very uneasy feeling. Whoever it was must have seen the posh carriage pulling up and watched as Victor walked down the small path and into the studio. “This is a studio where I work and display my work so there has to be a lot of natural lighting.”

“Your studio is on a very busy street, shouldn’t you keep the door locked unless you know your clients well? This is London just after the Napoleonic Wars and there are a lot of unemployed soldiers and other vagabonds who can so easily take advantage of a woman alone.”

“I’ve been here for the past two years and never had any trouble with anyone. If I start locking my clients out then I would soon starve.”

“I didn’t say that you should lock them out, just that you ought to be careful about who comes in here while you’re alone.”

Doris frowned, wondering why Victor was acting all protective all of a sudden. “Why the sudden interest in the way I live and conduct my business?”

Victor realised that Doris wasn’t one of those women who could be kept from the truth, and besides, it was her life in danger so she had to know. “Just this morning, I received a note,” he took it out of his pocket and held it out.

Doris read the note and froze for a moment, turning as white as a sheet and Victor got concerned.

“What’s happened, Doris?”

She turned around and went to her work table and returned with the small box and note. “This was left on my doorstep this morning. I was just thinking about what to do with it when you came in.”

Victor was horrified. It was worse than he expected. Someone who could send such a gruesome gift wasn’t mentally stable. The handwriting was the same on both notes.

“That does it,” he said. “You’re coming home with me.”

“Why?”

“Someone is out to get you, Doris. You need to come and stay on the estate where it’s safe until we get to the bottom of this. Otherwise you could be badly harmed.”

Doris felt a sense of relief even though she didn’t want to let Victor know that she had been thinking about where to run to and hide. “What happens to my studio and the paintings that I’ve done for clients?”

“There’s plenty of room at home and one of my men could deliver the paintings to the owners as they are done.”

“That means I’ll miss out on new commissions.”

“Your being alive is much more important than commissions. Dead artists can’t paint. Besides, once we find out who is behind all these threats then you can return.

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