DUTY BEFORE DESIRE by Elizabeth Boyce

Author:Elizabeth Boyce [Boyce, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Adams Media
Published: 2015-12-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

When Sheri arrived at Delafield House the following day, it was with a much different mindset than he’d had just the day prior, a call he’d approached with the grim determination of a general rallying the troops to battle. Having to beg Lothgard to attend what was supposed to be a ladies’ tea had been an excruciating exercise in the art of groveling, but his inability to see Arcadia for three days had been alarming, given the circumstances. Already, he knew the Delafields capable of turning a woman out into the streets; what might they do to their niece?

Learning that Arcadia had been punished, sent to her room like a recalcitrant child, made Sheri want to punch a wall. Witnessing Arcadia, whom he well knew to be impertinent and a bit saucy, shrink into herself and even lie to protect her detestable aunt was an outrage. His engagement to Arcadia Parks might be a farce, but that didn’t mean he would allow her to be mistreated, either.

His impulse had been to throw Lady Delafield into a closet, lock the door, and throw away the key. See how the harridan liked a bit of her own treatment. Then he’d run Delafield to ground and make him answer for the sins that had been committed against the women in his household. Mostly, he wanted to spirit Arcadia away to safety as he had Poorvaja.

Over the course of their visit, Sheri had beheld aspects of Arcadia he’d not yet seen. There’d been a vulnerable sweetness there; her voice had trembled when she thanked Deborah for the care Poorvaja had received. And her eyes had been filled with hope when she’d asked Deborah to be her friend, as though she desperately wanted it to be true, and he’d silently seconded his sister-in-law’s claim that Miss Parks was the dearest thing in the world—at least in that moment. He had no doubt she could turn biting on him again in an instant.

But wasn’t that kind of unpredictability exactly what he enjoyed in a woman?

Lord and Lady Delafield were nowhere to be seen when Sheri was shown into the now-familiar parlor. In short order, Arcadia and Poorvaja made their appearance. He helped them into his coach.

“Where are you taking us?” Poorvaja demanded hotly as the coach started forward.

He regarded her with amusement. Sheri might have come to her rescue in her hour of need and persuaded her to share confidences with him, but Poorvaja’s instinct to protect Arcadia rested for no man, not even erstwhile heroes. “I’m abducting you to my lair of villainy,” he drawled in reply.

The ayah leveled a gaze on him. He met it. Held it. At last the woman lowered her eyes and muttered something in an unfamiliar language.

Arcadia made a sound in her throat and replied in the same Indian dialect. If Arcadia Parks’s English sounded like she was about to sing, this was her voice in full melody. He had no idea what the woman said as she directed

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