Chapter 26

"Ihave the horse ready for us," William told Violet with seriousness lacing her tone. "Are you ready? Think the sooner we leave, the better."

Nerves flashed across Violet"s face, but she steadied herself as quickly as she could and nodded. "I am ready. This is something we need to do."

William helped her climb on to the horse, before he got on himself. There was a bubble of anxiety in him too because he had no idea how this was going to go, but he would not let it show.

He was going to be strong, for his wife"s sake.

They started the ride, leaving London and heading up north. William had a vague idea of where Paul might be hiding out, but he did not know how accurate that information was going to be. Time had passed and there was a chance that Paul might have taken off once more.

But he was going to try.

He had to, for the sake of his wife. But also, for his future as well. He had never done anything to attract the attention of criminals, and that was the way he wanted it to stay.

It was far too complicated to live easily with the underground nipping at his heels. William did not want that anymore either.

But as his wife clung to him, with her arms wrapped tightly around him so she did not tumble backwards off the horse, it was hard for William to focus on anything other than the sensation of Violet holding him.

He had been happy to tease her and to toy with her emotions before they got married, but he could not deny that everything seemed different now. It was as if she held all the power, and she was the one playing with him.

That was something he did not know how to handle.

Once all this mess with Paul had been sorted out – and William was confident that it would be eventually – then he would try to see how their marriage would go moving forwards.

Whether it would continue to be a marriage of convenience, or something very different, time would only tell…

* * *

It did not seem to be very long before darkness began to shroud them. William found this incredibly frustrating because he wanted to get much nearer to Paul"s potential location before they stopped.

But he knew he could not make Violet travel for longer than he had to. She was likely hungry and in need of sleep.

"This inn looks perfectly fine for this evening," he said decisively as he took his horse to the stables. "I am sure they will have rooms for the night."

It was only when he climbed off the steed that he noticed just how weary his poor wife looked. This whole mess had to really be taking it out of her.

That only made William want to get this finished sooner rather than later, so she could relax once more and get back to real life.

Inside the inn, William quickly located the proprietor to sort himself and Violet a room for the night. The place was busy, with rowdy patrons as far as the eye could see, which made it very hard to hear what the gentleman was saying.

It made it even more challenging for William to keep an eye on Violet in the chaos. He hated it when he lost sight of her, it gave him a strange panicking feeling in his chest.

"…that will be five silver coins for the night," the proprietor declared a little louder now, grabbing William"s attention once more.

"Ah yes, of course." William paid in a hurry. "Here."

The proprietor handed him the key. "Room four."

William was still distracted, even as he took the key. A group of roughneck men celebrating something or another, had stepped in the way of Violet so he could not see her.

He pushed his way through the crowds, trying his hardest not to cause a fight. That was the last thing he needed tonight…

Oh no.

The moment his eyes fell on Violet, his heart stopped beating. The worst had happened. One of the patrons in the bar had cornered her and was clearly trying to flirt with her in a very pushy manner.

Poor Violet was very clearly not used to this kind of environment, so she had no idea how to handle it. The panic plastered across her face riled William up and angered him to a new level.

No longer worrying about avoiding a fight, he stormed forwards and grabbed hold of the man"s shoulders to shove him out the way.

The stranger stumbled backward, caught off guard by William"s sudden intervention. He quickly regained his balance, shooting a glare at William.

"Hey, buddy, mind your own business!" the patron retorted, his tone defensive. Violet took a step back, her eyes wide with surprise and gratitude.

William"s jaw clenched as he stood his ground, a defiant glint in his eyes. "She is clearly not interested. Back off."

The stranger smirked, sizing up William. "Who do you think you are, her knight in shining armor? She can speak for herself, you know."

William narrowed his eyes at the man. "She is my wife."

After a brief moment of shock, the man smirked. "Why on earth have you brought your pretty little wife in to a place like this? You are asking for trouble. Look at her."

William knew that this could get ugly. Really ugly. If he allowed things to get out of hand, then there was a chance that Violet could get injured in the process.

So instead of reacting, he grabbed Violet"s hand and let her away from the jeering man to the stairs so they could escape the crowds to go to their room.

An unbearable tension clung to the air, William was terribly annoyed, and he could not take it out on the one person he needed to.

"You should never have come, Violet, I told you that."

"I already told you why I came, William. Because this is my brother. Whatever Paul has done, I still care about him…"

"Well, all you are doing is slowing me down, which is what I was worried about in the first place," William snapped, his anger now getting the better of him. "If I cannot keep you safe in a bar, then how am I supposed to protect you if we find ourselves in real danger? This is ridiculous."

Violet staggered backwards as if she had been hit.

She seemed shocked by his words, which William did not understand. Did she not see how much trouble she almost got herself in to in the bar?

"I do not need you to protect me all the time, if that is what you are worried about," she shot back coldly. "I can look after myself. I could have handled that gentleman in the bar all by myself."

"Well it did not look like it where I was standing."

William was burned by the glare Violet shot him. "I am the one who decided to come with you, so if anything happens to me, it is on me. I want to help my brother, and if that puts me in danger, then that is on me."

"Oh, and I am just supposed to accept that, am I?" William scoffed. Surely she knew that her words were silly. "I am not supposed to have any feelings on the matter?"

"Why would you have feelings?" Violet threw her hands in the air in frustration. "You have made it very clear that I am just in the way."

"Oh, there is no need to be facetious."

William shook his head at Violet, which only seemed to annoy her further.

"I am merely repeating what you have said, William." Violet rested her hands defiantly on her hips. "You have said that I am in the way and slowing you down, so I am reminding you that there is no need to care."

"I cannot stop caring," William yelled, fire in his eyes. It truly did seem like she was not understanding him on purpose. He could not be clearer if he tried. "That is absolutely ridiculous, Violet. You know I cannot stop caring."

"Why not? If I am merely an annoyance to you?"

An annoyance?

That was too much for William.

He could not stand this any longer.

"It is not because of that, Violet. I cannot stop caring because I care about you. I cannot help but care about you. I want to protect you, and it is not the easiest thing to do while we are out here. I will do whatever it takes to protect you, you know that."

Whatever Violet"s retort back was going to be, it seemed to fall apart on her lips as she stared at him in shock.

William may have said too much there.

He might have just complicated things even more.