Page 111 of Stolen By the Heartless Duke

Colin nodded. “It wasn’t the money.”

“What then?”

“He humiliated Strachan in front of everyone,” Colin said as he looked down at his hands again. “Strachan had smiled after the game… But for several weeks afterward…” Colin hesitated. “Evan became different. He watched everyone.” He rubbed unconsciously at the rope burns around his wrists. “He changed our meeting places repeatedly. He insisted we never arrive together. He stopped walking alone.”

Jane remembered the manager’s words. Paranoid. Looking over his shoulder. The pieces slid together.

“He knew someone was following him.”

Colin nodded. Then Colin reached weakly into the torn lining of his coat. “I kept it.”

His fingers produced a folded scrap of paper, worn soft from repeated handling. “I read it every day.”

Jane accepted it gently. The handwriting was unfamiliar.

Foxglove,

Do not come to our next meeting. I’m going to disappear for a while. Strachan is watching too closely. Once he grows bored, I’ll come back. Don’t look for me. Don’t write. Live as though you despise me. Trust me.

No signature.

Jane looked up. “He was trying to protect you.”

Colin nodded. “I obeyed. I never answered. I never searched. I didn’t tell his brother. I thought if I did exactly as he asked… He’d be safe.”

“Then Strachan’s men came to your engagement party… You saw what happened. They took me away. Beat me up, and demanded to know where Evan was. I never spoke a word. You understand now that the kidnapping was so public because Strachan wanted Evan to know that he’d captured me.”

Hector’s voice was quiet. “He used you as bait.”

“Yes.” Colin shut his eyes. “He believed Evan would come for me.”

Jane looked toward the duke. His face had become unreadable. Only the tightness around his eyes betrayed what he was feeling.

Colin looked at him. “I’m sorry, Your Grace. I kept him from you.”

“You’ve nothing to apologize for,” Hector responded. “You were protecting him.”

Another silence fell. Colin looked from Jane to the duke. Emotion filled his exhausted eyes. Colin swallowed hard. “Thank you. For believing me, for saving me.”

Jane brushed away another tear from his cheek. “We’re family.”

His lips trembled. Then his expression changed. Fear returned. A deeper fear than before.

“Evan…” Colin looked desperately at the duke. “Strachan is still searching for him.”

Hector gave one grim nod. “We have to find him first.”

Jane exchanged a determined look with Hector. Their search wasn’t over. It had suddenly become far more urgent.

Jane had barely dared to breathe since they had pulled Colin from that chair.

Even now, with him seated on the ground of the abandoned warehouse, alive, but still trembling and half-conscious, she felt as though any sudden sound might shatter the moment.

Dust clung to the air, disturbed by their movement.

Colin finally seemed steady enough to stand. His breathing was still shallow, but now Jane suspected it was from his confession. She had so many more questions for him, as she suspected Hector did.

Jane kept one hand on his arm, grounding him as if he might dissolve if she let go. Hector stood a short distance away. Jane glanced at him, wondering what was in his head.