she whispered, wishing she would never have to find out.
His gaze rose and met hers, making it more real. “It was dark and I was too far away,” he forced out through gritted teeth. “I heard…their voices, the way they spoke, but I…I only saw once I reached the carriage, lying overturned by the side of the road.” He swallowed hard. “When they saw me, the men fled, still laughing and cheering each other on.” His jaw looked ready to break in half. “Daphne’s father was dead, a shot to the head. Her mother…” He paused, and his gaze narrowed as he contemplated whether or not to go on.
Caroline squeezed his hands, her fingers all but digging into his flesh, then nodded her head in acquiescence.
He exhaled a deep breath. Then his fists opened and he turned his arms in her hands before his own grasped a hold of her wrists as well, holding on to her as much as she was holding on to him. “She’d fought them,” he continued, the muscles in his jaw clenched to the point of breaking, “and they’d beaten her. Her dress was torn and almost ripped off her. She was barely alive.”
Caroline felt sickened to her stomach, remembering her own close encounter with less than honorable men. What would have happened if he hadn’t come? She didn’t want to think about it. “And Daphne?” she asked through a curtain of tears.
Lord Markham swallowed. “I never saw her. I think after the carriage went off the road, her mother told her to run…and she did.” A proud, yet painful smile teased his lips. “Good girl.”
“Then how did you find her?” Caroline asked, sensing that the story was not finished.
“Her mother begged me to look for her,” he told her, the helplessness he’d felt in that moment visible in his eyes. “She’d known she wouldn’t…” He drew in a deep breath. “She wanted me to find her and protect her. She made me promise. Then she…” His hands tightened on her wrists, pulling her closer. “It took me hours but, eventually, I found her cowering in the woods. She was in shock, staring into nothing. She didn’t speak for weeks, barely ate. More than once, I thought she wouldn’t make it.”
“But she did,” Caroline reminded him, her gaze holding on to his.
Lord Markham nodded. “Yes, she did. She’s strong. She always has been. She does not freeze in fear. She acts. She does what she needs to do in order to survive, in order to protect herself.” Tears lingered in his eyes. “She shouldn’t have to.”
Caroline nodded, horrified at the thought of what this little girl had endured. “And you never knew who they were?” she asked when a sudden desire for revenge sparked in her own veins.
He scoffed, a dark, twisted snarl. “They wore masks,” he spat. “The cowards wore masks! Only their speech suggested…”
Slowly, all the puzzle pieces fell into place and, in front of her, Caroline did not see two men different as night and day, but one man trying to live a life that had taken a horrible turn.
Those that don’t deserve what they possess.
Finally, Caroline understood, understood his anger, his need for revenge, his need to punish, to put fear into the hearts of those who thought they were above the law, who thought they were better somehow, who inflicted pain without regret. Indeed, he had never harmed an innocent. Instead, he’d looked out for her on her foolish endeavors into the darkened streets of London. Always had he been there, watching over her, as he’d been watching over Daphne.
He’d become her father, and Caroline couldn’t be more proud of the man he was.
Her hands slid from his wrists as she all but drifted into his arms, wanting nothing more than to feel him close and for him to know that he was not alone. That she was here. That she understood. Nothing could be changed by words spoken now. The past was the past, and all they could do was find a way to live with it.
And yet, it lingered.
Not only in Daphne’s nightmares, but out in the world. For the men who’d robbed that little girl of her family had never been caught, never been punished. Without thought for what they’d done, they had gone on with their lives. Had perhaps married and become fathers themselves. It was a thought that turned her stomach, and she sank deeper into his arms, her hands reaching up and slipping into