The Prince of Spies (Hope and Glory #3) - Elizabeth Camden Page 0,113

isn’t happy about it. And Marianne, the catalyst of the entire scandal, is nowhere to be seen. I’d guess she was sent back to Baltimore.”

Luke doubted it. Ever since the incident with Bandit, Marianne despised her brother. That made him worry something else had happened to her, and he’d already squandered the past three days looking for her. He wouldn’t waste any more.

He needed to go confront the lion in his den.

Luke waited across the street from the Magruder town house until Clyde returned well after dark. He watched Clyde pay the cabbie, then head up the stairs into his house.

Clyde wasn’t going to welcome this visit, and Luke prayed for wisdom and patience as he mounted the steps. The first floor was fully illuminated, and masculine voices came from inside. Luke adjusted his collar, dragged his fingers through his hair, and braced himself before knocking on the door.

Footsteps sounded, and Clyde soon opened the door. His eyes narrowed. “What do you want?” Hostility crackled in his voice.

Luke held up his hands, palms forward in a placating gesture. “I’ve come to inquire after Marianne. I’m worried about her.”

“You can’t see her,” Clyde said. “Go home.” He tried to slam the door, but Luke stuck his foot out to block it.

“I don’t want to cause trouble. I just need to be sure she’s all right.”

“Of course she’s all right. I know how to take care of my own daughter.” Clyde came out onto the porch, driving Luke back a few steps on the narrow landing. “I would never let my daughter be lured into a distasteful alliance with a scoundrel who only wants to use her to score a point against me.”

Luke straightened, refusing to let Clyde push him back any farther. “I love Marianne. I would never do anything to hurt her.”

“You’ve already hurt her,” Clyde shouted. He grabbed Luke by the lapels of his jacket and slammed him against a pillar, but Luke wasn’t going to retaliate. He needed to keep a cool head to learn what had happened to Marianne. He shrugged out of Clyde’s grasp and moved a few feet away.

Old Jedidiah Magruder soon came plodding onto the porch as well, his face a mask of distrust. “Throw him out,” the old man growled.

“I’m not here to cause trouble,” Luke said, his hands again raised in supplication. “I just need to know where Marianne is.”

“She’s somewhere you can’t hurt her,” Jedidiah said. “Take your fancy airs and your blue blood and get out.” The old man’s voice was caustic and his face hard, but Luke had a smidgeon of respect for the man who clawed his way out of poverty and into a house like this. Maybe he could be reasoned with.

“I can’t just leave,” he said. “I love her and need to know she’s safe. Her disappearing like this isn’t natural. Something is wrong.”

“Something has been wrong since the moment you got a decent girl to spy on her own family,” Jedidiah spat.

“Yeah, about that,” Clyde said, his voice low with menace, closing the space between them.

Luke itched to defend himself and fight, but he couldn’t. Not against Marianne’s father. He retreated to the far end of the porch until his back was to the railing and there was no room left.

Clyde punched him in the jaw. Luke’s head snapped to the side, and he grabbed for the wall. The salty tang of blood leaked into his mouth, but he swallowed it back. He waited until his vision steadied before straightening to face Clyde again.

“I’m turning the other cheek, Clyde. Go ahead and take another swing if you want.”

Clyde’s eyes narrowed in anger. “Don’t flaunt that holier-than-thou drivel at me. You colluded with my daughter to spy on her own family. What does your fancy Bible have to say about that?”

Luke sagged a little but managed to keep looking Clyde in the face. “It says I should never have let the situation get this bad. I won’t abandon Marianne. I have connections all over the city and in half the states as well. I’ll call down the moon if I have to, but I will find her.”

“Be careful,” Clyde said, his voice lethally calm. “You’ve just managed to worm your way out of a spying charge, but don’t think I can’t bring the hammer down on you again. I’ll honor my word to Marianne, but if you so much as touch a blade of grass belonging to me, I’ll have you thrown in jail until you’re