For precious moments, the only sound he heard was the pounding of his heart. He lifted his gaze and the fear and pain in his father’s eyes couldn’t be disguised.
“When did this happen?”
“It has been ten days.”
“My sister has been missing for ten days, and I am only now informed?”
Evie’s soft gasp echoed his distress.
“Your mother has been abed with worry. I believe your presence and your reassurance that you will bring Phoebe home will relieve her mind.” The duke turned and observed the small party in the distance. “I believe she would also like to meet her granddaughter.”
Then the duke whirled around and entered the equipage, which quickly pulled away.
“I will blister her backside when I find her,” Richard said gruffly, suppressing the cold fear knotting in his gut, his thoughts plotting ahead on the steps he would need to take to protect her against society, this earl who lured her to the Highlands, and the expectations of their parents.
“But you will find her,” Evie reassured him. “I know you will, and when you do, we will be there for her in every way that matters.” She squeezed his arms gently, offering her unwavering love and comfort.
“I will,” he promised. The scoundrel who stole her virtue and left her alone in her current circumstances would die. He would not compr
omise on that score. “Wait here,” he said to Evie, and then moved quickly to where their carriage was parked.
The footman stood to attention at his approach, promptly forgetting the giggling maid he’d been conversing with.
“My lord?”
“Take a message to the Sparrow. Take two other men with you as you’ll be going to the seedier side of town. At this time, he’ll be found at Jenny’s Inn. I have need of his service, and I expect a meeting within the next couple of hours.”
“Yes, my lord.” The footman rushed away to do his bidding.
Richard turned back to Evie, some of the cold tension dissipating as a plan of action formed. The Sparrow was a spy in the underworld, and he worked for Richard, seeking and ferreting any information he needed. It hardly mattered the man himself was a viscount; the Sparrow, too, stood on the fringes of polite society and made himself invaluable by commanding a band of children who were his network in the underworld. The man’s saving grace and the reason Richard had not slit his throat when he uncovered him was that the Sparrow cared for all his children and treated them well.
Evie slipped her fingers through his when he reached her side. “Is all well?”
“It will be,” he vowed.
Trust and compassion glowed in her eyes. “I know.”
The children waved in the distance, and with a light laugh, Evie tugged him toward the merriment. Halfway across the lawn, Emily ran over, tumbling into them indecorously. With a chuckle, Richard swung her into his arms, and she twisted and climbed up, settling along his shoulders.
“I’m happy, Papa,” Emily said with a gusty sigh.
He grabbed one of her hands resting atop his head and kissed her knuckles, which bore questionable stains. “I’m happy, too.”
She giggled infectiously, and Evie laughed. Nothing was perfect; nothing was without flaw. But this moment…it would be etched in Richard’s heart and memory for as long as he lived.