Victorian Vigilantes 01 - Saving Grace Read Online Free

echelons of society to remember who she was and, by association, whom she was married to. Familiarity didn’t always breed contempt.
    Privately, William agreed with Stoneleigh. When Eva didn’t return home, his first thought was that she must have gone to one of her aristocratic friends. At least that meant she would be out of harm’s way, until she came to her senses and returned home. Being a patient man, William knew it could only be a matter of time before she had to come back, voluntarily or otherwise. The law was on his side and no one had the right to forcibly separate a man from his legal wife.
    Now he knew she had been hiding in Whitechapel of all places, his blood ran cold. She had virtually no money, as borne out by the fact that she’d been forced to hock her wedding ring. The very ring he had had designed especially for her and slid onto her delicate finger five years previously. William chose to believe Eva loved him in her own way and would never remove that ring unless she was desperate.
    But just how desperate was she and what else had she been forced to contemplate in order to stay alive? By God, if another man had laid so much as one finger on his wife he would track that man down and tear him apart with his bare hands. Then he would beat her senseless for allowing it.
    He would beat her anyway for her disloyalty; for daring to show independence and distracting him at such a crucial point in his planning. When he ought to be concentrating all his efforts on his latest endeavour, William was reduced to fretting over his ungrateful and disobedient wife.
    At first he thought she would find her own way home and he was ready to forgive her for turning away from him. He could quite understand how afraid she must have been and he would have reassured her on that score. Now he had to face the unpalatable truth—a truth he would never willingly admit to anyone except himself—his wife had left because she no longer wished to be with him.
    Damnation, she was his! He had saved her wretched family from ruin for her sake and yet all she had done during the entire course of their marriage was look down her pert little nose at him. Not that she ever dared to voice her disdain, but then she didn’t need to. He sensed it in every fibre of his being. She was cool and aloof with him and he was never able to interpret her thoughts. She erected a barrier around her emotions and never showed her feelings, except when she was with their daughter. That was why he had allowed her to keep the brat. In his innermost heart he had always known that in spite of his kindness and generosity, she despised him. But she adored the child and would never leave her, which ensured she would never leave William either.
    Or so he’d always thought.
    “Three days?” William’s voice rose. He so rarely shouted that Stoneleigh looked truly taken aback. “Three days this ring has been in your possession and only now I find out about it.”
    “Well no. We only found it late last night.”
    William crashed his fist on the surface of his desk. “I have been offering huge rewards for any information leading to my wife’s whereabouts this past week, and yet we have only just found out about the ring. Damn it man, this won’t do!”
    William stood up and paced the length of the room. He hated losing his temper, couldn’t remember the last time it had happened, and strove to regain control of himself. He caught sight of his heightened complexion and wildly staring eyes in a nearby glass. He looked like a madman, barely recognisable; a timely reminder of the futility of anger that helped to calm him. Out of control people seldom made rational decisions. He took several deep breaths and waited until he felt he could safely speak again. Eva was the only person on the planet who had the ability to make him loose his composure so comprehensively, mainly because she was the only person in the world whom he cared about.
    “All right,” he said,