Graham grabbed the paper from the duchess and scanned the address. “This isn’t a very nice part of town,” he remarked.

Her Grace shook her head. “No, it isn’t.” The young woman always had an heir of naiveté to her—the type of girl who brushed everything aside with an “Everything will turn out in the end,” kind of attitude. But not now. He’d never seen her quite so serious. So frightened.

“Then why the devil is Hannah there?” He didn’t mean to growl, or curse, but he was infuriated. With Hannah, with the duchess… He turned to the dowager. “Did you know about this?”

The older woman’s nostrils flared just slightly as she pressed her thin lips together. “Wouldn’t it be more efficient for you to question us in the carriage?”

“You’re not coming with me.”

“Like Hell we’re not,” the dowager bit back.

Graham reared back as the duchess gasped.

“There is no time for pleasantries in a situation such as this.”

The woman had a point, much as he hated to admit it. But he really didn’t want to be responsible for all these women in a questionable part of town.

“We should leave at once.”

“Leave for where?”

“Oh, thank God,” Graham said as Somerset marched into the foyer.

“What’s going on?” he asked, clearly taking note of the pall that had befallen the room.

“Hannah’s in trouble,” Grace offered.

“I thought Hannah was asleep in her room.”

“As did I.” Graham handed over the piece of foolscap with the address on it. “Turns out, she’s here, at this address.”

The duke stared at the paper for a moment and then crumpled it in his hand. “Dammit.”

“My thoughts exactly,” said Graham.

Within minutes, they had all piled into one of the Somerset carriages and set off for the west end of town.

“You both have a great deal of explaining to do,” Somerset said as they raced through the streets of London. “What is Bunny doing in Seven Dials?”

“It’s not exactly Seven Dials,” Grace said, trying to make things seem less dire than they actually were.

“Grace,” the duke warned.

“Fine,” she said, folding her arms across her chest with a huff. “She has been meeting with all of Beeston’s former…” She shifted beside the duke and her cheeks flushed a bright pink.

“Lovers,” the dowager finished for her with a roll of her eyes.

“Lovers?” Graham repeated, certain he’d heard her wrong.

“For what purpose?” asked Somerset.

The two women looked at each other and shared some kind of unspoken communication.

“We can’t tell you,” the duchess finally supplied.

“Like hell you can’t!” Somerset was seething now. “I command you both to tell us what is going on.”

The dowager waved her hand lazily in the air. “Stand down, Somerset,” she said. “You cannot command us to do anything. Hannah made us swear to secrecy. Only she can tell you her plan…if she so chooses.”

Graham sought to be the calm and sensible one in this situation, so he leaned forward, elbows on knees, and made his plea. “I respect your oath to Hannah,” he said, keeping his tone even. “But now her life is in danger, could you not make an exception?”

The dowager turned her beady eyes on him. “We don’t yet know that her life is in danger. Once we have confirmed that, we will consider if you need to know the plan.”

Damned infuriating woman. Somerset looked as if he wanted to toss her from the carriage window. Graham was of a similar mind. And then he’d deliver a proper scolding to his intended when they found her.

If they found her.

They rode in silence the rest of the way, Somerset brooding, the women looking properly terrified, and Graham, praying to whatever deity might be willing to help him in this moment. He just wanted his Hannah to be safe.

The carriage pulled to a stop what seemed like hours later on a side street in Covent Garden, indeed on the edge of Seven Dials. What the devil was Hannah thinking coming here?

Graham and Somerset hopped down from the carriage, and then the duchess attempted to step down as well, but Somerset halted her mid-step.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he bit out.

One would have to be an idiot not to see the fire and determination in the woman’s eyes. “To find my sister-in-law.”

“You and Mother will stay in the carriage.”

“I don’t think so.” The dowager was on the sidewalk beside them, and both Graham and Somerset stared at her, agape. “There is a door on the other side, you know? Now let her down. We’re all going together.”

“It’s bad enough Hannah has been deceiving and defying us, must you insist on doing the same?”

The dowager stared at her son for a long moment, and Graham almost wondered if she’d had a change of heart, until she said simply, “Yes. Now let her down.”

Somerset hesitated.

“There are no locks on these doors. Even if we stay now, we will only get out in a few minutes’ time.”

That was true. They had no real way of keeping them inside.

“Fine.” Somerset flipped his hand over and helped his wife from the carriage. “But you will do as we say, is that understood?”

“Perfectly,” the duchess replied haughtily.

And then they all walked to the door belonging to one Ms. Veronica Delaney.