He’d noticed her the minute she’d entered his sphere, his every sense attuned to her. In a stunning rose-colored gown that floated around her slender form, she was the loveliest lady in the room. From the tips of the ostrich feathers in her hair that had been dyed to match to her jeweled slippers, she was a vision. He hadn’t been the only one in the ballroom left slack-jawed after her entrance.

A man came abreast of him. “Rawley,” he said. “Good. Bronwyn said she saw someone in the ballroom.”

Rawley gritted his teeth. “I told Ashvale to tell his stepmother that a ball was a bad idea with someone after Bee. She probably thought it was a hoax or some attempt to thwart her plans to barter off her daughter like a side of beef. And now that man is here. Inside.”

Valentine exhaled forcefully. “He would have found a way to get her to him, no matter what. Where is Ashvale?”

“Seeing the duchess home, and also fetching the Metropolitan Police.”

“This is too much of a crush. If he is here, he could be anywhere. We need to draw him out somehow.” But even as he said the words, he felt his skin pull tight. Typically, one drew a target out with bait, but not if the bait was on the other side of the ballroom.

He was running before he could even finish his thought. He’d left Bronwyn on her own when he really should have kept her with him. A part of him had wanted to let her know that the way he saw her had changed, but even her bright burst of delight was not enough to stop him from kicking himself. The man from Philadelphia was here for her!

The loud crash of something large splintering on the floor had him lengthening his stride, his heart thumping in his chest. He was almost running by the time he neared the entrance to the residence. Efficient footmen and maids were already sweeping up the mess.

Rawley caught up to him, his chest heaving.

“She’s gone,” Valentine said.

The other man blinked. “Taken by force?”

“Yes, I suspect so. From right under our goddamned noses.” He clenched his fists. His entire body felt heavy and uncoordinated as if he were wading in mud. Even his brain felt unnaturally slow. “They can’t have gone far, unless they’re still inside.”

“I’ll search the house,” Rawley said. “You go outside.”