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Douglas dragged a hand across his mouth. “She’s gone.”

Atlas gripped the edge of his desk. “Gone where?”

“Well, that is the question I need you to help me answer.”

Atlas ran a hand through his hair, then pointed at Douglas. “Are you telling me you cannot locate her? When did you see her last? Where was she going?”

Douglas shook his head. “No, no, she wasn’t snatched up off the street. She left of her own accord, and I suspect she had help from your cousin.”

Atlas flinched back. “Elizabeth?”

“It’s over Kelmscott, of course,” Douglas all but snarled, as if utterly frustrated with Atlas’s inability to grasp the situation.

“You forced her.” Atlas spoke through clenched teeth. “You told me you would not act unless you had her consent.”

When Atlas had heard that the marriage settlement negotiations were underway, he’d believed Philippa had finally acquiesced. Kelmscott was an earl; she was the daughter of a baronet. It was a good match in the eyes of upper crust society. But, of course, that wouldn’t have mattered to Philippa. He’d been a fool to believe Douglas’s assurances.

“I would never force her. She expressed her reservations and then seemed agreeable, so I moved forward.”

“And now she’s…what? Absconded? On her own?” Atlas waved a hand toward the window that looked out onto the fashionable Belgrave Square where his townhouse sat. “She’s out there on her own without any protection⁠—”

“Yes, all right,” Douglas shouted. “Do you think I’m not mad with worry?”

Mad didn’t begin to describe the stew of feelings clawing their way through Atlas’s gut. “Did she leave any note? Any indication where she’s gone?”

Douglas shook his head. “The last thing she did yesterday was go to the modiste’s and Miss Ellsworth accompanied her.” He locked his gaze on Atlas’s. “I need you to speak to her. She knows where Philippa has gone. I’m certain of it.”

“Have you spoken to Elizabeth?” Atlas’s cousin could be sharp-tongued and disagreeable, especially when it came to protecting those she cared for, and he knew that her friendship with Philippa was as longstanding as his was with Douglas.

“I sent word and asked her to visit our townhouse. She did not reply.”

That did sound suspicious, and Atlas suspected if Philippa had set out on some grand plan to get away from London and the prospect of marriage to a man far too old for her, she would confide in Lizzie.

“I’ll speak to her.” Atlas’s heart still rattled in his chest. “You think she departed last night?”

Was she safe? Did she have a place to lay her head tonight?

“No, her maid finally confided that she tended to her last night and then found that she was not in her bed this morning.” Douglas reached up and gripped the back of his neck. “She took very little. A few day gowns. A couple of books. Perhaps this is some temporary stunt so that I’m forced to call off the wed⁠—”

“Good. Call it off,” Atlas barked. “Kelmscott and whatever funds he intended to give you should be the least of your concerns.”

“I can’t call anything off. I won’t. Not until we know what’s happened to Philippa.”

Atlas looked at the man he’d known for nearly two decades in shock and not a small measure of disgust. “Is it not obvious that the match you’ve made is why she’s fled?”

“We don’t know that.” Douglas knocked his shoulders back. “He’s already given me a sum of money that I would be unable to easily repay.”

Atlas choked out a bitter laugh. “I see. So he’s already paid for her.”

“Don’t be crass. You know what I’ve done to rebuild my family’s finances.”

Atlas did know. He’d struggled as well. His estate produced very little in terms of rents or income, and yet the cost to maintain it was staggering.

“So will you go and find her and bring her back or not?” Douglas had flicked back the tails of his suit coat and planted a hand on each hip.

“I? Go and find her?” Something fluttered in the middle of Atlas’s chest. A knot formed in his throat. “Why would I go?” It shocked him how unopposed he truly was to the idea. He’d known her since she was a girl; it was natural to want to know she was safe.

Douglas said nothing, merely tipped his head and shot him an arched brow look. “You and my sister have a…rapport that I believe would induce her to listen to you. If I go, or send one of my retainers after her, she won’t listen. Philippa can be strong-willed, as you may know.”