by Rose Gordon
She cast an uneasy eye at him. “And where is that?”
“Home.”
“Home? Whose home?”
“Our home,” he said as if that explained everything.
“Excuse me,” she exclaimed in shock. “I don’t remember agreeing to return to your home yet.”
He shrugged. “You didn’t have to.”
Enraged, she scooted away from him and pulled the blanket up to her chin. “What are you about?”
“I could ask you the same,” he countered, his voice held a sharp edge.
“What does that mean?” she demanded hotly, her pulse speeding to new heights. He’d abducted her. He’d seduced her and abducted her. How stupid could she possibly be to fall so easily into the trap he’d set? She’d known he was a snake. Look at the trap he’d laid for Brooke.
He reached into his pocket and withdrew a piece of paper. Without a word, he tossed it in her direction.
She unfolded the paper and stared at him in disbelief. “I’m not even going to ask how you got this. Obviously, you’re not above snooping if you’re not above kidnapping,” she said fiercely. “But I demand to know how you take this as my acceptance to return to your house?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be there soon,” he said, ignoring her demands.
“Soon? How soon? It’s barely dawn,” she pointed out. London was close, but not that close.
He shrugged, then dug into his pocket and retrieved his watch. Checking the time, he said, “Less than two hours.”
“Less than two hours? Just how long have we been traveling?”
He shrugged again. “Since about midnight.”
“Midnight?” she shrieked. They should have arrived in London by now, or at least been closer than two hours away, if they’d been traveling since midnight. Unless he wasn’t taking her to London. Panic filled her chest. “Where are we going?”
“To the coast,” he said evenly. “But that’s all I’m saying.”
“Stop the carriage this instant, Your Grace,” she yelled. He had no business hauling her off to the coast. Not that this wasn’t partially her fault. He’d charmed her, and stupidly, she’d trusted him.
“Don’t,” he said fiercely, pinning her with his razor-sharp eyes.
“Don’t what?” she asked. “Don’t yell? Don’t argue? Don’t demand you return me? Don’t what?”
“Don’t ‘Your Grace’ me,” he said sharply. “You’ve used my given name often enough, I should think you know it well enough. You even called me Ben last night,” he said with a wicked grin.
“That won’t be happening again, Your Grace,” she said sharply as shame washed over her. He was right; she’d been so caught up in the moment she’d called him Ben. And more than once if memory served her correctly.
He frowned. “Why not? I’m the same man now that I was then.”
“No you’re not. You were nice and sweet then; and now you’re abducting me!”
He shrugged. “Some people fall in love with their abductors,” he said huskily, waggling his eyebrows.
“Not this unsuspecting abductee,” she retorted. “I still don’t even know where we’re going.”
He tsk, tsked and drawled, “That’s the normal way of things, I’m afraid. The abductor wouldn’t be very intelligent to tell his captive where he’s taking her. And, unlike Robbie, my brain serves more purpose than just ensuring my skull doesn’t cave in.”
“Pffft. That’s doubtful. I always did seem to attract simpletons,” she said dismissively. “All right. If you won’t tell me where you’re taking me. Then tell me why you’re taking me.”
“I already did,” he said, pointing to the letter she’d carelessly balled up and tossed on the floor.
“So what?” she burst out. “It’s not like I believed his words and was keeping you at Rockhurst while we waited for the constable. Although,” she looked at him more sharply now, “now that you’ve gone so far as to abduct me in the middle of the night, I might put more credit in his words.”
“Don’t,” he said simply. “Well, do.”
“What?” she asked, exacerbated. Was he saying he did or didn’t commit murder? She shivered. What fantastic luck she had. She was now trapped in a carriage barreling at a hell-for-hide speed toward the coast with a man who may have just suggested a ridiculous note about him killing a harmless old woman in his employ was true.
He shrugged. “About six, almost seven, years ago there was a little dustup in Yorkshire that ended in the death of a man dressed as a woman that was in my employ.”
“And you were involved,” she shrieked, her eyes almost bulging out of her head.
“Yes,” he said evenly. “After school and Tour I went to Yorkshire to live in between Seasons. One Season I was in London and Lady Algen begged me to take on one of her maids that she could no longer employ. I didn’t think much of it and hired the woman on. A few months later, I’d spent all night pouring over estate accounts in my study and fell asleep on the settee that was on the far side of the room. An hour or two later, I heard a noise and watched in stunned silence as this ‘maid’ sat and tried to pick the lock on my safe.
“After ten minutes of no success, I walked over to her to ask if I could be of some assistance. That’s when I discovered it was a man. His reaction to seeing me was not at all how a lady would react. Don’t give me that dubious look. He looked rather convincing in that dress. He was short and clean shaven. Had the wrinkly face of an old woman. Even had curves, which I later discovered were rolled up stockings. Anyhow, we fought and fortunately I was able to overpower him. I found out Lady Algen and my mother, not Lizzie, my real mother, had been corresponding through letters for some time and had concocted this scheme in order to steal whatever jewels they thought I had.” He scoffed. “If she would have just asked me, I would have given them to her.”
“So you killed the man?” she asked curiously. It was all an interesting tale for sure, but that still didn’t clear him of a crime.
“No. Not really,” he said quietly, a dark shadow crossing his face. “After I found out what I needed to know, I let him go and told him I wouldn’t call the constable if he would just disappear. At three and twenty I didn’t want to deal with the legalities; especially if they would bring about a scandal, which they would. He went to walk out the door, grabbed a candle out of the double candle sconce next to the door and flung it at me. I was able to dodge it, but it lit the carpet on fire. I was trying to stomp out the flame when I heard the man scream. I looked up and saw he’d been standing so near the candle that was still in the sconce that his hair caught fire.” He stopped, closed his eyes and shook his head as if he were shaking off the mental image that filled his mind. When he spoke again his voice was dark and bleak. “There wasn’t anything I could do to save him.”
“Is that why they call you the Dangerous Duke?” she asked, feeling her chest constrict. He’d witnessed a horrific accident and had to live with the stigma of it for years.
“Probably. That, or Eton,” he said with a cheeky smile. “That was the only scrape I ever got in that the old duke ever helped me with. He was able to get Lady Algen to confess to knowing the maid was a man with a ‘possible’ criminal history. In exchange for her testimony, she was free of legal trouble and I was cleared of murder, which I hadn’t even committed. But since there was no way to prove my innocence with no witnesses and a charred body in my study, it was the best I could hope for.”
“That’s why you threatened Lady Algen when we got engaged?”
“Yes. I wanted to make sure she knew I knew her motives for getting me to hire him. Obviously she knew I found out the maid was a man, but she didn’t know I knew what he was after and that she’d put him up to it. But she does now,” he added with a tight smile.
“Why did you tell me all that?” she asked quietly.
He locked eyes with her. “Because I trust you and I want you to trust me.”
She shook her head. “It’s hard to trust
a man who’s dragging me away in the dead of night to who knows where without my permission,” she said tartly.
His gaze sharpened and he shook his head then looked down to the note.
“Don’t,” she said sharply, crossing her arms across her chest. “Don’t just look at it. That doesn’t tell me why you took it upon yourself to take me away in this fashion.”
“Doesn’t it?” he countered, crossing his arms to match her defiance.
“No,” she exclaimed in annoyance. “It doesn’t. If you didn’t murder that man then why are you so concerned about the note?”
“Because he knows where you are,” he said simply.
“What’s the problem with that? Are you afraid I’m going to sneak out and ride off into the sunset with him?” she asked sarcastically. “I assure you, I’ve no plan to do any such thing. Just return me.”
“No,” he clipped. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I told Andrew before we even went to Rockhurst that if anyone found out you were there, I’d be taking you home immediately.”
“Oh,” she said, drawing out her word as she thought about his words. “I get it now. You’re male pride was pricked.”
“No,” he snapped. “My male pride was not pricked.”
She snorted. “It seems like it to me. You can’t stand the idea that someone might think you, the Great Gateway, who entered into the Golden Gateway Marriage, has problems keeping his wife under his roof.”
“That’s not it at all,” he countered, leaning forward. “Well, maybe a little,” he admitted sheepishly. “When I first said that to Andrew that was my reasoning. But it’s not the reason I took you.”
“Then why did you?” she countered defensively. What thought process could have taken place in his head that made him think it was perfectly acceptable to carry her off in this way?
“I’ve already told you. He knows where you are. He may be a clodpole, but sometimes even the dumbest people can cause you harm. In fact, sometimes it’s the dumbest people that cause the most harm. Typically more for themselves than others, but you never know, he might figure out to point the gun away from himself before he pulls the trigger. And, on the off chance he already knows that, I’m taking you away to protect you better,” he explained, confusing her even more. Did he honestly think Robbie posed any harm?
She started laughing uncontrollably. He did! His facial expression said he actually thought Robbie posed a threat to her! Robbie was only interested in one thing. And that one thing did not require a lot of brain activity. He couldn’t possibly formulate a plan to harm anyone. “You’re cracked,” she said when her peals of laughter settled to giggles.
“No, I’m not,” he said sternly. “Men are determined creatures. And the more they want something, the more determined they become.”
“You should know,” she retorted, still shaking with giggles. “You abducted me because you wanted me all to yourself and used the excuse of a pea brain knowing my whereabouts as a reason to justify it.”
He let out a pent up breath. “Yes, I admit, I want you all to myself. But I’m not just making up reasons.”
“Yes, you are,” she returned. “Now, take me back.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not. We’re not discussing this anymore,” he said in steely tones.
She pulled her blanket tighter around her. It was the only barrier she really had against him. “I demand to know your reasons, Your Grace.”
“Stop calling me that,” he said through clenched teeth. “I don’t like it and you know it.”
“Well, I don’t like being taken from my bed while I’m sleeping,” she countered. “How did you manage it anyway? Did you use chloroform? Did you drug me and take advantage of me?” she accused.
“No,” he bellowed. “I’ve never drugged or taken advantage of anyone before and I won’t be starting with my wife. I may have a reputation for being the Dangerous Duke, but even I wouldn’t stoop so low.”
“I don’t believe you,” she said, raising her chin a notch. He had to have done something to get her into his carriage and travel more than six hours without her noticing.
“Believe what you want,” he said flippantly. “However, despite your tendencies to rise early, you sleep like the dead.”
She pursed her lips. Brooke always said the same thing about her. That’s how she used to sneak in her room and hide her favorite dolls when they were girls. “Be that as it may,” she said archly, “I did not give you permission to remove me from my bed. Now return me.”
“It was my bed,” he told her smugly. “And I plan to return you to that locale as soon as possible. Just in a different room.” He sent her a wolfish grin that made her go pink.
“Absolutely not,” she snapped, shaking her head. “There is no way I’ll share your bed after this.”
He shrugged. “Yes, you will.”
“Only if you use force.”
“I won’t have to,” he said with a shrug. “You’ll come to me.”
She barely heard his words as she looked down at her trembling hands that were holding the blanket barely under her chin. Her knuckles had gone white, either from rage or holding the blanket too tight, she didn’t know. He told her the night before he’d only find pleasure in their marriage bed if she did. Had he said that only because he was trying to get her to trust him? “You lying bastard,” she spat.
He leaned forward and firmly grabbed her chin between his thumb and index finger. “I didn’t lie to you,” he said fiercely.
“Yes, you did,” she yelled, swatting at the hand he used to hold her chin. “Everything you’ve done the past few days was all done in an effort for me to trust you so you could steal me away without catching notice.”
“In a way, yes,” he admitted, leaning back against the red velvet squabs. “I was trying to get you to trust me and go home with me. However, I did not plan for your lovesick suitor to enter the picture. How did he know you were there anyway?” he mused with a pointed look in her direction.
“I don’t know,” she said sharply, fire burning in her eyes. “But don’t you dare accuse me of telling him or having some other connection to him. I haven’t willingly laid eyes on the man in longer than I care to remember.”
“I’m not,” he said quietly. “He probably bribed a servant. Even if he’s denser than a rock, he has the blunt to fund a minor investigation.”
“Then won’t he just find us wherever you’re taking me?” she asked, agitated.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “First, since we left in the dead of night it’s doubtful we’ve been followed. And second, if he does start searching for you at my estates he’ll never find you?”
“Why?” she asked, shivering. So many questions were running through her head. Was he going to hide her in the attic? Was he going to chain her to the wall and lock her in the dungeon? Was he going to kill her and cut her body up into little pieces and scatter her across the countryside? She shook her head. She had to quit reading Brooke’s gothic novels; they gave young girls ideas that should never enter anyone’s imagination.
He smiled a smile that made her blood unsure if it wanted to turn to ice or course through her veins like a racehorse. “Because nobody knows I own it.”
“And what does that mean?” she demanded, scanning his unsettling facial expression.
“Nobody will be able to find it.”
“What do you mean nobody will be able to find it?” she demanded again, feeling uneasy.
He shrugged. “It’s not easy to locate, that’s all.”
“You mean it’s secreted off?” She’d heard of houses that were in such desolate places people could scour the land and never find what they were looking for. Her heart sank. Was he taking her to a place like that?
“You could say that.”
“You’re a bastard,” she repeated for good measure. He truly intended to kidnap her.
He leaned forward again. “That fact was estab
lished nearly thirty years ago,” he said with a smug smile.
Chapter 17
Benjamin had never felt so relieved to get out of a carriage in his life. The first six hours had been wonderful; the last two, not so much. A viper would have been better company. After finding that letter from Robbie, he’d been unable to sleep. That little weasel knew right where they were and he didn’t like that one bit. Not that he was afraid Madison would run off with him. He was more afraid Robbie would try to get her to and when she refused, he’d turn violent. He’d been around Robbie enough during his month in America to know if he needed to, he’d use force to get what he wanted. Benjamin had seen him use both physical force and emotional manipulation to get girls to bend to his will. Which is probably what he did with Madison.
He’d probably used one of his famous, “You say you love me, why not show me?” or “How can you deny the love between us? You can’t, I know it, so let’s go show it,” or some other ridiculous line he’d make up and use to play on a woman’s emotions and get her to lift her skirt. He had a way about him. First, he’d use his charm. Then if that hadn’t worked, he’d shoot those guilt arrows squarely at a person. And if neither of those methods got the desired result, he’d use physical force. The very thought sickened him. Madison was such a good person, how could he have taken advantage of her that way? And why had she let him? She’d stood up to him just fine. Why didn’t she stand up to that ass? Love. That was the reason. That’s the reason so many intelligent people do stupid things. Things like pay someone to send a whole family off the continent.
He knew now she didn’t love Robbie any longer. No, now she seemed to have transferred all that emotion directly onto Andrew. Lucky man. The hero worship in her eyes when she spoke of him or teased him was enough to make Benjamin want to rip his own hair out. He always had a way of finding Madison after she’d fallen in love. Now that he had her all to himself in the middle of nowhere, perhaps his luck would change and she’d fall in love with him.
But first she was going to be angry.
“Show me to my dungeon,” she said fiercely, clutching her blanket for dear life.