I swallow and nod, my anxiety raging again. If it shows on my face, he doesn’t ask me about it.
“Don’t be long,” he commands. I breathe a sigh of relief when he turns on his heel and leaves, whispering something to a maid who stations herself in the hall outside the room.
Slowly I close the bedroom door, shutting her out. I open one of the drawers. My breath trembles as I take in a tray of watches and cuff links. The enormous walk-incloset is full of his things. This ishisroom. A room he regularly uses by the looks of it. It stinks of him.
God help me, this is worst-case scenario. He wants me to stay in his room with him. Wants to make our marriage legal as quickly as possible. Wants to have sex. I swallow hard and try not panic at the thought.
I go into the bathroom and start the shower, stripping out of the clothes Connor bought me, the soft, warm and comfortable clothes that fit me exquisitely despite him not knowing my size. What I need is a plan. But after twenty minutes in the shower, I still don’t have any ideas of how to get away from Roman and back to Connor.
Worse, when I try to feel my mate through the bond, I can’t anymore. There’s just… nothing. I tell myself it’s the distance, or maybe he’s unconscious. I refuse to consider any other scenario.
I shut the water off and wrap a towel around myself, finding the clothes the butler left for me in the adjoining dressing area. It’s a cocktail dress and heels, because of course the thing you want to wear to a late dinner at home after traveling all night is a cocktail dress. I roll my eyes. The bodice is beaded, tight and unforgiving, strapless with a short, ruffled skirt that looks like it will end halfway down my thighs. I slide my feet into a pair of shoes with red soles and tall, skinny heels. I hope to heaven I can even make it to the dining room in these things.
When I finally clop out of the room, there’s a woman in a black maid’s uniform waiting for me. She shows me to the empty dining room and commands me to sit.
“The master will be with you shortly,” she says as she fills the wineglass next to my water goblet, which is blessedly full.
I wait, sipping my water, for five minutes, then ten, then fifteen. I’m both grateful for the time away from him and annoyed. Every minute I sit here, my anxiety ratchets a notch higher. I’m starving and uncomfortable. I’m considering collapsing out of the chair and feigning illness to gain some power over this situation when he finally walks in.
He chucks me under the chin with his knuckle, then turns my face to the left and right as if he’s admiring a doll. His gaze rakes down over the bodice of the dress. “You look lovely, Fiona. It will be a relief to put this entire thing behind us, wouldn’t you agree?”
Because a person who’s been held hostage for more than three weeks should immediately bounce back?I force the smile again. “I’ll try, but I might need time to recover.” I swallow hard, allowing my hands to tremble. If I can milk the trauma of my ordeal to maintain distance between us, it might give Connor enough time to come for me.
“Oh, I think the best thing for you is to pick up exactly where you left off.” He taps my nose and then makes his way to the other end of the table, lowering himself into his chair.
“Speaking of, where is Vivian? I haven’t seen or heard from her since the wedding day. I thought you said she was with you.”
He scowls and unfolds his napkin, resting it acrosshis lap before reaching for a dinner roll. “Let’s not ruin our first dinner at home with talk of Vivian.”
“What do you mean, ruin dinner? Is she okay?” I’m a good actress, but I can’t hide how upset I feel. If something’s happened to her, it’s entirely my fault.
He smiles in a way that chills something deep within me. “Perfectly fine and somewhere safe.”
I nod and sip my water, forcing down the rising tide of apprehension and anxiety that almost overcomes me. Roman is a psychopath. I don’t believe for a second that Vivian is perfectly fine. But I do sense she’s alive. That’s the important thing.
“I was also wondering if you had my purse and phone and things. I left it all in the dressing room at the château.” It seems like the obvious first thing someone would ask for.
“We can check with the staff, but I’m sure there’s nothing we can’t replace. You won’t need those things for a while anyway.” He taps his thumb on the table twice, and a servant rushes into the room with the salads.
“Is that some kind of signal, the thumb tapping?” I ask casually, honestly perplexed by it. The woman flees like the dining room is on fire.
“You’ll find the staff here is highly trained and serves me without question or hesitation.”
Connor treated his dog better. I lift my fork and push my salad around my plate. No way can I eat. Not with my stomach churning like it is. Roman, however, has no problem enjoying his dinner and proceeds with neat, precise, efficient bites.
I gather my courage and ask, “If we’regoing to be living here, can someone take me to my apartment tomorrow so that I can box up my things?”And I can use the opportunity to run and hide.
Roman stops chewing to look at me with flat, dead eyes. “That depends on how quickly we resolve our little problem.”
“Problem? What problem?” I set down my silverware but toy with it and my napkin.
He sighs. “It’s the oddest thing, Fiona. I watched you sign that marriage license, so imagine my surprise when the officiant informed me your signature wasn’t legal.”
I sip my wine, playing dumb even though I know exactly why it isn’t legal. Flaring my eyes, I ask, “Why’s that?”
He looks me over, seeming to weigh my words and expression. “You signed Alex Rogue instead of Fiona Morrow.”
A rebellious laugh barrels out of me before I can rein it in, and I hope to God I haven’t made a grave mistake. When Roman pressured me to sign that paper, something of my younger self bubbled to the surface. I signed Alex’s name as an act of defiance. But Roman won’t see the humor in that. “I’m so sorry,” I say quickly. “I often sign her name in books and to get into her character. I was nervous that morning. Must not have been paying attention, but then you weren’t either, considering you didn’t notice.”
