“Eve? Look at me sweetheart. Are you all right?” That familiar cultured, yet completely unaffected voice was nearly her undoing. When had her hands begun shaking? Her legs lacked the strength to keep her up even a moment longer, and her stomach had become disturbingly unsettled.
“He gave me opium.” She burst into tears. The dawning realization horrified her.
And then she embarrassed herself quite beyond redemption.
Nile’s boots would never be the same.
Clear Heads Prevail
With both Eve and Lucy assisting her up the stairs, Eve wondered why she hadn’t realized earlier that she’d been drugged. Even now, she could hardly lift her feet up each step. All that tea she’d drank… Eve shuddered at the thought and turned her mind to eavesdrop on the arguments drifting up from the study. Loud at first, but gradually subsiding as Niles’ steady voice took control.
Her mind conjured images of how he’d looked that day in the rain. Catching her from falling, holding her in the shelter of the trees. He’d put her before himself, despite his injury.
The three women shuffled into her chamber and assisted her onto the bed.
Eve didn’t want to sleep anymore. She hated this feeling of being trapped within her own body.
“I knew something must be dreadfully wrong, as soon as Mr. Waverly said you intended to marry.” Rhoda sat beside the bed and dabbed a cool cloth over Eve’s forehead. “Opium! The scoundrel! He had to have known how you opposed the poison!”
“I’ll never forgive him for it.” Although feeling weak and horribly humiliated, Eve no longer experienced the heavy darkness she’d been subdued by for the past twenty-four hours. Shortly after Eve’s…unfortunate bout of sickness, Rhoda had arrived with a magistrate and as luck would have it, Lucy. Apparently, Darius had fired the poor girl. She’d gone into the village and had been looking for Niles.
“Drink this, Mama.”
“No tea!” Eve pushed the drink away.
Her daughter’s eyes pooled with unshed tears. “It’s safe, Mama. I promise. I made it myself.” And then Rhoda leaned forward, resting her head on Eve’s shoulder.
Rhoda had endured so much already in her young life. Eve hated that she was causing her any duress. Mothers were supposed to comfort their children, not the other way around. “Of course, it is. I’m sorry to worry you.”
Eve sipped her tea, relieved at being safe once again. Darius Mossant no longer had any power over her. He never had, in fact. She’d been held captive by the drug.
How had Jean Luc lived his life in such darkness? Had he been imprisoned by the drug all that time?
She’d hated it. It had nearly robbed her of her own free will. And yet… it promised a false comfort.
She now understood its lure. It’s power.
Never again. It was horrid and demonic and… terrifying.
Rhoda sat back and wiped an errant tear. “Mr. Waverly certainly is clever,” she commented, oh, so casually. Her hands shook a little as she returned the cup of tea to the tray beside the bed.
Eve could only marvel at this brave, beautiful girl. Her daughter!
“Don’t you think so?”
Ah, Niles. Clever Niles. “He certainly is.”
Eve smiled at the thought that her man of business could so easily command a room full of gentleman whom society would consider his betters.
“You’ll have to give him a raise, Mama.”
“Give Niles a raise?” Eve nearly laughed. He’d never take it. “He works on commission.”
“When we arrived, he was a man possessed. For all of two minutes, he was in quite the panic. I never imagined he could be anything other than utterly calm and composed.”
He’d worried for all of two minutes. Again, Eve smiled. She had first-hand knowledge of the hidden passions of Niles Waverly.
Eve squirmed and Lucy stepped forward to stuff an extra pillow behind her.
