“Yes the cloth over your nose is easier, but this will keep you asleep longer,” he said calmly, which had Ruby wanting to launch herself at him.
He studied her and then looked at her hands. She hoped he didn’t make her turn them over; he’d see whatever he’d given her smeared into her skirts.
“No water, I’m afraid.”
“You are a beast! They will come for me, and you will be sorry.”
“No one will find you, Miss Knight. No one has ever found this place. Now lie down, and soon you will be asleep once more.”
Her father had forced laudanum on Adam to make him sleep all the time. She knew the effects. In a short while she should be feeling sleepy, and likely would be, as she could not cough all of it out. The bitter taste in her mouth was vile.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Money, dear. Why do we do anything?”
“And what of those women you are stealing? How do you live with yourself knowing what you are doing to them? Are they here too?”
“So, the Deville brothers told you about us, did they? I wondered how much they knew. That may change a few things, but we will adjust.”
“They are worth ten of you.”
He shrugged.
“Do you have a wife or daughters, sir?”
“My wife and daughters are of no concern.”
“Because they are born into wealth and privilege, therefore they are worthy of a better life than the women you took to violate? You are a vile perfidious man and will come to a nasty end, mark my words.”
He dismissed her words with a wave of his hand as if they meant nothing. Ruby bit back anything further. She needed to start acting like the laudanum was affecting her. In fact, it was; her head was starting to feel light.
“I-I… you sh-should be ashamed,” she whispered, deliberately slurring her words.
“I am ashamed of nothing. I provide for my family and am a fine, upstanding gentleman.” He laughed as if he had made a joke. Ruby wanted to slap him.
Perhaps she would rest, if only for a few minutes. She was feeling lightheaded suddenly, so she lay on the bed. She saw him above her, and then Ruby closed her eyes and slept as the door closed.
When next she woke, she found a lamp had been placed on the table beside her. Her head felt woozy, but as she had not taken the full dose, Ruby doubted she had been sleeping for long.
Getting off the bed, she sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly, and then looked around her. One wall was completely paneled in wood, the others painted dark green. The bed was draped in green silk. It had threads of gold and red running through it. The pillows were also silk.
There were other furnishings. A chair also draped in silk. A tall mirror on a stand beside the bed. There were two ways out, through the door or windows. Both of which were locked or nailed shut.
“I will get out of here,” she whispered. “And I will expose him.”
She wondered again about the other voice she’d heard, but it had been muffled through the door. Clearly the one who had untied her was working with others.
Steadier now, she walked slowly around the room, looking for anything that would help her escape. Pushing the curtains aside, she could see nothing. The windows were sealed shut when she tried to open them. Smashing them would create too much noise.
Returning to the lamp, she picked it up and continued her exploration. There had to be something in here to help her. A weapon, anything. Men often thought women weak fools and underestimated them. They would do that to her at their peril.
She visualized Forrest again as he had the night they’d spent together. Looming over her as he seated himself deep inside her body. The face of a warrior in that moment. Fierce and aroused. Her warrior. He would come for her.
She looked under the bed and inspected the chair and small table. Nothing. She then walked slowly around the walls, for no other reason than she had to keep moving or give in to the fear.
Trailing her fingers along the surface, she tried to come up with a plan, but as her thoughts were still a bit muddled and the odds were stacked heavily against her, she could think of nothing. She needed a weapon. Anything that would give her the element of surprise when he came back. She could rush him.
Reaching the wood paneled wall, she lowered the lamp. It was made up of large squares of wood. Around each square was a frame of more wood. Each length long enough to at least give her something to jab at the next person who walked into the room.
