Ambrose cocked his head with an incredulous look. “He had to get you somehow.”
“You know how he got me. A higher title and a bigger purse. That’s all there is to it.”
“I don’t think so,” Ambrose said with a smile. “Because all the world is talking about how you’re bedding Stenfax again, too. And I saw you two on the terrace last week. The way you looked at him, you wouldn’t have walked away unless my dearly departed cousin had something powerful on you.” His smile grew wider. “Or maybe not on you. Maybe someone else you cared for.”
She shook her head. “No,” she whispered.
“Yes, I’ve heard enough of that tonight.” Ambrose turned toward the door. “You’re delaying the inevitable, Elise. You know that. I will have you, whether by force or by striking a bargain once I know what lies and secrets you hold in that icy heart of yours. Now you and your maid get out of my house. My generosity ends tonight.”
He stepped into the hall, slamming the door behind him. Elise sank to her knees, the gun still lifted, staring at the place where he’d gone. The door to the dressing room opened and she turned the gun toward it, but it was Ruth who stepped through. The girl shrieked in horror when she came face to face with the gun.
“Oh, Your Grace,” Ruth whispered as Elise lowered the weapon. “Your eye!”
Elise blinked. In her terror, she’d forgotten that Ambrose had struck her. Her eye immediately began to throb and she lifted a hand to find it swollen already.
She could hold back no longer. She bent her head, her body shaking, and the tears began to fall. Her maid edged toward her and knelt beside her, gently prying the gun from her aching fingers and setting it aside.
“I-I heard most of it,” Ruth said.
Elise didn’t respond, just kept crying. Tonight was the culmination of what felt like a lifetime of pain and disappointment. She had sacrificed her life, her future, for the secrets Toby had uncovered, but she’d truly believed they had died with the loathsome man.
Now it seemed they might not have. Everything she’d fought to protect was at risk again. Everything she had done could very well be for nothing.
“Where will we go?” the maid asked.
Elise lifted her head. That was a very good question. Winstead had offered to be her protector tonight, but she had no idea where he lived, nor if he would accept her if she appeared there.
And the fact was that the secrets Ambrose threatened had everything to do with Stenfax. She had tried very long to protect him, to protect his family, from those secrets coming out.
But now it seemed she was out of her depth. He had a right to know about the threat she couldn’t adequately protect him from.
“We will go to the Earl of Stenfax,” she whispered, wiping at her tears and pushing to her feet on shaky legs. “It is the only option now, no matter how I’ve tried to avoid it. Pack as much as you can as quickly as you can. We leave within the half hour.”
Chapter Thirteen
Stenfax dug his fingers into Elise’s hair, dragging her body against his as he kissed her deeply, passionately. She moved against him, whispering how she loved him over and over. But in the background, there was a persistent sound.Bang, bang, bang.
He tried to ignore it, tilting her face toward his, seeing all her love there, watching all the time and the lies bleed away until they could be together.
Bang, bang, bang.
And in that moment, he realized this was a dream.
“No!” he said, holding tighter, but she was fading, fading away.
He opened his eyes and sat up with a start. The banging at his chamber door was loud and constant.
“My lord? My lord?” It was his butler Xavier’s voice in the hall.
“Come in, Xavier,” Stenfax grunted, adjusting the covers over his naked body. “For Christ’s sake, just stop knocking.”
The door opened and Stenfax flinched at the light from the hall, raising his hand to block it and the shadow of his servant entering the darkened room.
“I’m sorry to disturb, my lord,” Xavier said.
“What bloody time is it?” Stenfax grunted.
“After three, sir,” Xavier said.
