“Then do it!” Victoria encouraged her. “If you want, I can find a way to hide you—”
“No,” Ellie shook her head. “You are the first place they would check. I—I would need to go somewhere else.”
Rummaging in her reticule, Victoria drew a purse thick with coins and paper notes; she stuffed it into Ellie’s hand before adding, “I will go and find your relatives and stall them as long as I can. Your groom is not here yet, you need to go.Now.”
Looking at the purse, Ellie shook her head. “I cannot possibly take this.”
“You can.” Victoria made for the door. “And you will. Now go!” Her friend bolted from the room with purpose.
Emboldened but nervous, Ellie stuck the coins into the pocket of the coat she had worn to the church and slid it on. As she turned to the door, a door slid open—behind her. She spun on her heelas a man strode into the room, his form covered by a thick cloak and his eyes shielded by a mask.
“Pardon—” she gasped. “Who are you? W-what are you doing here!”
He had her up against the wall in seconds, the dark glass of the man’s crow mask shielded her attacker’s eyes. “I am getting you out of here. You will not marry that beast of a man.”
She glared while her breath came in short bursts, “That is for me to decide, not you. Who are you! Get your hands off me you—you bounder!”
The man yanked a cloth from his pocket and pressed it to her nose. “We can debate the merits of that sentiment later. For now, we need to go.”
Ellie made the mistake of taking a large breath to scream—but the chemical hit her lungs and brain in seconds. The world went hazy around her, and she slumped—before she knew it, all was black.
CHAPTER 3
Even while asleep, Ellie could feel something soft under her head and a cold breeze flittering over her face. When she peeled her heavy lids open, her vision latched onto pale wooden walls and cream damask wallpaper.
Where am I?
A dull headache was thrumming at the base of her skull, and her mouth tasted incredibly foul, as if someone had stuck a soiled rag inside.
Her thoughts were muddled, but then pieces began to come back to her—Harriet leaving to talk to her parents… Victoria giving her a purse of money… a masked man appearing out of nowhere and kidnapping her.
“Oh god—” Frantically, her hands ran over her person, utterly afraid of what she would find.
Had he disrobed her? Had he—
“You’re fully dressed,” a smooth, dark voice said from the corner of the room.
Alarmed, Ellie shot up in the bed, only to groan at the dizzying sensation in her head. Cupping her forehead, she peered into the darkened corner, only to see a pair of booted legs and a shadowed but unmistakably male form.
“Who in God’s name are you!” she demanded. “Why did you abduct me, and where am I?”
“Who I am is not so consequential as of now,” he muttered lowly. “I took you to save you from the unspeakable horrors you would be forced to endure, married to Carrington. The man is the human equivalent of a dunghill, and you are in the countryside.”
While digesting those words—he knows who Carrington is—she asked, “Whichcountryside?”
“St. John’s Wood,” he answered dutifully.
Her jaw dropped. “You took me to St. John’s Wood! Why! What do you want with me?”
“Well, first, it is my home,” he began. “And second, it has everything to do with Carrington. You see, he and his men have some information that I want, and you can be the deciding piece if I get it or not.”
The little warmth that had birthed in her chest after he’d told her he’d taken her to save her from Carrington suddenly snuffed itself out.
Of course he hadn’t taken me from the goodness of his heart. I am simply a pawn to be used and discarded at the most convenient time.
The arrogance in his tone—as if this deal was a forgone conclusion and victory for him—curdled her stomach. This man embodied everything she had come to know about the upper-class gentleman, this superiority and condescension. A man such as this was guided not by morality or purpose but only by what he could gain at the expense of others.
Before she could unknot her tongue to give him a proper set down, he stood, and his body was uncloaked.
