“Stop.” He didn’t look at her, but she could tell by his tone she’d said the wrong thing. “None of that matters.”
“Of course it does,” she tried, hating the uncomfortable atmosphere clinging to the walls and the awkwardness wedged between them. “One day, you’ll find a woman who will fall in love with those qualities. A woman who will love you as you deserve to be loved.”
“Why the hell should I care about that when she won’t be you?” he shouted with such brutal force and suddenness that Abigail scrambled back onto the bed.
Staring at him, at his flattened mouth, clenched jaw, and flashing eyes, she felt a tremor of fear slide down her back. “I...I...” She shook her head and frantically searched for the right thing to say.
He moved toward her and she scooted back, until she was pressed up against the headboard. “Why don’t you love me as you should, Abby?” His sneer was low and full of menace.
Abigail’s heart pounded against her ribs. This wasn’t the man she knew. This wasn’t the amicable friend with whom she’d laughed on countless occasions or on whose shoulder she’d cried at the age of twelve when her dog had died. This person who stood before her, now leaning in, was someone else entirely – a stranger she did not recognize.
“As you say,” he continued. “I’m kind and considerate. Wonderful even, by your account.” His knee landed on the mattress and then he placed both hands on either side of her, caging her in as he stared down into her eyes. “But I’m still not good enough for you.”
“Toby,” she said, her voice weaker than she would have liked. “Let’s talk about this. Let’s—”
“Do you know what I think, Abby?” His gaze dropped to the edge of her neckline and for a second, Abigail forgot how to breathe. When he looked up, he wore the most unsettling expression she’d ever seen. It was smug and full of determination. “I think you could learn to love me.”
She barely managed to comprehend his meaning before his mouth was on hers, hard and unyielding. Dismayed and suddenly terrified, Abby grabbed at his shoulders and tried to push him away. But he was heavier than she and relentless in his assault.
Straddling her hips, he held her down with his weight. A whimper escaped her and she clutched at his face in a blind attempt to twist him away. But her battered body was weak from the fall, and as pain arched through her, he grabbed her wrists and forced them down onto the mattress.
With no resources left, she did the only thing she could think of and bit his lip.
He released her instantly, and for a second, she believed she’d won. But then she saw the look in his eyes – dark, pained, and full of anger. “That was a foolish mistake,” he murmured.
Abigail’s blood ran cold. Trembling, she tried to gauge the space between Tobias and the door. Was there any way for her to escape him without his catching her first? It was unlikely. But she had to try. So she launched herself forward only to feel his hand curl possessively around her ankle. Before she managed to leave the bed, she was yanked back. A scream broke from her throat as she landed face down, kicking and flailing.
“Hold still and be quiet, damn you!”
“Never!” She screamed again, praying that someone would hear and come to her rescue.
“So be it then,” he gritted. Climbing onto her, he held her down and pressed her face into the bedclothes. She kept trying to reach behind her back, grabbing at what she supposed must be his thigh, but nothing she did made him budge. And then he was tying something around her mouth – a length of fabric. His cravat, perhaps?
Abigail tried to scream once again but this time, only a muffled sound emerged. Eyes wet with tears, she bucked and twisted, hoping to somehow dislodge him so she could escape. But then she felt him shift, rising a little and...
Oh God!
A choked sob escaped her as Tobias shoved up her skirts. “This is the only way,” he said. “Once I’ve claimed you, you’ll have no choice in the matter. Nobody will.”
Despite the raw ache gripping her arms and shoulders, Abby reached behind herself once again and tried to hit him. Dear heaven above, he was going to force her to get what he wanted. “No!” Her shout was barely audible against the fabric muffling her voice.
“You have the most gorgeous bottom I’ve ever seen,” he said, settling one palm against it and letting his fingers sink into the flesh. He shifted again, muttered a curse, and was suddenly yanking at one of her stockings. “I told you to stay still but you just won’t listen.” Grabbing her wrists he pulled them together in front of her head and wound the stocking around them until they were tied together.
“Please,” she tried, almost choking with helpless despair.
“Shh...” The anger was suddenly gone from his voice, replaced by a husky whisper. He leaned over her. His lips brushed her cheek. “I wish I could make this good for you, Abby, but I just don’t have the time. So please forgive me.”
She tried once again to move, but weakness overwhelmed her. A bone-shattering angst, the likes of which she’d never known, dug its claws into her soul.
She closed her eyes and thought of James.
And then the door to the room crashed open.
#
“GET YOUR BLOODY HANDSoff of her, you bastard!”
Having followed a trail that consisted of two eye-witness accounts and a white silk slipper he’d found on the side of the road, James had leapt from Lance’s phaeton the moment they’d pulled up to the first inn. Only to learn, after a great deal of hollering, that Abigail and Chesterfield weren’t there.
