“I tried to do this while Owen was gone, but each time I visited this blasted cottage, you were not to be seen. You’re a troublesome woman, you know? Difficult to pin down. So now that I have you, I need only to put you in the carriage that is waiting right outside the door, and then we can leave.”
Right outside? They would be long gone before anyone even noticed her absence. But right now she had a weapon, and she would not go without a fight.
“I will not agree to a wedding.”
“You will. I was prepared to do what I must tonight to separate you from Mrs. Buckley, and fortune favored me there. But do not think I won’t do what I must to ensure you speak the one word needed to secure a legal wedding in Scotland.”
Emma was beginning to feel lightheaded, fear surging through her body in waves.
Simon took a step closer, and she swung the poker. He dodged just in time to avoid being hit, but then he lunged, taking her by the arm. Emma gripped the poker hard, but she was no match in strength for Simon, and he wrested it from her hands, flinging it to the floor.
Simon’s hand dug into her arm as his other arm secured her against him. “Walk now, and if you scream, I’ll make certain Mrs. Buckley pays for it.”
Emma considered her options. She was not entirely helpless. Not yet.
He prodded her into the corridor, then toward the front door, half dragging and half pushing her. Once the door opened to the darkening sky, there were only a few steps between them and the waiting carriage. Emma’s panic grew.
This was it. If she was going to gain her freedom, now was her last chance, or he would have her.
They reached the carriage. Emma suppressed her anxiety. She needed her wits about her.
As Simon reached to open the door, she took her chance. He only had one arm around her, so she kicked back hard at his knee at the same time that she brought her head back, smashing it into his nose.
He let out a curse, releasing her on impact.
Emma lifted her skirt and bolted. She made it around the carriage, tearing across the lawn. The house was in sight. She needed only to make it near the house, and she would be safe.
Pumping her legs as hard as she could, she began to feel she had made it away when a hand grabbed the back of her skirt and yanked hard, and she went down.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Buckley Place had buzzedwith ball preparations all day, with servants placing flowers and chalking the floor, all of whom were being directed by Catherine. She was in her element, looking regal, her hair shiny and coiffed with pomade and scent. She was not the hostess of the evening, but she had certainly acted as though she were all day.
Carriages rolled up the drive in a steady procession, their wheels crunching over gravel that had been freshly raked. Polished lamps lit the front steps, welcoming guests from all over the surrounding countryside.
Owen stood at the top of the stairs, waiting for the woman who was meant to approach now on the arm of his aunt. But Aunt Clara walked alone in a stunning gown that showcased Emma’s skill, though no one else in the room would know it.
“Where is Emma?”
Aunt Clara approached sedately. “Finishing her toilette. She’ll be here shortly.”
He craned his neck to look down the stairs, but the entryway was empty.
“Not that soon, Owen.”
The first wave of guests had already been received and was in the seldom-used ballroom. “You are meant to stand at my side,” he said. “You are my hostess this evening, are you not?”
“And if I’ve changed my mind?” Aunt Clara asked.
“You would like to give that place to Catherine?”
She peered over his shoulder into the ballroom, frowning. “I suppose not.”
He would have preferred to stand beside his aunt as well. Each time he had tried to broach the topic of marrying Emma with his parents today, they had put him off. The very notion of tying himself to a woman with scandal attached to her name, who had spent the last several yearsworking, repulsed them. The rumors circling Briarstead that Emma was after him for his fortune were abhorrent, but he didn’t care enough to pay them any heed. He was tired of his mother caring enough for both of them.
If his parents believed they could avoid him so long that he would drop the matter, they were sorely mistaken. He would marry Emma, and if they were unhappy with the union, they could remain in Yorkshire.
He searched the room again for her, wondering if she had taken the short way inside and entered the ballroom through the garden steps.
