Chapter Nineteen
Livy
Livy had expectedthey would throw the three of them into the carriage and continue on horseback. That way, she and Cilla could persuade Beryl to untie them.
No such luck. Jasper and Curston crowded into the carriage, and Curston sat between her and Beryl, while Jasper took the back facing seat alongside Cilla. Livy hoped they were not traveling some distance, or over a rough road. Cilla had never been able to manage for long in a backward facing seat, and she was gagged, so if she became sick…
Frightened for her sister, Livy tried to speak, to warn the men, but Curston laughed at the noises she made.
“I cannot understand you, Olivia,” he said. “Stop trying, or I’ll give you something to make a noise about. Jasper, I might keep her gagged until she learns to obey me. What do you think? No one needs a wife who is a scold.”
“She’s trying to tell you…” Beryl began, but Jasper hissed, “Shut your mouth, Beryl, or I’ll gag you, too.”
Curston put his arm around Livy and pulled her against his body, and then pawed at her breasts. “They’re as big as they look,” he said to Jasper, sounding delighted. Fear, disgust, and anger made a nauseating mix. Livy’s gut might prove to be as treacherous as her sister’s. Though it would serve this cur right ifshe choked on her own vomit right in his lap, she forced herself to swallow the reaction. She would live to see him suffer for this, dammit.
“Here, Curston, let her go,” Jasper ordered. “You cannot paw her like that in front of my sister.”
“But we agreed that the sooner—” Curston began.
Jasper interrupted. “Not in front of my sister, I said. We’ll have to wait until we get to the cottage. We have plenty of time. Even if they find the footman, Mama and your father will stop people from following us. And even if someone does come after us, they won’t know where to go.”
Jasper had a thread of decency left. Was there hope in that? Not enough to rely on.But Henry was conscious. He winked at me. With luck, he will get help and pursuit will not be far behind. Livy was holding to that thought with all her might.
“That’s true,” Curston acknowledged. “Very well. Stop the carriage. If I can’t have my way with your cousin, I’m going to ride.”
“Good idea. Let’s tie Beryl up so she can’t untie the others, and I’ll come too.”
Jasper banged on the hatch between the carriage interior and the coachman, and ordered the carriage stopped, then Curston descended, leaving the carriage door open.
“Cilla gets sick in carriages,” Beryl whimpered to Jasper. “Please take her gag off, Jasper.”Thank goodness Beryl spoke up. Livy had been terrified for her sister.
“You’re making that up. I’ve traveled with her before.”
“Short distances, and when she is facing the way carriage is going,” Beryl insisted. “Please, Jasper. You can’t marry her if she chokes to death.”
Good girl, Beryl.
Cilla, her eyes wide above the gag, nodded vigorously.
Curston climbed back aboard with a coil of rope. Jasper reported, “We need to put Cilla in the forward-facing seat and take the gag off. Beryl says she gets sick in carriages.”
“We’ll tie Beryl up first.” They did so, Curston binding her hands behind her back and Jasper tying her ankles together. Then Jasper untied Cilla’s gag, lifted her, and put her on the other carriage seat.
“Me, too,” Livy did her best to say, but could only make noises. Nonetheless, Jasper understood and went to undo her gag, but Curston stopped him. “Not Olivia. Let her remain gagged. I don’t trust her not to be plotting against us.”
He was quite right, too, the dastard. But if he thought Cilla would not be plotting against them, he didn’t know her at all.
Moments later, they were gone, and the carriage was underway again. The three girls looked at one another. “Beryl,” Cilla said. “I mean no offense to you, but I am not going to agree to marry your brother under any circumstances. And Livy will not agree to marry Curston, will you Livy?”
Livy nodded, which was the best she could do. And if he went through some form of ceremony anyway, she would run at her first opportunity, and Pa would help her to have the marriage annulled.
“It won’t be a legal marriage, Beryl,” Cilla explained, “if we do not consent, or if our consent is forced from us.”
“I can see why you do not want to marry Jasper,” Beryl admitted. “I would love to have you as a sister, but I would not want to be married to someone like Jasper. As for Curston…!” She shuddered, and Livy agreed wholeheartedly.
“Then we can count on your help?” Cilla insisted. “If there is a chance to escape, you will help us to take it?”
“Mama wants this marriage,” Beryl said, doubtfully. “She says we would be out in the streets if it were not for Uncle Horace. She says she does not want to be going cap in hand toyour father all the time. We need your dowry, Cilla, for Jasper cannot seem to mend his ways, and he is very expensive.”
