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“She sounds like an exceptional woman.” Beatrice fingered his waistcoat.

“That she is. You’ll meet her when we reach Hefferwickshire.”

Cassius continued to speak softly, telling Beatrice story after story about his grandmother. All the while, he held her in his arms and soothed her trembling with long, comforting strokes down her back.

Beatrice’s fear gradually subsided, and her breathing settled into an even cadence as the night wore on. Surely it must be near midnight by now. Yawning, she snuggled closer, and it felt…right and natural…No, it felt perfect. She would cherish the memory of this night all her life.

Closing her eyes, she listened to Cassius’s pleasant baritone until sleep carried her away.

A wet nose on her cheek woke her sometime later.

She lay cocooned beside Cassius, who snored softly near her ear.

“Teddy?” she murmured groggily.

“Holy hell!” Cassius bolted upright and dashed to the door, where he struggled with the board, acting as a barrier to intruders. “Something’s gone wrong.”

Light filtered in through a myriad of cracks in the walls.

Heart racing and mouth gone dry as parchment paper, Beatrice sat up, shoving her hair away from her face.

Oh, my God.

It’s morning.

No one had come.