It didn’t take long for them to head out. Anthony took the carriage, since it wasn’t far to Ipswich and the roads were good that way. Lucien and Dorian both took fresh horses from the stables. Dorian realized, as he pulled himself up onto the fastest and strongest stallion in his stables, that he hadn’t eaten all day, and would most likely be riding all night long without stopping for food.
But he didn’t care. As he passed through the village and then pointed the horse north, he didn’t feel even remotely hungry or tired. He only wanted to find Leah as fast as he could, before it was too late.
Epilogue
“We have to stop for the night,” Leah said. It was getting dark, and they had been on the road for many hours now. She was exhausted, dirty, still caked and mud, and sweaty. She knew she must look a horrible mess, and she was in desperate need of a bath.
“We will not be stopping for the night,” Dubois said, not bothering to look at her from where he sat across from her. “We will go straight through to Scotland.”
“You cannot be serious,” she said. The incredulity in her voice made him look up at last, and he frowned at her.
“As you can imagine, we do not have much time,” he snapped. “We must get married before anything can stop it.”
“And then what?” she asked.
“What do you mean? We will be married.”
“And what kind of marriage will that be, exactly?” She raised her eyebrows at him. “You have not thought this through, My Lord. You think you can just kidnap me and take me to the border, and that I will just fall in line after we are married. Have you even thought about the fact that every day married to me will be a living hell?”
“You will fall in line,” he snapped. “As all ladies do.”
“Do they?” She scoffed. “Or will every day of our marriage make you wish that you had never forged that document to begin with? I will scream, I will cry, I will be cruel to you, and I will certainly not bear you children.”
“It is your duty to do so,” he said, his eyebrows knitting together.
“But I will not, and I will make having me as your wife so difficult that you will long for the death that you seem to think awaits you in the near future.”
Dubois folded his arms. “What is your point? That if we stop for the night you will become a pliable bride?”
“My point is that you cannot treat me like an animal, to be bought and sold and tied up in a carriage, and then expect us to have anything other than a horrendous marriage! You have to make compromises. You have to treat me like a woman--like a human being. And right now, what I need is to stop for the night, bathe, and put on a clean dress. This is your duty as well, as my future husband. Do you really want me to wed you in a muddy gown with dirt all over my face?”
Dubois said nothing for a long moment. She could almost see him calculating the pros and cons in his mind. At last, he said, “If I allow us to stop for the night, then you must promise me that you will be less antagonistic towards me. In truth, it is becoming very weary.”
Leah had to do everything within her power to point out that kidnapping someone is the last thing you should do if you don’t want them to be antagonistic toward you. But she didn’t. If it made him stop for the night, she would say whatever he wanted.
“Fine,” she conceded, and he raised an eyebrow.
“I said less antagonistic,” he said.
She took a deep, steadying breath. “Alright,” she said, more calmly. “I will be less antagonistic toward you if we can stop for the night.”
Dubois watched her for a moment, then nodded. “But you must also promise not to run away.”
“How would I run away?” she pointed out. “This is your carriage and driver. We are in the middle of nowhere. I’d have nowhere to go.”
He nodded again, then let out a small sigh, and she got the impression that he was also tired and eager for a warm bed to sleep in. After all, he was an old man, and traveling through the night could not be easy for him.
“Brandon!” He thumped on the roof. “The next inn we pass, we stop at.”
It didn’t take long for them to reach one. At last, Leah felt the carriage slowing down, and then it came to a halt altogether.
“You have to untie me,” she said, looking across at Dubois, who was looking out the window at the small, nondescript inn they had stopped in front of. “They will be suspicious if they see a bound woman brought into an inn.”
Dubois glared at her. “Fine, but again, if you try to run, I will not hesitate to shoot. I have nothing to lose, after all.”
She swallowed and nodded, and he began to untie her. Every time his fingers accidentally touched her, she felt her revulsion and anger grow. But she didn’t dare do anything--not yet.
Finally, she was fully untied. She stretched, letting the feeling come back into her arms and hands, then she followed Lord Dubois out of the carriage and up to the front of the inn. Inside, they found an innkeep sweeping the hall.
