Chapter Eight
“You cannot do this!” Vanessa snarled the moment the carriage had stopped, and Lord Langdon ripped open the door, his face contorted with a strange combination of both rage and satisfaction. “You have kidnapped me.” She scooted back in her seat as far from him as possible.
“I have notkidnappedyou,” Lord Langdon snapped. “Do not be so tiresome. I am merely taking my intended to Scotland where we might marry without the Duke of Thornfield getting in the way.”
“I am not your intended,” Vanessa said furiously. “I am betrothed the Duke of Thornfield!”
“You would really want to marry a man with so little honor as to steal my bride away from me?” he scoffed.
“You are the one without honor,” Vanessa said. “And what you have done will never stand. My parents will never acknowledge amarriage that took place without their consent—or mine. It will be annulled the moment we are back in England.”
“We will see about that,” Langdon said, leaning forward to grab her wrist and yanking her forward. “Especially once you are used goods.”
Vanessa was so shocked and horrified that for a moment, she went limp, and Langdon was able to pull her out of the carriage and out into the fresh air.
She looked around. They had been trundling along a country road for the last hour, and now, she saw that they had pulled up outside of an inn. From a quick glance around, they were quite a way outside of London. The only thing she could see were trees and the road stretching out in both directions.
“W-where are we?” she stammered, fear once again spreading through her body and making her begin to shake.
“Do not trouble yourself with the details,” Langdon snapped. “All you need to know is that we are going to Scotland and that, once there, you will consent to be my wife. If you do not, then you will have to content yourself with ending your days a spinster as I will make sure everyone knows we travelled together for three days before the marriage—without chaperones.”
Vanessa stared at him. His words from the night that the Duke had proposed echoed through her head:She will be mine whether she likes it or not.
While she had known he was a terrible man, she realized now that she had underestimated him; she had not thought him capable of something like this, especially once she was engaged to the powerful and feared Duke of Thornfield.
If Thornfield’s reputation cannot keep me safe, then what can?she thought as she stared at him.
Maybe it was better to marry him. To face her enemy rather than to spend the rest of her life fearing what he might do to her.
No!No sooner than the thought occurred to her, every instinct inside of her rejected it, and she felt a surge of bravery shoot through her. She wouldnotmarry this man. She would not give in to her instinct to please and mollify. She would resist him at every step of the way, even if it cost her her reputation.
It is better to be ruined than married to a man who will be cruel to you every day of his life.
“I will not marry you,” she said out loud with a firmness to her voice that she had not thought herself capable of. “You can try to force my hand, but ultimately, you cannot make me say words that I do not wish to say.”
Langdon’s face darkened. “We will see about that.”
He grabbed her hand again and pulled her toward the inn. “We will stay here tonight,” he said. “Do not even consider running away. The footman is one of my loyal men, and he will not helpyou. And I would not recommend trying to elicit help from one of the other patrons. This is not the most reputable inn, and you never know what scoundrel may do worse things than I could ever dream of.”
Langdon pushed her inside, then spoke for a few minutes with the innkeeper. Vanessa wondered if she should say something to him, beg him for help perhaps, but then she saw Langdon slide him a pouch of coins. He was bought and paid for, then. Once Langdon was done talking to the innkeeper, he pulled her the stairs and along the corridor. Once they reached the room, he unlocked it and pushed her inside.
“Do not push me!” she snarled, stumbling forward into the room. “You will treat me like a lady, even if you are my kidnapper!”
“Do not back-talk me,” Langdon snapped.
“I would listen to the lady if I were you, Langdon,” a voice said from behind them, and both Vanessa and Langdon whirled around.
“Ahh, Lady Vanessa,” a man she didn’t recognize said, stepping forward out of the shadows. “So good to make your acquaintance.”
Vanessa’s stomach dropped out of her. “Who the hell are you?” she gasped.
“Apologies for breaking into your room and scaring you like this. It was easy to climb up from outside, you see. You must allow me to introduce myself, as I believe Lord Langdon knows me already. My name is Leonard Kingsley, and I am here on behalf of the Duke of Thornfield. Do not be alarmed, my lady. You are in the midst of a rescue.”
“After all, Lord Langdon,” a voice said from behind them, “did you really think I would let you run away withmybride?”
Vanessa’s heart leapt in her chest. She knew that voice. It was the same voice that she had heard in the church’s confessional box. She turned slowly. Looming in the doorway, so tall he almost scraped the ceiling, his dark eyes flashing and his hair wild, was the Duke of Thornfield.
Chapter Nine
