“Your note implied that you only wished to speak to me,” Ellie said, tilting her chin stubbornly. “I have no intention of getting into that coach.”
Lord Worthington looked bored by her refusal. “If you don’t, then I will have no qualms about killing your mother.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
Leaning forward in his seat, he opened his jacket to reveal a pistol tucked into the waistband of his trousers. “There is nothing to negotiate,” he growled. “Get into the coach.”
“Not until you tell me where we are going.”
“To Gretna Green, of course,” Lord Worthington said with a flick of his wrist.
As Ellie reached up to touch the pin in her hair to alert Emma, she was grabbed from behind and tossed into the coach. She landed in a heap in front of Lord Worthington just as the coach jerked forward.
“We didn’t have all day for you to come to your decision,” he mocked, leaning back in his seat. “We need to depart if we wish to marry soon.”
“I won’t marry you!” she exclaimed.
“I think you will, assuming you want your mother to live,” Lord Worthington remarked casually.
Ellie moved to sit on the bench across from Lord Worthington. “Lord Bideford will come after me,” she said. “He won’t let this injustice go unanswered.”
“I am hoping he does, my dear,” Lord Worthington responded with a cruel smile. “I would like nothing more than to shoot him and be done with him.”
“I believe you are underestimating Lord Bideford.”
“Perhaps it is you who is overestimating him.” Lord Worthington chuckled cruelly. “The moment you stepped into this coach with me, you were ruined,” he said. “No man will want you now.”
“But you do?”
“But of course,” he replied. “I want your dowry. I always have.”
“Is that why you wish to marry me?”
He nodded. “Your father was entirely too generous with your mother’s jointure and your dowry. He left me little choice in the matter. I refuse to lose twenty thousand pounds.”
“It was never yours to lose.”
“I disagree,” he argued. “Besides, you are rather fortunate to look at. I could have done much worse for myself.”
“Thank you for those kind words,” she mocked.
“It will be a challenge to tame your sharp tongue, but I have no doubt that it can be done.” The way he said this made her skin crawl.
“I will change for no man,” she declared.
He smirked. “You will have no choice.”
“How so?”
“Once we are wed, you belong to me, and I shall deal with you however I see fit.”
Ellie glanced over at the closed drapes. “I refuse to marry you.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“How so?”
His eyes held amusement as he revealed, “I know an anvil priest who is willing to look the other way when it comes to the bride’s… willingness, if you will.”
