This time, Letty could not hide her reaction. She shoved back the extra few inches she had between herself and the wall. Anything to put as much distance between herself and the blistering heat of his anger.
“He abandoned you, Letitia!” Peter seethed. “They all abandon you. But not me! I came for you because you are mine. Even when you throw my affection back in my face, I remain at your side. But I do not have eternal patience. I grow weary of your senseless defiance.”
“Then let mego,” she gasped, finally breaking. “If you are tired of me, just let mego.”
At once, his anger vanished—and it was frightening to watch it suddenly disappear as it was to watch it suddenly appear. It reminded her that she could not trust any of his reactions, not even the negative ones.
“Oh, darling,” he purred. He came to sit next to her on the bed. She flinched away as he reached out to pet her hair. “You know I cannot do that. And I didn’t mean to scold you. You have just been so very difficult. But I understand that this is difficult for you. How about this? I shall give you one more day, all right? And then you can decide how you want it. You can either admit that you are mine and come with me. You will have everything you ever wanted, and we will be so very happy together. Or…”
He paused, then reached out and lifted her chin. He drew her face up until she looked at him.
“Or,” he said with a friendly casualness that was far more disturbing than his rage would have been, “you can remain a prisoner, right here, for the rest of your days. You will still be mine, of course. Wewillbe together, no matter what happens.”
He chucked her lightly under the chin. Letitia’s stomach roiled at the touch and at the threat in his words.
He planned to force her. He planned totakewhat she refused to give…or she could pretend to be willing. Both options were intolerable.
“The choice is all yours, darling.”
He stood and left.
The sound of the lock clicking behind him reminded her of a gun cocking. When his footsteps faded, she put her hands down in her face and wept.
* * *
After several days of travel, Ezra arrived in Belgium feeling as though his nerves were frayed. He had never been much of a traveler, and rushing across the Continent as quickly as he could with fear dogging his every step had not precisely made for unusually good circumstances.
The whole situation was so dire that when he disembarked from the last ship he had taken, the one that had dragged up the Zenne river with excruciating slowness, he was actuallygratefulto see Xander waiting for him at the docks.
And he was exhausted enough that he didn’t even mind when Xander immediately took charge of things, sending his footmen to gather Ezra’s belongings and load them into the waiting carriage.
“Ezra,” Xander said, smiling broadly as he clapped Ezra on the shoulder. Xander had not always been so happy. This was Helen’s influence. Or Helen’s fault, depending on how you looked at it. “Hugh wrote and said the circumstances are dire, but still, I am glad to see you. Did Hugh misunderstand when he said that this Dugley person hasabductedsomeone that you know?”
“No, that is correct,” Ezra said, sending up a brief prayer of thanks for Hugh Blackwood’s suspicious nature. It was better that he was here before Xander knew the whole picture.
They entered Xander’s carriage, which was well-sprung and elegant, though it did not carry the personal Godwin crest that adorned Xander’s carriage in London. When the door closed, it cut off the bustle of the docks.
“Then who was it?”
Ezra exhaled slowly.
“Letitia Knightley.”
Even in the dimness of the carriage, he could see Xander’s look of confusion.
“Letitia Knightley… my former governess?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“How do you evenknow...Miss Knightly has beenabducted?”
It was hard to say which of these facts surprised Xander more.
He breathed out a heavy breath.
“Listen,” Ezra said. “I am going to tell you a whole lot of information. You will have many questions. You do not have time to ask them.”
Xander didn’t look happy about it, but he nodded.
