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ed roughly into the carriage. Before she could regain her balance, she was hauled bodily inside. As soon as Hyacinth was aboard, the carriage door slammed closed and the carriage lurched into motion.
“What do you think you are doing? Where’s Molly?” Ursula demanded as she clambered onto the seat directly opposite Alfred and Hyacinth.
“Molly is a bit busy now,” Hyacinth declared coldly, completely unconcerned about any injuries she might have caused the innocent maid.
“If you have hurt her, I will ensure you feel the full weight of the law,” Ursula snapped. “This is kidnap. How dare you do this to me? Just who do you think you are? I demand you let me out right now.”
“I am not letting you go anywhere just yet,” Alfred snapped.
In contrast to the mild mannered young man Ursula had met before, the Alfred who sat opposite her now was cold and ruthless, and brought about a deep shiver of unease within her that made her feel slightly sick. She turned a glare on Hyacinth and shuddered at the similarities that lay between the brother and sister. They were so alike that if she didn’t know one was male, and the other female, she would have considered them to be twins.
When neither of them seemed inclined to explain what they wanted with her, she slid over to the window but neither the window nor the door would open.
“The blind cannot be opened. The door is locked, and there is no handle on the inside so you can’t get out until we stop. I suggest you sit back and wait. We are going to be a while,” Alfred declared in a voice that was so matter-of-fact they could have been out for an afternoon ride.
Ursula glanced around the rather ramshackle carriage. “Where are you taking me now you have kidnapped me?”
“You will find out soon enough,” Hyacinth snapped.
“How dare you kidnap me like this?” Ursula snarled, as outraged as she was terrified.
“I am merely looking after our best interests,” Alfred replied crisply, and leaned back nonchalantly against the seat in a casual pose that was at odds with the seriousness of the situation.
Ursula wanted to smack him; and his sister too.
“You won’t get away with this,” she declared coldly when she had considered her options and realised there weren’t any.
“I already have,” Alfred declared smugly. “I am afraid that by the time your aunt discovers the maid, she will be too insensible to give them much detail about what happened to her. You will be long gone I am afraid, so will be unable to raise any help at all.”
“Adelaide will not stop searching until she has found me,” Ursula protested. “Trenton will scour every inch of London.”
“Ha! Trenton was too busy with his lady-love last night to even bother with you. What on earth makes you think that he will go to the time and trouble of searching for you?” Hyacinth scoffed.
Ursula looked at her and she tried to think of a suitable argument, but couldn’t. “He has promised my father he will look after me while I am here. He can hardly go back to Yorkshire and say that he has lost me while he was smooching with another woman.” She tried to make her voice sound as indifferent as theirs but failed miserably because it shook uncontrollably with fear.
“I don’t care what he promised your father, that man is a failure. You are a fool if you think that sleeping with him will make any difference to his relationship with Serena. Why, everyone who is anyone knows they are an item,” Alfred snapped scornfully. He leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees to study her closely. “Don’t tell me that you didn’t know,” he mused wryly as he studied the hurt on Ursula’s face. “Well, well, well, he has managed to fool you too.” He laughed loudly. “Well, I suppose even soiled you will have to suffice.”
“Soiled?” Determined not to be panicked by him, she levelled a glare on him that could have frozen him to the spot. “I am no such thing.”
“Oh, come now. We saw you smooching with him in the street like a common whore. I don’t know why he didn’t pay you a penny for your services,” Hyacinth scoffed.
“Oh, you would know all about offering men a penny for your services then, would you?” she retorted.
The sharp sting of the slap she received across her cheek was loud in the silence of the carriage.
“Now, now, Hyacinth. It will do no good to damage the bride on her wedding day,” Alfred declared. He gave his sister a pointed look. “That will come later.”
“Wedding day?” Ursula stared at both of them and wondered if they had lost their minds. “I am not marrying anyone today.”
“I am afraid you will marry me today,” Alfred declared firmly. “You have no choice in the matter.”
“I will not,” Ursula snorted. “You are the very last person I would ever marry.” She threw a warning look at Hyacinth. “I don’t care how much you slap me, nothing could persuade me to go through with it. You will have to kill me first.”
“That can be arranged,” Hyacinth declared quietly.
“Go on then. Do it, because I should rather that than marry him. You have just wasted your entire day, if that’s what you have kidnapped me for,” she declared. She threw a scornful look at Alfred. “Then again, I am not surprised you have had to resort to actually accosting a woman on the streets to get her to marry you. I doubt there is any woman insane enough to want to marry you willingly. You are, by far, the very scourge of society. No wonder you mother is shunned by decent society. Having witnessed what she has raised, I am surprised she has managed to move amongst the ton for as long as she has without being cast out for being a fraudster.”
The second slap that Hyacinth landed against her cheek made her eyes sting. This time, Ursula wasn’t prepared to allow her to get away with it and landed a stinging blow in return before Hyacinth had resumed her seat.
