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“I did, but he clearly did not heed the warning.”
“I can’t believe you are resorting to this.”
Mr. Huxley’s eyes grew cold. “It is my turn to be rich.”
“How can you say such a thing?” she asked.
“I deserve so much more than what my father has given me at the bank,” Albert said. “My father thinks I am incompetent.”
“Are you?”
“No!” he exclaimed. “It is my father who is incompetent! Not me! He calls me names, as if that will get me to work any faster.”
“I am sorry that your father is treating you that way.”
“Once I am married to you, I will be rich, proving to him that I am not a failure,” Mr. Huxley declared, his nostrils flaring.
“But at what cost?”
He glared at her. “It doesn’t matter.”
“How can you say that?” Daphne asked. “You are forcing me into a marriage to prove something to your father?”
“You do not need to concern yourself with that. I will make you happy.”
“By forcing me to beg for my food?”
“You are much too opinionated for a young woman,” he started. “You need to learn your place in Society.”
“And you are going to teach me?”
Mr. Huxley reached up and smacked her across the cheek. “I tire of your insolent talk. I am your fiancé.”
“No, you are just the man who abducted me,” she said dryly as she brought her hand up to her reddening cheek.
“You will obey me, or I will beat you into submission.”
“I will never submit to you,” she asserted.
He brought his hand up again, and she flinched in response. But before he could hit her, the coach started weaving back and forth.
“What is going on?” she asked as she put her hand up on the wall of the coach to steady herself.
A grim look came to Mr. Huxley’s face as he glanced out the window. “Highwaymen,” he muttered.
Guy leaned lowerin the saddle as he saw the coach up ahead, attempting to coax more speed out of his gelding. He hoped this was Huxley’s coach. They had already stopped another coach on the road, frightening the poor occupants.
The coach started weaving back and forth, and he knew they had been spotted. It wasn’t long before he overtook the coach and pointed his pistol at the driver. The man seemed to value his life, and Guy was pleased to see the coach begin to slow down.
“Come down from there,” he ordered the driver once the coach had stopped.
The driver did his bidding and hurried off the box. He went to stand next to the footman, who had also descended from his perch.
Remaining on top of his horse, Guy shouted, “Stand and deliver!”
The coach door opened, and Mr. Huxley exited from the coach, his hands up in front of him. “We don’t want any trouble,” he said as he kept his gaze lowered.
“I’m afraid that is impossible, since you abducted Miss Locke.”
