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Well, he wouldn’t find any answers in this room. If he wanted to know where he was or why, he’d have to seek out the answers from beyond this chamber. He’d need to confront his attackers. If they hadn’t killed him and had gone to all this trouble to bring him here, it meant they wanted something from him. And it was time to find out what.
* * *
Lavinia woke up with a terrible headache. For a moment, she thought Miss Gale was lying on her back because she felt a heavy weight on her. But after a few minutes, she realized that her limbs felt like they weighed a few stones. She groaned and struggled to turn to her back.
There was a movement in the room.Beatrice?
Then the bed dipped as someone sat beside her, but Lavinia’s vision was too blurry to really make out who it was.
“Here, drink this.”
Lavinia hastened to sit up, and strong hands helped pull her up and lean her against the pillows. Strong fingers took her hands in his and then handed her a glass of water.
“Drink,” he repeated.
Lavinia gulped down the life-giving elixir and was finally able to breathe deeply. She felt a lot better. She handed the glass back and rubbed her eyes with her wrists. She raised her head and stared at the Marquess of Roth’s deep emerald-green eyes. He was sitting beside her, watching her curiously.
“What are you doing here?” she croaked.
The marquess hid his smile. “Do you know whatyouare doing here?”
“Well, I just woke up…” Lavinia studied his enigmatic features, then looked around. “Oh my God! Where are we?”
Lord Roth nodded. “Apparently, we are in the small village of Watchet.”
Lavinia scrunched up her face in confusion. “Where?”
“Yes. I went downstairs to look for our captors, but we are all alone in this house. I was forced to go out and seek some answers, but there were not many people about. I stumbled upon a fisherman who was kind enough to show me a clean stream, sold me a couple of fish, and told me where we are.”
Lavinia placed her fingers against her temples. Her head started buzzing again. “What are we doing here?”
Roth’s exhale communicated all the suffering of a man who’d been forced into a situation not of his own making. “I wish I knew. But I think it has something to do with the bastard who wanted to court my niece… And I refused.”
A bastard wanted to court Victoria? What did that have anything to do with them being in this strange house? A whisper of a memory nagged at her brain. Something familiar… But it was escaping her.
“But how did we end up here?”
“I was accosted.” Roth rubbed the side of his head. “And I have a sizable bump to prove it.”
“Oh, no!” Lavinia shifted toward him, but her own head felt like it was full of lead. She licked her lips, a lingering taste of something bitter making her grimace.
Suddenly, memories came flooding back to Lavinia. She was getting ready to leave the estate, and she’d witnessed Roth getting attacked.Oh, Lord!
“What I do not understand,” Roth continued, “is what you have to do with any of it. Why are you here? With me.”
Lavinia leaned back against the pillows. “Is there more water? There’s a horrible taste in my mouth.”
Roth nodded. “Of course.” He poured some water from the pitcher and handed it to her.
Lavinia rolled the glass in her hand, watching the crystal-clean drink. The water was never this clean in London. She took a few sips and handed the glass back to him before speaking. “I sought you out.”
Roth placed the glass on the bedside table and looked at her under furrowed brows. “Why?”
“I-I wanted to apologize for… well, you know… for trying to trick you into marriage.” She grimaced, her cheeks growing hotter and hotter with every word. “I rode into the field, and I saw men carrying you. I thought you were hurt and instead of running away, I ran toward you. And well… Here I am.”
She smiled awkwardly under Roth’s penetrating gaze. There was a beat of silence.
“Well,” he finally said. “I suppose you got your wish.”
Lavinia blinked. “Pardon me?”
Roth smiled tightly. “After our adventures, I shallhaveto marry you.”
