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“Why are you helping him?” she asked.
“Liam and I have always been very good friends. We always help one another.”
“I see,” Diana murmured, realizing something for the first time in two years. The night of the scandal, Annabelle had walked in with several women. That could not be a coincidence, especially because Crawford had found Diana in the room moments earlier. “You planned my fall, did you not?”
“You have everything!” Annabelle hissed. “Your father is a viscount, gentlemen adored you, yet you were willing to throw everything away for a man you had never met.”
“Be careful, dear Anna, for envy might age you,” Diana could not help saying, recalling how Annabelle loved her youth.
“Be quiet!”
Diana sucked in her lips, pretending to be contrite. If she wanted to escape, she would need to be obedient to some extent. Looking up at Crawford, she said, “I suppose you will give some of my inheritance to Annabelle and my aunt.”
He wiggled his eyebrows and smiled. “Yes. Thirty thousand is a fine sum. Lots to share.”
“How generous of you, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor,” Diana drawled, disgusted.
His lip curled at her remark. “I truly thought you were going to cooperate with me that night, but you led me into a trap. Marrying you and stealing from you is the perfect punishment.” He knocked on the carriage roof and it began to slow. When it stopped, he climbed out, but not before he said, “Annabelle, make her sleep.”
“What?” Diana turned to Annabelle, her eyes wide as she reached into a small bag beside her and pulled out a bottle and a handkerchief. “What are you doing?”
“What Liam asked me to do.” Annabelle smiled as the carriage began to move again. Diana saw Crawford riding beside them. “He was in love with you, you know?”
Diana could not help a bitter laugh. “If this is his love, then I pray no lady ever suffers the same fate from him.”
“He was very angry when you betrayed him and gave the duke your love.” Annabelle uncapped the bottle and poured something colorless into a handkerchief.
“The duke did not ruin my reputation, Crawford did.”
Annabelle rolled her eyes. “That is not my problem. All I want is my share so I can be free.”
“What bonds you?” Diana was earnestly curious, but half of her attention was on the bottle and handkerchief.
“Like you, my reputation suffered and still does.”
“Because of your association with me?”
Annabelle let out a bitter laugh. “Do not give yourself such flattery. My situation is not a consequence of what I did to you. I merely had the misfortune of giving myself to a dishonorable man who left me. Unlike you, my parents tossed me out on my ear, and I have spent the last year scrambling to live.”
Diana noticed her attire for the first time; a brown dress that had seen better days. Her once lustrous blonde hair was dull, and her green eyes held only malice now. “Not a consequence, you say?” Diana murmured.
“I maintain what I said, and you deserved what happened to you.” She raised the handkerchief. “Now, time to sleep.”
“Please, no—” Diana shook her head, trying to reason with her. “I will do what you ask but please do not make me sleep. You have already won. That thing…” she pointed at the bottle with her chin, “it fogs my mind, and my chest still aches. I do not want it to kill me, Annabelle.” She drew every ounce of pain she was feeling to her eyes. Diana was prepared to cry and fight to stay awake.
Annabelle hesitated, her eyes narrowing. “Well, we cannot kill you because then all of this would be for naught. Do you promise to behave?”
“Yes!” Diana nodded obediently. “Yes, I promise. I will do anything you want.”
Annabelle sighed and capped the bottle, then placed it back into the bag along with the soaked handkerchief. She eyed Diana for several seconds. “I want to feel sorry for you but I cannot. You were ruined, yet you managed to find a duke. A damned duke!” She laughed bitterly.
Diana did not say anything because she had promised to behave. She glanced down at her bound hands and thought of how she would be able to free herself. They would surely stop somewhere. Perhaps she could find a way then.
“I might have been jealous of you but you were good to me.” Annabelle came forward and took her wrists. “If you do anything you are not supposed to, I will make you sleep. Do you understand?” Diana nodded, and she began to undo the knots in her wrist bindings. “Keep your hands together as if they are bound. Liam would not be pleased if he sees that I have taken pity on you.”
“Thank you, Annabelle. I am truly grateful.” Diana meant that. She touched the chafed skin of her wrists when she was free and leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes. Her thoughts conjured Matthew’s face in her mind, and she had to bite her bottom lip to keep her emotions from erupting.
The fear of being separated from him had led her to refuse to tell him how much she loved him, and now she regretted it deeply. If she saw him again… No,whenshe saw him again, it would be the first thing she would say to him. Diana opened her eyes and sat up, blinking in disbelief when she saw Annabelle napping. Either she had slept quickly or Diana had been lost in her thoughts for a while; it did not matter because here was a rare opportunity.
