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Chapter 16
She should be born of a highly respectable family, possessed of wealth, well connected, and with many relations and friends. She should also be beautiful, of a good disposition, with lucky marks on her body.
The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana
Aunt Sarah had been right. The soup had been highly effective.
Nick had lost control, gathering her into his strong arms and lifting her to the counter. He’d been overcome with carnal longings and they’d nearly... well, all of her questions had nearly been answered in the kitchens.
It had made her feel powerful, confident, and capable of regaining the upper hand.
Chalk up one round for the Lady Rake,she thought with satisfaction as she entered Jane’s chambers. She’d taken the tray from March, so as not to startle Jane with a male presence.
The effects of the laudanum were wearing off. Jane’s unusual light purple eyes were much clearer and she didn’t have such a bewildered, frightened air.
Jane made a motion as if she were going to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear, and then looked surprised when there was no hair to tuck.
It broke Alice’s heart.
“How are you feeling?” Alice asked, setting down the tray on the bedside table.
“Much improved, thank you.” Jane smiled shyly. “Your name is Alice?”
“You remembered. I wasn’t certain how much you would recall of last night. You were very disoriented.”
“My keeper drugged me. To keep me quiet.” Her eyes hardened. “They tried to keep me quiet and docile. But I fought them.”
“My husband told me where you came from. The Yellow House is a... lunatic asylum.”
Tears welled in Jane’s eyes. “I’m not mad.”
“Of course not,” Alice said briskly. “I brought you some soup.” She indicated the tray. “Shall I help you?”
“I can manage.” Jane lifted the tray into her lap, her hands wobbling only slightly. “I’m grateful for your attentions, Alice. Am I to assume this is your home?”
“You are in the Duke of Barrington’s house.”
Jane paused with her soup spoon raised. “The Mad Duke’s house?”
Alice nodded. “The very one.”
“Then who were the gentlemen who escorted me to safety last night?”
“One of them was a Captain Lear, whom I know nothing about. And the gentleman you met upon arrival was my husband, the Marquess of Hatherly, the Duke’s son.”
“I’m afraid I was rather rude.”
“You were frightened and unwell.”
Jane lowered her spoon. “They saved my life, Alice. I had been in that forsaken place one month. I thought I would die there, shackled to a bedpost, a hideous thing with tufted hair and bruised wrists.”
Alice winced. “One month. You poor thing. Please, don’t dwell on it right now. Eat some more soup. You need to bolster your strength.”
Jane stared out the window, her eyes gone flat and cold. “My keeper hated me because I was highborn. She forced me to eat in a most cruel manner, shoving a metal feeding tube down my throat. Many choked to death under the care of a keeper. I was nearly one of them.”
“Shh...” Alice said soothingly. She took a seat close to the bed. “Don’t think of it. You’re safe now. You’ll never go back there.”
Jane grabbed Alice’s hand suddenly, spilling soup over the coverlet. “I’m not safe, Alice. And neither are you. I must leave here. My presence is a danger to you.”
