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What was wrong with the man? Evie wondered as she looked at Hunter St. John, sitting beside her from beneath the dark sweep of her lashes.
First he came blundering into the kidnappers’ camp, and now he had gone silent and was very white in the face as he stared straight ahead. As if he was unable to even look at her.
The silence between them grew increasingly thick and heavy with tension.
Finally, the duke unclenched his jaw. “Did— Have—” He closed his eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed before speaking again. “Have you suffered any physical harm at the hands of these gentlemen?”
“A bruise or two during the scuffle when I was first taken, but— No!” she gasped as his meaning and the reason for the grimness of his expression suddenly became clear. “They have behaved like perfect gentlemen.” Unlike some people, her defiant tone challenged.
The duke released a long breath of relief. “That is good to hear.”
“Is it?”
He scowled. “Of course.”
“Did Lady Margaret really travel all the way to London to speak with you personally on my behalf?” Evie prompted affectionately.
“And greatly discomforted she was too, having to travel by public coach because you had purloined the only carriage on the estate.” He levelled his narrowed gaze on the muddy carriage across the clearing from where they were both now tethered to the post in the ground.
Evie glared her increasing dislike of this man. “Perhaps if you had not been so parsimonious regardingourcomfort, we might have hadtwocarriages at our disposal rather than one.”
A nerve pulsed in Lincoln’s clenched cheeks. “The only thing I am guilty of neglecting to do in regard to yourself is the administration of the smacked arse you are obviously so sorely in need of!”
Evie gasped, both at the intent and crudity of the statement. “You would not dare!”
His moss-green eyes slowly turned in her direction, one arrogant brow arched.
Evie forced herself to continue meeting that challenging gaze for several long seconds before turning away, unable to withstand that coldness for a moment longer.
The silence that followed was no more comfortable, until Evie felt forced to break it. “How much longer before your men rescue us?”
“My men…?”
She turned to look at Lincoln. “The men you brought with you, but who are still hiding— No!” she gasped incredulously when a sudden thought occurred to her. “You cannot… Surely you did not… Is it possible you really are so arrogant that you believed you would be able to come here alone and affect my release?”
“I had believed I would be dealing with reasonable men.”
“They are desperate men!” she corrected heatedly. “Men who have been driven to this extreme behavior by your complete lack of understanding for their situation.”
Evie scrambled to her feet. If she hadn’t, she might have resorted to physically striking the man who was now once again looking up at her with that eyebrow raised in haughty query.
A disdain that succeeded in breaking the last of her calm. “I cannot believe you have dared to accusemeof behaving irresponsibly, when the fact you chose to come here alone is the height of stupidity!”
“I suggest you choose your words carefully when speaking to me, young lady,” Lincoln bit out icily.
“And I suggestyouare nothing but a self-important nincompoop.” She began to pace up and down as far as the rope secured about her waist would allow. “Until today, you have shown a complete disinterest in affecting my quick release from these gentlemen. Now you have compounded that cold indifference byassumingyou could come here andreasonwith the men who only kidnapped me because they have been displaced from their homes and separated from their families because ofyourgreed and lack of a heart. Not that I should be in the least surprised by the latter,” she scoffed. “Considering the way you have ignored my existence all these years.”
“And yet it is Lady Margaret’s belief you were on your way to see me in London when you were waylaid?” he drawled.
She gave a disgusted shake of head. “That is because, at the time, I still believed there might be some redeeming factor to your nature to which I might appeal to put an end to my interminable boredom with Yorkshire. Obviously, I was wrong,” she dismissed scathingly.
“I have warned you to have a care with what you say to me in future,” the duke bit out.
She gave a dismissive snort. “And because you have warned me, I should instantly take heed of it?” She huffed. “You might be the haughty Duke of Lincoln, but you have not earned the right to expect either obedience or civility from me, and until you do, I shall continue to say and do exactly as I please.”
His nostrils flared. “I do not advise it.”
