Lady Thorn

by Catherine Archer

  Yet her life had changed irrevocably.

  Not wanting to think about that, or anything to do with the man, Victoria urged her horse to a gallop. The wind whipped the bonnet from her head, but she did not even slow as she sped over the grounds. Somehow, some way, she had to get him from her mind, had to find a way to be content in herself again, to wipe his touch from her soul.

  Perhaps it was because of her preoccupation with these thoughts that Victoria did not sense that something was wrong. Perhaps it was because Reginald Cox had grown more clever in his plans to take her.

  One moment she was seated on her horse, racing though the trees, the next she was looking up from the ground. The air rushed from her in a painful gasp, and her back was on fire with the force of the landing. At first Victoria could think of nothing besides trying desperately to suck air into her starved lungs.

  As soon as she saw Reginald’s face appear above her own, a new sensation gripped her: fear. With Jedidiah gone, she had no one to come to her aid. She’d not even thought to bring a groom.

  Cox smiled. “Victoria.”

  She did not reply, making a great show of breathing deeply. Heaven help her, what was she to do? Obviously the madman would not listen to any reasonable arguments to let her go, or he would not be here.

  He turned to someone just out of sight. “Get the carriage.” She could only assume that he must have again enlisted the aid of the imbecilic Lloyd Jenkins. That made two against one, no matter how inept they were.

  Telling herself she could not allow him to see how badly shaken she was, Victoria simply lay there. Her mind churned as she tried to think of some way out of this, while giving her body time to right itself.

  Lord, what a fool she had been to let this lunatic go free after his attempted abductions of her. Jedidiah had been right in thinking she should have him arrested.

  He spoke again. “Victoria, surely you have recovered somewhat by now. I am very sorry for having to resort to such lengths. But you did force me.” He bent to help her up.

  Using surprise as her ally, she drove her clenched fist into his nose. Reginald rocked backward, crying out in outrage and pain as blood gushed from the offended organ.

  Quick as a cat, she pushed him with both hands and scrambled to her feet. He reached out to grab her, but she sidestepped him neatly and raced toward her horse. The escape attempt would have succeeded quite well, if the horse had not stepped on the trailing skirt of her riding habit.

  As Victoria pushed at the animal to try and free herself, Reginald was upon her. He grabbed her from behind, giving a cry of fury as she bit his hand. “That will be quite enough!” he shouted.

  The next thing she knew, there was a blinding pain in her head, then nothing….

  Victoria woke slowly, feeling the pounding in her head with a groan. When she opened her eyes, she at first did not know where she was, nor did she understand why she felt as if the seat beneath her were moving. Casting her gaze around her, she met that of a grinning Reginald Cox.

  The events that had preceded this came flooding back to her. And with them came a sense of horror.

  Glancing around the interior of the conveyance with feigned disdain, Victoria said, “Really, Reginald, a rented hack?”

  His smile disappeared like a hedgehog down a hole. “I…I…” he sputtered. “I did not want to be seen in my own coach. I had to be anonymous, of course.”

  She raised delicate brows high. “Of course. It is also quite possible that you no longer own a coach.” At his guilty start, she pressed on, surprised to have struck a nerve so easily. “Is that the problem, Reginald? Have you completely run out of money? Is that why you persist in these ridiculous attempts to marry me against my will? Have you run through your entire inheritance so quickly?”

  He frowned darkly. “A few thousands pounds a year doesn’t go very far these days.” His eyes hardened as he looked at her. “But you wouldn’t know anything about that, what with your vast wealth.” He grinned again, like a fool in a play. “And that, my dear Victoria, is why I must have you.”

  She stared at him coolly. “I will not marry you, Reginald. I will say that you are forcing me. No minister would go forward with the deed.”

  This did not seem to trouble him in the least, and she began to know a growing sense of apprehension. He only made this feeling worse when he went on. “You see, my dear Victoria, I have paid handsomely, with nearly the last of my funds, to make certain that a blind eye is turned to, shall we say, any hint of reluctance on your part.”

  She forced herself to remain calm. “I will not live with you. As soon as the ceremony is over, I will have it annulled.”

  “Will you now?” He leaned forward. “I do not think so, because I do not intend to let you out of my sight until I am quite certain that you carry my child.” At her start of horror, he shrugged. “I know enough about you to know that you would not want to harm your own child by creating a scandal.”

  Unable to reply with any pretense of composure, Victoria turned away from him. What, she asked herself, was she to do now?

  Jed arrived at the Georgian mansion in Grosvenor Square late into the night. He had ridden hard after leaving the Fairfields’, uncaring of fatigue or hunger, knowing only that he must get to Victoria before she could say yes to Sinclair.

  The house was dark, and he waited for what seemed hours before someone came to answer his knock. Mrs. Dunn appeared in the barely opened portal, the candle she held casting eerie shadows over her face and the entrance hall behind her. When she saw that it was him, she flung the door wide. “Mr. McBride, what a surprise to see you!”

  Jed wasted no time on pleasantries. “I must see Lady Victoria. It cannot wait until morning.”

  The housekeeper frowned in confusion. “Sir, I would be happy to do anything you ask, but the lady is not here. She sent a note telling us that she was going on to Briarwood. It arrived late this afternoon. We assumed you would be with her. Winter has gone off with your things and hers.”

  Jed ran an agitated hand through his hair, reeling from the shock of discovering she was gone. All the way, he had kept telling himself that this was what he must do, that he had to get to her and tell her how he felt. He had been so single-minded in his need to see her he had not thought of any other possibility.

  She was not here. It felt as if someone had doused him with cold water.

  He turned and left the house, unheeding of Mrs. Dunn’s worried query as to where he was going in the dead of night. Where else on earth would he go but to Briarwood? That was where the woman who mattered most to him on earth was to be found.

  Victoria refused to even speak to Reginald during the next hours on the road. It was with some surprise that she felt the hack come to a halt shortly after night fell. She looked over to her abductor in an unspoken question. He said, “We must stop here for the night.”

  Victoria felt her heart swell with hope. She might find some way to escape.

  As if he had read her very thoughts, Reginald told her, “Do not be foolish, Victoria. I am willing to hurt someone if it becomes necessary. Don’t think you can involve anyone else in this.” He reached into the pocket of his coat and removed a pistol.

  Disappointment made her sag back against the seat. She righted herself immediately, refusing to give up hope. If she was observant and patient, perhaps she would still be able to find some method of freeing herself.

  When they alit, Victoria saw, without surprise, that Lloyd Jenkins was driving. He did not meet her gaze as she looked up at him, and she had the distinct feeling that he had somehow been coerced into helping his friend. Yet she did not see how his lack of enthusiasm could help her when she felt the barrel of Reginald’s pistol prod her lower back.

  He motioned toward the door of the dilapidated inn with his free hand. Slowly she passed beneath a sign that hung from one hinge and bore the words Gray Gull Inn. That name, and the sharp salt tang in the air, told her that they were not far from the sea.
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  Having decided to bide her time, Victoria made no effort to thwart Reginald as he asked for two rooms, one for himself and his wife and another for his brother. But her lips curled as he signed Mr. and Mrs. Stockton with a flourish.

  He never removed the weapon from the small of her back until the innkeeper, a short, balding man with shifty eyes and a restless habit of rubbing his hands together, left them alone. She saw the little man go with relief. He had given her such a lecherous glance that she was almost grateful for Reginald’s presence. Even if she had been of a mind to seek the innkeeper’s assistance, she did not believe she would get any help from that quarter.

  Moving away from Reginald, Victoria ignored him, peering about the room to see if she could find any ready avenue of escape. There seemed to be none. The only furnishings were a bed, a rickety table and wardrobe and a roughly made chair.

  Just then the door opened, and she swung around to see Lloyd enter. Reginald addressed him immediately. “Your room is across the hall.”

  Lloyd looked not at her, but at his cohort. “I… Uh, yes, thank you. I just thought you would want to know that the horses are stabled for the night.”

  Cox smiled with complete self-assurance and settled himself in the chair. “Good. It looks as though everything will go according to plan. I told you there was nothing to worry about, didn’t I?”

  Lloyd’s gaze flitted to Victoria and away. “You did, Reggie, you did. You were right when you said McBride wasn’t at Briarwood with her. Things certainly would have been different if he were around.”

  Victoria’s stomach twisted with renewed loss, even as Reginald scowled. He spoke with what she knew was bravado. “I’m not so sure of that, Lloyd. I’m not intimidated by the man.”

  Victoria could not withhold a choking gasp of disbelief. As Reginald turned to glare at her, she coughed and said, “My throat is dry.” She didn’t feel there was any point in making him any more riled than he already was. It would be better if he began to believe she was resigned to her fate. He might then become less vigilant.

  Reginald waved an airy hand at his coconspirator. “Why don’t you make yourself useful? Go down to the common room and see if you can round up anything decent enough to eat and drink.”

  Lloyd hesitated. “How do you want me to pay?”

  Reginald scowled. “Out of your own pocket, of course. I’ve told you, you’ll be reimbursed handsomely once the lady and I are wed.”

  Ducking his head in submission, Lloyd left the room Watching him, Victoria could not help thinking what an imbecile he was to allow himself to be intimidated by a waste of a man like Reginald Cox. Unlike Jedidiah, they had been given every advantage, and had turned out all the worse for it.

  Yet she knew she must lay some of the blame for her current circumstances at her own feet. She had been foolish to believe that Reginald would come to his senses and leave her alone simply because he had been reared among good people. Obviously, evil, like good, knew no social boundaries. Her heart ached afresh for the man she had lost.

  She went over to stare out the window, angry with herself and sickened by both Reginald and the weak-minded Lloyd.

  It was with some surprise that she felt a hand on her arm only a moment later. She turned to see Reginald standing behind her. He was looking at her with an expression that made her blood slow in her veins. An expression of lust.

  He seemed unaware of her revulsion as he allowed his gaze to roam over the snug-fitting bodice of the amber velvet riding habit, then down to her waist and hips. He licked his full lips. “Oh, Victoria, but you are beautiful.”

  She shook her head, stepping backward involuntarily. “Reginald, you are not to touch me.”

  He smiled and closed the distance again. “And why should I not? You are to be my wife by this time tomorrow. It would behoove me to begin my efforts to get you with child as quickly as possible.”

  “Oh, heaven, please,” she whispered silently, “do not allow him to do this.” It was more than she could bear to think of him touching her after she had been with Jedidiah. The thought of Reginald doing those things to her was completely repulsive.

  “What about Lloyd?” she asked in desperation. “He will be back shortly. Surely you would not wish for him to find us that way.”

  He frowned pensively. “Perhaps you are right. You will be my wife soon. And I would not wish for my wife to be made a spectacle of.” He eyed her lingeringly. “But later, when we are alone, I will not be dissuaded.”

  As Reginald moved away, she turned her back on him, her knees threatening to give out on her. Somehow she kept herself erect, knowing that she could not allow the cad to see how frightened she was. He seemed to thrive on the weakness of others.

  Luckily, Lloyd returned only minutes later, and Victoria turned her attention to the business of eating. Without a word to either of the men, she collected a steaming-hot meat pie and a glass of wine and went to sit on the bed. The hot pastry and wine might have been vinegar and dust, for all that she tasted them, but she forced herself to consume the food. If an opportunity for escape presented itself, she would need her strength.

  In a depressingly short time, the two men had finished. Victoria, who was lingering for as long as possible, felt Reginald’s hot gaze upon her with trepidation.

  At last he spoke up, his patience obviously having run out. “Well, I think it’s about time you were getting along to your own room, Lloyd.”

  Lloyd cast a nervous glance at Victoria. “Do you think you should stay in here with her, Reggie? You aren’t married yet.”

  Reginald took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Lloyd, as I told you when we were discussing our plan of action, someone must stay with Victoria to watch her so she doesn’t get away. Since I am to be her husband, it is only natural that I should be the one.”

  The shorter man nodded jerkily. “Yes, you are right, Reggie. I just want to say again that marriage is one thing, and forcing yourself on her another. She is a gentlewoman.”

  Reginald stood, putting his arm around the other man’s shoulders as he led him to the door. “How right you are, my friend. I agree with you completely. Victoria’s virtue must remain sacred until we are declared man and wife.”

  Though he still appeared a bit uncertain, this seemed to reassure Lloyd enough for him to leave the bedchamber without further discussion. When he was gone, Reginald turned to her.

  Mockingly he said, “I don’t know what it is about you, Victoria, but you seem to bring out the protective instincts in men. First your esteemed Mr. McBride, and now Lloyd. I must say I find it quite touching, if a bit irritating.”

  As he came toward her, one slow step at a time, Victoria tried to fight her fear and despair. If only Jedidiah was here to rescue her, to take her in his arms and make her feel safe. But he was not. He was on his way to America with Andrew.

  She had no one to rely on but herself. It was she, Victoria, who would have to think of some way out of this nightmare.

  As Reginald Cox came within inches of her, Victoria held up her hand to press him back, her palm against the wool of his tweed coat. “Please, wait! I… We have been traveling all day without stopping.” She looked up at him meaningfully. “I must have a moment of privacy.”

  He stood still, his brow creased as he listened to her. Then understanding dawned. “I see.” He shrugged. “It is a reasonable request. I’ll allow you to have your few moments of privacy, but do not forget that I will be right outside the room. You’ll have no chance to leave it.”

  She nodded quickly. “I will not try.”

  As soon as the door closed on his back, Victoria went into action. Making as little noise as possible, she went to the wardrobe, which stood to the left of the door. Using the wall for leverage, she set her back to it and pushed with all her might. The ancient piece of furniture was heavier than she had thought. At first it only teetered, and she nearly gasped her frustration aloud, but the need for silence was great and she held it in. Once
again she pushed, straining until her eyes ached with the effort.

  And then, to her utter amazement and relief, the heavy old wardrobe toppled over, to rest directly in front of the portal. There was an immediate cry of alarm from the man outside.

  The door handle rattled as he turned it and pushed against the heavy oak panel, but it did not budge. Elation rippled through her.

  “Victoria,” she heard him say in a threatening tone, “let me inside. This will get you nowhere. You cannot escape.”

  She made no reply, rushing to the bed to strip back the covers. A wave of disappointment swept through her when she saw the tattered condition of the sheets. She had hoped to tie them together and lower herself out the window, but they would never hold her weight.

  Hearing more than one voice outside the door, she rushed over to see if she could make out what was being said. She recognized Lloyd’s voice. “Why do we have to break the door down tonight? Why don’t you just leave her until morning? She can’t get out.”

  Reginald replied heatedly, “I want in.”

  Lloyd answered him slowly. “You said you only wanted to stay in there with her to make sure she didn’t get away. You weren’t lying to me were you, Reggie? I couldn’t go along with you to Scotland if I thought you had done anything really wrong.”

  When Reginald’s answer came, his tone was much more subdued. “Of course, Lloyd, you are right again. Tomorrow will be soon enough to get her out of there. We wouldn’t want to upset our landlord by dragging him from his bed at this hour, which would surely happen in the commotion of getting her out of there.”

  Their voices trailed away, and she heard the sound of a door closing.

  Thank God for Lloyd, she thought, as relief washed through her like a spring rain. She didn’t know what she could do, but she now had till morning to think of something.