Page 34 of Forbidden Earl

Her hands went to her heart like she was offended but she stayed close. “Like me? I planned to marry a man I grew up with, Lucinda. Remy and I were never about love.”

“Yet you slept with him.” Lucinda upturned her lips like she was disgusted as she answered fast.

How did Lucinda know that? She swallowed and reached down to the floor to swipe the phone as she asked, “Would you marry a man you couldn’t have sex with?”

Lucinda shook her head like Cassidy was a child. “Sex is the way a woman controls a man.”

“Wait, what?” Cassidy sat on the phone. With luck, Lucinda wouldn’t notice what happened to it.

Lucinda met her gaze through the driver’s mirror. “If he desires what you do for him in bed, then a man is yours for the taking. Didn’t your mother teach you that?”

Her cynical view was sad. Love existed—she’d found proof in her royal matches. Cassidy kept the conversation going so Lucinda never suspected anything, even though the phone was warm under her thigh. “My mother married my father. Why would I listen to her on men?”

“Fair point.” She reached across the seat for her pocketbook. “It’s time for you to sleep.” Was she reaching for another needle?

Her heart beat fast. There had to be a way out of this situation. She jolted backward in her seat but met Lucinda’s gaze in the mirror. She needed to appear fine and use the phone away from her gaze. She moved her leg so she could reach underneath when she wasn’t looking as she said, “No wait. I’ll be quiet. I swear. In a way, you saved me from marrying a man who didn’t love me.”

Lucinda rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”

She leaned closer as the phone wiggled between her legs. “No, I mean it, Lucinda. I’d like for us to be friends.”

Lucinda gripped the wheel and her nose wrinkled. “You promised to be quiet.”

“Like a mouse,” Cassidy agreed though she had so many questions, like what Lucinda planned. Her questions mattered less than getting out of here.

She sat there for minutes without daring to move. Lucinda acted like she was completely in control of everything as she drove forward. She slowly slipped her hands to her lap and kept her legs as a buffer so Lucinda couldn’t see what she did. She quickly searched the phone for info and copied it to her text.Remy, the IP address of this phone is fe80::5efe:173.117.187.133 and the DNS Server is 68.28.58.92 68.28.50.91. We’re past Nice but on the move.

“What are you doing?” Lucinda asked.

She slipped the phone under her thigh and let out a dramatic sigh. “Looking out the window. Can I talk?”

Lucinda then said, “Yeah, I don’t like when you’re that quiet.”

At least she had hope now. The road was sparse of much traffic. “So, are we heading to Paris to find alternatives to Remy? If so, I ran the computer program for my sister Chelsea and there is supposedly a wine grower near Nice that is her true love.”

A laugh echoed through the SUV. “You honestly believe in that fairy tale, don’t you?”

For other people. For her own life, she didn’t get her hopes up. Remy would never love her and she knew it, but she smiled and nodded. “Yes. I always wanted to find the one guy who was supposed to love me.”

Lucinda turned around. “Then why did you change so much for Remy?”

Her hair? The makeup? Okay, the makeup was dramatic today, but she’d intended to get married. “I did it for Gigi.”

Lucinda’s face softened slightly as if she finally understood Cassidy’s motivation. “You were always at the house like a squirrel, talking to that battle axe.”

Gigi hadn’t liked any of Remy’s girlfriends in years, including Lucinda. She often complained about them. Cassidy chose to keep that to herself. She leaned forward again. “She’s like my own grandma. Mine died years ago during the Russian takeover saving Gigi and Remy.”

“You really are like family to him,” Lucinda said and the car skidded a little. A curl fell near her ear and she shivered. Nice was further north and it was winter now. There must be ice on the road, as they were heading north. In her borrowed gray sweats and white button down shirt, she wasn’t dressed for inclement weather. The pearls in her hair were at odds with her clothes, she’d never met anyone who might see hair pearls as some sort of money to use as bartering. But she could try if she had to. “I had no idea.”

Lucinda regained control of her SUV.

Cassidy sat back and nodded fast to encourage Lucinda’s trust which might allow her to lower her guard. “Yes, he said I was the closest thing he had to a sister.”

“All men are idiots,” Lucinda said, like they were best friends now. Cassidy began to relax but then Lucinda’s voice became more edgy. “Before or after you had sex with him?”

Her face went red. They were not friends—Lucinda had drugged her, handcuffed her, and kidnapped her. “Before. It fueled why I felt I had to do it.”

Lucinda made atsksound in her throat like she clearly didn’t believe her as she said, “The night before your wedding?”

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