Page 91 of A Night of Forever
Isobel scrabbled around the bed and floor, collecting the pins Arend had scattered everywhere. She hadn’t brought many with her in their rush to Deal.
Still on hands and knees, she didn’t turn when the door to her room opened, merely calling over her shoulder, “That was a quick conversation.”
When she got no answer, the hairs on the back of her neck did more than tickle. Slowly she stood up and turned round.
Victoria stood in the doorway, dressed in shirt and breeches, with a large pistol pointing directly at her. Quietly she closed the door behind her.
“You’re either very brave,” Isobel said, keeping her voice steady with an effort, “or completely deranged. One scream from me and the men will come running.”
Victoria was unbalanced. Isobel could see the madness in her eyes.
“One scream”—Victoria bit out each word—“and you’ll be dead.”
“But it would be worth it, knowing you’d be caught.”
The madness in Victoria’s eyes dimmed and her mouth firmed. “I don’t think you’ll scream. I think you’ll come with me without making a sound.”
“No.” Isobel slipped her hands into the pockets of her gown, the pins she’d collected still in her hands. “Not likely.”
“I have your father,” Victoria said. “He’s still alive. If you don’t come with me without making a fuss and alerting everyone to my presence, he’s a dead man.”
Stunned anger blazed through her. “Do you think I’m stupid? You killed him in that fire.”
“Did I?” Victoria’s eyes shone with devilish delight. “Then how is it that no one ever found his signet ring? It would not have burned away to nothing.” And with that she pulled out Isobel’s father’s ring.
Isobel felt as though all her breath had been sucked out. Her father had never, to her knowledge, removed that ring. He had been wearing it the last time she’d seen him. The day of the fire.
“How? Why?” One moment she’d been certain Victoria was lying yet again; the next, she was full of hope that her father was alive.
Victoria chuckled. “I plan ahead. I thought you’d know that about me by now.”
She cared nothing for Victoria’s plans or cleverness. “Where is he?”
“Safe with Dufort.”
There was nothing safe about Dufort. “Then if I go with you, you’ll kill both him and me.”
Victoria shook her head. “If you come quietly with me now, I swear that your father will go free and unharmed.”
She didn’t believe a word. “And me?”
Victoria looked pointedly at the bed. “That will depend on your lover, on whether he thinks you have betrayed him or if he believes I’ve taken you by force. Dufort’s kiss should have been enough to make him doubt your innocence and your virtue. Arend has a hatred and distrust of beautiful women.”
Isobel tried to hide the emotions that flooded her, but something must have shown on her face, because Victoria smiled.
“I see you understand his issue with trust,” she purred. “Perhaps I’ll explain why as we go on our little journey.”
“He won’t believe I’m in league with you.”
But deep inside her, Isobel’s hope was crumbling. If she slipped away after being seen in Dufort’s arms, it would damn her in Arend’s eyes. He’d think that she’d used her womanly charms to pacify him, then flown to her real lover.
“I see the doubt in your eyes,” Victoria said. “What’s it to be? Death for you and your father? Or live to fight another day?”
Isobel tried one more trick. “Why should I care if you kill my father? He’s in league with a woman who hurt my friends.”
Like an evil stepmother, she almost cackled. “Your father is not bright enough to understand why I wanted to marry him. He merely owed me money he could not repay, so to hold on to his home, your dowry, and everything else, he made a deal with the devil. He merely thought I wanted his title.” She leaned closer. “I had much grander plans. I simply needed his title to hide behind—an enemy hiding in plain sight, so to speak. I had hoped the Libertine Scholars would not think to look at one of their own social standing. If you feel he should die for being stupid…”
She really had no choice. If only she could leave Arend a message. If only there was a way to let him know she had not gone of her own free will.
