Page 28 of The Lover's Eye
He forced his mouth over Isobel’s, kissing her with bruising force.She screamed, but the sound was drowned out.She beat her fists against him, hitting and kicking at any space of flesh within her reach, but Elias only lowered one of his confining hands to her bottom, dragging her hips firmly against his.He glared at her, a satisfied smirk curling his red lips.
“Let me go!”Isobel screamed, trying to catch her breath and squirming against him.His arm felt like an iron vice around her back.
“I’m only doing what I ought to have done sooner,” he said, his voice gone low and breathy.“Taking you in hand.”
Isobel scoffed, her mind gone blank save one wild, singular goal: escape.Desperate energy beat through her veins, and she struggled to think.“You disgust me,” she choked out, twisting her limbs, searching for a weak point in his grasp.
Elias’s skin had darkened to a deep flush, hot blood engorging a prominent vein in his forehead.He grabbed a fistful of her skirts and Isobel saw, as if in slowed time, his chin dipping toward her again.She spat in his face, and as he recoiled, she managed to stomp on his foot, grinding her heel into his toes with the strength of her whole body.
He broke apart from her.
“Damn!Mind the boots!”he said, dusting them off and swiping at his eyes.
Isobel was already bolting for Ridgeway House, stumbling on a run.
♦
Isobel didn’t move when she heard her father starting up the stairs.He muttered curses under his breath until he reached her locked door, panting and rapping on it.“Isobel?”
She summoned the energy to stand, swiping at her swollen, red eyes as she let him in.He looked her up and down, his brows lifting when he reached the filthy hem of her skirt.“What the deuce happened to you?”
Isobel ignored the question and returned to her seat by the fire.“Are they gone?”
“Yes.”
She waited until her father made his way across the room and claimed the seat across from her.And then she glowered at him, her eyes narrowed and unflinching.“Did you know Elias intended to propose marriage today?”
Lord Ridgeway made a gruff, guttural sound, struggling to form coherent words.“Well, I believe I heard something of the sort.He seemed quite perturbed when he returned without you.”
Good.Feel misery, feel shame.Isobel hadn’t an ounce of sympathy.She crossed her arms tightly, running her hands over her cold body.Her skin hadn’t stopped crawling in the hours since Elias had forced himself on her.
“When I refused him, he took liberties with me.”
“Hewhat?”Lord Ridgeway shoved his thick frame to the seat edge, his hands pressed against the chair arms, braced for action.
Isobel hastened to explain, lest her father think even worse atrocities had been taken against her.By the end of her description, she was drying fresh tears from her cheeks.
Lord Ridgeway eased back into his seat, shaking his head incessantly.“You will not wish to hear me say it, my girl, but that is further proof we must set this business to rights.If young Sempill is going to behave with so little scruple, he could ruin your good name.”
Isobel scoffed, her brow furrowing.“Is that your solution?Spoken like a true gentleman, Papa.If a man acts like a brute, one must give him what he wants.”
The old viscount fell silent, color splotching his low cheekbones.
“I will never marry him,” she said, possessed of a cool, biting confidence.
Her father shook his head.“He’s compromised you already.”
She leaned forward, her fists clenched.“And I am telling you I would rather be a ruined spinster than so much as accept a call from that man again.”
“Damn if I don’t understand your feeling, but that’s no solution.Get your wits about you, Isobel.”
She could see he didn’t believe her threats.She almost rose to her feet, ready to scream her conviction for the entire household to hear, but a secondary thought gripped her.Perhaps it was better if her father didn’t believe in the strength of her resolve.
Isobel settled back into her chair, her pulse frantic beneath her cool exterior.“I will not be receiving callers.I will attend that godforsaken ball because it’s what I promised you—but then I am leaving for Shoremoss.”
Lord Ridgeway stared at her for a long moment, his breathing deep and labored.He was assessing her.Isobel could feel it, and she wiped her expression blank, refusing to reveal so much as a hint of the plans taking shape in her mind.
“Very well,” he said at last, standing up and planting a kiss on her forehead.
