Page 40 of Seducing the Knave

“No,” he replied with smug satisfaction, “you are.”

“But why go to such trouble?”

He laughed as he stretched out into a more relaxed posture. “It was no trouble at all. I found it all quite amusing, to be honest. And who knew the tale would come in so handy.” His expression darkened dramatically. “You worried me quite a bit with this little flight to London.”

Elle curled her hand into a fist beneath her cloak. It took everything in her not to reveal the depth of her hatred for him. Instead, she focused on keeping him talking and distracted from her own intentions. “How did you notice my absence so quickly? I thought I’d have until midday before you knew I’d gone.”

He brushed a bit of lint off his pants as he replied, “You might’ve if I hadn’t gotten an odd urge to look in on you before I retired for the night. It was quite late when I did so—and I wasn’t sure how much of a head start you’d gotten. But it was pretty obvious you’d head straight for London. I’d been monitoring your mail from the start, and Lady Gilchrist is the only person you corresponded with after your parents’ deaths. It’s a good thing I decided to start intercepting her continued correspondence. Your lack of response to her many letters helped to convince her of your troubled state.”

Elle shook her head in disbelief. He was diabolical. While she’d been deep in mourning, he’d been making sure she’d have no one to turn to in a time of need. All for his amusement.

Well, his control over her life would not continue much longer.

“Where are you taking me now?” she asked.

“To my townhouse, which is where you’ll stay until the marriage is finalized. But I’ve learned my lesson with you,” he noted. “This time, there will be no chance of escape.”

Elle studied him carefully, noting the wool coat he wore over a brocade waistcoat, the perfectly fitted polished boots, and the soft buckskin breeches. He was not an old man at only thirty-five, and though he might have been fit at one time, his dissolute lifestyle was starting to show in a little extra thickness around the middle. He also seemed a bit winded from their earlier tussle and sweat sheened on his neck and forehead, dampening his perfectly windblown hair.

He was stronger than her, to be sure. But she was fairly certain she could outrun him.

Could she also outrun his driver and groom if he ordered them after her? Evading three men would not be easy even if one of them was significantly slowed...say, by a knife wound of some sort.

It was a chance she’d have to take. She had no doubt that once he got her into his house, she would not be getting out again until she became his wife, and then only to face a fate she preferred not to contemplate.

As the carriage began to slow, her heart sped to a riotous pace. She curled her fingers more tightly around the handle of the knife she’d managed to withdraw from her pocket while he’d been going on about his cleverness. When the opportunity arose, she’d be ready.

Max’s voice sounded in her mind. Best be prepared to do more than nick him with it.

The carriage stopped and Jasper immediately leaned forward to grasp hold of her. But before he could get a good grip, she flung her cloak open and sliced swift and sure at the vulnerable flesh of his thigh. He yowled in pain and pressed his hand over the wound as Elle kicked at the carriage door. Leaping to the pavement, she turned and ran in the opposite direction the carriage was facing. There was some traffic but not enough to hinder her from crossing the street to cut through a narrow space between two townhouses. Thankfully the lane led straight to the mews.

She kept running. Never once did she look back to see if she was being followed, though after a while, she had to believe she wasn’t. Yet still she kept going until she found herself at a rather busy intersection. It was then that she realized she still clutched the knife in her hand and she quickly slid it back into her pocket. A quick glance behind her revealed no signs of pursuit but she tugged her hood forward and did her best to melt into the flow of pedestrians. A few moments later, she spotted a hackneyed cab and flagged it down.

“Where to?”

She was speechless for a moment.

Oh God. Where could she go?

If everyone in town believed the lies Jasper had told about her, she’d simply be handed back over to her guardian. There had been a reason Lady Gilchrist was the one person she’d thought to go to. Being that she hadn’t been out in society, none of her parents’ other acquaintances knew her personally. Who would take her side over Jasper’s when he’d spent the last two years ensuring anything she said wouldn’t be believed?

Who could she trust?

There was no one. No one except...

Slipping her hand into her pocket, she withdrew the calling card Max had forced her to accept.

It was simple in design. A creamy white background with plain black lettering stating an address above the embossed image of a mythical creature possessing the combined features of a lion and an eagle. She flipped it over in her hand to view the backside, but there was nothing else printed on it at all.

Her pride almost had her stuffing the card back into her pocket, but she wasn’t stupid.

She needed him.

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