I rubbed my forehead. This didn’t make sense. I remembered buying a copy of Frankenstein at Hatchard’s and heading to the park to read. I even remembered feeding the swans, but Richard wasn’t there. I hadn’t met him yet.
Shaking my head, I still argued with him. “I remember all that but you weren’t there. We hadn’t met yet. I had only just moved to London.”
In my confusion, I had forgotten to keep moving. Richard grasped the back of the chair and pulled it out from between us. Stepping up, his face was only inches from mine.
“I know, baby. Despite my offer to move in with me, you insisted on renting a flat with someone.” He smiled as he playfully tugged on a large curl. “You liked Jane’s flat because of the gothic church across the street. The only reason I would agree is if you got the bedroom. There was no way my girl was sleeping on a pull-out couch. Independence or no.”
No. No.None of this made sense. All of that was true, even about the church, but I was in the bedroom because I paid more in rent.
Dipping his head down, he captured my gaze. “Don’t you think it’s odd that you attend an expensive university and have a flat in downtown London and yet you don’t have a job or parents to help with tuition?”
I turned my head, unable to think straight when he looked at me like that.
“Jane has a job at a local pub, doesn’t she? How do you make rent, Elizabeth?”
I clapped my hands over my ears. “Stop! Stop! None of this is true. You’re lying.”
“Why would I lie?”
Biting my lip, I turned, looking helplessly around the office as if I would find quarter in some empty corner. “I don’t know. I don’t know. All I know is what you’re saying doesn’t make any sense.”
“You and I like to play… games.”
Spinning on my heel, I stared at him. “Games?”