“You are as untamed as a wild horse at times, young lady, but I shall tell you that it will not be so when we are married. And at least I am still prepared to marry you, despite your very poor performance as a woman.” As he continued to pace, Emmeline could see that his lips looked thin, drawn back a little from his teeth in some sort of dreadful sneer. “I hardly think that your Earl would have agreed to marry you had he known exactly what sort of woman you truly are. He might encourage your ridiculous and inappropriate choice of reading matter, but even he would not tolerate such outbursts as these; even he would not. And if he would not, trust me, I shall not. It will not serve you well to let your temper get the better of you again, do you understand?”
Kent stopped pacing and stood towering over her as she continued to lay on her side on the bed, tied and helpless. And yet, despite all that, Emmeline could do nothing but stare at him. She would not even nod her agreement. He had taken everything from her; her home, her liberty, her sense of safety. All she had left now was her anger, and there was no way on earth she was going to give it up. She would not tell him that she understood; she would not agree to behave differently.
Instead, Emmeline chose to change the subject.
“How was it that you managed to get the Duchess of Galcross to help you? Or was it the other way around? Did Felicity Burton approach you first and insist that you do her bidding?”
“I have kept a very close eye on you, and I do nobody’s bidding.” Kent suddenly stood ramrod straight, his chin so high that his head was tipped back quite ridiculously. “You see, when I heard of the Duke’s death, I made it my business to attend the funeral.”
“I did not see you at the funeral.” Emmeline tried to sit up, but he pushed her back down again, and she thought it better to remain still for a moment. “I did not even know you were in the county at the time.”
“No, there have been times when I have been in the county and you have not known it.” He smiled at her, and it turned her stomach.
Emmeline felt coldness sweep over her as she wondered how much he had watched her. When had he watched and where? And for how long?
“So, you have spied on me, Sir?” She heard the accusation in her own voice and did not regret it for a moment. It was an accusation she meant wholeheartedly.
“Call it what you will, but it was necessary,” he said, instantly justifying his dreadful behaviour. “For had I not given an eye to the funeral from afar, I would not have seen that Earl of yours in consultation with his old love. I would never have realized Felicity Burton’s continued regard for the man, and I would have had no plan whatsoever.”
“So, you approached the Duchess?”
“Yes, as soon as I heard your engagement had been announced, a celebration to which I note I was not invited, I realized that the Earl had chosen to turn his back on his former love forever. Realizing that she was unlikely to be happy about that, I wrote to her, requesting an audience. I intimated that the reason for the requested meeting was in connection with your engagement, and the Duchess wrote back to me immediately, granting my request.”
“And so, she agreed to come to me and tell me to break the engagement? But did she agree to the rest of it? Did she know what you would do if I refused to accede to her request?”
“Yes, of course, she did. In fact, whilst it was my initial idea, I gave it only tentatively. When she realized my meaning, that good lady seized upon it firmly and did much to help me plan the details.”
At that moment, Emmeline was seized with pure anger. If only she had some way of letting Hunter know what had been done to her. If only she could send her love across the miles straight into his heart and hope that he would answer, hope that he would come looking for her.
“And it was no simple thing,” Kent went on. “We had many days of waiting and watching until I almost despaired of you having five minutes alone in that house. But it was worth the wait, even the Duchess could see that.”
“And so, she helped you. She watched as you carried me unconscious and injured out of my own home and threw me inside your carriage.”
“Indeed, she did,” Kent said, seeming proud of himself suddenly. “In truth, she rode with us for a good deal of time. She had deemed it a poor idea for one of the Duchy carriages to be seen in the area, and so we had met at another location, and she had travelled with me to Tarlton Manor.”
Emmeline closed her eyes and bitterly imagined Felicity Burton, her cold blue eyes staring down at her as she lay unconscious on the floor of the carriage. The woman surely had not a feeling in her body, in her soul, if she could sit in a carriage and watch a young woman, injured, having her hands bound and her mouth gagged. Not only did the woman have no feelings, but surely she had no conscience whatsoever. At that moment, Emmeline decided that she would survive the whole ordeal. She would survive it if only to be able to expose that dreadful woman to the world.
Chapter 27
“Dear me, I fear that this is the street of middle-class aspiration,” Algernon said and gave a comical shudder. “I think I can already imagine the sort of family who resides behind the door of Kent Fitzgerald’s little home.”
“I myself cannot imagine,” Hunter said quietly as the two men jumped down from their horses and began to tether them to railings outside the house.
The house was neat and brick built and showed no signs of poverty whatsoever. Algernon had been right in that it was indeed a street of middle-class aspiration. Everywhere was neat and tidy, and people seemed to compete somehow for superiority simply by the facades of the small dwellings. Doors gleamed with black gloss paint and stone columns, inappropriate for the size of the houses, pompously propped up tiny flat roofs above each doorway.
On this particular row, there was very little to speak of by way of land at the front of the house. They were simple, tiny gardens of just a few feet, and there was certainly nowhere to leave their horses. Hunter had no doubt that there was stabling somewhere, but he was not inclined to look for it. If Emmeline was not there, he did not intend to stay long. Only long enough to get the information he needed, and he would not leave without it.
“Indeed, if Kent Fitzgerald really has taken Emmeline against her will, I cannot imagine the sort of family who resides behind this door. I cannot imagine the sort of family who would raise a man to such a thing.”
“Well, I daresay it is time to find out, my dear fellow,” Algernon said encouragingly. “But if I might make one suggestion, perhaps we ought simply to introduce ourselves by name rather than title.”
“Why?” Hunter said abruptly.
“Because if this family is anything like I imagine them to be, that dreadful, climbing sort of middle-class family, then I would save something so impressive until the moment you need it. You will know when the time is right, cousin, and you might not need it at all.” Algernon clapped a hand hard on his cousin’s shoulder and smiled.