Page 70 of The Duke Who Claimed Her

Again, the fear threatened to burst from her, but she shoved it down with desperation. She then turned to face the door, standing tall and proud, doing her best to look as if she were in complete control and that nothing her father could do or say could change that.

The door swung open, and her father stepped inside. As soon as he did, he swung the door shut, and she heard it lock again.

“Oh my,” he said when he saw her scowl at him. “What is it that you plan on doing with that, Arabella? Glaring at me until I let you go?”

“You have gone too far, Father,” she said with a hiss. “Kidnapping me? Whatever it is that you think you are going to achieve, you would be wise to let me go at once. If you do that, I promise I will forget this.”

He pushed his thin lips together as he studied her. “Yes, perhaps you are correct. This is rather extreme, is it not? I mean, who would ever guess that I might go through such lengths?”

“As I said, it is not too late.” She held her scowl on him. “Let me go and⁠—”

“Enough of that.” He waved her down with humor. “All this posturing, Arabella. Yes, yes, I understand. You are not the same little girl that you once were. You have grown and changed, and whatever else it is you need to tell yourself. I am very impressed.”

“I am not…” She bit back her urge to snap; to show any emotion that her father might use against her. “I am not posturing, Father. The simple fact is that you have kidnapped a duchess, and when it is found out, there will be consequences.”

His eyes flashed as if the thought excited him. “Oh, really? And what consequences might those be?”

“My husband will see you punished,” she said. “If you think he will simply let this go…” She scoffed. “Then you do not know him very well.”

“Your husband, is it? I thought that you were above needing such things? Is that not the point, here? That you are a duchess, so strong, so powerful, that you do not need your husband to protect you? Or have you not changed nearly as much as you claim?”

“I… That is not…” Arabella stammered, and she hated that she did. “Of course, my husband will be worried. And of course, he will do whatever he must to stop you. But that does not mean that I am going to let this stand. I am⁠—”

“Floundering,” he cut over her sharply. “That is what you are doing. On the one hand, you are so eager to prove to me that you are brave and assertive. On the other hand, you cannot help but evoke your husband’s name because deep down, he controls you.” He sniggered. “You think that you have changed, but you have not. As when you were a girl, always, you are somebody else’s. And do not waste time denying it, Arabella…” He sighed and shook his head. “It is beneath us both.”

Her father knew her too well.

Arabella wanted nothing more than to stand up to him. To deny his cruel assessment. To refuse whatever he said and prove that she had changed! I know I have changed… I know it.

But there was an undeniable truth to his words.

This was a circumstance that went beyond mere character growth and a newfound sense of place. Ultimately, Arabella was helpless before her father, and she could do nothing to stand up to him. Not really.

She needed Caspian… She needed him like she never had before.

“Ah, there she is,” her father chuckled as he saw her deflate. “Finally, my daughter has arrived. And faster than I expected. What a shame.”

She bowed her head pathetically. “What do you want, Father? You must know how hopeless this is. Caspian will find you before he pays any ransom you demand of him.”

“Is that what you think I am doing? Arabella, you underestimate me. Which is not a surprise, I suppose. If you had not, we would not be here in the first place. You really ought to have done as I told you. This is your fault, not mine.”

She looked at him with scorn, but that only delighted him further.

“I am not asking for a ransom,” he said. “At least not as you imagine it. What I am asking for is what I deserve after all that I have done for you, everything I have sacrificed. It is time that it is repaid.”

“Done for me? You have done nothing!”

“Says the woman now married to a duke!” he cried. “My doing, not your own.”

“That is not…” She sneered. “That had nothing to do with you.”

He scoffed. “Be that as it may, I am still owed, and I will be paid. What I need from you is simple, Arabella. All you have to do is stay here. To sit tight. To simply exist because even one as disappointing as you can achieve that much.”

Again, she looked at him with scorn, her body shaking.

“I have arranged a series of legal documents,” he continued. “Those that pertain to certain portions of property and inheritance rights as given to you by your marriage to the Duke. In signing them, I will be handed those rights, the property that I desire. All perfectly legal,” he assured her. “My lawyers have been thorough.”

She gasped. “You… You mean to steal⁠—”