Page 2 of Abducting his Duchess

“Hush, child,” the dowager duchess chides, shaking her head. “We are perfectly safe. Why do you think your brother rides next to us? And the men controlling the landau, do you think they’re merely for show? Every man accompanying us has our safety at heart. Nothing will happen.”

With another huff, Lady Margaret slumps just a touch. “Of course nothing will happen. Nothing ever happens.”

Sighing, I glance back out the window, my heart thumping in time with the wheels carrying us away. “Take it from someone who knows. Nothing happening is usually a good thing.”

“I knew it!” she cries out, sitting at attention once more. “Something did happen to you! I knew the rumors had to be true.”

Once more, fear’s icy grip wraps around my heart and squeezes. “There are rumors?” My fingers shake as I lay my hand across my chest.

An odd haze impedes my vision as it crosses over my eyes, making everything fuzzy for a moment. My insides flip, as if my body is rolling about, turning feet over head. However, the instant my terror becomes too much, a familiar warmth spreads through my body.

My love. Are you well? William’s deep tenor rolls through my brain, driving away the madness with his overwhelming heat.

F- forgive me, I answer back, my vision clearing enough to see four pairs of eyes staring at me, concern wavering in their depths. Your sister has heard rumors about me, and I panicked.

Has she said what these rumors are? Perhaps you can dispel them? If not, I will be on my way shortly and can address them when we meet up.

No, I admit, shame twisting my insides. I didn’t even get the chance. I felt faint before she could say more.

His fingers brush along the inside of my mind, bringing a soft sigh to my lips. They wrap around me in a tight hug, firm enough to bring all the jagged splinters of my soul back together as one. The love he feels for me pours in, reminding me I’m not alone.

“What do you suppose she’s doing?” Lady Elizabeth whispers to her older sister.

“I’m not sure, but it looks odd. As if she’s staring right through us. Perhaps we are now ghosts? Specters only to be talked of but never seen?”

Their voices sound muddled and thick, as if I’m hearing it underwater. Shaking my head, I do my best to bring myself back to the present, just in time for Lady Elizabeth to shriek.

“I do not wish to be a specter. I am a flesh and blood girl. Please, Mama, I do not want to be a ghost.”

“Enough,” the dowager duchess grinds out, her gaze flitting over to the governess. “Are you sure you still wish to be in our employ? Seeing as the girls are prone to theatrics and hysterics?”

“I bet she’s talking to William,” Lady Margaret bursts in, her lips tilting up into a smug smile.

Lady Elizabeth looks about the landau, her gaze looking at every nook and cranny. “But he is not here, and I did not hear her speak?”

“You're too young to understand.” This time, Lady Margaret’s voice matches her haughty demeanor.

“As are you,” the dowager duchess counters. “Where do you even get such ideas?”

“Mama, it’s not as if I’m blind. When Father was still with us, I saw how you both would stare off into the distance, and then smile as if some lark passed between you. Since Catherine is now married as well, I can only assume she’s doing the same. In fact, I would surmise that it’s the act of marriage which opens up this strange portal between husband and wife.”

The older woman and I exchange a glance. If only it were that simple. Resisting the urge to touch the mark over my heart, I mourn the idea that all it takes is a simple act of nuptials. If that were the case, I still wouldn’t feel as if a piece of me was missing, ripped out when William had the bastard who kidnapped and marked me executed.

Never once did I say any sort of thing that would constitute binding myself to that loathsome man in marriage, and yet, here I am, still mourning the part of me he stole. Wrapping my arms about my waist, I continue to listen as Lady Margaret pours out her theories on marriage and the boons it brings with it.

Thankfully, most of them are incorrect, laughable musings proving she’s still very much an innocent. It’s what I would want for her. I revel in the idea that she knows nothing of the depravity which can take a woman and strip her of everything she holds dear.

Turning my gaze out the window, I watch as more trees go by. If only I had stayed behind and come up with William, but he insisted I go. Not only would I have had my mate alongside me, keeping me safe and in his care, but we could start our honeymoon early. With everything that’s happened, we’ve been in a whirlwind since coming back to London.

Though I know William in the most carnal sense, I still feel as if I could learn more about the man himself—his likes, his dislikes, his passions… Well, the passions which don’t include ravaging me every moment he can.

A different warmth runs through me as arousal threatens to make me squirm. I cannot allow these thoughts to continue. Not when four other ladies can no doubt smell it. Even now, as I glance over at the dowager duchess, she smiles at me with that knowing grin of hers.

Oh, the humiliation. It’s enough to drive all thoughts of William from my mind. “Pray tell, Lady Margaret. Which rumors have you heard?”

She turns away, unease flitting from her. “I do not wish for you to be wroth with me.”

“I doubt you can ever do anything to cause my anger to burn toward you. Besides, I have a younger sister of my own, and I know they can be prone to teasing.”