Chapter 32 #2
“Nothing,” he said, sullen all at once. “Come on, we should go ...”
Panic rose in her chest. No, no. She needed to give Sebastian more time.
“She was very young, when this was painted,” she said, hoping her bid to delay wasn’t too obvious. But once more his unwilling eyes seemed to be dragged back to his mother’s.
“That was after my father had abducted and raped her,” he said, his voice cold and emotionless.
“She didn’t want to marry him. Didn’t want him at all.
So, he took her.” He turned and stared at Georgiana and she felt her blood run cold.
“He forced himself upon a girl barely out of the school room and you see the result of that happy union standing before you. Bearing in mind she died in childbed I think the pitiful look in her eyes is rather well captured. Don’t you? ”
“Oh, my God, Beau,” she whispered. “I’m so very sorry.”
“Not as sorry as she was, I’d wager.” His tone was light, as though he was discussing a far different topic, of little consequence. But Georgiana didn’t believe his nonchalance was anything of the sort.
“She would have loved you, Beau. If she’d been given the chance.”
“Good God, Georgiana!” he exploded, making her take an involuntary step backwards.
“Don’t turn me into some tortured hero when I’m nothing of the sort.
I’m in debt and I’ve already burnt my boats with Sindalton.
You’re the only hope I have of getting out of this without getting my throat cut and my body thrown in the Thames. ”
He advanced on her, anger glinting in the blue of his eyes.
“I’m not a rapist, love,” he said, as he grabbed hold of her wrists and pinned her to the wall.
Georgiana felt her breathing catch, her chest heaving as her heart thundered behind her ribs.
“I’ll not follow my father’s footsteps that close I swear it.
I would never take you by force, you have my word on that. But you will have me.”
He backed off abruptly, but kept hold of one wrist, pulling her behind him and out along the landing. “Now stop this pathetic bid to delay us and get down to the carriage.”
“No!”
He was standing at the top of the stairs and with her free hand Georgiana shoved him hard and pulled on the wrist he held. He cursed and stumbled down the first two steps before righting himself but lost a hold on her in the process.
With a gasp, Georgiana stepped a little away from him, her eyes glancing around the dark wood-panelled walls for escape, and then picked up her skirts and ran.
She hadn’t the faintest notion of where she was going but even if she locked herself in a room, it would take some considerable time to get to her.
The thin soles of her satin boots slipped on the parquet as she heard his heavier footfalls close behind her. With a shriek, she dived down a dark corridor.
An oak console table sat against the wall at the end of it and she spared a second to stop and tip it over. She heard the crash of china as whatever sat on it shattered and then ran as Beau’s curses echoed around the eerie gloom of the mansion.
A small spiral stone staircase appeared, barely lit by a glimmer of moonlight through the tiny lattice panes of a window and she flew down them two at a time.
Misjudging the final steps as the stairs took an erratic turn to the right at the bottom, she stumbled and fell hard on her knees on the cold stone floor.
“Georgiana, stop this ridiculous charade!” Beau, yelled from behind her as she yelped and scrambled to her feet. Flinging herself forward into the pitch black, she ran down another wider corridor; once more the walls were panelled and lined with doors.
Choosing one at random she yanked it open, slamming it behind her and praying there was a lock. The huge iron key turned with a shriek of complaint, but turn it did and she stepped away, panting as Beau hammered on the heavy oak door.
“Open the damn door, Georgiana!”
“No,” she said, gasping for breath. “Sebastian will come for me, you know he will, Beau. I’m staying right here.”
He fell silent and she strained to listen for him, as all she could hear was her own heart thudding and blood rushing in her ears.
“So, you’d see me dead then.” His voice was bleak and despite everything she felt desperately sorry for him. He seemed terribly alone.
“Of course, I wouldn’t!” she shouted, exasperated. “I would help you; Sebastian would help you. I know he would.”
There was a snort of amusement.
“Sebastian will kill me himself,” he replied through the door. “Still, better to die at the hands of a furious lover, than an ignominious murder in a back alley for something as sordid as unpaid debts.”
“Oh, God, Beau!” She slammed her hand against the door in frustration. “You must let us pay the debts for you.”
“No.”
“You can pay us back!” she yelled, beyond furious now. “We’ll even charge you interest if it will make you feel better.”
“Oh, much,” he replied, his tone ironic.
“And bearing in mind my father is as hale and hearty now as a man half his age, by the time your children have grown I’ll be so utterly beholden to you that you’ll own the shirt on my back!
” he shouted. “I’ll put a gun to my own head before that happens, love. ”
He fell silent again and she hoped he had given up on this outrageous scheme to carry her to Gretna.
Leaning against the door she put her ear to the wood and listened, but heard nothing, until a floorboard creaked close behind her.
She screamed as she realised someone was in the room with her.
“Oh good, God, you frightened me,” she exclaimed, seeing him standing half way across the room and holding her hand over her still thudding heart.
He laughed, though not unkindly.
“I’m not surprised. This part of the house is very old, and very haunted.
The family was Roman Catholic, back before we .
.. lapsed,” he said with a smirk. “The place is riddled with secret passages and priest holes. We were a fanatical lot back then, went to a lot of trouble to hide people from the priest-hunters during the reformation.”
“How long has your family been here?” Her voice quavered as she backed away from his approach.
He chuckled, knowing well that she was stalling him. He took her hand, though he was gentler this time, and unlocked the door, meeting her eyes with meaning.
“This was built in the early sixteenth century, but we’ve been here a deal longer than that.
One of the oldest families in England,” he said, but she heard that now familiar mocking tone again instead of pride in the fact.
If Sebastian spoke about his father, there was such fierce pride in his eyes.
All she could see in Beau’s was disgust. “Perhaps it’s time we died out,” he added, turning and grinning at her.
“Don’t say that, Beau,” she pleaded, tightening her hand on his.
“Why not? Sebastian will be here soon, I’ve no doubt.
The timing was always going to be my undoing, but I had so little time to prepare, you see.
” He drew her down yet another corridor and she wondered at his ability to find his way in the dark.
“It’s my first abduction, so you’ll have to forgive me,” he added.
“Oh, stop it, Beau!” she cried, wishing with all her heart there was something she could do to untangle the mess they were in.
“Hush, Georgiana,” he said, turning back to smile at her. “You’ve played your part well, love,” he added, his voice full of admiration.
She paused, tugging at his hand.
“Let me speak to him, let me explain ...”
He laughed and shook his head. “Sweet, lovely, Eve. You are such a temptation. But no. I’ve been villain enough for one night. I’ll not compound it by hiding behind your skirts.”
They both turned to the window as the sound of horses moving fast over gravel came to their ears. In the glimmer of moonlight that glinted behind a thin grey cloud, a carriage and four grey horses could be seen, thundering towards the house.
“And here comes our hero,” he said softly. “Right on time.”