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“Dear God,” Diana’s footman huffed. “I thought you said she fainted.”

“She did, I thought.”

“As if you truly fell for that.” Samantha laughed. “Let her go. The Duke might not care enough to come after me, but she is the village’s Duchess. They will want her back. You know as well as I do that she is beloved by them. He will come for her.”

“He will not.” Her captor smirked. “Very well, we can have a family reunion here so that I do not fall for any of your tricks again.”

The two men took Samantha and roughly tied her to the bedpost next to Diana’s. Diana wanted to scream and cry, but to her surprise, her sister put her head against the post and began to laugh raucously.

“Very well,” Samantha sighed, “I ought to know my place, as you say.”

The two men nodded before stepping outside, no doubt to plan their next steps.

“Ransom, do you suppose?” Samantha asked.

“Why are you not taking this seriously?” Diana hissed. “You were free! You could have escaped.”

“And angered them so much that they might have done something awful to you in my absence? Certainly not. If one of us has to be here, then both of us do. We do all of these horrid things together, you know that.”

Diana wanted to ask her sister why she thought that was, as it had been her younger sister running away that had gotten them there in the first place, but she held her tongue. They had already discussed the matter before all of this, and so there was no need to continue it any further.

“For what it is worth,” Samantha sighed, “I am sorry. I hadn’t expected any of this to happen.”

“No, of course, you did not.” Diana laughed sadly. “Neither of us could have ever predicted this. The only sign I truly should have picked up on was the eagerness of the second footman to bring me here.”

“The duplicity of man, as they say.”

Both sisters giggled, but it was not real for either of them. It was completely empty, partly out of despair.

“So,” Samantha continued, “do you believe we might be held for ransom?”

“They would be fools to do that. The Duke knows who they are—they could hardly get away with it. Besides, they are quite convinced that the Duke does not care enough about either of us to come to our aid. Part of me is inclined to agree.”

“Then that part of you, as well as those two monsters, is wrong. The Duke cares deeply for you, and I know that you reciprocate such feelings. Should we be so fortunate as to make it out of here, you must tell him.”

“I cannot do that.”

“So you would be content if you were to die in this very room tonight and never have told him?”

“Samantha, we are not going to die.”

“Perhaps not tonight, but in another fifty years or so. What is the difference? Either way, you would have gone your entire life having not told your own husband how you felt, and that is not like you.”

“And suppose I do tell him, and he does not feel the same way, and then I must live another fifty years in that house with a man who doesn’t love me. What then?”

“You complain to your loving younger sister about it, of course.”

“I suppose. You’ll always be there, won’t you?”

“Like a thorn in your side, whether you like it or not.”

“Very well, should we get out of this situation, I shall find a way to tell him.”

“Wonderful. Now to… get out of this situation.”

“I feel quite safe in my promise.”

Suddenly, there was a noise outside their room. It was not the sound of the two men enjoying themselves in any way. It was something far more sinister than that. Then there was an almighty crash, and then another, and then…