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Emma tried to gulp down the pain that rocked through her head, but she was unable to prevent a couple of tears from squeezing out of her eyes. She buried her head in Belle’s lap, not wanting Woodside to see her misery.
“She irritates me,” Woodside said to Belle. “I find it hard to believe that the two of you are related. I think we shall have to tie her up.” He picked up Emma’s maid costume, which lay across the bureau, and quickly tore it into strips. He handed them to Belle. “Secure her hands.”
Belle looked up at him, aghast. “Surely you do not mean…”
“You don’t think I’m going to tie her up? She won’t kick and scratch you.”
“You coward,” Emma hissed. “Scared of a woman half your size.”
“Emma, I beg of you, please be quiet,” Belle pleaded. She swallowed nervously as she wrapped the cloth around her cousin’s wrists and tenderly bound them together.
“Tighter,” Woodside ordered. “Do you take me for a fool?”
Belle pulled at the cloth slightly.
Infuriated, Woodside grabbed the ends of the cloth from Belle and gave them a vicious yank, tying Emma’s hands tightly behind her back. He picked up another cloth and moved toward her ankles. “If you even attempt to kick me,” he warned, “I won’t wait for my wedding and I will take your cousin right here on the floor with you watching.”
Emma went utterly limp.
“Anthony,” Belle said softly, trying to win him over with reason. “Perhaps we should give ourselves a little time to get to know one another. I don’t think that a happy marriage is out of the question. But a forced wedding will not be a very good beginning to our life together.”
“Forget it, my lady,” he laughed. “We’ll be married tonight, and that’s final. The vicar here doesn’t hold a very high view of women, and he feels that their consent is not a necessary prerequisite to marriage. I’m just waiting for the sun to go down before I take you to church. I don’t need a crowd of onlookers gaping at us.”
Emma glanced out the window. The sun was low in the sky but hadn’t started to set yet. She and Belle probably had an hour. Where was Alex?
Woodside tossed another strip of cloth at Belle. “Gag your cousin. I have no desire to listen to her appalling American accent.”
Belle wound the cloth around Emma’s head, tying the gag loosely. Luckily, Woodside was staring out the window, and so he didn’t notice Belle’s gentle treatment of her cousin.
“It’s a good thing that I do have this hour or so before we go to church,” Woodside said suddenly, turning his venomous gaze on Emma. “For it will give me time to devise a plan to completely ruin you, my American duchess. I know it was you who stole the voucher. You left a hairpin on my desk.”
Emma turned away, unable even to look at the man.
“I wouldn’t have had to resort to kidnapping my wife if you had kept your nose in your own business—look at me when I speak to you!” Woodside strode to the bed and viciously grabbed Emma’s chin, forcing her to look up at him. “Blydon didn’t have the blunt,” he bit out. “He’d never have come up with the money, and I would have had Lady Arabella in my bed weeks ago.” He let go of Emma with a brutal push that slammed her head against the wall.
“Anthony, please!” Belle cried out.
Woodside’s icy eyes glittered with desire as he turned toward Belle. “Your concern for your cousin is touching, my dear, if sadly misplaced.”
Emma’s teeth clamped down on the gag as she fought to contain her rage. She had never, ever felt as helpless as she did at that moment, but her one shining ray of hope was her knowledge that any plan of Woodside’s to shame her would certainly fail. Because Alex trusted her. She knew that now. He trusted her and he loved her, and he would never take Woodside’s word over her own.
She just wished he would get here soon, before Woodside could set any more of his nefarious schemes into action.
Chapter 25
Alex had just enough presence of mind to stop and get Dunford before he and Bottomley headed out to Harewood. One look at Alex’s face told him that something was dreadfully wrong, and Dunford wordlessly grabbed his coat and was on horseback within minutes.
The three men rode at an unrelenting pace, and the trip to Harewood took only forty-five minutes. They ground to a halt in front of The Hare and Hounds, and Alex nearly leapt off his horse, unable to contain the fear and fury that were racing through him.
“Hold on a second, Ashbourne,” Dunford cautioned. “We have to keep level heads. Bottomley, tell us everything again. We’re going to need to use every piece of information we have.”
Bottomley clutched onto the reins of the three horses, trying to remain upright despite the quivering of his overused muscles. “We was goin’ to see her grace’s cousins, and when we got there, the Lady Arabella was leavin’. We followed her ’cause her grace said she’d be goin’ to some book meetin’, this bein’ Wednesday an’ all.”
“The Ladies’ Literary Club,” Dunford murmured. “Belle never misses a meeting.”
“But the carriage went past the meetin’ place. Then her grace noticed that it was a strange carriage so we followed it here. Two big men went inta the inn here carryin’ a big bag. I think it was her grace’s cousin in it. An’ that’s all I know. Her grace made me leave right away to come get you, yer grace.”
“Thank you, Bottomley,” Alex said. “Why don’t you see to the horses and then go and have a rest. You’ve earned it. Let’s go, Dunford.”