Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Rock Springs Manor ~ Later That Night

“ D iana wasn’t supposed to run over you with that carriage, my dear. Or rather attempt to run you over. It was an indiscretion—one of many which she paid dearly for,” the man in black said, his tone angry. He’d sat her in a straight-back chair in an old cabin.

Melanie had no idea where the cabin was located. She’d only just woken up and was feeling both groggy and dizzy. “Who are you?” she asked, her tongue still feeling thick.

“Ah…you do not know me. That isn’t fair, is it? Especially since I know you, my dear Melanie. Allow me to rectify this faux pas. My name is Monsieur Pierre Talbot,” he said, with a flourish and a mock bow. “I see the effects of the drug haven’t quite worn off, my dear. Don’t worry, you’ll be right as rain soon enough. I need to add wood to this wood stove. I’ll light it tonight, after dark, so that we can have a nice cozy fire. I don’t want you to freeze out here—but nor do I want to give away our location, either.” The man gave a harsh, wicked laugh.

A moment later, he shut the door to the wood stove and turned to regard her. His intense stare unnerved her. “You aren’t a disappointment, my dear Melanie. You certainly improve these dreary surroundings…”

Melanie remained silent as she watched him warily. Talbot was tall, as tall as Jonathan but not as broad. And he was older. His hair was dark, but he had salt and pepper at his temples. His eyes were a pale gray and his features elegant, patrician. He was handsome but in a cold and austere way. She could see why Diana might have fallen for someone like him.

“I have certainly improved my circumstances. Diana was lovely, of course, but there was nothing unique about her. She was a great disappointment to me. You, on the other hand, are a rare and refreshing jewel. So unspoiled. So pure. You are striking in your appearance…striking is a word I rarely use because there are so few I feel meet that definition. But you drew my eye immediately. I am hopeful our liaison will prove to be a great pleasure for us both…”

“I find nothing to like about you. Nothing. I will fight you, even if it means I could die. I will never enjoy your touch,” Melanie spat at him.

“Ah. Well, if I am the only one to benefit, so be it, but that would be a terrible shame.” He walked slowly toward her and reached out, grasping her chin in his hand. She tried to pull away, but his grip was too tight. “Even now, as you fight me, it only makes me want you more. He leaned down and his mouth was mere inches from hers. She trembled, fearful of what he might do next.

“You cannot imagine how I have fantasized about you. I was enchanted by your beauty when I first noticed you—four years ago, if you can believe it. At a London soiree. Lord Jonathan DeLacey was my target, but I noticed you immediately.

As he spoke, her heart began to pound and her head still swam, but she could feel the dizziness retreating. She had to regain her composure if she wanted to survive this.

“I’m always in it for the long game and I knew that one day, I would find you again and make you mine. You were exquisite. Young, innocent, untouched. I could not believe what a fool DeLacey was to choose Diana over you. But then again, she did entrap him.”

Melanie gasped.

“Ah, of course you would not have known that.” He smiled. “She drugged him and seduced him. She was very clever, Diana was. Of course, I taught her everything she knew. Mind you, I still thought DeLacey was an idiot for letting himself be duped by her. Diana was loyal to the cause, initially. I made sure of that when I recruited her many years ago. She manipulated DeLacey so easily into asking for her hand in marriage. The plan was for her to funnel funds from her wealthy husband to me, to support my important work.

“You mean in fomenting unrest in England?” Melanie said.

“Such a clever girl, Melanie. One of the many qualities I so admire about you.”

“But Diana ended up marrying the Duke of Aumale.”

“Yes, she did. That was my doing as well. My paths crossed with the duke at a gaming hell in London a few days later, and I found out he was a widower of many years and was seeking to remarry. Given his enormous wealth and that he was older, it made it a better fit for my purposes.”

“And Jonathan became your enemy when he went to work for the Crown.”

“Indeed. Ironic, don’t you think?” He sighed as if bored with the tedium of the story. “So, there you have it. The gist of our little fairytale.”

“This is no fairytale,” Melanie hissed.

“Oh, but it is, my sweet Melanie. According to Diana—who was quite adept at eavesdropping—DeLacey had always cared about you. And she saw that you were very smitten with him. So even though he was a fool not to have seen what I saw in you, knowing that he cared about you and that you were so in love with him…well, that made you even more valuable to me.” He smiled. “You saw him as a gallant knight, rescuing you time and again from your girlhood misadventures. And that’s what makes this such a romantic fairytale. Except the happy ending will be reserved for you and me.” He bent down and brushed his lips against her temple.

Melanie froze at his touch.

“Do not worry, my dear. I would never take you here in this crude and filthy abode. No, you were meant to be ravished on silk sheets in a chateau in France. Which is where we will be traveling to, once I’ve dealt with DeLacey.”

Melanie began to tremble again. Did he mean to kill Jonathan and force her…?

“Ah, I see you are beginning to understand our future…yours and mine.” He chuckled.

Melanie ignored his comment about their supposed future together. “You keep saying “was” when you speak about Diana? What did you do to her?”

“I suppose it’s all right to tell you.” He sighed. “My actions were partly to repay her for your suffering, you understand. Diana was never supposed to hurt you. I warned her many times about that. She could be so spiteful and vindictive. Needless to say, she has been dealt with. You never have to worry again about her attempting to run you over with her carriage. He trailed his roughened fingers along the side of her face, and she flinched away.

“You will come to enjoy my touch, my dear.”

“I’m not your dear ,” she hissed.

“That will soon be remedied. And you won’t find it so…insufferable. I have so much to teach you about pleasure.”

It was all Melanie could do to keep the bile from rising in her throat.

The man continued to rant. Melanie tried to listen, but she was more interested in freeing herself. Whenever his back was turned, she would sneak glances around the room, searching for something she could grab and use as a weapon.

“Diana was loyal to me, and a passable bed partner,” he said, pausing. “But she became too careless and too greedy. She was besotted with DeLacey and stopped being useful to me. She thought me a fool, but I saw through her scheme.”

“Why are you doing this to me?” she cried out. “I was just living a quiet life. Diana was glamorous and suited your world. What do you want with me?”

“Haven’t you been listening to what I’ve been telling you?” he interrupted. “That is precisely why I want you. Diana was a conniving harpy. She may have been beautiful on the outside but on the inside she was putrid. Whereas you, my fair Melanie, are the epitome of grace. Your purity is what I crave.”

As she sat there, memories began to peek through the fog as Melanie struggled to remember what happened. She was grabbed from behind, and a foul rag was shoved over her face. Then, she remembered hearing Shep attack and was able to force her arms free to see her small dog thrown up against the side of the house, limp. The man holding her grabbed her tighter and placed a foul-smelling, damp rag over her nose, holding it tight. Dizziness began to take over, and she fought against her energy waning as she was being trussed up and tossed into the back of a flatbed wagon that had been waiting somewhere on the estate. Her head throbbed from where it slammed against something hard, maybe the floor of the wagon, and she could feel a wet, sticky sensation on her head, but with her hands bound, was unable to reach it.

“Why,” she cried out in frustration. “What do you want with me?”

“Haven’t you been listening to what I’m telling you? You are to be my…concubine. I love that word—it implies a level of warmth and tenderness. Don’t you think?”

“Never! You hurt my dog. Why did you do that?” Melanie could hear her heart pounding in her ears while her hands and feet strained against the bonds. She tried to stay calm, but so much had taken place. What had become of Shep? Her heart…her head…everything hurt. “Why did you do this to us?” she screamed. “My dog was little…”

“The damn dog bit me—through my pants, he bit me. It’s a deep cut, but I’ll have to take care of it later,” he yelled back before pausing. “Now, do calm yourself, my dear. You’ll need to be quiet,” he said more calmly. He retrieved the dirty cloth he had used earlier from his pocket and poured something from a dark blue bottle on it, and stuffed it in her mouth.

Tears streamed from her eyes as she gagged on the rag, shaking her head in denial. “Mmmmf,” she struggled to say something as she tasted a familiar, sickening, sweet substance on the oily cloth. She hated laudanum. It always made her sick. Her head hurt, and she was nauseous…but she needed to stay awake.

“I hate to leave you when we are just getting to know each other, but there are a few things I need to take care of outside before your gallant knight arrives to try to save you. So, as much as it pains me, you’ll have to remain tied up and gagged, my dear.”

He bent and pressed his lips to her cheek, and she growled through the gag, pulling away from his touch. “My sweet, beautiful Melanie, how I love your fire. I shall return.” He shut the door firmly behind him, the sound echoing in the sparsely furnished cabin.

She sat bound to the chair, her hands useless unless she could break through the ropes. Her heart raced as she felt around the back of the chair with her fingers, looking for anything that could help. The tips of her fingers brushed against a sharp edge on the side of the chair, and a spark of hope ignited within her. Every second counted. She leaned forward and moved her bound hands to the edge, rubbing an exposed part of the rope against it, straining against the bind, and praying she could wear down enough of the rope to tear through it.

As she worked, a wave of dizziness threatened to pull her under, the effects of the laudanum beginning to swirl through her mind like a thick fog. She struggled against the pull of the drug, but it was difficult. Still, he must not have put as much on the rag this time because at least she was still awake. Unless she broke through the rope her hands were bound with, she wouldn’t have much time to get the rag out of her mouth, and time was slipping away. Squeezing her eyes closed, she focused on the task at hand, mustering all her strength, both mental and physical.

Melanie silently prayed, more fervently than she had in a long time. She whispered a silent plea for Shep’s survival and one for Jonathan, hoping against hope that when Jonathan arrived to rescue her, he wouldn’t fall victim to the madman who’d abducted her.

Melanie scanned the interior of the cabin, and something began to shift, a memory…an unsettling sense of familiarity tickled the back of her mind. The place appeared to have been abandoned years ago, shrouded in dust and neglect. Thick layers of cobwebs hung from the corners of the ceilings, and shadows loomed in the corners of the dimly lit room. The bedsheets were stained and torn, while the meager furnishings—a rickety table and a couple of mismatched chairs—looked as though they had been left to the ravages of time. As she contemplated the decaying surroundings, a thought struck her. Could this be the gamekeeper’s cabin she had heard about?

Were they still on her brother’s estate? Each creak of the old plank wood floors beneath her feet reminded her of childhood stories whispered by her grandmama about how the gamekeeper’s cabin was said to be haunted by restless spirits. A gamekeeper died almost a hundred years ago in the cabin—and no one was ever able to explain what happened.

With her heart pounding, Melanie continued to try to untie herself. She felt the power of the laudanum pulling her down into darkness as the old eerie stories about the haunted cabin began to shape and swirl around her. Please, Jonathan. Please hurry… She envisioned his beloved face and clung to the belief that they would be together again.