Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

LIZZIE

W hen the car came to a sudden stop, I scrambled out of the footwell. Lying back on the seat, I raised my knees up. Holding my breath, my whole body tensed as I waited for the door to open. Straining, I could hear muffled voices just on the other side then they both came into view. It was still the same two men, one in a suit, the other in jeans and sweater. If I hadn't known better, I would have mistaken him for a student. The latch released. The door swung open.

Waiting till I saw his head duck down to look inside the car, I lashed out, kicking him right in the face.

"Fucking bitch kicked me!" howled the guy in the suit.

I didn't wait to hear his partner's response. Hoping one side unlocking meant the other would as well, I flipped onto my stomach and lunged for the other door. Just as my fingertips grazed the cold, smooth metal handle, there was a tug on my leg. Flipping onto my back, I kicked at the hand that had wrapped around my ankle. Trying to use the edge of my heel of my free leg, I drove it again and again, targeting the back of his hand.

"Stop kicking! Goddamn it! Fuck your face, get over here and help me!"

Once more I flipped onto my stomach and then onto my knees as I lunged for the other door. My face hit the leather and I was dragged on my already sore cheek out of the car by both legs.

My struggles were nothing now that they had me out of the car and into an open space. They easily restrained both my arms and lifted me high so my feet weren't even touching the ground. One had a hand firmly over my mouth. It wouldn't have mattered. I didn't see a soul on the street. We were in some extremely posh neighborhood with lots of extravagant, historic period houses and buildings, which had that eerie quiet you often felt in rich neighborhoods, not the sort of place the rabble shuffled about catching trains, smoking, and grabbing fish and chips.

Desperately, I tried to focus on the details of my surroundings, knowing it would be important when I tried to escape. We approached a tall narrow building that almost looked like an old Victorian train station. They boldly took me straight through the front doors. Shocked, I saw one of those cobalt blue shields they put on important historical houses around London, right there to the left of the door.

Former Home of JM Barrie, author of Peter Pan

I was being kidnapped to Neverland.

The grand entrance hall gleamed a harsh bright white with large white marble columns and a matching diamond pattern floor, a stark contrast to the misty gray atmosphere outside. After I was hauled up a sweeping staircase, the men stopped before a pair of massive double doors. Before they could even knock, both doors dramatically swung open.

And there stood Richard.

My shock at seeing him was nothing compared to the rage that pulsed from his body. The cords on his neck stuck out as he moved deliberately toward the men holding me. Their only warning was a tic in the corner of Richard's right eye and a tightening of his jaw, before he hauled off and punched the man in a suit. He fell with a sickening thud.

The other man immediately loosened his grip on me. "It wasn't our fault. She started to fight."

Grabbing the man by his sweater, Richard easily raised his bulky weight high off the floor as he snarled, "You were supposed to guard her. I never gave permission for you to ever lay hands on her."

He tossed the man away like garbage. The man scrambled to his knees.

"Take him with you. You're both finished in this city."

Stunned, I watched as the guy grabbed his friend under the shoulders and dragged his dead weight down the hallway we had just come through.

The touch of Richard's warm hand on my cheek brought me back to the present.

Looking over my shoulder at the retreating men, his words were soft and low, but no less deadly. "If they did this as well, I'll kill them both."

My hand flew to my cheek, the tips brushing his knuckles. "No. It was the crazy woman," I answered almost absently. My mind still trying to catch up to the swiftly changing events.

"Come inside."

With a guiding hand on my lower back, he walked me through the double doors and shut them with a decisive bang. I then heard the unmistakable click of a lock.

Clasping my hands in front of me, I tried to subdue the tremors that had started to course through my body.

Richard reached out and enfolded me within the warm safety of his arms. Burying my head against his chest, I inhaled his familiar masculine scent and strained to hear the reassuring beat of his heart, as his hand stroked my back in large soothing circles. I could have stayed secure within his arms for an eternity if the shock hadn't started to wear off and with it my mind began to fit the pieces into place.

As I tried to pull away, his arms tightened to keep me close but then relented.

"So those men were with you?"

Walking away, Richard shrugged out of his coat and slung it over one of the largest desks I had ever seen before, sitting on the edge and crossing his arms.

Unlike the last time I saw him, he was back to his usual bespoke suits, his cloak of respectability. The silk royal blue tie really brought out the blue in his eyes but didn't make them less dark or intense as they zeroed in on me.

It was clear by his crossed arms and lowered brow he didn't want to answer any of my questions but that was just too damn bad.

"I want an answer, Richard. What the hell were those men doing following me? And who was that woman?" In my agitation, I had begun to pace the vast expanse of the room. It was the largest office I had ever seen. It actually had a chandelier, which made it look like a converted ballroom. If circumstances had been different, I would have loved it. It had such a throwback feel.

He sighed. "I won't apologize for wanting to keep you safe, Elizabeth."

"You call me being assaulted by some crazy woman and then being kidnapped right in front of my school safe?" I asked incredulously.

One eyebrow rose as he slowly stood.

Uh oh.

"Do you want to tell me what you were doing right in front of your school?"

No.

"Don't change the subject. This is about those hooligans you hired to babysit me. And who the hell was that woman?"

His hands closed into fists, then flexed. "I want you to listen very carefully to me, Elizabeth. I don't need to explain myself to you and I'm sure as fuck not going to apologize for wanting to keep you safe. You're mine and what's mine, I protect."

"I'm not yours anymore!" I sniped back.

I didn't really mean it. I knew I didn't mean it. Even the craziness of the last hour hadn't shaken my conviction that I had fallen in love with this dark, enigmatic man, but I was angry. Angry at what had happened. Angry about that woman and her shouts of "you don't deserve him" that continued to echo in my head. And angry that he felt he didn't owe me an explanation for any of it.

With a guttural roar, his hand swiped the contents of his desk onto the floor.

Startled, I scrambled backward to a small lounge area at the other end of his office, with several wooden Chippendale chairs and a round coffee table in the center. They would offer pitiful protection against Richard if he chose to charge after me.

Placing my shaking hands on the back of one of the spindle chairs, I watched as he inhaled deeply through his nose, trying to calm himself down after his sudden explosion of temper.

His gaze was trained on the floor, as if he were afraid what would happen if he looked at me. "This is the absolute last time I am going to say this. You are mine. You always have been mine and you always will be and what's mine… I keep."

"Always have been? We just met, Richard. Don't you think this is all too much for two people who met barely a week ago?" I cried out anxiously.

"What makes you think we only just met?"

"What?"

What the hell could he mean by that? Of course we only just met.

Richard took several steps toward me. As he prowled closer, I kept the chair between us, circling around to the front when he circled around the back. "Why are you saying we've only just met?"

My brow furrowed. He wasn't making any sense. "Of course we only just met… the… the cab… a week ago. It almost ran me over and you saved me."

He continued to circle me. A lion trapping its prey. I was getting dizzy trying to watch him and make sense of what he was saying.

"And what about the week before?"

"The week before?"

"When you were reading passages from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to me."

What?

"You had your beautiful chestnut hair in a messy bun on top of your head. We relaxed in St. James's Park after feeding the swans. Remember?"

I rubbed my forehead. This didn't make sense. I remembered buying a copy of Frankenstein at Hatchard's and heading to the park to read. I even remembered feeding the swans, but Richard wasn't there. I hadn't met him yet.

Shaking my head, I still argued with him. "I remember all that but you weren't there. We hadn't met yet. I had only just moved to London."

In my confusion, I had forgotten to keep moving. Richard grasped the back of the chair and pulled it out from between us. Stepping up, his face was only inches from mine.

"I know, baby. Despite my offer to move in with me, you insisted on renting a flat with someone." He smiled as he playfully tugged on a large curl. "You liked Jane's flat because of the gothic church across the street. The only reason I would agree is if you got the bedroom. There was no way my girl was sleeping on a pull-out couch. Independence or no."

No. No. None of this made sense. All of that was true, even about the church, but I was in the bedroom because I paid more in rent.

Dipping his head down, he captured my gaze. "Don't you think it's odd that you attend an expensive university and have a flat in downtown London and yet you don't have a job or parents to help with tuition?"

I turned my head, unable to think straight when he looked at me like that.

"Jane has a job at a local pub, doesn't she? How do you make rent, Elizabeth?"

I clapped my hands over my ears. "Stop! Stop! None of this is true. You're lying."

"Why would I lie?"

Biting my lip, I turned, looking helplessly around the office as if I would find quarter in some empty corner. "I don't know. I don't know. All I know is what you're saying doesn't make any sense."

"You and I like to play… games."

Spinning on my heel, I stared at him. "Games?"