“I didn’t think so,” the marquess growled and pulled her so roughly through the door into the damp night that she almost fell.
Quickly, before the two guards could come to their senses, he towed her down the street, around the corner and into her own carriage. Before the door had closed, he yelled, “Plan B,” into the breeze and the horses shot off at a furious pace.
Daniella shuffled along the bench seat as far as the space would allow. “Where are you taking me?” she asked, her voice no more than a frightened squeak. Under the circumstances, she wasn’t surprised fear had taken over her usually more robust sensibilities.
He looked in her direction for only a second, his gaze shuttered, his mouth a thin line and said only one word. “Home.”
Chapter Two
“My brother’s home?” Daniella asked hopefully.
“My home,” he replied without so much as a blink, frown, grin or lecherous wink. He displayed nothing but a furious calm in a situation that had quickly spiralled out of control.
“You cannot be serious.”
“I can.”
Daniella’s fear was quickly replaced by anger. “Stop this carriage right now! I demand to be let out at once.”
She watched the man across from her reach out a large, dirty hand to sweep the curtain aside. “Do you have any notion of where we are?”
His condescension only served to fuel her fury. “Everyone will know you have taken me.”
He lifted a brow and tilted his head in her direction. “Now you fear for your reputation? I assumed destroying it was your single intent when you placed your virtue on the block and opened the bidding.”
His eyes lingered on her chest and she blushed anew. Yes, she would have been ruined socially, but her body would have remained untouched. Now her flawless plan was in tatters, and she was no longer in control of herself, let alone her supposed coachman.
Damn him to hell. She pulled the edges of her cloak together with a jerk. “You weren’t supposed to be there.”
“Neither were you!” he thundered, his fists slamming down on his wide thighs in his first outward show of emotion.
“Not only did you effectively quash the rumours I needed circulating, you have rendered the mitigations I had in place impossible.” She wanted the gossip to reach her father’s ears but only the tales she spun herself, not the ones others did that had a habit of being more about sick fairy tales than actual fact.
“What makes you think they won’t speak of tonight’s events?”
“I don’t know exactly who you are but the fear on their faces was evident. Are you scary?”
“Are you scared?”
Daniella considered this, then shook her head slowly. “I don’t think so. If you wanted to hurt me, you would have by now.”
The marquess surprised her: he threw his head back and roared with laughter. When finally his uncouth guffaws died down, he pinned her with his gaze, his suddenly husky tone washing over her in waves. “I just purchased your virtue. Why would I assault you in this carriage when I could take you home, tear the clothes from your body, tie you naked to my bed and have you at my mercy? The things I could make you do…”
She gulped. He’d moved forwards with every word, as though he promised all those things could happen, would happen and more. “Take me home,” she whispered.
“I am. My home.” He sat back with an unnatural grin.
“You can’t do that!”
“Again: be sure that I can.”
She slowly shifted her gaze from his and looked to the carriage door. If she could get it open, she could leap out into the street and beg someone to help her. But the carriage still moved at a fast pace and she had not the slightest clue as to where they were. Perhaps she could talk her way out of it? “There’s been a misunderstanding, my lord.”
“Oh?” His disbelief was plainly evident but at least he relaxed against the squabs once again. She would think clearer and faster with a little more distance between them.
“You see, the auction was a setup.”
“It was? How so?”
“It’s rather a long story but Pendleton was to be the highest bidder. He was supposed to win my…virtue.”
“You have a tendre for Pendleton?”
“Good heavens, no. The man is more a brother to me than my own flesh and blood.”
“I don’t mind telling you, Daniella, that that is the most disgusting thing I’ve heard all day.”
“You may address me as Miss Germaine, if you please, and there is nothing untoward in it. He was to be repaid the money that he bid. There was never going to be a…collection.”
“I see.”
“Do you?” she asked hopefully, her fingers grasping one another in her lap, twisting painfully.
“Actually, no. Why would you do something like this? What if Pendleton hadn’t been the highest bidder?”
“He would have been. We had a clear plan, an agreement.”
He threw his arms wide. “What happened to that agreement, Daniella?”
She frowned at the improper use of her first name again. “Miss Germaine. You happened. Everything was running very smoothly until you wrecked it.”
“I wrecked nothing. I saved you.”
“From my friend, my lord? I was in no danger.”
She was gratified to see he reluctantly conceded that point, though he clearly had others. “And what of the other girls? What use have you for twelve highly questionable virgins probably being held against their will?”
“I would have set them free.” She hadn’t expected to buy those girls. Perhaps she should have done more research about the auction before jumping right in but it had seemed the perfect plan. She had just wanted to move the evening forward before losing her nerve completely and then having to wait even longer for another illegal activity to come to attention. Her thinking hadn’t exactly kept pace with her actions, a flaw she couldn’t seem to shake loose or learn from.
“Set them free to be picked up again and resold? Murdered on the
