“Papa, I—” Victoria couldn't finish the sentence, for her father's hand had come across her face with such blinding force that she was knocked to the ground. When she looked up she saw Ellie, standing motionless in the doorway, her expression petrified. Victoria shot her sister an entreating look.
Ellie cleared her throat. “Papa,” she said in a gentling tone. “Is something amiss?”
“Your sister has chosen to disobey me,” he snarled. “Now she will learn the consequences.”
Ellie cleared her throat again, as if that were the only way she could summon the courage to speak. “Papa, I'm sure there has been a grave misunderstanding. Why don't I take Victoria to her room?”
“Silence!”
Neither girl made a sound.
After an interminable pause, the vicar grabbed Victoria's arm and roughly hauled her to her feet. “You,” he said with a vicious yank, “are not going anywhere tonight.” He dragged her into her room and shoved her onto her bed. Ellie followed fearfully behind, hovering in the corner of Victoria's chamber.
Mr. Lyndon poked his finger at Victoria's shoulder and growled, “Do not move.” He took a few steps toward the door, and that was all the time Victoria needed to make a mad dash for the open window. But the vicar was fast, and his strength was fueled by rage. He threw her back down on the bed, giving her face another vicious slap. “Eleanor!” he barked. “Get me a sheet.”
Ellie blinked. “I-I beg your pardon?”
“A sheet!” he bellowed.
“Yes, Papa,” she said, scurrying off to the linen closet. In a few seconds she emerged, carrying a clean white sheet. She handed it to her father, who then began to methodically tear it into long strips. He bound Victoria's ankles together, then tied her hands in front of her. “There,” he said, surveying his handiwork. “She won't be going anywhere this evening.”
Victoria stared at him mutinously. “I hate you,” she said in a low voice. “I will hate you forever for doing this.”
Her father shook his head. “You'll thank me someday.”
“No. I won't.” Victoria swallowed, trying to work the quiver out of her voice. “I used to think that you were second only to God, that you were all that was good and pure and kind. But now—Now I see that you are nothing but a small man with a small mind.”
Mr. Lyndon shook with rage, and he raised his hand to strike her again. But at the last moment he brought it back down to his side.
Ellie, who'd been chewing on her lower lip in the corner, stepped timidly forward and said, “She'll catch a chill, Papa. Just let me cover her.” She pulled the blankets up over Victoria's shaking body, leaning down to whisper, “I'm so sorry.”
Victoria shot her sister a grateful look, and then rolled herself over so she was facing the wall. She didn't want to give her father the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
Ellie sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at their father with what she hoped was a gentle expression. “I'll just sit with her, if you don't mind. I don't think she should be alone just now.”
Mr. Lyndon's eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?” he said. “I'll not leave you to untie her and let her run off to that lying bastard.” He yanked on Ellie's arm and pulled her to her feet. “As if he would ever marry her,” he added, shooting a scathing glance at his elder daughter.
Then he pulled Ellie from the room and proceeded to tie her up, too.
“Goddamn it,” Robert bit out. “Where the hell is she?” Victoria was now more than an hour late. Robert imagined her raped, beaten, killed—all of which were extremely unlikely to have occurred on her short walk down the road, but his heart was still icy with fear.
Finally he decided to throw caution to the wind, and he left his curricle and belongings unattended as he ran up the road to her house. The windows were dark, and he crept alongside the outer wall to her window. It was open, its curtains ruffling gently in the breeze.
A sick sensation formed in his stomach as he leaned forward. There, in the bed, was Victoria. She was facing away from him, but there was no mistaking that glorious black hair. Cozily bundled beneath her quilts, she appeared to be asleep.
Robert sank to the ground, landing in a silent heap.
Asleep. She'd gone to bed and left him waiting in the night. She hadn't even sent a note.
He felt something turn in his gut as he realized that his father must have been right all along. Victoria had decided that he wasn't such a catch without his money and title.