She shook her head again.
“Victoria, I—”
He was interrupted by a groan coming from the middle of the room. Robert cursed under his breath and then muttered a quick “Excuse me.” He stalked back to Eversleigh, picked him up by his collar and the seat of his pants, and tossed him into the hall, where he landed in a crumpled heap. Robert closed the door gently and made his way back to Victoria's side.
She was shaking violently, the tremors rocking her entire body. Tears rolled down her cheeks, but she didn't make a sound. Robert felt panic rise up within him anew. What had that bastard done to her?
“Shhhh,” he crooned, having no idea what he would say that could make her feel better. “Shhhh.”
“Robert,” she gasped. “Robert.”
“I'm here, my love.” He reached down and picked her up. Her arms wrapped around his neck with surprising swiftness. She was grasping him frantically, as if letting go would mean the very difference between life and death.
He moved to the bed, intending to sit down and hold her until her shaking subsided, but she suddenly bucked in his arms. “Not the bed!” she said desperately. “Not there.”
Robert looked down at the tangled sheets and was sickened. When he'd burst into the room, Eversleigh had had a pillow over Victoria's face. She could have been killed.
The thought was like a punch in the gut.
Robert looked around the room. It was sparsely furnished, so he sat down on the floor, leaning against the side of the bed. He held Victoria silently for several minutes.
Finally she looked up, her eyes entreating. “I tried to fight him,” she said. “I did.”
“I know you did, Torie.”
“He was too strong.” She looked as if she was trying to convince him of something that was very important to her. “He was stronger than me.”
“You were wonderful,” he said, trying to ignore the tears that were pricking at his eyes.
“But he put a pillow over me. And then I couldn't breathe. And I couldn't fight.” She began to shake anew. “I didn't want to let him…I didn't want it. I swear I didn't want it.”
He gripped her shoulders and turned her until they were nose to nose. “This was not your fault, Torie,” he said fiercely. “Do not blame yourself.”
“If you hadn't come—”
“But I did.” Robert settled her back into his arms and held her tightly. It would be a long time before she stopped shaking, a long time until Eversleigh's face was no longer imprinted on her brain.
It would be a long time for him, too, he realized. He was not unaware that this incident was at least partly his fault. If he hadn't been so damned angry at her this afternoon and so damned eager to get her alone, he wouldn't have hauled her from the hall into the nearest room. A room that happened to belong to Eversleigh. And that evening—flaunting convention by insisting that he lead Victoria into dinner. Most of the guests would believe his story that they were childhood friends, but Eversleigh knew there was more.
Of course the bastard would think that Victoria was a loose woman. Eversleigh had always been the sort to believe that any female without the protection of a powerful family was his for the plucking. Robert should have realized that from the first, and taken measures to protect her.
He didn't know how long he sat there on the ground, cradling Victoria in his arms. It could have been an hour; it could have been just ten minutes. But eventually her breathing evened out, and he knew she had fallen asleep. He didn't want to speculate on what her dreams might be that night; he prayed she didn't dream at all.
Gently he set her down on her bed. He knew she had an aversion to the spot after Eversleigh's attempted rape, but he didn't know where else to put her. He couldn't bring her to his room. Such an action could only bring about her ruin, and Robert had realized that, regardless of her actions seven years earlier, he couldn't bring himself to destroy her life so completely. The irony of it nearly unmanned him. All these years he'd dreamed about her, fantasized about the revenge he might enact if he saw her again.
But now, with vengeance within his sights, he just couldn't do it. Something within her still spoke to his heart, and he knew he could never live with himself if he purposefully caused her pain.
Robert leaned down and dropped a soft kiss on her forehead. “Until tomorrow, Torie,” he whispered. “We'll talk tomorrow. I'm not going to let you leave me again.”
When he left the room he noticed that Eversleigh was gone. With grim determination, he set out to find him. He had to make certain that the bastard understood one simple fact: if Eversleigh even so much as breathed a syllable of Victoria's name ever again, the next beating Robert gave him wouldn't stop within an inch of his life.