“Why are you saying this?”
He stared at her, drilling her with his eyes, even though she refused to return his gaze. “Because I know what it feels like to have one's dreams ripped away. We were young and stupid, and if we'd had any sense we would have realized what our fathers did to keep us apart. But it wasn't our fault.”
“Don't you understand? I don't care about what happened seven years ago anymore. It doesn't matter to me.”
“I think it does.”
She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. “I don't want to talk about it any longer.”
“Very well.” Robert picked up a newspaper and began to read.
Victoria sat on the floor and tried not to cry.
Twenty minutes later the carriage rolled to a halt in front of a small inn just off the Canterbury Road in Faversham. Victoria waited in the carriage while Robert went in to procure rooms. A few minutes later he emerged. “Everything is arranged,” he said.
“I hope you got me my own room,” she said stiffly.
“Of course.”
Victoria declined—somewhat forcefully—his offer of assistance, and she jumped down from the carriage on her own. Excruciatingly aware of his hand on the small of her back, she was led into the building. As they passed through the front room, the innkeeper called out, “I do hope you and your wife enjoy your stay, my lord.”
Victoria waited just until they had turned the corner on the way to the staircase. “I thought you said we have separate rooms,” she hissed.
“We do. I had no other option than to tell him you are my wife. It is clear that you are not my sister.” He touched a lock of her sable hair with exquisite tenderness. “And I did not want anyone to think that you are my paramour.”
“But—”
“I imagine the innkeeper simply thinks that we are a married couple who do not enjoy each other's company.”
“At least part of that statement is true,” she muttered.
He turned to her with a surprisingly radiant smile. “I always enjoy your company.”
Victoria stopped in her tracks and just stared at him, utterly dumbfounded by his apparent good humor. Finally she said, “I cannot decide if you are insane, stubborn, or merely stupid.”
“I opt for stubborn, if I get a vote.”
She let out an exasperated breath of air and marched ahead of him. “I'm going to my room.”
“Wouldn't you like to know which one it is?”
Victoria could positively feel his grin at her back. “Would you care to tell me,” she said between clenched teeth, “the number of my room?”
“Three.”
“Thank you,” she said, and then wished that courtesy hadn't been so methodically drummed into her at a young age. As if he deserved her gratitude.
“I'm number four,” he called out helpfully. “Just in case you want to know where to find me.”
“I'm sure that won't be necessary.” Victoria reached the top of the stairs, turned the corner, and began to look for her room. She could hear Robert a few paces behind her.
“One never knows.” When she didn't comment, he added, “I can think of a host of reasons you may need to contact me.” When she continued to ignore him, he added, “A thief might try to invade your room. You might have a nightmare.”
The only bad dreams she might have, Victoria thought, would be about him.
“The inn might be haunted,” he continued. “Just think of all the scary ghosts lurking about.”
Victoria was quite unable to ignore that one. She turned slowly around. “That is the most implausible idea I have ever heard.”
He shrugged. “It could happen.”
She merely stared at him, looking very much as if she was trying to determine how to get him admitted to an asylum.
“Or,” he added, “you might miss me.”
“I rescind my earlier statement,” she snapped. “That is the most implausible idea I have ever heard.”
He clasped his heart dramatically. “You wound me, my lady.”
“I am not your lady.”
“You will be.”
“Ah, look,” she said with patently false brightness. “Here is my room. Good night.” Without waiting for Robert to respond, Victoria entered her room and shut the door in his face.
Then she heard the key turn in the lock.
She gasped. The beast had locked her in!
Victoria indulged herself in a quick stamp of her foot, then flopped on her bed with a loud groan. She couldn't believe he had the gall to lock her in her room.