Well, actually, she could believe it. The man had abducted her, after all. And Robert never left a detail to chance.
Victoria fumed on her bed for several minutes. If she tried to escape Robert, she would have to do it that evening. Once he got her to his cottage by the sea, she doubted he'd let her out of his sight. And knowing Robert's penchant for privacy, she could safely assume that his cottage was isolated.
No, it would have to be now. Luckily Faversham was not so very far from Bellfield, where her family still lived. Victoria didn't particularly want to visit her father; she had never forgiven him for tying her up all those years ago. But the Reverend definitely seemed a lesser evil than Robert.
Victoria crossed the room to the window and peered out. It was a daunting distance to the ground. There was no way she'd make it without injury. Then her eyes fell on a door, and not the one to the hall.
A connecting door. She had a good idea to whose room it connected. How utterly ironic that the only way she would be able to escape was through his room.
She crouched down and squinted at the doorknob. Then she examined the door frame. It looked as if the door might stick. Opening it would be loud, and Robert would probably awaken. If he woke up before she even made it to the hall, she'd never escape. She would have to find a way to leave the connecting door slightly open without raising his suspicion.
Then it came to her.
Victoria took a deep breath and slammed the door open. “I might have known you'd have so little respect for my privacy!” she bellowed. She was aware that she was invading his privacy by barging into his room, but it seemed the only way to get the blasted door open without—
She gasped, forgetting whatever it was she'd been thinking about.
Robert was standing in the middle of the room, his chest bared. His hands were on the fastenings of his breeches. “Would you like me to continue?” he said mildly.
“No, no, that won't be necessary,” she stammered, turning seven shades of red, from crimson to beet.
He smiled lazily. “Are you certain? I'd be happy to oblige you.”
Victoria wondered why she couldn't seem to take her eyes off him. He was really quite magnificent, she thought in a bizarre burst of objectivity. His years in London had clearly not been inactive ones.
He took advantage of her dazed silence to hand her a small package.
“What is this?” she asked suspiciously.
“It occurred to me when I was making my plans that you might need something in which to sleep. I took the liberty of procuring you a nightgown.”
The thought of him buying her lingerie was so startlingly intimate that Victoria nearly dropped the package. “Where did you get this?” she asked.
“I didn't get it from another woman, if that is what you want to know.” He stepped forward and touched her cheek. “Although I must say that I'm touched to see you so jealous.”
“I'm not jealous,” she ground out. “It's just that—If you bought it at Madame Lambert's, I should be—”
“I didn't buy it at Madame Lambert's.
“Good. I should be quite angry to find out that one of my friends assisted you in this nefarious endeavor.”
“I wonder how long you'll remain so angry with me,” he said softly.
Victoria's head snapped up at his abrupt change of subject. “I'm going to bed.” She took two steps toward the connecting door, then turned around. “I shan't be modeling this gown for you.”
He offered her a seductive smile. “I never dreamed you would. However I'm quite pleased to hear that you at least contemplated the idea.”
Victoria let out a low growl and stomped back into her room. She was so furious with him that she nearly slammed the door shut. But then, remembering her initial goal, she grasped the knob and closed the door so that it just touched the jamb. If Robert noticed that it was not closed properly, he would not think she had left it open as an invitation. She had made her anger too clear for him to jump to that conclusion. No, he would probably just assume that, in her distraction, she had overlooked a detail.
And if she was lucky he wouldn't notice the door at all.
Victoria tossed the offending package onto her bed and considered her plan for the rest of the night. She would have to wait several hours before attempting her escape. She had no idea how long it would take Robert to fall asleep, and since she had only one chance to flee, it seemed prudent to give him plenty of time to doze off.
She stayed awake by mentally reciting all her least favorite passages from the Bible. Her father had always insisted that she and Ellie commit large portions of the book to memory. An hour passed, then another, then another. Then yet another hour passed, and Victoria halted in midpsalm as she realized that it was four in the morning. Surely Robert was sleeping soundly by now.