A Proper Scandal (Ravensdale Family Book 2) (25 page)

“This is the man who wants to open a new theater in London,” Peprin was saying from a chair beside him.

The other man there, D’Ambreious, didn’t look at Alex. His eyes were fixed on the couple in the middle of the room, even as a woman lay reclined in his lap.

“Monsieur D’Ambreious is a very generous benefactor,” Peprin said again, knocking his hand against Alex, startling him awake. His stomach cramped as his hands began to numb. He must leave. This party, this strange night, was eating away at his sanity. His hand relaxed as lips moved over his, hot and searching. His drink dropped to the floor, the others laughing behind their masks at him.

Alex slid his eyes to D’Ambreious and watched as cigar smoke puffed into the air, but there was no cigar between the man’s lips. His chubby hands ran over the woman’s satin bodice, dipping below the neckline to cup a breast.

“I’m looking for a solid investment in London, Monsieur Marwick,” he said finally. “And I have a lot of money to send your way if you’re favorable with forgiving debts.” The man looked at Alex and lifted his hand as if to shoo him away. He had not realized Peprin had introduced him to the king. That was damn arrogant. As if Peprin’s debt could be erased with another bribe.

D’Ambreious bent lower and kissed the woman’s neck, wrapping his hand haphazardly around her throat. He whispered a string of words, his hands mirroring the hands of the man on the floor, seeking pleasure.

Alex tried to swallow but his mouth was dry, so he licked his lips and tried again. The woman with blue eyes laughed, a high-pitched giggle. She looked somewhat familiar as she removed her mask.

“I’ll make you very happy, monsieur,” she whispered against his ear. The heat of her breath felt like it had been thrown off by an oven in a bakery. “Whatever you desire.” Her lips moved over his face, but he wanted none of it. His eyes were focused instead on D’Ambreious and the woman on his lap who was slack under the man’s touch. Dread pooled in his stomach as he spotted the dark hair and then those hazel eyes he had grown to love. They stared backed at him as she sat up. The blonde woman on his lap grabbed for his chin to force back his attention.

Minnie’s eyes were dull, her features grave. She puffed out another exhale of smoke, clouding Alex’s view of her. He reached out, feeling as if this was some sort of dream and she was just beyond the smoky curtain that divided them. When the smoke cleared, D’Ambreious had the cigar in his mouth and Minnie was whispering in his ear.

When her lips touched the older man, Alex lost himself. He stood awkwardly, dumping Chantal onto the floor. He reached for Minnie. She was his, damn it. Voices protested, hands tried to hold him back and the earth spun around and around until he was sure he would vomit. Through the confusion, faces and voices transformed into the sounds of the asylum and he knew he must leave. He struggled from whoever held him back, weathered the punches to his body and the screams. Phantom pain ripped at his wrists as he staggered out of the room and into the hall. He thought for a moment he was back in the asylum, surely, because none of this made sense.

“You have to leave,” Minnie said, her face suddenly in front of him. Masks circled around behind her, their voices hushed.

“They’re married,” a female’s voice shouted. It sounded like Chantal. Like the cat with blue eyes. “He called her his wife, his darling. I saw him leaving her room this morning.”

“Be quiet, Chantal,” Minnie said, spinning around. Alex didn’t want her to move away from him now that she was with him. “Monsieur Marwick isn’t feeling well.”

The room quieted as if they all agreed.

“Bring him upstairs,” Peprin demanded.

“He is not feeling well,” Minnie repeated. And she stepped closer. “Someone fetch him a glass of water.” She handed Alex a glass. It was cool against his palm.

She crowded him against the wall, leaning in as she lifted the glass to his lips. “It is best if you leave and forget me. You will have your theater but not if you cause scenes like that. I’m not yours,” she rushed out on a low whisper.

When he wrapped his fingers around her wrist, noticing the bruises on her body and blood on her ear, he thought she should be his because he would never treat her like the others. He would never hurt her.

“Not anymore,” she whispered.

If he could think clearly, he would have an answer and know what to do. Alex wanted to pick her up and walk out the door and leave the rest of them all behind. She was too good for them. But Alex could barely walk. Then the panic struck as her words set in, as he was ushered upstairs and brought to his room without ever having the chance to say what he needed Minnie to hear.

*

Minnie stood at the foot of the stairs and watched as the servants dragged Alex up to his room. She shivered, a nervous sweat breaking out over her brow. She wiped it away and forced a coy smile as she turned to Peprin and D’Ambreious. “Let’s continue, shall we?”

She needed something stronger than champagne if she was going to carry through with Peprin’s demands. She eyed the sideboard and discovered the opened bottle of whiskey and swiped it before she circled back and hung on D’Ambreious’s arm.

“They are married. I swear it,” Chantal proclaimed again to Peprin. “I have seen them together. They are a couple, monsieur. She is a fraud. Evangeline has been lying to all of us. She’s not a virgin.”

“Shall I perform for everyone?” Minnie asked, speaking over Chantal. “And then,” she said, leaning closer to D’Ambreious, “perhaps it is time we leave the party for our own entertainment.”

For an older man, he wore his glee like a little boy who happened upon a sweet shop. “I’ll make you very happy, Evie.” He squeezed her bottom and she let out a surprise shriek for his delight but she felt as if she were going to be sick.

Not anymore.

She’d lied to gain her freedom from Mrs. Robards those years ago, but that lie hadn’t felt as if she had cut her heart out. But that was the truth now. Things had grown too complicated for them to continue with their secret relationship. They could be together no longer. He needed his theater and therefore Peprin’s favor, and she wanted that for Alex.

She took a biting swallow of the whiskey and stepped up onto the dining table and sang and danced, feeling Peprin’s marionette strings moving her, forcing her to perform. She hated it as D’Ambreious lifted her skirts and slid his hand up her leg in front of the others to snap her garter. His touch made her stomach sour.

She could do this. She must.

He carried her up to his room, depositing her on the bed in a heap of silk and jewels. He stood over her and demanded that she undress him, which she did dutifully.

“Peprin has assured me that you’re a virgin.”

Minnie nodded at the claim, lying as she felt his skin beneath her fingers. His body wasn’t that of a young man, but of someone who had softened a little around the edges. Images of Alex and their first night together flashed before her eyes, and she closed them tight, savoring that memory. She had given herself to Alex on her own free will and he had shown her tenderness and love.

Love.

Was this how someone acted when they were in love with another? She remembered straightening up in D’Ambreious’s lap as Chantal kissed Alex, and the rage that roared through her. Those were her lips to kiss. Chantal had no claim over Alex. But did Minnie?

D’Ambreious’s hands moved over her body, stripping away the fabric in angry tugs. His breathing grew ragged, his eyes bulging. He spoke lewd words to her as he stripped her bare, pushing her to lay down on the bed.

She was crying. She only noticed as he yelled at her for it, complaining that she was suffering from virginal fear. But it was nothing to do with that. Everything grew cold and the world suddenly seemed far away as his hands moved over her body. His touch wasn’t tender—he was rough and demanding. He grabbed at her greedily and grunted, stroking himself as he groped her body and spoke vile words.

This was nothing like what she had shared with Alex and she was afraid. She had heard of men like this and what they would do.

D’Ambreious hauled her up on the bed and tied her hands with his silk tie, kissing her harshly, for only his pleasure. This wasn’t what she knew of sex. This was foreign and rough and he was hurting her. He dragged her off the bed and pulled her upward by her hair. She stumbled before he shoved her hard against the wall, her head ringing from the impact.

Minnie struggled, fighting back as he slapped her, enjoying the sight of her distress. She scrambled onto her feet, her hands still tied, and tried for the door. Everything sped past her as he hauled her back, laughing at her escape attempt.

“It won’t be so bad as that,” he said. It was a lie, of course. She didn’t trust him by half to respect her body.

In one last attempt to escape, she darted to the washing stand and lifted the bowl with her tied hands.

“I knew you were the right choice. Peprin said you were too valuable to him, but I admire your spir—”

Minnie somehow managed to crash the giant porcelain bowl over his head, tumbling him to the ground. She kicked him to be sure he was unconscious, then tore away her ties with her mouth, tying him up.

She wrapped the sheet from the bed around her body and fled the room, rushing to her own to find a dress and gather a few things for her bag. Minnie ran to Alex’s room next, frantic to escape before someone noticed.

“Alex?” she whispered into the dark room. There was no time to waste. She was sure he was in the room. “Alex, we must hurry.”

A soft moan came for the corner of the room, the moonlight streaming in from the window, falling upon bare feet.

“Alex?” She edged toward the sound, unsure what was she would discover.

Alex held his knees and rocked back and forth, his shirt drenched in sweat.

“Blast it,” Minnie said, sinking to the floor in front of him. She could not leave him behind. Certainly not like this. “Alex, listen to me,” she said, reaching her hand out to cup his face. “We must hurry. They will be after me soon and I can’t—”

“I’m losing my mind,” he said on a small whisper. “Don’t send me back.”

“Darling Alex,” she dropped a rushed kiss to his wet forehead. “I don’t know what dark place you’re in, but we have to leave. You have to stand up and follow me. I’ll find us somewhere safe. You will be safe with me. Do you understand?”

He seemed so very far away.

“Alex, I need you to come with me. I can’t leave without you. You’re everything I have left now.” Her voice cracked. He must follow her. Everything would be well if he followed. Minnie feathered his face with kisses, running her hands through his hair and down his arms, touching him in hopes of shaking him from the dark fog consuming him. “Alex. Please, Alex.”

“I don’t want to stay here.” His voice was rough and far away, a mere whisper compared to her racing heart.

“No, I don’t want you to stay here either. We are going to leave together. Grab my hand and we will go. But we must hurry.”

Alex stopped rocking and held his hand out into the light. “Can you see them? How are we going to get them off?”

Minnie narrowed her eyes at his outstretched wrists, unsure of what he saw.

“The chains,” he said.

“I have a key,” she lied. If nothing else, she could act and talk him through this evil dream he was trapped in. Whatever they used to poison him was addling his brain. She moved her hands over his and said, “There, now we can go.”

Alex gazed up at her and gave her a strange, empty smile. Leering almost. The handsome face she loved appeared haunted. But there was no time for doubts. She would see them both safe and then she would figure out what was next. She refused to give up now.

“Grab my hand, sweet.” She helped him to his feet and looked for the wardrobe. She grabbed a change of clothes and threw them in with her own. She led them both down the back stairs and out into the night, holding his hand tight, determined not to let go.

“W
e’ll be safe soon,” she said, the words sharp and stabbing as the breath crushed from her lungs. Alex panted behind her, his eyes still wide and glazed over. If only he were well and awake, free from the hell he was languishing in. Perhaps then, they would have a chance of escape.

Minnie stopped, bending over to retch onto the sand by the surf. Everything felt beaten and bruised, her eyes burning as a sob tore from her throat and she struggled for another breath. In that moment, all she wished for was to be held by Alex.

With her hands braced on her knees, she glanced behind as Alex stood tall, his gaze fixed on the dark horizon. Her heart broke a little more, even when she thought she couldn’t handle any more pain. And then there was the small part that was furious at him for leaving her. She had told him they were finished and he hadn’t put up a fight. His stricken look hadn’t been protest enough.

“Alex,” she said, her voice hoarse. Her stomach roiled in another painful cramp and she turned, retching until she collapsed to her knees. The sand dug into her skin, the sheet fluttering in the ocean breeze. At least they had put some space between themselves and Peprin. If only her nerves would settle.