The Kidnapped Bride Read Online Free PDF

you take my meaning. Won’t force unwanted attentions upon you either now or afterward. Can’t deny that something might have to be done later to secure the succession, but that will be only if you agree to it. Right now, I want only to insure that it shall be impossible for your uncle to marry you off to anyone but me.”
    “I should never have thought you capable of this, my lord.” He shrugged, and Sarah bit her lip. “I wish it had been otherwise. You make me feel a fool for trusting you. How long do you mean to keep me here?”
    “Overnight would do the trick,” he answered, “but I daresay you’ll not want to go back to London for a while. That must depend upon your uncle, of course. I had planned for you to write him an affecting little letter filled with your love for me and your despair at his refusal to countenance our marriage.”
    “I shall certainly do no such thing!”
    “Well, I can see that you would be loathe to do so, of course,” he agreed reasonably, “but do you know, I believe it is still the best course. Far easier to explain that he can avoid the scandal of a Gretna Green marriage if he will but be sensible, than to describe the sordid details of an abduction, don’t you know.”
    “You would never succeed in forcing me all the way to Scotland,” she grated, torn between fury and exasperation.
    “Of course not. No wish to try. My plan will answer the purpose much better. Can’t want to be barred from Society after all. Not that we would be barred for long,” he added comfortably, “not with all the money I shall have. Won’t be let into Almack’s, of course, but I shan’t repine. Never liked the place, anyway. Too stuffy by half. Nevertheless … your uncle … you’ll inform him that we desire to be married quietly in the country by special license. He may then make up whatever tale he likes to stifle the rumormongers.”
    Sarah was silent. His plan would work. It was brilliant. Her uncle cared little for her and less for her money (since he had no personal claim upon it), but he cared a great deal for his reputation. By agreeing to a scheme in which he would believe Sarah voluntarily involved, Lord Hartley would avoid a dreadful scandal. It took years, a lifetime, for a family to live down a Gretna Green marriage, but Darcy’s way, any rumor arising should be little more than a nine-day wonder. That Lord and Lady Hartley would be furious with her didn’t seem to weigh much with him if, indeed, he had even considered it. They would probably wash their hands of her anyway after today, but they would be certain to do so if she were to write the letter he outlined.
    “I am sorry to disappoint you, my lord,” she said at last with great dignity, “but I cannot write that letter.”
    Elbows on the table, Darcy laced his fingers together and gazed at her as earnestly as a child might. “Up to you, of course, Sarah, but I think that by morning, you know, you will have changed your mind.”
    She would have liked to debate the matter, but she could see nothing to be gained by such a course at the present moment. Instead, she decided to try another tack. “It was only my fortune that interested you, was it not? Perhaps it could be arranged for my uncle to pay a ransom for my release. He is quite well off himself, you know, and I am sure he would come down handsomely, sir.”
    “Nonsense, my dear,” he said indignantly. “I am not such a low person as that! I shall do right by you, of course. I cannot deny that your grandfather’s fortune is the primary factor, but that need not concern us now. You are a perfectly presentable young woman and will make quite a good little countess.”
    “I never liked Grandpapa very much,” Sarah muttered, “but I never thought I should have cause to hate him.”
    “Sensible man, to my way of thinking. Tell me about him.”
    Sarah shrugged. There was no reason not to do so. “He despised women,” she said bitterly. “That was the key to