Page 113 of A Single Obsession

“I don’t understand. How can it be locked? We should call for Reed.”

“She won’t answer.”

“Why not?”

“Because it was her who shut us in. Don’t you see? This is all my mother’s doing. She is so set on my marrying you she took the decision out of our hands. By the time we get out of this bedchamber, you’ll be compromised in the eyes of the world and have no option but to become my wife or retire to a nunnery.”

“I contemplated that,” Eliza said with a wicked smile, “but I didn’t suppose I’d be allowed to hunt if I became a nun.”

Beau kissed the end of her nose. “Wretch.” From her nose, it seemed natural to move to her lips, and it was a few minutes before he could resume his train of thought.

“Despite evidence to the contrary, I dislike having my hand forced. I don’t want you or anyone else to doubt that I’m marrying you of my own free will. How can I prove you’re my choice of bride if it’s my inescapable duty to wed you?”

“How do you know I didn’t plan all this to make you compromise me, so you’d have to marry me?”

“You have a point there. After all, a lady who rides astride in a public horserace must consider it a mere trifle to force a gentleman into compromising her reputation.”

Eliza turned a deep shade of red. “That was uncalled for. You know I would never stoop so low as to plan something like this, though I doubt Horrible Harriet would have passed up the opportunity.”

Beau chuckled. “Is that what you christened her? To marry The Honourable Harriet Whitlow was a fate I shuddered to contemplate. I never even thought of her except how to avoid her attentions. You are the only woman I’ve ever wanted to make my wife.”

Eliza rewarded his words with another kiss. “What are we going to do?”

“I could keep kissing you until we’re rescued.”

“The prospect is enticing,” said Eliza, pecking his forehead, and then his nose.

“Far too enticing,” Beau said, putting some distance between them. He walked across the room to the windows, which looked out onto the formal gardens. “I think we’d better concentrate on getting out of here. Fortunately, I like to sleep with a window ajar, so unless our captors have secured it, this one should open.”

As he spoke, he turned the handle of the left-hand casement, opened it wide and peered over the edge. “There’s a portico along this side of the house, but it’s too far below us to reach safely.”

“I don’t suppose you keep a rope in here?”

“No. We’ll have to improvise. If we string the bedding together, that should give me enough length to reach the roof of the portico, and there is a sturdy wisteria beside it which I can climb down. Once I’m free, I’ll slip into the house and unlock this door—”

“I’m coming with you.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

Eliza raised her eyebrows. “More dangerous than riding in a horserace?”

“Huh! I can see I’m going to have my work cut out keeping you safe.” He shot her a lopsided grin. “Very well. We’ll go together.”

They stripped the bed and Beau knotted the sheets together as tightly as he could.

“I’m impressed you know about the wisteria,” Eliza said. “I wouldn’t recognise one if I saw it.”

He barked with laughter. “Neither would I, but the inspection of my property is paying off. The estate manager has proved most willing to teach me and is a very thorough gentleman. Harris pointed it out as a well-established plant we would not wish to uproot, and I assume he knew what he was talking about.”

Beau tied one end of the sheet rope around the bed post nearest the window and pushed the rest through the opening.

“I’m afraid it’s not quite long enough,” he said, eyeing the other end, which was dangling several feet short of the surface below them. “I’ll go first and catch you when you climb down. Can you clamber over the windowsill by yourself?”

Eliza shot him a saucy grin. “It’s no different from sneaking out of my window at home to join the hunt—apart from these petticoats.”

“Ah yes. The first time I met Mr Robson.”

“Did you never guess?”