Anne Barbour Read Online Free

back once more into her chair.
    “I am the English mistress in a seminary for young ladies in Paris, and that is where I live. Marcus is two years younger than I, and with the cessation of the war, he came to England several months ago to seek employment. He is a poor correspondent, but a week ago I received a rather garbled note from him telling me that it was imperative that I join him here. He told me to travel to the town of Aylesford, where he would meet me.
    “Such was the urgency of his letter that I complied at once. I set sail from Calais two days ago. I disembarked at Dover, and was en route to Aylesford by stage. The coach made a stop at the Green Man for dinner, and I ordered a meal of cutlets and peas, and a pot of tea. I recall the tea took an unconscionable time to arrive—I had nearly finished eating—and it tasted odd, as though it had been highly spiced. I had taken only a few sips when I began to feel very odd. Then—”
    She broke off, aware that the earl had begun to drum his fingers on the polished surface of the small table beside the settee, and was glancing with undisguised boredom at the ormolu clock on the mantelpiece.
    Diana flushed, and experienced a strong desire to slap that arrogant face.
    “I trust I am not boring you, my lord. Perhaps I may be excused for placing a certain degree of importance on the event.”
    The earl stifled a yawn, and rose. He moved leisurely to seat himself behind the desk.
    “And I trust,” he murmured, “that I may be permitted a certain degree of skepticism concerning this entire farrago. You have neglected to provide a reason for this dastardly kidnapping. Are you, perchance, the heiress of a wealthy citoyen? Ah, but no, that would not jibe with the schoolmistress story, would it?”
    Diana clamped her lips together. How could she convince this wretched man that she was not lying?
    The earl continued in an uninterested tone.
    “Could we get on with it, please? Time grows short, as does my patience. I suppose you are going to tell me that your tea was drugged.”
    Diana sprang to her feet and strode to the desk.
    “Yes,” she replied in a gritty voice. “I believe that is what happened, because it is from that point that my memory is blurred. All I know is that I seemed to be incapable of coherent thought. I remember a man—I remember he—touched me, as though ...” Her eyes dropped, and her cheeks flamed. “But none of it seemed to register. It was as though I had no control over my actions or my mind.’’
    She stole a glance into the eyes glaring into hers, but the earl’s only response was a noticeable hardening of his already forbidding expression.
    Diana shivered, but she continued in haste.
    “By the time I began to come out of—whatever it was, I realized that I was in a coach. There were two men with me, one of whom was the one who had—approached me in the Green Man. I never did get a good look at the other. I know only that he was short and squat, and powerfully built.
    “I began to struggle, but to no avail. The two men kept questioning me.” She put her hands to her forehead, as once more the images of last night’s ordeal began dissolving into a kaleidoscope of terror. “If only I could remember!”
    Observing the unpromising expression on his lordship’s face, she dropped her gaze once more and continued on.
    “I slumped in my seat, pretending to have fallen back into a stupor in order to avoid their incessant queries. It was a difficult pretense, to be sure, since the coach was traveling so fast that I found myself bouncing around like an India-rubber ball. The powerfully built man kept urging the coachman to go even faster. But then the coach slowed. The two men shouted at the coachman, but we slowed even more, and at last came to a stop. The man was apparently lost. My captors climbed out of the carriage, and I could hear the three of them cursing and shouting.
    “I think they both believed me incapable of movement—or