Her reward for that naivety was to be held prisoner in this dark room, gagged and bound.
With the added worry that, as she was nothing more than a rebellious nuisance to Christian, he may not feel inclined to pay a ransom for her release even if one should be demanded.
The situation was dire enough to make her sit and cry. If self-pity had been in her nature. And if she thought it would have done any good.
It was not, and she knew crying would only make her feel more miserable when her mouth was gagged and her hands tied.
No, she had no choice but to remain in this unpleasant place until such time as she was either released or—
Lisette did not wish to contemplate what that or might be.
* * *
‘Well, of course I will go to Westminster Bridge and meet with these people tonight, Christian,’ Maystone assured him testily as Christian scowled down at him as he sat in a chair in his own drawing room. ‘It is not a question of whether I go or not.’
‘Then what is it a question of?’ Christian was too restless to be seated himself, preferring to pace the room instead.
The older man sighed heavily, his face pale. ‘What might be demanded of me in exchange for Miss Duprée’s release.’
Christian was well aware of the demons of hell Maystone had suffered for weeks, when his loyalty to the Crown prevented him from yielding the information demanded of him in exchange for his grandson’s safe return.
The same demons of hell Christian had been suffering since he had received word of Lisette’s abduction. Which, in actual time, had only been a matter of just over an hour.
It seemed much longer.
As he knew the five hours until midnight would seem interminable.
Christian’s mouth thinned. ‘Whatever it is they want, you will give it to them.’
The older man looked up at him regretfully. ‘You know I cannot do that, Christian.’
Yes, he did know that; if Maystone had been unwilling to give in to blackmail in exchange for his grandson’s life, then he was unlikely to do so for a young woman he had only met for the first time earlier today. A young woman, moreover, who was known to be the illegitimate daughter of the same woman who had organised the kidnapping of Maystone’s grandson.
‘I think we may both safely assume that this unpleasant business does at least confirm Lisette to be innocent of all wrongdoing,’ Maystone proffered gently. ‘Unless, of course, she was aware of this plan all along and is in cahoots with her supposed abductors...?’
The idea had also occurred—very briefly—to Christian and been just as quickly dismissed. Lisette had been brought to London against her will or intention. And the Lisette who had offered to become his mistress earlier today simply did not have it in her to behave in so underhand a manner.
She was infuriating, rebellious to the point of endangering her own safety, but he believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lisette was not, and never could be, a liar.
He glared at Maystone. ‘You will give these people whatever they demand for her safe return,’ he growled.
Maystone surged impatiently to his feet at Christian’s accusing tone. ‘You know of my limitations in that regard as well as I, Christian.’
‘Damn it to hell—!’ Christian wanted to put his fist through something in order to vent his frustration and anger.
Every minute that passed was one more minute he could not be sure if Lisette still lived; she would not be the first kidnap victim to have been disposed of shortly after being taken, the kidnappers’ only interest in the ransom. His only consolation was that Maystone’s grandson had been found unharmed, if badly shaken.
But even that was of little comfort. Worthing had a point earlier; the people who had Lisette could not be the same ones who had taken the boy because they were currently incarcerated in prison, awaiting trial.
‘I understand how you are feeling, Christian,’ Maystone consoled him.
Christian was not sure how he was ‘feeling’, so he very much doubted that the other man could possibly know or understand either.
On the one hand, Christian felt almost paralysed with worry as to Lisette’s safety.
On the other, he wanted to do something—something tangible towards facilitating her return.
He was also furious with Lisette for her recklessness, at the same time as he needed to hold her in his arms and reassure himself that she was safe and unharmed.