He stared at her as her words sank in.
“You know that he can do it, Tom. All he has to do is whisk me away and put me in one of his estates with a few servants to watch me.”
He ground his teeth together. He made no reply. He was absolutely aware that her father could do such a thing if he so desired.
The power that husbands, brothers, and fathers had over their wives, sisters, and daughters was immense. He knew that there were ladies all over this country who were all but imprisoned at this very moment.
There were young men too.
Anyone inconvenient who did not fit the molds that their families wished were quietly sent away to be forever dealt with by the care of staff, sometimes humane, sometimes not.
He had little doubt the kind of care that she would receive if her father was the one to assure it. Especially if he was punishing her for perceived transgressions.
“That will never happen to you,” he growled, his body vibrating with both his determination to keep her safe and his fury at her father.
“How can you be so certain?” she protested, even as she held onto him, linking her arms about his neck. “You should have seen him this morning. He was furious. He grabbed me by the hair, hauled me out of bed, threw me upon the ground, and Tom, my God, the things he said, it is a miracle that I escaped.”
“How did you?” he asked softly, glancing over her hair, realizing that was where the blood had come from.
She swallowed then rushed, “I stabbed him in the thigh with a letter opener, and then I bolted for the door.” Her face whitened. “He could not reach me in time. I think he was so shocked by what I had done…” A faint smile tilted her lips. “And possibly in pain.”
He held her tightly to him, amazed by her bravery. “You are a very strong woman, Elizabeth,” he said.
“Thank you,” she said. “But perhaps my strength has condemned me. If I had just managed to trick him but a little bit longer… the scandal went out, you know,” she said.
“I beg your pardon?”
She licked her lips. “The men who wagered upon me, they’ve already spread the word. They spread it so quickly that my father knew. I almost think one of them must have gone to him directly and told him what you had done.”
Tom scowled. “That makes sense,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if one of those men did not like the fact that I had won the wager and wanted to get me into difficulty immediately. After all, I seemed to have risen far higher than I should, what better way to pull me down than to immediately throw me under the Earl of Greystone’s angry ministrations?”
She nodded. “Tom, I think I was only able to escape because most of the servants were still asleep. I ran out of the house straight onto the pavement in my night rail. He nearly captured me.”
She flinched. “I could hear him shouting at me from the house, but I managed to jump into a hackney. The poor man looked like he was going to suffer apoplexy on the spot. Much to his credit, he did not stop.”
“Is he still outside?” he asked softly.
She nodded. “He needs payment.”
“It shall be taken care of,” he assured. “Bloody hell, Elizabeth, I am sorry. I thought that I was protecting you, but I was not. I never should have left you with him, I should have taken you with me last night.”
“Tom, neither of us knew my father was capable of such brutality,” she countered. “Control, yes, but brutality? No. It never would’ve occurred to me that he would abuse me thus and imprison me. Force me to marry? Certainly, to a powerful man.”
She shook her head, trying to make sense of the events. “But lock me away for the rest of my life? It did not occur to me that he would be willing to go so far to maintain his reputation and hold over me.”
Tom swallowed. He’d known men like that before.
Men who could not bear to be defied for anything and were willing to kill people who stepped out of line. He was grateful, that she had escaped him… and that her father had not done something far worse on impulse.
Given his knowledge of the world? There was every chance that her father could have done something nefarious in the middle of the night and then blamed it on an accident. There was no doubt in his mind that many lords in the past had murdered their wives, their daughters, their sisters, and had gotten away with it.
After all, lords were often above justice. If they could even be prosecuted, there had to be irrefutable evidence and witnesses. My God, if there had been no witness, it would’ve been so easy to make Elizabeth disappear.
He swallowed back the acrid taste that slipped through his mouth at that thought.
He closed his eyes, pulled her even closer, and pressed his cheek to the top of her head. “I’m never letting you out of my sight,” he said softly.
“Tom, if you do that, he shall have won,” she whispered against his shoulder.