So many young ladies would’ve given in, admitting defeat, but not Elizabeth. He had a strong feeling that if given the chance, she would bolt for the alleys, which would not be a safe place for her, but certainly not less safe than with the magistrate and her father.
“Elizabeth,” he asked. “Did I kidnap you?”
“What?”, she gasped, looking at him, then the Duke of Blackwood. “Of course, not.”
The magistrate hesitated. “You came here of your own volition, my lady?”
“Indeed,” she huffed. “He is to be my husband.”
“He cannot be her husband,” Greystone stated. “I have not given permission.”
“This feels to be a family affair,” the magistrate blurted, “and it doesn’t appear as any actual kidnapping has occurred.”
Greystone stiffened and roared, “He broke into my house in the dead of night, he took my daughter’s virtue and now she is here in his house.”
“Are you insinuating that the earl has forced himself upon your daughter? That is a most serious claim.”
Greystone pressed his hand to his ruby colored cravat. “That is exactly what I’m insinuating, and I think you should arrest him at once.”
“The lady does not seem afraid of him,” the magistrate pointed out, his expression changing to one of extreme irritation at being called out for such an event. “If anything, the lady seems to wish to be here. Is that true, Lady Elizabeth?”
She nodded. “Indeed. I came here of my own volition, attempting to escape my father.”
“I see.” The magistrate scowled. “You put me in a great deal of difficulty, my lord. I was coming here to arrest a gentleman and to free a young lady but it seems that the young lady has absconded in the middle of the night to run away with her lover.”
The magistrate turned to Tom, “Apologies, my lord. Your club has never caused us trouble and I found such accusations difficult to believe. It is clear that you’ve done nothing wrong. The lady is without virtue. She clearly cannot wait to throw herself at you again.”
Tom smiled tightly. “What can I say? She is mine.”
“She is not yours,” her father hissed. “She is mine. She belongs to me. She is my property. I should sue you for cheapening it.”
“Good, God,” Blackwood bit out. “Is this what we’re going to do? We’re going to descend into the madness of law and lawsuits?”
Blackwood let out a dark laugh. “If that’s the case, I will make it clear that I have slept with her as well.”
Lady Elizabeth let out a startled peep, but then said nothing. “We shall make sure that she is worth so little, my lord, that you shall receive not a penny for her or from my friend.”
The earl’s face turned bright red, for there had been a case in the last century of the notorious Lady W who had proved that she had slept with so many men that she had no value to her husband, who had tried to sue her lover for several thousand pounds for loss of property.
“I cannot believe that you would do this to a fellow peer, Blackwood,” the earl sneered.
“Oh, I would do this and more to a gentleman of your sorts. Gentleman, being the loose word.” Blackwood looked at the earl as if he were something the cat had dragged in. “Now I think you should go before this grows more serious.”
“More serious?” Greystone seethed. “I do not see how it could become any more serious. You have taken my daughter away from me. You have taken my future. You have—”
Tom snapped up a hand. “You talk as if she is not a person at all, but merely a vehicle to your line.”
“That is what she is,” Greystone ground out, his white hair falling out of place. “She is a walking vessel for my bloodline and the idea that mine would mingle with yours, Courtney, it makes me want to vomit.”
Tom laughed. “Then you best get used to feeling sick, for Elizabeth is going to marry me no matter what you say.”
The earl let out a breath of fury. “If I cannot stop you, if Blackwood here supports you so well, if the magistrate will not take her away, if she wants to throw herself at a gutter rat that will no doubt beat her every day and treat her like filth… I shall attend the ceremony myself!”
“Do you mean it, Papa?” Elizabeth demanded.
He swung his cold gaze to his daughter. “Oh, yes. And I cannot wait to see what happens when you come begging for me to rescue you, when you realize what living with such a villain means.”
“Then let us marry immediately,” she said, ignoring her father’s vehement speech. “A special license can be obtained. I do not wish to wait—”