Love in a Dangerous Season by Gloria Gay

Author:Gloria Gay
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Historical, Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction, Thriller & Suspense
Published: 2015-01-21T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Fantine drifted back from unconsciousness to a slow awareness that she was inside a moving carriage, that her hands and feet were tightly bound, and that she was blindfolded and had a gag on her mouth. At first she thought she was still in the grip of a nightmare, then full consciousness came back to her. The first questions were why? And who? Her mind flew back to the masquerade ball, which was the last place she remembered being in.

How long she had been unconscious, and why was she being taken by force?

And who were they?

Fantine realized with terror that whoever had abducted her meant business. This work was not for the fainthearted. Whoever was in charge knew what he was doing. She found that out when she tried to free herself from her confinements. Even the blindfold was securely tied and not even rubbing against the upholstery of the carriage seat so much as loosened it.

She was certain that she was being carried in a carriage over a highway, for the carriage appeared to be running over macadam rather than on cobblestones or dirt. Also, she must have remained unconscious for several hours, for her head throbbed and she felt the sluggishness of too much sleep. She leaned her head on the squabs of the carriage, pressing her body to a sitting position and tried to think, ignoring the pain in her wrists where the rope was cutting and at and the sides of her mouth, where the tight gag was also rubbing painfully.

She must have been drugged, she decided. How else could she have been removed from the ballroom without her knowledge, and tied as she was? But how had they drugged her?

She thought back and remembered drinking the lemonade. But if it was the lemonade…wouldn't that implicate Lady Vladim? It was she who had handed her the lemonade. Had she kept her eyes on the lemonade as it was served from a pitcher, or had she allowed her eyes away from it? Yes, she had, she realized, and at Lady Vladim's request, when Lady Vladim had asked to borrow her comb. That had been an excuse to have Fantine distracted. It must have been while she was searching in her reticule for her comb that Lady Vladim had slipped something into her lemonade—some powder that had rendered her unconscious.

But why? What possible reason did Lady Vladim have for participating in this criminal act? Was it perhaps a joke? The tight bounds cutting into her body left little doubt in Fantine's mind that this was not a joke. Whoever it was that was leading her away from London, bound inside a carriage as a prisoner had only evil on his mind. She shivered with fear.

Who could help her? The answer sent a chilling shiver through her body. No one could help her. No one even knew where she was. The perpetrators of this act had no doubt covered their tracks. Even now, Lady Vladim must be making a fuss over her disappearance.

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