Taken by the Prince

Author:Dodd, Christina [Dodd, Christina]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9780451413048
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2011-04-05T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-seven

Victoria didn’t care what people thought. She just wanted to be alone.

Of course, that wasn’t possible.

Raul caught up with her before she left the great hall. As they climbed the stairs, he placed his hand in the small of her back to steady her, and he entered the bedroom on her heels. He shut the door behind them and turned the key in the lock.

As she had done every night, Amya had prepared the room. She’d placed bed linens on the sofa, laid out Victoria’s nightgown, lit the fire. But every night, she added something to the ambience—a vase of flowers, rose petals floating in the basin of warm water. Tonight Amya had lit candles throughout the room, creating a warm glow that made even her tormentor look . . . compassionate.

She couldn’t stand that. Snatching up her nightgown and a blanket, she fled into the closet. She changed in the dark, wrapped herself in the blanket, and returned to the bedroom.

He was still there, standing in the same spot, waiting. Waiting . . .

She faced him, upset and angry, wanting him to go away, ready to fight him if necessary.

But the ruthless swine surprised her. “I’m sorry about the letter to your mother.” He offered her his hand. “When the revolution is over, you can post it.”

Oh, no. He wasn’t going to coax her out of her distress. And she was not about to touch him. “When your revolution is over, I’ll go and see her.”

“Yes, of course you will.” He dropped his hand. He strolled to the window, braced his arm against the wall, and looked out. “You and your mother are close?”

“Not at all.” She didn’t know why she confessed such a shameful thing—maybe because that first night he had confided in her—but she added, “I don’t think she ever worries about me, but still, because she’s my mother . . . I write.”

“You travel the world and your mother doesn’t worry about you?” He turned back with a frown.

She scrambled onto the sofa, although not because she thought he intended to seduce her. Not right now. Right now, he was getting close without coming near. “I’m her eldest, the only child of my father. After his death, she struggled to make a living, but we almost ended up in the poorhouse.”

“That would have been a death sentence to you both.”

“Exactly. So she married my stepfather.” She sank down onto the pillow, pulled the covers up to her chin, huddled there, and wished she’d never started this conversation . . . and wished she could stop right now. Oh, Raul’s younger sister Belle had made some guesses, probably pretty good ones, but Victoria had never told anyone the truth about her and her mother. Now she couldn’t seem to stop. “My stepfather married her to have a wife to tend his house and take care of his children by his first wife. They’ve since had children together. I have eight step- and half siblings.”

“So your mother had to divide her attention between a lot of you.

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