Ellie Farnsworth? Anna stopped squirming, her eyes wide. How exciting and how romantic that it was true—Miss Farnsworth had run off with the captain!
“Aye, I can tell by the look of ye that ye’ve suspected the truth. There was a wee bit of wrangling for the beastie between them—Ellie needed it to escape her father, and, well, she stole it from Liam, she did, and sold it to Lady Battenkirk for a paltry sum.” His face darkened for a moment, but then he leaned back and said, with a flick of his wrist, “Ach, she didna understand what she did—nevertheless, the only thing the lass knew in all certainty was that Lady Battenkirk intended it as a gift for her friend Amelia.”
Yes, yes, she had discovered who Amelia was, how could he have forgotten? She tried to express her desire to speak by inching forward on the bench until her knees were touching Grif’s, but he did not seem to notice, was too determined to prattle on.
“So then Hugh and I came to fetch it …Well, there are quite a lot of details I’ll spare ye, but the point is, ye found it ere I did, which left me with no choice but to endure yer demands because of how important the beastie is to me family. Ye must understand, Anna— had the situation no’ been so bloody important, I wouldna have agreed to help ye seduce a man, aye? That’s a very wicked thing to do—but then ye held me captive with that bloody beastie!”
She felt an ugly twist in her belly at the word captive. Well, then, they were quite even on that score, weren’t they? she thought, and lifted her chin.
But then Grif bowed his head, dragged his hands through his hair, and said, low, “It was a wicked thing to do, aye, because ye also held me bloody heart captive.”
Anna’s heart stopped pounding for a moment. Then started again in earnest. She screamed against her gag.
“Aye, ’tis true!” Grif said crossly at her scream. “While I was teaching ye to seduce me cousin, I was falling in love with ye, damn it all! I donna know how it happened, for I didna care for ye in the least in the beginning—I thought ye impossibly bold,” he said, waving his hand at her. “And then, as if by magic, one day I was… well, I was bloody well staggered by yer grace and beauty, I was. Just like that, it seemed. And it’s only gotten worse.”
Staggered. By her. A tear trickled from the corner of Anna’s eye. If that was what he’d felt, why, then, had he kept such a distance from her?
“I couldna say as much, could I?” he said, reading her thoughts. “I couldna offer ye the sort of life ye had or deserved. I couldna offer ye even a fraction of what Lockhart could provide. I had nothing, really, but me heart to give ye. Aye, but I’m no’ fool, Anna. A heart is no’ the tender used to win a lady’s hand.”
Yes, yes, yes it is, you stupid, stupid man! she screamed against her gag.
“Calm yerself, lass. I was set to let ye go, I was, but then that bastard Lockhart called, and he knew ye had come to me, and more than once, thanks to that meddlesome old cow, Lady Worthall. I knew then and there that there would be no end of it for ye. The ton would never forgive ye—they would label ye a whore.”
Anna tried to kick him, to make him look at her and understand she wanted to speak, but he put his hands on her knees and held her there.
“Regardless of what ye might think of him, Anna, I believe Lockhart would have seen ye ruined. I couldna leave ye to that fate, no’ having put ye in it.”
When would he stop speaking? In a desperate fit of frustration, she threw herself back against the squabs as tears slid down her face.
“ ‘Tis no’ happy news, I understand,” he said sadly, his voice trailing off. “I know how confused ye must be. But I give ye me word that I’ll do all in me power to make it up to ye. I swear it, Anna.”
Then, by some miracle, he leaned across the coach, his hands slipping behind her back and pulling her up. He pushed her up to the edge of the bench, helped her to turn partially, and untied her hands. The moment the ties were off, Anna grabbed her wrists, rubbed them tearfully for a moment, then reached up behind her head, untied the blasted neckcloth, and spit it from her mouth. “You… you are such a fool!” she sobbed, and angrily shot forward, striking him in the chest with her fist as hard as she could.
Grif did not even flinch. “Aye,” he said sadly.
His reaction infuriated her. “Dear God, how could one man be so…so ignorant?” she cried, and struck him again, but this time he caught her by the wrist.
“I’ll take it once, but no’ twice,” he warned her.
Anna ignored him and kicked him hard in the shin. With a yelp, Grif let go her arm to grab his shin. “You’ll take it until I am quite done, you bloody fool!” she shouted at him.