Alexander-Fyn-Sanguinarian

listening?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “You will go outside and get into my carriage as you should have done last night and you will ride until you reach Castle Haven in Yorkshire. You will make no more childish attempts at running away.
    Will you?”
    Evangeline shook her head.
    “Good,” he whispered. At last he took his hand from her throat and drew the backs of his cool fingers down her neck to the very top of her modest lace collar. Without warning he grasped her breasts, one in each hand, and squeezed. Evangeline gasped in both horror and arousal. Pleasure flooded her belly and crept between her legs. Her nipples hardened and she prayed Raven could neither see nor feel them through her clothing. Maintaining eye contact, he released her 28
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    breasts and took a step back. Evangeline felt unable to break his gaze.
    After a long moment he retraced his steps to sit behind the desk, steepling his long fingers before him, elbows on the writing pad.
    “There is something I want you to keep in mind, Miss Rutledge.”
    “Yes, sir?” she waited.
    “Just because you cannot always see me does not mean that I cannot see you. There is nothing you can hide from me. My eyes are everywhere. Is that clear, Miss Rutledge?”
    “Yes, sir.” He had certainly proven that true. She began to fumble behind her for the door handle.
    “Miss Rutledge,” he said loudly.
    Evangeline stood up straight, clasping her hands before her. “Yes, sir?”
    “You may go.”
    “Thank you, sir.”
    Struggling with the door handle while her heart pounded in her breast, Evangeline at last calmed down sufficiently to remember that she must turn the handle, not merely drag on it in panic.
    Mrs. Brackett jumped to her feet when Evangeline bolted from the room, slamming the door behind her, her eyes wide with fear, her cheeks flushed scarlet. “Did he refuse?”
    “What?”
    “The bank manager. Did he refuse you the money, pet?”
    “He wasn’t there, Mrs. Brackett.”
    “Who were you talking to then, lamb? I heard you talking.”
    “The Raven. He was in there. He’s so big, Mrs. Brackett, so incredibly tall and he has yellow eyes. They were horrible, like an animal’s.”
    Mrs. Brackett stood a moment in silent contemplation. “Right then, dearie, if he’s in there, let’s have a look at him. How frightening can the man be in broad daylight?”
    The housekeeper opened the door while Evangeline peeped around her broad frame. Sitting at the desk where Raven had been Sanguinarian 29
    only moments before was a stout elderly man bent over a ledger. The curtains had been thrown wide making the room much brighter, though the day was terribly overcast. He looked up curiously at them.
    “May I assist you ladies in some way?”
    “Where is he?” Mrs. Brackett demanded. “Where’s that Raven bloke?”
    Mr. Charters frowned in confusion. “To whom do you refer, ma’am?”
    “Nothing, all is well.” Evangeline drew her back into the corridor and closed the door. “We have to go to Yorkshire. We really have no choice, Mrs. Brackett.”
    “But what about Bath? What about our boarding house?”
    “At this point it is a matter of our lives, or mine at least. Raven is a dangerous man and he seems able to be anywhere at any given moment. I’m afraid of him, Mrs. Brackett. I suspect there is nothing he will not do to get what he wants, and he wants to be married to me.”
    “Why haven’t I seen him, then?” The housekeeper looked doubtful and leaned forward to place a hand on Evangeline’s forehead. “You’re dreadfully hot, Miss Evie. I think you’re getting a fever.”
    “No, I’m quite well.” She picked up her valise resolutely.
    The black-and-gold carriage stood waiting beside the kerb in Piccadilly Circus. Several passersby had gathered, looking nervously at the coat of arms on the carriage door. The entire equipage looked like a funeral hearse with its two black horses, lacking only plumes on their heads to complete the picture. The black silk curtains were drawn back, showing the black velvet interior. It was quite empty.
    Evangeline looked at Hodder, who refused to meet her eyes while he helped her inside, with Mrs. Brackett climbing in after her.
    “He was in the bank,” Evangeline stated loudly to the man. “He was in there just as he was in this carriage last night.”

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    * * * *

    Dominic, Lord Ravenscroft, pushed his blue-tinted spectacles closer against his eyes, though he stood in the