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there soon.” He wondered at her calm demeanor. Most women forced into a carriage would be close to hysterics by now. Something told him instead of panic, she was plotting her escape.
     

    Victoria sat across from the demon lord trying to determine the best course of action. Even if she managed to escape his clutches, he knew where she lived. He knew who her friends were. He would find her.
    It appeared there was nothing more to do but wait and discover his intentions. As she watched the shadows fall over his handsome face, she didn’t believe his intentions were respectable.
    Seeing him in the light of day, she wondered how she could have imagined it wasn’t him. The man from her past. Somerton had changed the direction of her life whether he realized it or not. And she preferred he never know how much what happened that night affected her life.
    The carriage finally slowed to a stop. Somerton quickly scrambled to get down before she could make a move. Her lips turned upward. She could never outrun the man.
    “I am not sure what you are smiling about, but if I were you, I would be worried,” he warned.
    “About what?” she answered in defiance.
    “About what I might have planned for you.”
    She climbed down and attempted to pass him only to find her elbow back in his strong grip. “I doubt it could be any worse than what you have already done to me.”
    His jaw tightened until a little tic started beating near his chin. “Let’s go.”
    Victoria smiled fully. She had found her weapon against him. He led her up the steps of a small townhome only a few blocks from her own house. Well, her home in principle. She certainly could never afford such a place.
    The door opened and a gape-mouthed butler stood silent as his employer forced a woman into the house.
    “She is not to leave without my permission, Reese.”
    “Y—yes, sir.”
    He guided her up the stairs to the second floor and then flung open a door. After pushing her into the room, he blocked the door with his large body. A sliver of fear swept down her back. His face had darkened, and his eyes turned from a lovely shade of hazel to a dark green.
    “What do you plan to do now?” she asked insolently. There was nothing he could do to her that he hadn’t done in the past.
    “Get to the truth.”
    “Truth about what?”
    “Everything,” he answered ominously.
    He walked toward her slowly. Victoria glanced around for an alternate means of escape. Being two stories up, with the door blocked by an angry man, she could only retreat. She continued to step backwards until her legs hit the large bed. Why had it taken her this long to realize he had her in a bedroom? His bedchamber from the looks of it.
    “What do you want from me, Somerton?”
    A small half smile lifted his lips upward. “What’s mine.”
    Victoria swallowed the lump in her throat. He could not possibly know about the necklace. Oh God, what if he did? She was never one to let panic overtake her but suddenly her world spun around her. He must never discover where she’d put the necklace.
    “I have no idea what you mean,” she said evenly.
    He stepped close enough that she could inhale the scent of his sandalwood soap. “It was gold with rubies.”
    She pushed away all her anxieties. She could lie her way out of this situation. “And why would I have such a thing? I am a poor woman who cares for orphans, nothing more.”
    Why couldn’t she take her gaze off his lips?
    “Indeed? So if I were to rummage through your home, I would find nothing that matched the item that I am looking for?”
    She stared at him. “Go ahead and check my home, I do not have your necklace.”
    Suddenly, he pushed her back against the bed and confined her with his body. She thrust at his shoulders until he seized her wrists and pinned them over her head with his hand. She felt his other hand reach down to her reticule and grab the contents.
    She twisted under him trying to break free only to feel his erection