She peered out the window, waiting for him to pass by so she could sneak out and hurry back to their
carriage.
As soon as he went beyond the hackney, she did slip out and rush back… but just as she rounded the corner, she realized she was leaving Phillip alone—where another vampire could easily appear.
The back of her neck remained warm, but she still paused at the corner, peering around to watch for him.
To her relief he came back into view, striding along as if to hurry back and search in a different direction. She made her way to the carriage, where Tom, the groom, rushed up to her in relief.
"My lady! Where did you go?"
She did not answer, for at that moment Phillip came around the corner and caught sight of her.
"Victoria! Where did you go? And what is that on your gown? Is that blood?" He stared at her, appalled.
"Let us get in the carriage and I will tell you. " It was nearly eleven, and if she was going to be ready for Max, they needed to get started.
Phillip helped her into the carriage, and Victoria took her seat, thinking quickly. "Did you find my indispensable?"
"No, there was nothing in the box. Victoria—"
"Oh, my dear, here it is! It was under the cushion all along!" she said, retrieving her little pouch. "I am so sorry for sending you on such a goose chase. "
"Yes, just as you were last week when you thought you left your shawl at the inn where we dined. "
"I can't imagine how I've become so fiddle-minded!" Victoria said, and because she recognized that he was only so patient and able to be distracted for so long, she said, "I did not mean to give you a fright, Phillip, but I saw an acquaintance of my mother's and hurried out to greet her. I walked with her and her husband to their carriage—just a few down from ours—and she bade me come in and greet her daughter, and as we climbed in, the door of the carriage slammed into her husband's nose, and it began to bleed quite dreadfully. He was so embarrassed that he bled on my skirt. I couldn't just rush off… so I stayed until I was certain he did not feel at fault. I am so sorry I did not tell Tom that I was leaving!"
"Well, I hope that you don't just hie off again without telling someone. First, it is not safe—there are many miscreants lurking about, waiting for an opportunity to rob an unsuspecting straggler… and second, you are a marchioness now and not only have a position to uphold, but you are very valuable and worth quite a bit of money to someone nefarious—and much more to me. I want you to be safe. "
"Of course, Phillip. I won't do such a thing again. " And she meant it. Next time she'd plan better.
They snuggled together, during the rest of the way home, as newlyweds were wont to do. Victoria plotting how she would slip the salvi to Phillip, and Phillip thinking about how he was going to slip something into Victoria.
It was a quarter past midnight when Victoria rapped lightly on Max's coach.
The door swung open and she climbed in without help. To her surprise Max, who lounged in the corner of one seat, didn't say anything about her tardiness.
Instead, he knocked on the ceiling for Briyani to go, and the carriage started off.
Victoria sat silently across from him, trying not to think about how she'd betrayed her husband.
She'd added the salvi, which Max had assured her was tasteless and odorless, to Phillip's glass of scotch, then brought it to him after they made love.
Curling up in the large feather bed next to him, Victoria pretended to fall asleep whilst waiting for the drug to take effect.
"Did you use the salvi?" Max's question snapped her back to the present… but not away from the guilt.
"Yes. I had no other choice to ensure his safety, did I?"
He looked at her. "You did have a choice, Victoria… and you know that I believe you made the wrong one. "
Anger boiled inside her, topping off the simmering of guilt. "And you know that your opinion means little to me. "
"A fact which wounds me deeply. "
"Do you know what I think?"
Max inclined his head, and in the low light she could see one eyebrow lift. "I am certain you are about to tell me. "