She's not sure

"I'm not sure Mr. Fuller." Charlotte said as she watched him carefully for any hint of how he might react. "After I freed myself I had every intention to go straight to my father and put an end to you and your robbery." He nodded quietly but before he could interrupt she continued. "I even considered shooting you myself." She glanced at the two heavy muskets that stood leaning against the damp rock wall of the cavern. "You should store those somewhere else; it is far too damp in here for both the barrels and the powder." This time she saw a tightening of his lips; she couldn't tell if he was annoyed by her thinking about ambushing him in cold blood or the way she chastised him for the poor care of his longarms.

"And why didn't you Lady Marlton?" Her captor carefully lowered himself onto the hearth on the far side of the fireplace - he was far less imposing from this new position. "I gave you cause enough to justify almost any retribution." Mr. Fuller shook his head slowly, "instead you chose to retaliate by cleaning my lair and making me tea."

"I found Mary's picture." Charlotte spoke quietly, hearing the truth in the words as they left her lips. "Your mother shouldn't have to lose her son as well as young Mary." While she was speaking honestly she lifted the iron chain that was still bolted firmly around her ankle. "Furthermore, If I returned to my father with this pretty chunk of jewelry around my leg it would be impossible to hide what had happened to me." She laughed bitterly. "You did not have to ravish me to destroy my reputation, Mr. Fuller. No one at Marlton Manor would believe that a man like you would refrain from having his way with me. Not my father and certainly not his sisters, it would take a divine angel with a notarized missive from Lord Christ himself for them to listen to my claims of innocence." His eyes narrowed when her words registered. "And even if my family did believe me, the members of the hunt that rode with me today will be all to eager to return to London with this juice tidbit of gossip."

"I'm sorry Lady Marlton." Perhaps he truly was sorry, Charlotte conceded to herself but he was not blameless. Mr. Fuller's actions had shattered her life, even worse than that he had awoken within her a need that she had naively believed she was above.

"Why didn't you?" Charlotte's question surprised her as much as her captor. "I know I'm no beauty, but I would have thought that the chance to despoil the Marlton heir would have been enough of an incentive to compensate for the lack of feminine appeal."

"What?!" His gasp of surprise could not have been feigned.

"When you had me at your mercy on the bed, why didn't you claim me?" The cup in her hand rattled as she placed it in the saucer and she set them on the ground by her feet before she spilled the warm tea. "I could not have stopped you. I had neither the strength nor the will to fight any longer." The bold confession was by far the most forward thing she could ever imagine that a maid might say to a man, not even in her collection of erotic romances did the heroine so shamelessly declare her willingness to give herself to a man. However it had never been in her nature to play the demure ingenue while secretly hoping to have her protests ignored, and she wanted to know why Mr. Fuller had broken with the unwritten script that proscribes the fate of a virgin captured by a lawless brigand.

Of all the surprises, shocks and challenges that Randy had faced since foolishly abducting Miss Marlton, this last question was the most unexpected. It was more perplexing than finding himself admiring the woman he thought he despised, or discovering she had escaped from her chains, or even finding her waiting for him without any indication of anxiety. Perhaps the oddest part of the question was her assertion that she lacked feminine appeal, it was her grace and beauty that had nearly overcome his resolve when he had wrestled her to the bed.

"I'm no ****." He managed to grunt out as he recalled how close he had been to taking her just as she had expected.

"I know." Miss Marlton's gentle response was like a balm that soothed the pain in his heart. "I now know a small part of who you are. Mary's brother could no more **** a woman than I could shoot him with his own musket." The proud Lady Marlton slid from the stool and knelt by his side near the glowing fire, she placed her small, soft hand on his knee. "But what if that same woman offered herself freely?"