If looks could kill, then Lyron would be dead ten times over by now. "I agreed to one month, not a lifetime, of being stuck with you." I snapped, tearing my eyes from one of the most beautiful buildings I had ever seen.

The smirk on his face had my hand balling into a fist, but even I wasn't stupid enough to attack the guy again, especially not when I realised how tall and imposing he was outside of the carriage.

"I'm confident in my ability to win you over." He replied airily.

The fact he was acting like me falling for him was a foregone conclusion made me even more determined not to. I wanted to reply that I was confident in my fists ability to rearrange his pretty face, but decided against it.

My eyes returned to the house beyond him. If you could even call something that size a house. It was on the verge of what I had pictured when reading about palaces in fairy tales. A golden-brown brick facade and milky white columns with trailing purple plants creeping around the windows.

"Do you want to go inside, or shall we stand here and stare at it a while longer?" Lyron grinned, moving his head to block my view.

"Fine." I snapped, unable to stop the scowl that spread across my face.

His smile seemed to grow even wider as he offered me an arm. "I'll have someone bring in your luggage."

"My what?"

Being an unwilling participant in this escapade hadn't exactly offered me the opportunity to pack and I could only assume that my aunt and uncle had done so. Knowing them, I very much doubted it would be anything I actually wanted in there.

"Your things?" Lyron said slowly, then frowned. "If you are missing something or need anything specific, just ask and I can arrange it."

I nodded. Perhaps he expected gushing thanks here, but frankly, after all this kidnapping businesses, providing for me was the least he could do.

Debating internally for a moment, I finally took his arm and allowed him to lead me up the path. He rattled off facts about his home and the gardens, which looked like they could hold the tiny cottage I had called home a hundred times over.

"Who lives here?" I asked, suddenly aware that he couldn't be the only one in this enormous space.

"We do." He replied with his ever present charming grin.

"I know that, but who else? You can't keep this entire place just for you." I turned my head to look at him as we walked. "I don't know you well, but I find it very hard to imagine you scrubbing floors here."

He laughed and for the first time since I met him, which in fairness hadn't been long ago at all, I actually believed in the feeling behind it. There was no charming attempt to win me over in the amusement and my lips twitched into an answering smile.

"You would be right. These soft hands are not particularly fond of housework. I have a team of staff. Maids, footman and a chef, as well as my guards and groundskeepers."

"With all those people, is there even anything left for you to do?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He laughed again. "You have the most peculiar way of looking at things, Miss Weatherby."

"That doesn't answer the question." I pointed out, "Do you not have any family who live here with you?" I probed gently.

Being an orphan myself, I knew this could be a touchy subject, but I was intrigued. From the shuttering of his gaze I knew this wasn't a topic he was fond of either and I vowed, no matter his reply, to never bring it up again. I knew that pain well enough.

He took a deep breath. "I did, and I hope to have them with me again soon. It is... complicated."

"I'm sorry for prying." I offered quietly, "I lost my parents when I was young. If anyone understands complicated things, it is me. Now why don't you show me around? If I'm stuck here, I don't want to get lost."

He forced the sorrow from his expression so quickly I would have never have guessed it was there and led me inside. Despite my determination to be out of here as soon as the month was up, I felt a twinge of something like sympathy for the handsome stranger.

What could have happened in his life that he had learnt to shut down emotions so quickly? I didn't think the rich had anything to worry about. Not when they already knew where their next meal would come from.

"Who are they?" I asked as we passed a room full of portraits.

The nearest one showed a beautiful older woman with a young man who looked just like him. But the painting was old. So old it looked faded in places, and the clothing was like something out of the history books.

"Family, my ancestors." Lyron said quickly, releasing my arm and pulling the doors shut before I could look too closely.

"You look very like them." I replied as he towed me towards the stairs.

"Good genes I suppose." He shrugged, looking uncomfortable.

The stairs were as ridiculously opulent as the best of the house. With bannisters carved to look like vines twisted up along the handle. We stopped as the landing split in two different directions and Lyron took a deep breath.

"That's the west wing." He said, nodding his head to the staircase that continued round to the left, "It was badly damaged from a storm and I have yet to fix it, so it's off limits."

I frowned. "I couldn't see any damage from the outside."

"It's structural. Look, you're forbidden from going there and that is it." He snapped.

I pursed my lips. Why did it always make me want to do something more when I was told I couldn't?

Lyron seemed to realise my way of thinking and rolled his eyes before dragging me up the other staircase and along a hall.

"Where are you taking me?"

"To your room."

My heart started to pound. He had wanted to take me as a wife. What if he expected me to share a room with him?

At the end of a corridor, he flung open the door to a wide airy room. A luxurious four-poster bed stood in the centre with beautiful fabric drapes around it.

For a moment, I couldn't speak. The room effectively stunned me into silence as I stepped in and looked around. Dark red roses decorated the walls, and a stunning arched window overlooked the grounds. A plush rug sank under my feet and I had to resist the urge to lie on it.

My eyes drifted back to the gigantic bed. "And where will you sleep?" I asked hesitantly.

Lyron smiled, and it was like sunshine breaking from behind a grey cloud. "In my room, unless you ask me otherwise." He waggled his brows, and I had to bite back a smile.

He wasn't kidding when he said he was charming. Or perhaps I had just never had the opportunity to be charmed before in my small town. Still, it felt oddly nice, and a warmth settled in my chest.

"Someone will come for you later." He said with a smile, stepping back out into the hallway.

I looked at him over my shoulder. "Where are you going?"

His expression gave nothing away. "I have things to attend to. Make yourself at home."

Then he pulled the doors shut and there was a small click as he did. Did he just... lock me in?

Interest in the bed gone, I marched the few steps to the door and pushed the handle down. It didn't move. "Hey!" I shouted, "You can't lock me in here!"

Lyron either didn't hear or didn't care to reply as I listened to his footsteps retreated back the way we had come.

"Hey!" I shouted again, rattling the door handle and trying to barge it open with my shoulder.

The door stood firm against my fury, and that only made me angrier. After screaming and shouting until I was hoarse, I finally accepted that not only was Lyron not coming back, but no one else would answer my call either.

So much for hoping the staff he mentioned might be on my side through this. I supposed I didn't pay them though, and that was probably partly to blame.

Pacing the room, I found the feeling of being trapped almost suffocating me with its pressure. For all their faults, of which there were many, my aunt and uncle had never locked me somewhere. The drugging and giving me away was arguably worse, but still, my body trembled with the desperate need to be 'not stuck' here.

My gaze swung wildly around the room before landing back on the window, and an idea began to take form in my mind. Fingers crossed, he hadn't thought to lock that. After a few moments of fiddling with the catch, I flung it open and leaned out to take in a gulp of fresh air.

Feeling slightly calmer than I had been a moment earlier, I was able to think and realised, despite the huge amount of stairs, I really wasn't that far from the ground. My eyes lingered on the creeping plant which climbed the side of the building and I reached out to tug on it. Surprisingly, the plant didn't give easily, having long since worked itself into the stones.

Mind made up, I turned back to look around the room. Everything was so perfect and beautiful. But a beautiful cage was still a cage, no matter how you viewed it.

Pulling back the blankets on the bed, I was excited to see what I had hoped. Numerous sheets and blankets, because apparently rich people need to cover their beds and sleeping selves far more than the poor in their big fancy houses.

Knotting them together was easy. Years of hard work on my uncle's farm had taught me a great many things, and tying quick and secure knots was just one such skill I was proud to have developed in that time. Bundling up the pile of sheets, which was so high I could barely see over the top of it, I carried it to the window and tied one end to the ornate swirling curtain hook.

Throwing my full bodyweight against it, I tested the strength and decided it would have to do. Listening briefly for the sound of anyone coming to check on me, I took a deep breath, leaning over, and released it.

Not daring to breathe, I watched as it fell, unravelling until it hung to cover almost two-thirds of the building. It would have to do.

Climbing up onto the small sill, I gripped the knotted cloth and inched my way out. Feet braced against the wall, I thanked my past self for wearing my sensible boots instead of the shoes my aunt had set out for me with this dress. A small act of rebellion which saved me from escaping in heeled shoes.

The first few steps were hesitant as I fully expected the rope to give and I would be relying on a quick reaction to grab the window sill and save myself. When this didn't happen, and feeling pretty proud of myself, I began to move my shuffling steps a little faster.

I felt the top of the window from the floor below with my next step. Just at the same moment, I heard the door open in the room above me and froze.

"Miss Weatherby?"

I could hear the confusion in Lyron's voice as he searched the room and found his little prisoner missing. Then his face appeared at the window above me and I watched him pale.

"For fuck's sake, do you have a death wish or something?" He snapped, grabbing my escape route with both hands and pulling me up quickly. I tried to continue back down, but he was stronger and faster and apparently I never really stood a chance.

I burst back in through the window and my body slammed into his, knocking him to the floor. For a moment, I froze there, our faces uncomfortably close together.

"I asked you a question." He snapped, looking as though he was torn between kissing me and shaking me. "Do you have a death wish?"

I pulled back, scowling. "No, but you must for locking me in here."

I scrambled back from him, fixing him with a glare as he ran a hand through his hair. "It was for your safety-"

My snort of laughter cut him off. "Of course it was."

"Gods, you are infuriating. I am trying to keep you safe." He snapped.

I stood, brushing myself down and drawing myself up to my full height. "Why didn't you just say that? What could be so dangerous in this castle that you need to lock me away to keep me safe?"

His expression darkened, and a chill went through me as he turned away. "That is not your concern."

I looked silently at his back, wondering what on earth he was hiding from me. "If I have a potentially life-threatening danger living in the same walls as me, I think you'll find it very much is my concern."

My arms folded defensively across my chest as I waited for him to respond, but he still refused to look at me. "I will protect you."

I stomped my foot, aware it made me look like a petulant child. Treat me like a child and I will act like one. "I'm not staying somewhere that you say isn't safe, and I need to be protected. Especially if you won't tell me what it is I should be afraid of. Do I look like an idiot?"

He spun back and shot a pointed look towards the window. It wasn't my finest piece of decision making, but I still stood by it, so I just raised my eyebrows in response.

"You agreed to stay." He bit out through gritted teeth.

I shook my head. "No, I agreed to give you a chance, not be locked away like a prisoner."

"A prisoner? Living in this room? I think you'd find where we keep prisoners far less comfortable." He laughed.

I pondered that for a moment. "You keep prisoners?"

His eyes searched mine and whatever he found there had him sighing as he closed the window, locking it with a small key attached to a chain in his pocket.

"Not answering me is answer enough. Where are the prisoners? Who are the prisoners?" I asked, struck by how little I knew about the man I had foolishly agreed to live with for a month.

He ignored me, marching back towards the door. "Dinner is at six."

I took a step after him. "Did you just change the subject?"

"I'll send someone to bring you down for it, then." He replied from the doorframe. "Try not to scream at them. They take it personally."

I realised far too late what he was about to do. "Scream at who? You better not be dismissing me, I swear to god I'll-"

The door slammed shut before I could reach it again and I couldn't hold back the shriek of fury that burst out of me.