Captive of Sin (32 page)

“Die, you bastard!” Felix forced out. He flung Gideon
away to land with a sharp crack of bone on rock. Charis bit back another cry. Every muscle tensed to excruciating pain as she waited for Felix to surge up and land the decisive blow. But instead he lay winded and unmoving a few feet away.

“For God’s sake, help Gideon,” she begged Akash in a strained whisper as he returned to her side.

“He’s better on his own,” Akash said softly.

It seemed hours before Gideon stirred even though she knew it must only be a fraction of a second. As he sat up, he shook his head to clear his vision. He staggered upright at the same time as Felix found his feet.

Exhaustion and pain took their toll. Both men panted in jagged gasps as they circled one another, their fists upraised. Felix’s left eye swelled, and his mouth was broken and bloody. Charis noticed that her stepbrother’s gait was uneven, and he favored his left leg.

She drew another shuddering breath and stared at Gideon. He looked dirty and disheveled and bruised but otherwise blessedly whole, and his eyes were bright and alert. They focused on Felix with a glint of triumph. There had been some shift in the battle, and it had been in Gideon’s favor.

“Give it up, Farrell. There’s nowhere to go.” He sounded calm, confident, like the man who had saved her life. He flexed his gloved hands and rolled his shoulders.

“I’ll get out of this, Trevithick.” Felix stumbled on the rough ground but didn’t fall. “Damn well see if I don’t.”

Charis watched as he staggered farther into the tunnel. His eyes remained fixed on Gideon, who took a step after him.

“You won’t escape that way, man. Didn’t you explore your hideaway? The mine peters out in the hillside.”

“Felix, he grew up here,” Charis called, desperate to bring this ghastly scene to an end. “He knows every inch of the estate. You’re trapped.”

“Shut up, you little bitch.” Felix sounded savage, furious, as he backed away on faltering feet. His voice resonated oddly as the tunnel narrowed. “We’ll see who’s trapped.”

“Be careful. There’s a mineshaft behind you.” Gideon set out after him, his booted heels thudding sharply on the hard dirt floor. Charis broke away from Akash and followed, gripping her knife. She still didn’t trust her stepbrother even though she could tell he had reached the end of his strength.

“Resorting to childish tricks now, Trevithick?” Felix’s grating laugh sent a shiver down her spine. He retreated more quickly from the light.

“Take a look if you don’t believe me.” Gideon’s voice roughened with urgency. “For God’s sake, man, listen to me! Look behind!”

“And take my eyes off you? You must think I’m a damned half-wit.”

“Farrell…”

Felix kept up his odd crablike shuffle, then suddenly tottered. His arms windmilled as he fought for balance. It was tragically clear Gideon’s warning was sincere. Charis’s stomach lurched with horror.

Gideon leaped forward. But even fast as he was, he was too late and too far away.

With a high-pitched scream of fury, Felix lost his footing and tumbled over the edge.

T
here was a sickening, distant thud, then silence descended like an ax.

Shocked, unable to credit what had happened, Gideon stood on the edge of the shaft. He couldn’t see anything in the darkness. It went down too far.

“Farrell?” he called. During his childhood, a miner had fallen down the shaft and died. It was one of the reasons the workings were abandoned.

He called again, recognizing the act as futile.

He’d despised Felix, wanted to make him pay in blood and suffering for hurting Charis. But all the same, this was a sorry end for anyone, even the most despicable cur.

Dizziness struck from nowhere, and he swayed. He ached from the beating and the fight. Through the buzzing in his ears, he heard Charis’s husky cry as she launched herself after him.

Still reeling, he staggered to face her and caught her up against him, hiding the black chasm behind him from her sight. His shaking arms lashed around her slender softness with a desperation he only now let himself acknowledge.

She’s here. She’s unharmed. Thank You, God and all Your angels.

The still, cold watches of the night had tortured him with the devastating possibility that he’d never see her again. A prospect more agonizing than Hubert’s punches or Felix’s childish taunts. So much worse than his persistent fear that his demons would emerge from the dank darkness to claim him. His raw anguish made a mockery of his plans to send her away, even when he knew it was for her own good.

“Oh, my love, my love,” he whispered, and buried his face in her thick, silky hair. He drew in a shuddering breath full of her scent. She smelled warm and alive. Clutching his back as if she never meant to let him go, she quivered in his arms.

For a long, glorious moment, he held her and luxuriated in the knowledge that they’d come through, that they were alive and together. Giddy relief swamped his rage that she put herself in danger. He should have known she’d never leave his rescue to others. Not his brave Charis.

“You’re safe,” she choked out against his skin. “You’re safe and you’re…you’re well. Oh, Gideon, I was so afraid.” She finished on a broken sob and pressed her hot face into his bare chest, above his furiously pounding heart.

He forced himself to relax his bruising grip. The reality slowly dawned on his dazed mind that the threat had passed. He drew far enough away to see her. Even in the dim light from the tunnel mouth, the strain she’d been under was apparent in the muddy brown of her eyes and the dark marks underneath them. But her face was aglow with relief and happiness. And love.

“My darling…” Words failed as love surged up as unstoppable as high tide into Penrhyn Cove. “Are you crying for Felix?”

“No.” Then more strongly. “No! What happened to him is horrible. But I’m crying because…because we’re free at last.”

He smiled down at her, then winced when the expression tested his torn lip. “Happy tears?”

She gave a jerky nod. “Happy tears.” Regret shadowed her eyes as carefully she touched the graze on his mouth. “They hurt you. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s nothing.” Truly, it was nothing. In return for the joy of having her in his arms, he’d undergo a thousand beatings. He pressed her shaking hand against his cheek. With every minute, he breathed more easily.
The danger was over.
He could hardly believe it.

He heard footsteps approach and looked up to see Akash striding down the tunnel with a flaming torch. At his side, Tulliver carried the lantern from the brothers’ camp. The extra lights were welcome although Gideon doubted they were strong enough to reveal the base of the shaft. The ominous silence behind him confirmed his immediate guess that Felix had perished in the fall.

“You heard what happened?” Gideon asked.

“Yes. Is there any chance he survived?” Akash raised the torch in Gideon’s direction, clearly checking to see if he was all right.

“I doubt it. But we need to get him out. Tulliver, can you muster some men to climb down? I assume someone brought rope. If not, the Farrells had some.” His arms tightened around Charis. He’d come so close to losing her, he wasn’t ready to relinquish her yet, especially when she still trembled with reaction.

“Aye, guvnor.” Tulliver cast Gideon and Charis a cryptic glance, then headed back outside.

Gideon stared over Charis’s ruffled head to where Akash waited. Overwhelming gratitude flooded him. How could he thank this man for all he’d done? Through the years of danger in India, the rescue from Rangapindhi, and the care and loyalty since. Words were inadequate recompense, but they were all he had.

“Thank you, my friend,” he said gruffly. He wanted to say so much, but he settled for, “Once again you’ve saved me.”

“You’re welcome. Life would be considerably less interesting without you.” Smiling faintly, Akash inclined his
dark head in acknowledgment. “The true gallantry was Lady Charis’s. It was she who rode through the deluge to bring us word of what had happened.”

Gideon smiled down at her. He didn’t need Akash to point out how exceptional his darling was. What a wife he’d found for himself. Strong enough to defy the world for him. “I knew she wouldn’t fail. I knew she’d rout her stepbrothers.”

“You didn’t say that at the time.” Her voice was choked.

“I didn’t have to.”

Looking pensive, she glanced toward the ominously quiet mineshaft. “I’m not hypocritical enough to say I’m sorry.”

“Yet…”

She cast him a quick, understanding smile. “Yes. Yet.” She looked around the dark, cold passage and shivered. Four villagers passed them with respectful nods and began to organize the retrieval of Felix Farrell. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Capital notion.” Akash stood back to let Gideon and Charis precede him. As Gideon passed, Akash reached out to clasp his shoulder in a brief gesture of affection.

After the mine, daylight dazzled. Gideon placed a steadying hand on Charis’s arm. The day was fine, and sun sparkled on puddles and dripping foliage. The air smelt fresh and clean. He sucked in a deep breath, savoring the sea’s salt tang.

The scent of Penrhyn. The scent of home.

The crowd outside made him brace for the familiar sick haze. He felt Charis’s loving concern as she slid her arm around his waist.

But when he surveyed the welcoming faces turned toward him, he was only aware of open sky and clear air, the breeze against his skin, Charis’s enticing warmth pressed to his side.

Had his wife spoken more truly than she realized? Was he finally free?

The shock was too much.

He staggered. His sight narrowed to a single beam of light.

“Gideon, what is it?” Charis’s hold tightened. As ever, her
touch anchored him. His shaking arm twined around her slender shoulders, and he fought not to lean on her as his legs threatened to fold beneath him.

The wave of light-headedness passed, leaving him lost, bewildered. What had happened? Since Rangapindhi he’d been unable to endure people around him. So many defense mechanisms had become second nature.

Yet today he needed none of them.

His whirling mind struggled to make sense of it all. Now he thought about it, the demons should have tormented him long before this. Yet they’d been remarkably silent. Felix and Hubert’s kidnapping hadn’t sparked an attack. Nor, more significantly, had captivity in the dark tunnel.

But he’d been blisteringly angry when they took him. With the brothers and more, with himself, for placing his wife in danger.

The anger had passed, and still there were no screaming ghosts in his head. He stared at the villagers. He looked past them to Sir John Holland and the militia, surrounding a shackled Hubert. Then he sought and found the two men who had stood by him through so much. Tulliver watched expressionlessly from Akash’s side. Akash’s gaze as he surveyed Gideon and Charis was steady and unsurprised.

He knew the signs of Gideon’s illness better than anyone. Gideon was sure he wouldn’t have survived the worst attacks without Akash’s arcane medical knowledge. What did his friend make of this abrupt change?

Then, with another shock, Gideon remembered that Akash had touched him without hesitation in the mine.

“You know, I think I’m all right,” he said in a thick voice to Charis, who stared up at him with shining eyes. Did she too guess what had happened?

His dreams had been so humble yet so out of reach. Had heaven relented after all his pain? It seemed beyond belief.

“I need to talk to Hubert,” Charis said quietly. “He shouldn’t learn about Felix from a stranger.”

“That’s a consideration the cur hardly warrants,” Gideon
said grimly. She was so strong. If she hadn’t been, she’d have given up on her husband weeks ago.

“Nevertheless, I must do it.”

Reluctantly, Gideon released her, immediately missing her nearness. He watched as she crossed to where a chained and guarded Hubert waited in sullen, fulminating silence. Even with Hubert shackled, Gideon fought the illogical urge to drag her back into his arms, where she was safe. Would this instinct to protect her ever fade? Not while he breathed.

Across the open area, Hubert let loose a broken groan. The bulky brute swiftly went from surly resistance to utter collapse. Tears poured down his face. Charis said something, and placed a hand on his shoulder. He accepted her comfort, much as he didn’t deserve it. Gideon felt another surge of admiration for his wife’s generosity. If the decision were left to him, he’d let the bastard suffer.

Sir John approached, smiling, extending his hand. Dazed, Gideon returned the handshake. How simple the gesture was. Only a day ago, it would have been a painful ordeal.

“Sir Gideon, rum doings indeed. I can’t say how pleased I am to find you unharmed.”

“Thank you, Sir John.” Astonishment and wonder still gripped Gideon. The change was too sudden for him to trust although with every minute, it became more likely that the impossible had occurred.

“I take it the other villain is incapacitated inside the mine?”

Gideon forced himself to concentrate on immediate matters. So difficult when unfamiliar happiness bubbled up like a new stream. He gave the magistrate a short recounting of events from when he’d discovered Charis in Winchester.

Akash joined them. When Gideon performed introductions, Sir John, to give him credit, displayed only a moment’s confusion at meeting Akash Stamford, the new Viscount Cranbourne.

“What happens now?” Gideon kept an eye on Charis and the distraught Hubert.

“We’ll take Lord Burkett to London for trial. You’ll likely
be called to appear.” Sir John looked tired and troubled. “I can’t see him escaping the noose. If you’ll come with me now, we can…”

Akash smoothly interrupted. “I’ll start the formalities. Sir Gideon was held overnight. His lady has ridden through a storm and managed no sleep since. Let the Trevithicks go home.”

Looking abashed, Sir John cleared his throat and nodded. “Of course. Wasn’t thinking. Nothing that can’t wait. Appreciate your cooperation, my lord.”

The Penrhyn men emerged from the mine, holding an unmoving, black-coated body. Gideon saw at a glance there was no hope for Felix. He met Charis’s gaze across the clearing and shook his head. She nodded but remained dry-eyed. Hubert’s painful, choked sobs intensified as the villagers carried Felix’s limp form past him.

With each moment, Gideon became easier in his skin. He moved among the local men, thanking them. Nobody needed to tell him they’d braved the storm to find him. Hard to believe it had taken him twenty-five years to recognize the unbreakable bonds that tied him to this land and its people.

Tulliver came up, leading Khan. One mount for two riders, the sly dog. With a word of thanks, Gideon took the reins and rubbed the horse’s nose in greeting. He’d missed the spirited thoroughbred over the last weeks.

With his usual impassivity, Tulliver handed over the coat he carried under his arm. “Here you are, guvnor. Thought you might need some extra covering”

Gratefully, Gideon pulled the garment over his ragged shirt. He must look a ruffian. He badly needed a bath and a change of clothes. He needed a shave and a hot meal. More than anything, he needed time alone with his wife. With relief, he watched Charis move away from Hubert and approach Sir John.

He turned his attention to Tulliver. Akash wasn’t the only
one who deserved his undying gratitude. “I appreciate it. Just as I appreciate your rushing to my rescue today.”

“I’m honored to serve you, sir.” Tulliver’s eyes held a hint of uncharacteristic softness. “Always have been. And I reckon gratitude goes both ways. You won’t recall, but I was one of the soldiers who pulled you out of that pit in Rangapindhi, more dead than alive.”

Astonishment gripped Gideon at this revelation. “By God, I never knew.”

“My last assignment for the Company. Those heathens we locked up after the invasion talked like you was a god. They’d never seen such grit. Nothing they done could break you.” Tulliver’s voice deepened with feeling. “You kept your mouth shut and saved me and my chums from a bloodbath. When I heard you sailed home on the same packet as me, I set myself to enter your service.”

Gideon tried to remember the exact moment he’d offered Tulliver a place. The details were hazy. When he’d been delirious with fever on the ship, Tulliver had turned up to help, and he’d been around ever since. Capable, resourceful, taciturn. In fact, that was the longest speech Gideon had ever heard the man make.

“I haven’t been an easy master,” he said with difficulty.

“Maybe not always, lad, but I knew you’d come right, given time and incentive. Gold always rings true.”

Gideon swallowed a lump of emotion. He owed this man more than he could ever repay. “You know you’ve always got a home at Penrhyn.” Shabby return for the selfless devotion.

Tulliver’s wry smile appeared. “Aye, guvnor. I’d counted on that and all. A nice quiet life by the seaside in my old age suits me down to the ground. Although it’s not exactly been quiet so far.”

Gideon laughed with a lightheartedness he couldn’t remember feeling for years and clapped Tulliver on the back. Another natural gesture unthinkable yesterday.