HisLadysKeeperfinal.wps (12 page)

Her head whirled. “I need to sit down.” Her head was swimming so much she’d become lightheaded. Swaying on her feet, he moved forward to catch her. She blinked.

“I see stars, it must finally be overwhelming me.”

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He made a weird gesture with his hand, and someone stepped forward with a

leather flask. He handed it to her, “Drink this, it will get some of that lost color back into your cheeks.”

“I don’t need that.” She pushed his hand away. “Whatever sort of alcohol it is, I don’t require it. I want a clear head for whatever else you might try to pull over on me.

Mallory will fight his way back into reclaiming possession of this house. While we stand and chitchat like this, Stewart is losing a precious lot of blood. If I must go with you to expedite your withdrawal from this house, then why tarry?”

“Why indeed.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her with him. On their way to one of the back entrances they met a very unlikely blockade.

At first, Charles looked happy and relieved to see Hart and she. “Aunt Gemma, we’ve nearly got them beat, Seamus told me to run in here and check on—” Charles had never been a half-wit and he wasn’t going to start being dumb now. “You shouldn’t hold Aunt Gemma’s hand like that, she looks as if you’re pinching her.” He cocked his head to the side. Skye came trotting up to stand next to Charles. Gemma swallowed, as dawning recognition glimmered in Charles’s eyes. Surprise turned to dumbstruck horror.

“You’re, you’re—” Charles’s eyes widened. “You just let her go, or I’ll be forced to hurt you.” He balled his tiny hands into fists.

She bit her lip, looking frantically between Charles and Hart. She couldn’t let Hart lose his temper with Charles.

“Charles, just run. These men behind us aren’t on our side. Just go and tell Mallory that .…” She raised her voice with each word. Hart pulled her roughly toward him, her arm smarted.

He gently placed his hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry, I pulled too hard.”

“Save your apologies,” she mumbled, against his hand, fighting the urge to bite his hand. If she did bite him, he just might lash out at Charles. She couldn’t take that risk. Hart could call her selfish all he wanted, but she would not stand idly by while those she loved got hurt.

“Grab the child. He knows too much, we’ll have to take him with us. Grab the Maltese as well. We are leaving now!”

Charles looked as if he wanted to give a great struggle, but she put a look of warning on her face, hoping he would follow her silent command. She knew Hart wouldn’t kill Charles. She didn’t however, trust Herrer. She still believed him to be capable of anything, including killing Charles just to shut him up. She wouldn’t fight Hart. She didn’t have the heart left to give any sort of struggle. They carted Charles off with her pet before she could say anything else.

“If he’s hurt, I will make your life miserable.”

“I wouldn’t harm Charles. I like the little lad, and his tenacity is quite a credit to his character. He’s got potential. Reared right, he will turn into a commendable young man.”

Before she knew it, she was in a carriage, alone with Hart.

“So, maybe you should tell me your real name now?”

“You can still call me Hart. It’s as I like it, for now.”

“I’m sick to death of all of these different names you and Mallory like to employ.

As of now, we are done, Hart,” she spat out.

“Oh, I beg to differ with you on that one, dear Gemma. We are only just

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beginning. You’ll find that once we’re away from Scotland and England, you’ll want to stay very close to me.”

“Don’t bet on that. I’d rather stick close to a Frenchman. You aligned yourself with a man that betrayed my family, he shot my butler, and he would have shot me as well, had he not gotten the grand entertainment out of watching me watch another person suffer. You are too horrid for words. I can’t even comprehend why you would do such a thing. Mallory trusted you! He believed in you. He thought you were a good friend.

Instead, you’ve thrown it all away. For what? Revenge? If Mallory did kill your brother it was an accident! I can’t believe that he would intentionally fire to kill a young boy of seventeen. That’s just not in Mallory’s nature. My brother was determined to give me to you in the first place. You have gained nothing.”

“Oh, I’ve gained everything. I’ve shown Mallory just how foolish a man he is, and I’ve taken more than you will ever know from him. As for aligning myself with Herrer, I did not choose my family. As strange as it might seem, Herrer loves my mother as well, since she took him in after his mother died. She nurtured and loved him just as she loved all of her children. You don’t know just how much I’ve wounded your brother

… I wish I could see his face when he finally discovers just how cruelly I’ve taken him for a merry little ride. He will not be able to recover for I’ve taken his pride.”

“Oh, he’ll live. He will live so he can kill you.”

She shivered when he burst into hearty gales of laughter. “You will be a constant delight for me as a wife.”

“Indeed. Well, you’d best watch yourself, Hart. If I have to marry you, I’ll be certain to make myself a merry widow and be damned the consequences.”

“You could never cause me harm.”

“Never say never, Hart.”

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Hart hadn’t realized how vehemently she would be with her disdain of him. What she couldn’t understand was his side of the story, and he doubted that she ever would.

She could try to paint him as a monster, just as much as he could try to justify his actions.

It was the only way he could ever put the ghosts of his past to rest. When he’d first set out to befriend Mallory and draw him into his complex web, he’d never counted on seeing the man behind the monster that had killed his brother. His brother never should have been in Spain. When he’d told his mother he’d wanted her to move back to Scotland she had scoffed at him, saying they could do more good in Spain. She, not being Spanish herself had worked many years to gain the confidence of the Spanish villagers that gave so much to their estate. How Joseph had gotten caught in the middle of a firefight between British Naval officers and his half-brother was a still a mystery to him. He had given Richard explicit instructions to keep Joseph out of his tangled web of affairs, and Richard had failed him. He should have known when he’d left Spain for service in the British Navy that Richard would align himself with whatever side seemed to be winning the war.

He watched as Gemma slowly nodded off to sleep in the carriage. Her head

lolled to the side. He sat up and quickly moved to the seat that Gemma sat on. Cradling her against him, he lent her his shoulder to use as a pillow. He had no choice in the matter … his mother had begged him to gain revenge against Joseph’s killer for years.

He couldn’t deny his mother, not when her health had continued on a steady decline. He wanted to see the strong robust woman he remembered, he wanted to see her powerful nature again, but she’d crawled into her own protective shell where she could seal her heart against other heartbreak while at the same time living in a reality of her own making. If gaining the revenge against Mallory would bring her back to the land of the living, then he would do that no matter how many enemies he created or how many bridges he had to burn in the process. Somehow he would get past Gemma’s fury. If he had to drag her to the wedding alter and make her marry him under duress then so be it.

He wanted her as his wife, his lady, and the mother of his children.

Mallory would never be able to locate him. Even though they wouldn’t be far from him, Mallory wouldn’t suspect a thing.

At the moment, he was probably mounting an expedition to Spain or the

Caribbean, not even guessing what Hart had planned. Mallory believed himself to be a cunning and resourceful man, and Hart had allowed him to believe that he was the more intelligent one when it came to such matters. Mallory was in for a rude awakening, and by the time he did locate Gemma, it would be too late.

She murmured something inaudible in her sleep. He stroked the top of her blond head. His mother wouldn’t expect him to come home with his wife to be. Once she heard the entire story and saw how fiery and passionate Gemma was, she’d respect her for that. She definitely wouldn’t carry over her grudge to Mallory’s sister. In the beginning, she had wanted Mallory dead, but then, she had told Hart that she’d rethought HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 59

her plans of action and decided that there was only one way to properly punish Mallory.

They had to take away everything that he cherished the most and put him into his own living hell.

He had done that. And now, his grudge against Mallory was fulfilled. He never wanted to think of it again. He could only hope that Joseph could rest in peace now.

“It’s a mistake I tell you. Andrew can’t be dead! I don’t believe it, he promised he’d come home—” She moaned and awoke with a start. Confusion shone in her eyes for a brief second, only to be replaced with cold disdain. “Where are we?” She asked drowsily. Instinctively, she reached out and rested her hand on his arm. After a few moments, she pulled her hand back as if she’d been burned.

“I’m taking you to my ship.”

“My brother will be following us. He will follow us straight across to the Caribbean if need be.”

“Well, he can if he’d like … in fact, that’s what I expect him to do. Alas, we aren’t going to the Caribbean.”

“We aren’t?” She straightened. Her hair was mussed around her face. Her

eyelids were slightly swollen and her pallor was starting to give him concern. She was so white. She looked so weak.

“We aren’t,” he confirmed, smiling brilliantly at her. He tried to pull her back toward him.

“Am I allowed to ask where we are going?”

“When have you ever been worried enough to ask for permission before? Where did the spark go?”

“As much as you might want to think ill of me, I am intelligent enough to realize that
before
we were on even keel with each other, or at least in my thoughts we were.

Now, you have a child to use as leverage against me. I wouldn’t want to overstep my bounds and get Charles killed. What sort of a heartless wretch do you think I am?”

“Stop that!” he raged, surprising himself with his ferocious reaction. “Cease that blatherskite about me being cold blooded enough to kill a child. I would never harm a hair on Charles’s head. You can be as rebellious or as stubborn as you wish, without having to worry about stepping one foot out of line. I will not kill Charles for anything, do you understand me?”

“I understand what you are trying to valiantly convey. And even if I believe you, I do not believe he is safe with that mad half-brother of yours. Herrer will kill if the fancy strikes him. Trust me on that one.”

“You are mistaken. Richard has never spilled the blood of a child, he might want you to think he is a malicious man, and yes, he implements strategies that I would never even consider when it comes to making an example of someone, I do apologize for him shooting your butler. He did not however serve him a deathblow, he easily could have done that, Gemma.”

“Make as many justifications or excuses for him as you like—it makes no bloody difference to me. Don Herrer is a dirty bastard, and you defending him will not clean his soul. He is rotten to the core, and I pity you for putting any sort of faith in him. If you ever leave me alone with him, I shall endeavor to make an example out of him.”

“I’d advise you against crossing him. As long as I lay claim on you, he won’t touch you, and he won’t touch Charles. He is my brother, he will not cross me, no matter HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 60

what happens.”

“As long as you are faithful to him, I will never be faithful to you.” She turned away from him, and tried her best to plaster herself up against the satin interior of the carriage. She lurched forward when the carriage came to a sudden stop.

“I’m sorry for that, Gemma.” He reached out for her, and before she could move away from him, he’d grabbed her. Pulling her to him, they locked gazes. “We’re going to disembark now, and I can’t have you seeing what lies ahead, I do apologize Gemma, I’d hoped you’d remain asleep until we arrived at our destination. I’m going to have to blindfold you.”

“No. I won’t allow you to do that.” Pulling her free hand up, she cracked him a good one across his jaw. The ring she wore caught on his lip making him bleed. He winced, and looked back at her.

“Why did you do that? You will not be harmed while you are blindfolded, I

promise you that.”

“Bugger your blasted promises. Your word means as much as ashes to me. In fact, you mean as much as ashes to me. I wish I’d never set eyes upon you. Kilworth looks like a bloody saint when compared to you.”

His eyes flared with anger. “Never again, compare me with Kilworth! You will not earn any sort of affection from me when you do that!”

“Affection from you? Perish the thought. I will never give or receive affection from you.”

“Nonetheless I will have you in my bed.”

“Then, you will have one unwilling participant.”

“I wouldn’t say that with such conviction when your eyes belie the way that you truly feel. My touch still makes you quiver, it still makes your heart beat faster, and I can feel that it makes your hands clammy.”

“I am exhausted. All of those physical reactions are common in a fagged state.”

“Perhaps.” He chuckled. “You still have not given me enough distraction.” He looked to the carriage window. “The driver is waiting for me to give him the signal to have the footmen open our doors. I wasn’t planning to do this, but I do believe you shall have to be blindfolded, you are too cunning for your own good, my dear.” He pulled out a silk handkerchief.