Seconds later, she heard feet thundering toward her.
And she knew that she was mad. Madly in love.
∫ ∫ ∫
Keep Reading
From: Deborah Wilson
To: Beloved Readers
Subject: Next book in the series
Hi lovelies!
Thank you for reading A Knight of Vengeance which is book 12 in the Valiant Love series.
The next book is targeted to release on 14th Oct.
While waiting for the next breathtaking book in the series…
I believe you will love to read the previous book in the series, which I had such a good time writing it.
Flip the page for a special first look at the previous book.
Thank you for reading my books and letting me serve you doing what I love!
xx Love,
Deborah Wilson
Author of Valiant Love series
PROLOGUE
“Pia, you must come down,” Adam called.
She would not.
Lady Pia Brooks would remain in the tree forever it that was what it took. Her face stung from repeatedly wiping her tears on her skirts. She’d torn the muslin while climbing the tree. In the last orange glow of the sun, Pia studied the rip and fingered the ragged edges.
Mama was sure to be upset but only if she noticed. Lady Mary Brooks rarely noticed Pia, nor did Papa.
No one did. Only Grandmama, Aunt Melody, and Adam.
Adam’s mama as well. Georgiana. She was more mother to Pia than her own.
But Grandmama had died a few years ago and moments after her burial, Aunt Melody had moved away to join a theater troupe that would take her to Italy and beyond.
Pia only had Adam and Georgiana now and soon they would leave her, too.
She would be alone forever.
“Pia, don’t make me come up there,” Adam threatened.
Pia’s heart ached. “Just... leave if you must. Go away! I will forget you, Adam Jones.”
There was silence.
Then she felt the tree shake. She looked down and saw angry blue eyes staring at her. The sixteen-year-old was already halfway up the tree.
Pia buried her face back in her skirts, her heart pounding.
Adam had always been the fastest climber she knew.
She’d been four when they’d met. He’d been six. She’d been walking by a tree, this tree, when he’d jumped out.
The oak with its twisted veiny branches sat behind her aunt’s home.
She’d been thinking about how frightening the tree looked when Adam had pounced to the ground. He’d landed in a crouch and then stood. She’d screamed and cried but soon his kind words and patient eyes had calmed her.
He’d looked at her and smiled, and Pia had fallen in love.
At four, she hadn’t known what love was, but she’d wanted Adam’s eyes on her always. No boy had ever looked at her like that. Her father rarely spoke to her. Her grandfather had detested her and had forced everyone else in the house to do the same.
All because of her eyes.
It wasn’t her fault that they were not like others. While everyone else got blue or green or brown, Pia got a hideous violet. Just like Aunt Melody’s. Just like Grandmama, the only other people Grandpapa had hated more.
“You’ll forget me, will you?” His voice was at her ear. His breath made her neck tingle.
Fourteen-year-old Pia refused to look up.
“Pia,” he said huskily.
She didn’t know why, but whenever he said her name, her head grew woozy. Either that, or she wanted to giggle.
“Refusing to look at me will not delay the mail coach. I leave within the hour. Won’t you look at me? It isn’t as though I’m dying. We’ll see each other again, I swear it.”
She turned her head and peeked over at him. “Will we?” She didn’t believe him. Something in her heart told her that if he left, she’d never see him again.
He wasn’t supposed to leave. He was supposed to stay.
She straightened. “Can’t I come with you?”
He frowned. “You know you can’t.” He placed his hand at the back of his neck. It was a gesture he made when embarrassed. “You’re the Earl of Freylor’s daughter.”
She hated his logic. Didn’t he feel as she did? Their connection? It was unlawful for them to be apart. “Why must you go?”
“My mother cannot stay here,” he said. “She has left the Earl of Gordie and still he comes to her at every hour, begging that she take him back, threatening her.” He always called him the Earl of Gordie, never Father, though that was who he was. Gordie had never been ashamed of his bastard. “My mother, she knows she... is a fallen woman,” Adam said. “She is not proud of her history, and she wants to be a better person. As her son, it is my duty to help her.”
Duty. Was it possible to love someone and hate someone for the same reason? “And you can’t help her here?”
“I cannot. I already have a position elsewhere.” He would not tell her where they were going or what his position would be. He was being a complete mystery, and it hurt her terribly. No one was to know, he’d said, but Pia was not ‘no one.’ She loved him.
He went on, “I will make enough to see that she never needs another man again.”
“And you will forget all about me!”
He gave her a soft smile. “How could I ever forget the sweetest girl in all the world?”
She narrowed her gaze even as her heart soared on the wings of his words.
“See here,” he whispered. “I’ve already done the calculations. With stops, my destination is a five-day journey by coach. But if I walk, for eight hours a day, I can be back to you in three. So, you see? We will not be so far apart.” He was the smartest boy she knew, even wiser than his half-brothers.
“What if I walked to you?” She straightened. “It would make the journey shorter. I could see you in half the time if we started at the very same minute.”
He shook his blond head, and a lock fell into his eyes as he grinned. There was a bruise on his chin. “You must stay here where it is safe, but I’ll return.”
“Does it hurt?”
“No more than the pain in your eyes. Don’t fuss over me.” He said the same thing every time.
She reached out and touched the bruise. She hated it when he got hurt. She was certain his brothers were beating him, but he’d told her it wasn’t true. Were they the reason he was leaving?
She’d hate them forever if that was the case. “When will you come for me?”
“I will come to see you at the first opportunity, but…”
She turned her gaze from his chin to his eyes. “But?”
He twisted his mouth. “Pia, you’re the Earl of Freylor’s daughter.”
“So?” She didn’t understand. That had been the state of things since the day she was born and since they’d met ten years ago. She could not change her bloodline any more than he could.
“Pia, eventually, you’ll need to distance yourself from me. You’ll marry. Your family will not want me around. They barely want me around now.”
Her heart leapt into her throat. “I don’t care! I’ll never marry.” Not unless it was to Adam.
She grabbed his tattered shirt at the collar. “I don’t want to be with anyone but you.”
His expression grew intense. “What are you saying?”
She said nothing. She didn’t know what to say.
They were silent as he studied her.
“Come down from the tree,” he commanded. Then he was gone.
She looked down and caught his landing. The tree was tall. She didn’t understand how he could do that without breaking a leg.
Adam straightened from his crouch and looked up at her, waiting.
Pia nervously grabbed onto the trunk of the tree and started down.
The moment she was close enough, Adam’s hands circled her waist and brought her down the rest of the way. Her toes had barely touched the
ground before he spun her around. He cupped her face and forced her gaze up toward his. “Explain what you meant in the tree.”
She grabbed his wrist. Her lips felt numb, and she pushed them together. She’d never told Adam how she felt. He was so wonderful and worldly. She was just a silly lady no one loved.
She hadn’t dared.
The wind whipped some of her hair loose. The thin strands brushed her nose. She hated her hair. She’d always wanted curls like Adam. His hair was different in every way from his brothers. Full and pale, as though it soaked up the sun’s brilliance.
Her hair was flat and never kept a curl no matter how much her abigail tried. Before she could reach up to push it out of the way, Adam was there.
His finger brushed her nose, trailed down the bridge before brushing her lips and finally setting the hair away.
Her mouth parted at the touch. Her eyes widened.
Adam’s eyes darkened. She’d seen that expression on him a lot recently. It was a frightening look, close to how he became when angered, yet this wasn’t anger.
This was a strange intensity.
“Pia.”
Her hands gripped his wrist tighter. “Adam.”
His head tilted and lowered.
She closed her eyes.
And as though knowing what she was doing, her chin lifted so that his mouth would land safely against hers.
Their first kiss.
A first for her, at least, but she suspected that he’d kissed others. He was far too handsome to not have. But she took what she could of him.
She’d always wondered what a kiss would be like. His mouth was so warm, his taste a new sensation. The flavor was unlike anything she’d ever had before.
Their lips opened and closed around another over and over again like a dance.
The best feeling in the world vibrated through her, and hope filled her chest.
Maybe now he’d take her or better yet, he’d stay.
She pulled away to ask again, to see if she could change his mind.
Then she caught sight of her father over his shoulder.
The rage in her father’s face shocked her. He walked quickly across the field. His walking stick was in hand and his grip on it threatened violence. He lifted it.
“No!” Pia pushed Adam back, intending to protect him, but he tripped.
She gasped and watched in horror as his head hit a stone by the tree. “Adam!”
He never made a sound as his eyes closed.
“Adam!”
Her father’s hand on her arm stopped her. “Back away from the bastard, Pia! He shall pay for touching you!”
Pia held up her hands to her father. “Please! Don’t strike him! He’s leaving. He’ll be gone by nightfall. It was a goodbye kiss, nothing more.”
Her father’s gaze was menacing. “My father was right. Those eyes taint you. That you’d allow this boy to ruin you is only more proof. I should kill him for—”
“Please, Father, please don’t.” She’d never begged him for anything. She’d never even asked him for anything. “Please, let him live.”
His surly blue eyes turned to her. He stared into her eyes, something he rarely did.
He looked away quickly then and his hold on her tightened. “Very well. If it was goodbye then I never want to see his face again. Let’s go.”
Pia looked back at Adam as her father dragged her away. Adam finally moved, but he seemed weak. Panic beat madly in her chest. “We should tell someone he’s there.”
“If I tell anyone, it will be the constable. I’ll have him arrested. Is that what you want?” The constable would arrest him and then his mother would have no one.
Pia pressed her lips together and shook her head. Adam was alive. It was all that mattered.
She would explain everything upon his return. When he came for her, she would tell him that she loved him and that she hadn’t meant to hurt him. She would tell him that she wanted to be his wife and beg him to take her with him.
She would wait.
She would wait for him.
∫ ∫ ∫
CHAPTER 01
October 1823
Lord Sirius Hayes glared when he heard the door to his office open. He looked up and his expression relaxed at seeing his friend Lord Cassius Hiller, the Duke of Van Dero.
The man filled the entire doorway. Tall with gold eyes and a formidable form, Cass caused most men to tremble at his presence and that was not even accounting for the vast wealth and power he'd accumulated since becoming the heir to his distant cousin’s duchy.
To know him was either a promise of life or death.
Sirius stood and grinned. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at the estate? I know how you worry about Milly.” Cassius and his wife, Lady Van Dero, were having their first son. At least, Milly had declared it a boy and whatever the duchess wanted, she got.
Cass closed the door behind him. “I won’t be here long. I’ve only come to speak to you. By the way, I did knock at least twice if that makes you feel better.”
Sirius groaned as he moved around the desk and shook his friend’s hand. “Sorry. I was busy, as you can see.” He motioned to the account books scattered across his desk.
Cassius glared at the desk before turning that hard gaze back to him. “You do realize that you are the bank manager, meaning you are to manage while other people do this sort of work.”
“I like doing it,” Sirius said. He liked keeping his mind busy. It kept it from wandering where it shouldn’t. “So, if you’ve come to stir up rancor by telling me how to spend my time, you may go. You may be the Duke of Van Dero, but you don’t own me.”
Cass narrowed his gaze. “You and Nick enjoy reminding me of that. I know I do not own you. You are my friends. Still, you both work for me and I need your help. But I’ve not come for that at the moment.” He moved away and looked out the window that faced the busy London street. The sounds of the coachmen and thumping of hooves could be heard over the spring rains.
The gray light muted the tones in the room. From Cassius’ posture, Sirius could tell that this was not a social visit.
Cass didn’t really do social interactions very well. He was odd; his thoughts and words often so veracious that clergymen despised him. His intimate relationships were few, just his wife, Sirius, and their friend Lord Nicholas.
Usually, Cass wrote to Sirius to keep him updated on his life. That Cassius felt the need to call always meant something dreadful.
“What is it?” Sirius asked. “What do you need me to do?”
Cass looked at him.
Sirius rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “That was mostly a joke. I do enough for you. I oversee your stocks and business investments. Have you found fault in my work?”
“This isn’t about the bank and either way, there is never fault in your work. Your mind is as meticulous as mine, only with numbers.”
Sirius moved and sat on the edge of the desk… and partially on a book he didn’t bother to move. His hands hung between his thighs as he bent slightly forward. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”
Cass frowned. “I’m going to kill your brother.”
Sirius stiffened and then swallowed. He allowed the words to sink in before he managed to pull in a breath and push it out. “You’re going to kill Toby?”
“I must,” Cass said, waving his hand in the air because he found the conversation pointless. “He threatened me. I’m sorry.”
“You can’t.” Sirius stood, his heart racing. “Whatever Toby did, you know he didn’t mean it. He’s an idiot. A fool. Killing him would be like killing a dog for barking.”
“Yes, he is an idiot,” Cass said. “He’s an idiot who is planning to kill me. Of course, he’ll fail even if I do nothing. I already know his plans down to the very minute, but I can’t allow something like this to stand. I can’t allow people to think such thoughts are acceptable.”
Toby wanted to kill the Duke of Van
Dero.
Sirius had always known his brother was a fool, but this… it made no sense.
Cassius had an army, and Sirius meant that in the most literal of terms. Politely, he called them the Equerry. A few were no better than highwaymen, but others had been trained fighters who’d seen war.
Cassius’ predecessor had won a war in a foreign land, which had given Cassius a wealth that was nearly unmatched.
But more than anything else, Cassius had The Book of Affairs, a ledger written by Gregory Hiller I, the former Duke of Van Dero, which held the dark secrets of nearly every aristocrat in England. Last Sirius knew, Gregory’s book had become Cassius’ library. Shelf upon shelf, detailing secrets and sins, filled a room in Cass’ house. There wasn’t a thing a man could do that Cassius wouldn’t find out about.
Toby had to know this.
“Toby would never do this. You’re mistaken,” Sirius said.
Cass lifted a brow. “I’m rarely mistaken.” The words were spoken with pride that had been well earned. Cass was rarely, if ever, wrong.
Unless he was angry, then all bets were off.
But Cass seemed agitated, not angry. In his mind, Sirius’ brother was no more than a dog that needed to be put down.
Sirius cursed. “Cassius, I am asking you, as my friend, not to kill Toby.”
Cassius studied Sirius over his shoulder and then turned fully to him. With his hands behind his back, he said, “All right. If you can give me a good reason to not kill your brother, I will spare him.”
A good reason was what the duke had asked for, but what he required was something else.
Cass held logic above all else, which meant Sirius had better think well before he answered.
Sirius straightened his shoulders. “You cannot kill him, because... I love him.”
Cass studied him. “You love Lord Tobias Hayes?”
Sirius cleared his throat. “With all my h-heart.”
Cass cracked a smile. “Do be serious, Adam. You and I both know you despised Toby just as much as you did the real Sirius.”
Adam, who now went by his brother Sirius’ name, twisted his lip. He’d tried to convince Cass otherwise, but relation or not, it was hard to love Toby. “All right, I don’t like the man either, but he is the earl.”
A Knight of Vengeance: (The Valiant Love Regency Romance) (A Historical Romance Book) Page 30
