by Laura Landon
“I don’t know what scheme you’ve involved me in,” Ridgeway said, “but Her Majesty knows I am a loyal subject.”
“The papers we confiscated from the courier leaving the Londonaire indicate otherwise,” Sir Josiah Kennedy said, pulling a sheaf of papers from inside his coat pocket and holding them in the air.
Jack wasn’t sure if they were the original papers or not, but exhibiting them produced the desired effect.
Until now, Lady Kingston, Lord Brackston, and the Duke of Fullmont had remained silent bystanders.
Jack wasn’t sure how much of Ridgeway’s plan they actually understood, or if they’d simply been lured by the promise of unfathomable wealth. Whichever, they would now realize the depths of the scheme in which they were embroiled.
“I told you this was a dangerous scheme,” Lord Brackston accused, rising to his feet and facing his sister and Fullmont.
“Shut up, you fool!” Lady Kingston snapped.
“No! I’m not going to the hangman’s noose for treason! All I was involved in was the jewels.”
“You fool!” Ridgeway hissed.
Before anyone could react, Ridgeway reached into his pocket and pulled out a pistol. A bullet struck Brackston, knocking him to the floor.
“No!” Lady Kingston shrieked, falling to the floor beside her brother.
Jack held his weapon at the ready. So did Benton and Maxwell, and the other men lining the perimeter of the room.
But no one could fire a shot. Ridgeway’s arm was around Jenna’s waist while he held her firmly in front of him as a shield. The pistol he’d used to shoot Brackston was pressed against her temple.
“Everyone, stand back,” he said, slowly moving toward the door. “If you don’t want to see my pretty bride’s head blown apart, you won’t try to stop me from leaving.”
“So you thought you’d set up your own little fiefdom at Kingsbury Glenn, did you? Hijack Britain’s economy just like that?” Jack stepped slowly toward Ridgeway and watched the man react in shock at the revelation that someone knew the full extent of his scheme.
“And all you needed was this pretty little lady’s property and you’d be, what, king?” Jack altered his course ever so slightly, working to position the man right where he wanted him.
“You’re too stupid to see it, Devlin,” Ridgeway growled. “They all are. But it was so simple. So…simple.” Ridgeway’s voice held a kind of wonder at his own brilliance. He was crazed with his own illusion.
“Let her go,” Jack commanded. Ridgeway wasn’t sane. No one in his right mind would think he could get away with the scheme he’d plotted. No one with a conscience could shoot another man as unhesitatingly as he’d shot Brackston. “Take me. Leave her here.”
Jack took another step but stopped when Ridgeway tightened his grip on Jenna, making her cry out.
Ridgeway moved steadily toward the door with Jenna in his arms and his pistol pressed to her temple.
Jack sidestepped slowly, angling slightly left, but Ridgeway over-compensated, moving now just even with the row of chairs where Jenna’s father and her Aunt Chloe sat.
Jenna’s father’s eyes opened wide and filled with a fury that revealed his anger. For as seldom as his mind visited reality, it seemed to be fully cognizant of the danger Ridgeway presented to his daughter and he shifted in his chair.
Two more steps and Jack would have maneuvered Ridgeway into a position where Benton and the Colonel would be on the man’s blind side. But just as he began to make his final move, Baron Kingston caught his eye, and he suddenly knew what Kingston intended to do. It could get him killed, or Jenna, or both of them, and Jack was powerless to stop him without endangering Jenna.
Taking the only risk he dared take, Jack spoke.
“You’re hurting her, Ridgeway.”
With an unearthly growl, Baron Kingston lunged toward the Duke of Ridgeway, knocking both the duke and Jenna to the floor.
Jack raced toward Jenna and pulled her to safety while Benton and Maxwell ran to where Baron Kingston and Ridgeway struggled over the pistol.
Before anyone could reach them, however, the room reverberated with a loud gunshot.
Jack instinctively turned Jenna away, knowing there was a distinct possibility that Baron Kingston had been the victim.
“Papa!” she cried, and Jack held her closer.
Jack heard scuffling and the muffled sound of voices behind him as he waited for word as to what had happened.
“It’s Ridgeway,” Benton said from behind Jack. “He’s dead.”
“Papa?”
“He’s fine, Miss Kingston,” Benton said. “He’s a hero.”
Jack released Jenna and let her go to her father.
Maxwell’s men surrounded Lady Kingston and the Duke of Fullmont, who presented a rather cowardly huddle on the floor beside Lord Brackston.
“Send for a doctor,” Lady Kingston demanded, her voice as commanding as if she hadn’t been proven guilty of conspiring with a traitor.
“Your brother doesn’t appear that injured,” Jack said standing over the trio as they propped Brackston to a sitting position. Benton came to stand on one side of him and Colonel Maxwell on the other.
“He’s been shot, you idiot!”
“Shut up, Eleanor,” Fullmont said, rising to his feet to face Jack. “What’s going to happen now, Lord Devlin? Colonel?” he asked.
“What do you mean, what’s going to happen?” Lady Eleanor mocked, leaving her brother propped against one of the chairs as she rose to stand between the Duke of Fullmont and Colonel Maxwell. “Nothing’s going to happen. We didn’t have anything to do with whatever Ridgeway was involved in. We didn’t even know what he’d been doing.”
“Perhaps not,” Jack said, not caring if the anger and fury he felt was evident in his voice. He’d almost lost Jenna because of Lady Kingston. “But I doubt a court of law would agree with you.”
“A court of law!”
“Even if you aren’t found guilty of treason, my lady, both you and your brother, and the Duke of Fullmont were engaged in smuggling, an occupation the Queen considers a hanging offense.”
“Hanging! How dare you threaten me, you—”
“Shut up, Eleanor!” both Fullmont and Brackston said at the same time.
Lady Kingston stumbled back a step, but had the good sense to remain silent.
“What option are you giving us?” Fullmont finally asked.
“You think there is an option?” Colonel Maxwell said, his tone condescending.
“I think if you didn’t intend to give us an option, we’d already be arrested and on our way to London.”
Jack turned as some of Maxwell’s men removed Ridgeway from the room. Baron Kingston was already gone, Jenna and her aunt having escorted him away.
“Benton,” Jack said, nodding to the man who’d been his greatest help in this tragedy. “Gather the guests in the upstairs ballroom and explain in terms they understand how important it is that what happened here today does not leave Kingston Manor.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Colonel, would you make sure Lady Rutherford and Miss Kingston have Baron Kingston settled comfortably?”
Maxwell nodded. “I’ll post guards outside the door and in the hall, in case you have trouble,” he said, then left the room with the men he’d brought with him.
When the room was empty, Jack turned his attention to Lady Kingston. “You and your brother have exactly one hour to collect the few belongings you wish to take with you, and remove yourself from Kingston Estates.”
Lady Kingston’s face whitened and she opened her mouth to argue but Jack held up a hand to stop her.
“One carriage will be waiting outside to take you away from here. It will leave with whatever personal items you can carry aboard it.”
“One! But I will need—”
“One. And you will not take one Kingston servant with you. Or piece of furniture. Or Kingston family jewel.”
“But I c
an’t—”
“That point is not negotiable. I will not subject anyone with a connection to Kingston Estates to your cruelty ever again.”
Before Lady Kingston could form another argument, Jack turned to the Duke of Fullmont.
“The Londonaire is waiting at the docks. Her captain and crew have been placed under arrest and have been confined to the ship since they docked. You have twenty-four hours to get to London, collect anything you need and board the ship. The captain has orders to take you wherever you choose to go, but after that you are on your own.”
“If I choose not to leave?”
Sir Josiah Kennedy stepped forward and sealed the man’s fate. “You will be placed under arrest and tried for the crime of treason.”
Fullmont said nothing. He looked like a beaten man who’d lost everything and knew he had no hope of gaining it back.
“Lady Kingston and Lord Brackston will leave with you,” the undersecretary of defense continued. “Where you take them, or where you leave them is entirely up to you. But none of you will step foot on English soil ever again. Your citizenship has been renounced.”
The lifeless expression in Fullmont’s eyes evidenced his defeat.
“Now,” Jack said to Lady Kingston, “I suggest you see to your brother’s wound, then start packing. You have less than an hour before your carriage takes to the road.”
Brackston was already near the door as if eager to escape before any charges were leveled against him. His sister, however, wasn’t as wise.
Eleanor hesitated a moment longer, then gave Jack a malicious glare before she turned on her heels and walked away from him. “May you rot in hell,” she said, giving her skirts an angry swish.
“I have no intention of going there, woman. I don’t wish to be anywhere near you ever again. In this life or the next.”
Lady Kingston uttered one last vile oath, then stormed from the room.
When she was gone, Jack turned back to Fullmont.
“Why?” Fullmont asked. “Why are we being allowed to leave? One would think Her Majesty would want to make examples of our crimes.”
It was Kennedy who supplied the answer. “You’re fortunate that just the opposite is true. Her Majesty prefers not to draw attention to what Ridgeway and his small group of miscreants intended. And if you ever speak of this to anyone, the three of you will find death warrants on your heads.” Sir Kennedy’s stone face and majestic stance left no doubt that he would have no problem acting on his words.
Fullmont gave a sharp nod, then walked away.
Jack’s gaze followed him across the room, but he didn’t watch the man leave. There was no need, since Kennedy and his men followed close on Fullmont’s heels. Instead, his gaze was drawn to where Jenna stood inside the door.
“That was a narrow escape, Lord Devlin,” she said, taking one step toward him, then another.
There was a glimmer of excitement in her eyes and Jack’s heart raced in his chest. This was the vibrant woman he remembered from his first days at Kingston Manor.
“Too narrow,” he answered, agreeing with her. “I wouldn’t have let you become Ridgeway’s bride though. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she said, winding her arms around his neck.
“You’re sure?”
She lifted herself on tiptoe to kiss him. “I’m sure,” she whispered against his mouth.
Jack kissed her with all the passion pent up inside him, but she wouldn’t allow his emotions to get the better of either of them.
“The guests are still here, Lord Devlin. And so are Reverend Drisup and Colonel Maxwell and Aunt Chloe. It would be a shame if we let them come all this way for nothing, don’t you think?”
Jack smiled from the inside out. “I do. I’d hate to disappoint them when they’ve come to Kingston Manor expecting a wedding.”
“So would I,” Jenna said, rising to kiss him a second time.
When she lowered her heels back to the floor, Jack reached into his pocket and held out a small blue velvet box. “For you,” he said, waiting for her to take it.
She lifted the lid and her eyes opened wide, then she looked at him with tears that spilled down her cheeks. “It’s beautiful,” she said, taking the necklace from the box and turning so he could fasten it around her neck. “My mother had a necklace just like this.”
“I know. I remembered it from the picture you have of her in your room.”
She kissed him again, then broke the kiss with a small gasp. There was a look of regret in her eyes when she looked at him. “But I don’t have anything to give you.”
“You’ve already given me the best gift I could receive.”
“What gift?”
“The only gift I ever wanted, my love.” He kissed her sweetly. “The only gift I’ll ever need.”
He smiled and watched a single tear roll down her cheek.
She smiled and whispered softly two words, feeling in her heart the joy of what this gift would mean in their lives.
“My trust.”
. . .
The vows were sealed, the wedding toast made, and the guests had long since departed. Jack worked his way down the row of buttons at the back of his beautiful bride’s peach gown. With each new exposure of skin, he interrupted his work to christen it with a kiss.
“I tried to give your father’s watch back,” he said, still moved by the immense honor Baron Kingston had bestowed on him by refusing to take back the family timepiece.
“I know,” Jenna sighed.
He freed another peach loop from its pearl button.
“I wish—” Jenna paused and reached a hand over her shoulder to bury her fingers in his hair.
“What, darling?”
Jenna sighed. “I wish your brother could know how happy we are,” she said as she turned and pressed herself to him. “I wish he could have been here.”
Jack kissed her forehead. “I do, too, my love.” He kissed her again. “But I do know the Devil of Devlin is someplace perfect right now,” he chuckled. “Probably enticing the angels into some sort of wicked game, or trying to convince St. Peter that it wasn’t him who left the pearly gates unlocked.”
“You really think so?” she raised on tiptoe to kiss him sweetly. “Truly?”
Jack laughed. Full and long and free.
“Oh yes,” he chuckled.
“Trust me.”
About Laura Landon
Laura Landon enjoyed ten years as a high school teacher and nine years making sundaes and malts in her very own ice cream shop, but once she penned her first novel, she closed up shop to spend every free minute writing. Now she enjoys creating her very own heroes and heroines, and making sure they find their happily ever after.
A vital member of her rural community, Laura directed the town’s Quasquicentennial, organized funding for an exercise center for the town, and serves on the hospital board.
Laura lives in the Midwest, surrounded by her family and friends. She has written nearly two dozen Victorian historicals, thirteen of which have been published by Prairie Muse Publishing and are selling worldwide in English, one in Japanese, and several in German. Two are Scottish historicals.
In October 2012, Laura experienced an amazing day when Amazon’s Montlake Romance published not one but three of her newest novels. Two of these have been optioned for publication in Russia and Turkey. Several are also available in German. To date Montlake has published seven of Laura’s Victorian historicals and Kindle Press three.
Always beautifully set and with a mysterious twist or bit of suspense, Laura’s books average a million pages a month read by her loyal readers.
LAURA LANDON IS A PRAIRIE MUSE PLATINUM
KINDLE PRESS AND AMAZON MONTLAKE AUTHOR
WWW.LAURALANDON.COM
Also from Laura Landon
by Prairie Muse Publishing
SHATTERED DREAMS
WHEN LOVE IS ENOUGH
BROKEN PROMISE
A MATTER OF CHOICE
MORE THAN WILLING
NOT MINE TO GIVE
LOVE UNBIDDEN
KEEPER OF MY HEART
THE DARK DUKE
CAST IN SHADOWS
CAST IN RUIN
CAST IN ICE
CAST IN SCANDAL
(novella in Her Majesty’s Scoundrels boxed set)
JADED MOON
THE DEVIL’S GIFT
From Laura Landon
by Montlake Romance
SILENT REVENGE
INTIMATE SURRENDER
INTIMATE DECEPTION
THE MOST TO LOSE
A RISK WORTH TAKING
BETRAYED BY YOUR KISS
RANSOMED JEWELS
From Kindle Press
THE SECRET ROSE
DARK RUBY
DECEPTION IN EMERALDS
THE TRAITOR’S CLUB: FORD
WHERE THE WOMAN BELONGS
NOVELLA
See all of Laura’s books at Amazon.com
COMPANION BOOKS (series)
by Laura Landon
THE BROTHERHOOD
When Love is Enough | Broken Promise
RANSOMED JEWELS
Ransomed Jewels | Jaded Moon
Dark Ruby | Deception in Emeralds
THE REDEEMED
The Most to Lose | The Dark Duke
CAST IN SCANDAL
Cast in Shadows | Cast in Ruin
Cast in Ice | Cast in Scandal
THE TRAITOR’S CLUB
Ford | Hugh | Jeb | Caleb
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents
either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE DEVIL’S GIFT
Copyright © 2017 by Laura Landon
Ebook edition
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
ISBN 978-1-937216-81-8
