by Faye Hall
“If I didn’t kill him, why the hell did you make me believe I did?” she asked.
“He needed something over you to make you do what he needed you to. That was all he had,” Tristen explained.
Bastian smiled. “You always were the clever one, Tristen.”
Suddenly, Bastian ran toward them. Tristen instinctively pulled Amalie behind him and away from Bastian.
“He’s getting away!” she yelled as Bastian ran through the door and down the hall toward the stairs.
Tristen took off after him, Amalie close on his heels. As they reached the back door, they saw the body of the police officer that had been left at the station sprawled out on the ground, a bloody gash to his head. Looking up, he saw Bastian run into the storage shed.
“Amalie, you need to stay here and send for the police.”
“No,” she defied him. “I won’t send you out there for that bastard to try to kill again!”
The pair ran into the shed, and Amalie reached for the lamp hanging near the door. Lighting it, they both looked around inside the small building. Almost instantly, his gaze went to Bastian standing several feet away, looking frantic.
“You know you’re cornered,” Tristen said. “So just give yourself up.”
Reaching into his pocket, Bastian pulled out the matches hidden there.
“What are you doing?” Tristen asked, his steps slowing. He heard Amalie behind him, her steps stopping suddenly, a loud scream coming from her.
“Tristen, we need to get out of here now!”
He glanced around at the flammable drums of oil and knew that if Bastian dropped the match in the right place, the whole building would go up with them inside. He had to stall for time until he could figure out a way out of this. If he and Amalie were to run now, Bastian would surely drop the match. The only thing he could hope for was to maybe talk some sense into him.
“Put the match down and I’ll give you back the property papers you want,” Tristen offered.
Bastian shook his head. “It’s too late for that. The police know it was me who lit the fire that night.”
“Why did you do it, Bastian?” Tristen asked, trying to step closer to him. “Why accuse me of murdering Jacob and Amanda?”
“It was time you learned what it felt like, Tristen,” he spat at him, backing away from him. “You needed to know what it felt like to have nothing.”
“You ruined my life!” Tristen shouted.
“Just as you ruined mine!” he rebutted. “Your family took everything from mine. Every bad business deal my father did with yours lost us everything. I have been forced to live off the scraps of the wealthy while you have taken everything that has been given to you for granted.”
Tristen shook his head. “Your father’s bad business deals were no fault of my father’s or mine. We tried to tell him what would happen, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“You should’ve made him listen!” he exclaimed. “I was born into a life of luxury and you took it all away from me.” He struck a match. “Now it’s my turn to take everything away from you.”
Tristen lunged at Bastian, struggling to put out the match. Despite his best efforts, the match fell to the ground. Amalie put down the lamp and rushed over to try to stamp out the small flame.
Bastian managed to escape Tristen and run over toward the lamp. Picking it up, he threw it to the ground, forcing it to explode and expel sparks across the scraps of hay on the floor.
“Tristen!” Amalie screamed.
Bastian ran toward Tristen, his anger looking almost like madness. “Now you will die, you bastard!”
Tristen struggled against him, needing to get away from him and take Amalie to safety. Finally freeing one of his hands, he punched Bastian several times in the gut, throwing his gasping body to the ground. Running to Amalie, Tristen picked her up in his arms and ran outside the shed and toward the house. They were almost at the rear door when they heard a small explosion.
“What the hell is going on?” the policeman asked, struggling to stand beside Tristen, his hand holding his injured head.
“Bastian Tanner is in there!” Tristen yelled.
Just as the officer went to run to the shed, there was another small explosion.
“What has happened?” the station hands yelled, running up with buckets of water and readying the water barrels.
“There was an intruder in the study,” Amalie spoke up. “We followed him out to the shed. He threatened to kill us if Tristen didn’t give him some property papers.”
Watching the men rush about, doing their job and putting out the fire, Tristen held Amalie tight to him. Feeling her trembling in his arms, he glanced down at her.
“I’ll take you back inside,” he said, turning and walking her toward the house.
“I need to ask you something, Tristen,” she finally spoke up. “Had the fire never killed Jacob and Amanda, what would have happened to us?”
He stilled. “I wanted to marry you, Amalie. More than anything I wanted you as my wife, and I would have done whatever I needed to so I could make that happen.”
She snuggled into him. “And now?”
He kissed the top of her head. “And now, I will move heaven and earth if you ask it of me so you might be my wife.”
“You don’t have to do anything so grand,” she replied. “All you have ever had to do was ask.”
About Faye Hall
Faye writes Australian historical romances, each filled with passion, deceit, and murder.
She encompasses much of her own family’s history into her books, as well as setting most of them in her hometown in North Queensland, Australia.
She is happily married to her childhood sweetheart and soulmate and lives in North Queensland.
Faye’s Website:
www.faye-hall.com
Reader eMail:
[email protected]
About the Sins of the Virtuous Series
Book 1: Lust and Chastity
Now Available
Book 2: Indulgence and Temperance
Now Available
Book 3: Avarice and Charity
Now Available
Book 4: Apathy and Vigor
Now Available
Lust and Chastity
Would you surrender the pleasure of lust to become a lady of chastity?
Darien Avery followed Caitlyn Sinclair from England to Australia, memories of their intense love affair fresh in his mind. When they arrive he quickly learns he isn’t the only man in this new country who’s infatuated with the breathtaking, blonde-haired beauty.
Women are turning up dead, victims to the worst kinds of depraved acts—women who fit Caitlyn’s description—and every clue to the murderer leads back to Darien’s family. Frantic to save Caitlyn’s life, he sends her up north to her family, hoping to free her from the murderer’s grasp. But she never makes it there. When he receives word that her dead body has been found, his heart breaks and he throws himself into a life of debauchery and sin as punishment for failing to save the woman he loves.
When yet another murder occurs, Darien believes he will be accused of the crime, so he flees. He finds himself in Jarvisfield—the same town where Caitlyn’s family lives. But he soon learns that the murderer who has been butchering blonde-haired, green-eyed women has followed him there.
He’s in for even more of a shock when he discovers that his beloved Caitlyn is not dead, and has in fact, been living in Jarvisfield for months. This time he will protect her. However, Caitlyn is having none of it. She believes Darien has betrayed her, and she won’t fall for him again. No longer is she his lustful lover, but rather a lady of chastity, determined to live an independent life—one without Darien.
Content Warning: contains sex, strong language, and some violence
Indulgence and Temperance
Would you abandon the woman you love for your own indulgence?
Beth Meridian has returned home, hoping to leave her sordid past behin
d her and settle into a quiet life. When her childhood friend, Hannah Raeburn, offers her a place to stay, Beth knows it won’t be long until she runs into Hannah’s brother, Daniel. What she doesn’t expect is for him to reignite feelings deep in her heart, reminding her of the kiss they shared before she left town.
Daniel Raeburn’s past is scandalous, his sinful indulgences allowing him more wealth than he could ever need. Still, he wants more, and his gluttonous appetite for wealth and women leads him to buy into a partnership at the local hellfire club.
When Hannah goes missing, Beth and Daniel follow her trail through the Australian outback. Witnessing the womanizer Daniel is, Beth flees on a cattle train headed north. Desperate to explain his actions, Daniel follows her.
Arriving in the small town of Jarvisfield, Daniel is shocked to learn that Beth is now the owner of the largest cattle company in the area. He’s even more shocked to discover that the preacher controlling the town, and stealing from the townspeople, is his once business partner William Maxon. He’s convinced this man is also responsible for his sister’s disappearance. When he learns William has Beth picked out as his next victim, Daniel knows he must do whatever it takes to make her listen to the truth. But she has no interest in hearing anything he has to say.
Faced with losing the two women he loves, Daniel is forced to choose between their freedom and the possessions and wealth he has hoarded over the years. But even if he gives it all up, he still might lose everything.
Content Warning: contains sex, strong language, and some violence
Avarice and Charity
Would you risk everything to protect the one you love from relentless greed?
After the death of her mother, Charity Bohdan vowed to carry on her work—providing free treatment to those who are sick or injured. What started off as patching up wounds soon took a very different direction when she was being called to treat young women who’d been brutally raped and left pregnant. She knows the risks involved with treating and re-homing these women, but she can’t turn them away.
When Charity is called to treat a drunk’s wounded hand, she expects to find some elderly station hand. Instead she finds a handsome, young man, who isn’t drunk at all. As she tends to his injury, she can’t ignore the feelings he stirs inside her when their skin touches.
Avarice Licciardi has spent his life working for his father—a greedy, loveless man who has destroyed everyone in his way. But when Avarice meets Charity, a woman with the touch of an angel, he discovers there’s something he craves much more than his father’s money. He wants this woman to be a part of his life.
As they spend time together, talking of Irish legends and going on picnics, Avarice begins to win the beautiful woman’s heart. But then his father orders him to retrieve some hidden papers at Charity’s estate. He refuses…until his father threatens to go get the papers himself. Avarice is determined to protect Charity from this brutal man—even if that means deceiving her.
What Avarice finds at her estate is a hidden tunnel with incriminating mysteries far greater than hidden papers. Together Avarice and Charity uncover secrets from the past that sicken their souls as an evil, greedy man threatens to tear them apart in his search for the evidence hidden at the Bohdan estate.
Content Warning: contains sex, strong language, and some violence
