The Hero Least Likely

by Darcy Burke

  “I’m sorry for ye,” Marie said softly. “But Jagger doesn’t stay too long with any woman.”

  Ethan . . . he wouldn’t cast her aside. Not when he’d declared his love and proposed marriage. She couldn’t contain herself any longer. Maybe she just needed to hear the words, even from her own mouth. “I think it was Shakespeare who said thieves could not be true to one another, but Ethan is true to me. He loves me and we’re going to be married.”

  Marie’s mouth gaped open. She snapped it closed and patted Audrey’s knee. “Ye poor dearie. Is that what he told ye to spread yer legs?”

  Audrey opened her mouth to retort, but realized he had told her those things before he’d made love to her. But no, that wasn’t the reason he’d said them. It wasn’t. “It’s not like that.”

  Marie’s gaze was condescending, and her tone was thick with pity. “Jagger’s not one of yer Society lords. Ye said so yerself—thieves have no honor.”

  Audrey didn’t want to hear anymore. She folded her arms across her chest and tucked herself into as small of a silhouette as possible.

  She wasn’t sure how long she sat like that, but it seemed an interminable length. A commotion sounded from outside the room. Audrey leapt to her feet in fear.

  The door swung open and several men strode inside. They looked similar to the men who’d risen from the table. Every one of them had drawn a pistol or some sort of blade.

  “Ho there, lads!”

  Audrey recognized that voice, but she almost didn’t realize it was Ethan. He was immaculately garbed, but more flamboyantly than she’d ever seen him. His coat was a vivid blue and his waistcoat a bright green and bronze. His cravat was intricately tied and sported a glimmering diamond within its crisp folds. He carried a walking stick with an ornate handle and his hands were covered in gaudy rings. His ink-black hair was coiffed so perfectly that he would look at ease in any ballroom in London. His gray gaze swept the room with superiority as if he were the king instead of Gin Jimmy.

  She lunged forward, intending to protect him, but he shot her a quelling stare. She’d seen him look cold before, but his eyes held a frigidity she hadn’t witnessed. It chilled her to the core.

  “Ye got a lot of cheek strollin’ in here so brazen-like,” Perkins said, his pistol pointed at Ethan’s chest.

  “Why? I’ve always been welcome at the Cup and Burrow—for far longer than any of you.” He glowered at Perkins and, flanked by two of the burliest men Audrey had ever seen, strolled toward the dais. He climbed the stairs and turned, the men he’d arrived with still clustered about him.

  Audrey looked at the men who’d moved out from the table and were now staring at Ethan with their weapons drawn. Why hadn’t anyone shot him? Was it because he’d brought his own soldiers? She looked at them—at least ten men—and wondered where he’d found them. But she knew. They were his soldiers. He was nearly equal to Gin Jimmy in terms of status in this world.

  Marie let out a hiss of breath beside her. She’d also risen. “There’s no one like Jagger. In bed or out. Jes’ look at ’im.”

  Audrey suppressed an urge to drive a sharp elbow into Marie’s side. She didn’t want to hear about Ethan’s prowess. She couldn’t deny, however, that he was the most attractive man she’d ever met, and that even now amidst the danger and what Marie had said about him, she was drawn to him like no other.

  “Listen up, lads.” Ethan’s voice commanded the room. “I don’t know what Jimmy’s told you, but I had to leave London to avoid being arrested.” There were a few murmurs. “Thankfully, there will not be any charges and I am a free man.” He grinned widely and there were cheers from his men—and from a few of Jimmy’s.

  Audrey sagged with relief, glad that at least that threat had passed.

  Ethan’s smile faded and his features hardened. “But I’m not really. None of us are. As long as Jimmy runs things, none of us are truly free. Tell me, what did he threaten if anything happened to his hostage?”

  One of Jimmy’s men stepped forward. “He’d lock us all inside and burn the Cup and Burrow to the ground.”

  Ethan studied the jewel-encrusted handle of his walking stick for a long moment. When he looked out at the men once more, he seemed to pierce each of them with a direct stare. “And what do we know of Jimmy’s threats?”

  “They always come to pass.” Marie’s voice jarred Audrey.

  Ethan glanced in their direction, but he didn’t acknowledge Audrey at all. “Very true, Marie. Why don’t you come up here with me?” He smiled encouragingly.

  Audrey’s stomach turned and ice shot to her extremities. She backed her knees against the chair for a modicum of support.

  Marie sauntered to the dais. When she climbed up beside him, he pointed to one of the pillows.

  She kneeled on a round, purple cushion and sat back on her heels. She looked like a dog doing her master’s bidding. Then she cast Audrey a haughty glance. Audrey felt sick.

  “If you prefer Jimmy’s style of dictatorship, then by all means do his bidding,” Ethan arched his brow in challenge, “if you can. Or, if you’d prefer the freedom to choose your own jobs and whether you want to risk your life on any given day, follow me.”

  “Does that mean you’re going to be our leader?” a young man asked, his pistol drooping in his grip.

  Ethan angled his body toward the criminal who’d spoken. “No. I’ve no wish to lead. I only want to be left alone.”

  Audrey’s chest expanded. She’d thought for a moment that he meant to take over Gin Jimmy’s place. He’d marched in here so confidently and the men clearly admired and respected him. She could see his importance and what his position had to mean to him.

  One of his men standing at the foot of the dais turned and looked at him. “Ye should be our leader.” He pivoted back and raised his arms. “Who here wants Jagger as our leader?”

  All of his men shouted their agreement, and at least three or four of Jimmy’s men joined in. The others looked around, doubt etched in their worn and battered faces.

  Marie leaned forward and wrapped her hand around Ethan’s knee. She gazed up at him longingly. Audrey moved forward without thinking.

  Bird was at her side in a matter of seconds. He slid his arm around her waist and pulled her toward the door. “I don’t care what anyone says. I’m followin’ Jimmy’s orders.”

  Ethan’s face darkened. He strode from the dais toward Audrey and Bird. Bird put a dagger to her throat. “Don’t come any nearer.”

  Ethan drew the handle of his walking stick up to reveal a long, vicious blade. He raised his hand to throw it.

  Audrey shouted, “Don’t!” She didn’t want him to kill again. Not even for her.

  Ethan’s voice ground between his teeth, deceptively soft, but with a rasp that betrayed his emotion. At least to her. “He’s going to kill you, Audrey.”

  Audrey craned her neck to look at Bird. “Let me go. There’s no need for anyone to die.”

  “Kill ’im!” someone shouted, though it wasn’t clear who the “him” was.

  Audrey fought to keep her shaking body still as the tip of the knife pressed into her flesh. “Then he’s no better than Gin Jimmy, is he?”

  “I’ll second that!” Boomed a familiar voice. All heads turned to see Gin Jimmy reenter with an even larger band of men than what he’d left with. “Jagger’s no better than me. ’E don’t even come close.” His gaze settled on Ethan with cold fury.

  Bird’s grip loosened as he pivoted to look at Gin Jimmy. Audrey took her chance and slipped from his grasp. Ethan reached out and pulled her against him, her chest crashing against his. He wrapped his arm around her and held her tight.

  She breathed in the familiar scent of him: spice, sandalwood, and something indescribably Ethan. He was safety. He was shelter. He was home. She snaked her arms about his waist and turned her head to look at Jimmy.

  The vicious criminal’s laugh filled the room. “How quaint.” He walked toward Audrey and Ethan, his blue eyes like c
old glass. “Tell yer men to hold. Else we’ll have a battle on our ’ands, and I don’t think ye have enough might to win.”

  It was true. It might’ve been a balanced fight, but Jimmy had returned with too many men. Ethan and his gang were outnumbered.

  Ethan glanced at his men, who’d assumed a battle-ready position with their weapons at the base of the dais. He tightened his grip around Audrey. “There’s only one deal I’ll make.”

  Jimmy scrutinized them, his gaze lingering on Audrey. “Aye. I figured as much. Yer men can escort her out. But ye stay.”

  “No!” Audrey moved her body so she was shielding Ethan. “Let us both go. We’ll leave London. We’ll leave England!” She’d say or do anything to appease him, though her heart knew he would never agree.

  Jimmy smiled at her, but it wasn’t pleasant. “I can’t let Jagger go. He failed me, ye see. And I gave ’im everything I ’ad to give. He was like my son.” His gaze hardened and moved from her to Ethan. “Say yer good-byes then.”

  Jimmy stalked toward the dais and motioned to his men. They shadowed Ethan’s gang and drove them toward the door.

  Bird grabbed Ethan’s knife out of his hand with a wicked grin. He also took the bottom part of the walking stick and sheathed the blade. Then he tossed the implement to Perkins.

  Ethan turned her around in his arms. “Audrey. My love.”

  She grabbed the lapels of his coat. “I won’t leave you.” Tears streaked from her eyes.

  He wiped at her cheeks with his thumbs while he cupped her face. “You must. It’s the only way you’ll be safe.”

  “Don’t ask me to do this.” She could barely speak past the rawness in her throat.

  His eyes chilled for the barest moment. “I’m not asking you.” His grip grew fierce and his fingers tangled into her hair. “My beautiful, brave Audrey. The time I spent with you was the happiest of my life. I will cherish every moment forever. Death will not part us. I’ll be with you always.” He touched her chest. “In your heart.”

  Audrey clutched at his neck as a sob escaped her.

  He leaned down, his mouth against hers “Shhh. Don’t cry for me. I wasn’t meant for more than this. You were my greatest gift, a boon I never deserved, but shall be ever grateful for. Now, kiss me so that I have the taste of you on my lips when I meet my maker.”

  He crushed his mouth over hers with sweet savagery. His fingers dug into her scalp and his other hand wrapped around her back to pull her tight against him. She opened for him, meeting his tongue in a frenzied need to have as much of him as she could. But it was bittersweet for she knew it would never be enough.

  Something pulled at him, but he resisted. He broke their kiss and pressed his cheek against hers. He whispered beside her ear, “I love you,” and then he was gone from her, dragged away by Bird and another man.

  Ethan’s men encircled her. She moved toward Ethan, but one of them grabbed her arm and held her back.

  She watched as Ethan was marched to the dais, where Jimmy had taken his throne.

  Audrey was pulled toward the doorway. She dug her feet into the floorboards, but it was no use. Two men had her firmly, but gently, by the arms, and hauled her, at last picking her up.

  “Ethan!” She couldn’t stop the tears, could barely see his handsome face as he watched her go. His expression was stoic, but his eyes were like thunder.

  The men who’d escorted him pushed him to his knees in front of Gin Jimmy. With a final, tortured look, Ethan turned from her.

  And then she couldn’t see him anymore, and her heart shattered into jagged, irreparable pieces.

  NINETEEN

  Pain unlike anything Ethan had ever known ripped through him. And Jimmy hadn’t even touched him yet.

  His mind scrambled for a way out of this, but he didn’t see any. Some of the men here supported him, but not enough to go against Gin Jimmy. Like Ethan, they would choose self-preservation above all else. He’d known the plan was a risk and his primary goal had been achieved: Audrey was safe.

  Ethan recognized the men in his peripheral vision and registered the apprehension in Marie’s face before looking up at the man who’d guided him these many years.

  Jimmy’s familiar blue eyes were sad. He shook his head. “I hate what I must do, my boy.”

  Ethan didn’t think there was a point in trying to persuade him otherwise. Jimmy was ruthlessly decisive, never wavering to change his course even if he suspected he should.

  Jimmy stood abruptly and flicked a glance at the men who’d dragged Ethan up to the dais. “Bring him.”

  Hands roughly grabbed and lifted him and propelled him behind Jimmy into his private chambers that lay behind what he liked to call his “throne room.” Ethan had been in these rooms many times. As a member of Jimmy’s innermost circle, he’d been invited to countless dinners and parties. He even had a favorite seat—his gaze shot to the chestnut-colored wing-backed chair situated near the fireplace.

  “Lock ’im up,” Jimmy said, pointing toward the chain that hung from a metal loop on the wall near the fireplace. He went to a sideboard and poured himself a glass of gin, then took his favorite chair, a plush russet companion to Ethan’s.

  One of the men picked up the chain. There were two shackles: one for his wrist and another for his ankle. He’d seen Jimmy use them many times. Until today, he’d never imagined being confined in their grasp.

  Jimmy waved his hand at Ethan. “Give me that jewel in his neckcloth. And the ones on ’is fingers.”

  One of the men pulled the diamond stickpin from his cravat while the other stripped the rings from him. Ethan didn’t care about any of it, save the ring with the L. But he wouldn’t ask for it. While one of the men deposited the jewelry in Jimmy’s outstretched hand, the other removed Ethan’s coat and then his boots, as the first man returned to place the metal cuffs around Ethan’s left wrist and left ankle.

  There was enough slack for him to sit against the wall, but he couldn’t get far enough to reach anything that could be used as a weapon, nor could he sit in his chair. It was a humiliating prison, but that was what Jimmy intended. It was also what Ethan had expected.

  The men left Ethan and positioned themselves on either side of the door. The only other way out of the apartment was through a doorway that led to a corridor connected to several things, including the outside, which was heavily guarded on the exterior.

  Jimmy took a hearty drink of gin. “I knew ye weren’t at the Brazen Bride, but I pretended to go so ye’d make yer move. The letter almost got to me.” His tone carried the barest hint of regret. “Almost.”

  Though Ethan hadn’t expected the ruse to work, he’d still hoped for it. “How did you know?”

  “You ran with the girl. She’s important to ye. I knew ye’d want to come and get ’er.” His lips lifted, but there was a touch of sadness in his eyes. “I counted on it.”

  Hope began to spark in Ethan. Was there a chance he’d show mercy? Ethan nearly laughed. In all the years he’d known Gin Jimmy, he’d never witnessed even a measure of softness.

  “I just can’t comprehend why ye turned on me.” Jimmy sounded almost forlorn. He opened his palm. “Look at all the jewels ye have. Ye’re a wealthy man. Didn’t I give ye everything ye could want?”

  Perhaps Ethan’s letter had worked. He’d penned words he’d hoped would play to Jimmy’s ego and arrogance—thanking him, appreciating him, even begging him. That part, imploring Jimmy to forgive him, had filled him with gall. He swallowed and tried to appear humble, something he hadn’t attempted in a very long time. “You did, and that’s why I wanted to try to make things right.” There was no use saying he wanted to regain his place, not after he’d obviously come for Audrey and Audrey alone.

  Jimmy didn’t seem to register Ethan’s words or the plea in his voice. “I made sure ye found yer way—even at the beginning. I knew ye’d take out Four-Finger Tom if ye were pushed ’ard enough, and if ye thought it was the only way to survive.”

  Eth
an shouldn’t have been surprised, but the bitterness of realizing how he’d been manipulated by first Davis and then Jimmy burned like acid on his tongue. “You encouraged him to berate me, to target me as weak.”

  “I thought ye’d be a better leader than Tom. And I was right.” Jimmy raised his glass and toasted him before taking another drink. “Weren’t ye happy?”

  Happy? He was a thief, a predator, a self-serving bastard who not only put his survival above all else, he wasn’t even aware of anything else. Until he was. That’s when it had all changed. “For a time.”

  “It was going into Society, wasn’t it? The lure of the prestige was too great.” Jimmy shook his head as he deposited Ethan’s jewelry on a small table beside his chair. “I should’ve recognized that about ye. It’s one of the qualities I liked best in ye—yer drive to have the most respect, the most admiration.”

  “Actually it was before that.” Ethan wasn’t sure why he opened himself up, but once he’d started with Audrey, he found it to be a balm for his battered soul. And if there was ever a time to unburden himself, it was now, when his end might be unavoidable.

  “I know you wondered why I got the prizefighter. I did it for my father. He used to take me to bouts.” Sponsoring the pugilist had allowed Ethan to reminisce about the life he’d led before he’d been forced into the streets. In turn, that had made him think about the life he might have had.

  Add to that his growing discomfort with the things he’d done, and he’d been ripe for a change of heart. He realized he could pinpoint the exact moment his stomach had begun to sour. One of his men, a particularly ruthless bloke called Swan, had kidnapped Lady Philippa. Though Ethan hadn’t been a part of it, he’d felt fully responsible. He’d had Swan abduct her once before—to watch Sevrin’s fight. Swan’s subsequent abduction had made him sick—and it had given him pause.

  It wasn’t as if Ethan hadn’t known these things happened. Hell, they happened all around him. You couldn’t walk through St. Giles without seeing a woman selling herself or a man trying to somehow degrade a woman. But with Philippa, Ethan had exposed her to that. Ethan. After that, things began to change for him and he’d started to think about a life where he didn’t steal and he didn’t reside in a flash house.