by Ava Stone
“I have to be up in a few hours to relieve Martin at the front door.”
Her delicate hands slid around his back, holding him against her. “I love you, Fin,” she said against his cravat.
His arms tightened around her. “I love you too, Lissy.”
Aaron waited until well after all the candles in the manor had gone dark and well after there’d been a changing of the guards before he started towards the door that led to the gardens. As he approached the garden gate, he glanced up at the window, the third from the left, where he’d spotted his errant wife that evening. It was one thing to hear she was alive, one thing to realize that he had been duped for quite a while, and another to actually see her with his own eyes. His blood was still boiling over that deception. No one made a fool of Aaron Pierce. No one.
He crept through the garden gate, careful to stay in the shadows so the man at the door couldn’t catch a glimpse of him. He edged his way closer to the entrance but stopped when he brushed against a hedge, which made a rustling sound.
The guard stepped slightly away from the door, peering into the darkness. It was a blessing that only a sliver of the moon was out that night or Aaron might have been spotted. He crouched down and retrieved the knife from his scabbard. No one was going to keep his wife from him.
“Papa?” Ben’s tired, little voice in the distance hit Lissy’s ears, jarring her slightly from sleep. “Milk.”
She twisted a bit in Fin’s arms and must have made a sound because he whispered, “What is it, sweetheart?”
“Ben,” she mumbled back. “It sounds like he’s awa—”
Something wrenched her from the bed before she could finish her sentence. She fell onto the floor thud and bumped her head on the nearby table.
She screamed, or at least she thought she did, as she saw a large figure looming over Fin in the darkness. Someone was holding him down on the bed.
“Fin!” she screamed for certain that time.
“Shut up, you whore,” a vicious voice growled back. “I’ll deal with you next.”
Aaron.
Lissy’s heart plummeted as every fear she’d ever had was right there in her chambers. And he had Fin by the throat. She caught a tiny bit of moonlight reflecting off a…knife.
“Fin!” she yelled again, pushing up to her knees. “Fin!”
Oh dear God! The pistol. Where had Fin put the pistol?
Aaron’s knife thrust downward and Fin cried out, but then he reared upwards. The two of them struggled on the bed and Lissy could barely see anything other than two darkened beings thrashing against each other.
The table. Fin put the dueling pistol on the table. The table Lissy had bumped into.
She scrambled to her shaky feet, retrieved the heavy weapon from the table and pointed it at her bed. Heavens, she could barely make out one man from the other as they wrestled for dominance.
“Shoot him, Lissy!” Fin cried out.
His words halted the attack on Fin, and Lissy could make out Aaron’s face as he turned his attention on to her. Memories of every horrible thing he’d once done to her flashed in her mind and she pulled the trigger.
A small burst of light lit the room, and Aaron’s astonished expression before he dropped onto the bed was an image Lissy would never forget.
She dropped back down to her knees and struggled for breath.
“Aunt Lissy?” Ben’s voice from the corridor nearly stopped her heart.
“Go find your papa, Ben,” Fin called out rather calmly, though how he could be calm, Lissy had no idea.
Tremors raced through her and though she opened her mouth to order Ben away, nothing came out.
“Uncle Fin?” Ben asked. “What are you doing in there?”
“Helping Aunt Lissy with something. Go find your papa. Go quickly, Ben.” Fin was at Lissy’s side, though she couldn’t recall him having left the bed. Then his hand was on her shoulder, steadying her. “Sweetheart,” he rasped. “Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”
He had hurt her for so long and now… Now his lifeless from was draped across her bed. A gurgled cry escaped Lissy and she couldn’t hear or think or speak to save her life.
Lights from candles suddenly filled her room and a flood of men filtered in. Keeton. Sir Nigel. It was all a blur.
“We heard a shot!” Sir Nigel said from the threshold, gasping for breath as though he’d run a foot race.
Fin’s shoulder throbbed like the devil, his shirt was soaked through with blood, and a number of men were crowded into Lissy’s chambers, their candles and lanterns filling the room with light; but all he could focus on was the dark red splotch at Lissy’s temple. “Oh, sweetheart,” he said, dropping to his knees beside her. “Your head.”
“Dear God,” Luke muttered from the threshold as he arrived at the scene.
“Papa?” Ben said from the corridor.
“You don’t want him to see this, Luke,” Fin said quickly.
“No, I don’t,” his friend replied, stepping out into the corridor. “Come on, Benton, I’ll take you to Mama for a while.”
“But I want milk,” Ben said, his voice getting softer as Luke must have ushered the child away.
Fin turned his attention back to Lissy. Tears streamed down her face and she couldn’t seem to keep from shivering. He pulled her into his embrace, holding her against him with his good arm. She trembled and cried and Fin just held her. At least Aaron Pierce couldn’t torment her any longer.
He glanced over at the man’s lifeless form on the bed. There was a hole where his neck used to be, but…Fin stared harder at the man. He knew that face. He’d seen it somewhere before, he was quite certain. But where?
And then it hit him.
The coaching inn. Pierce had been at the table next to Staveley’s and could have easily overheard their conversation. Then the man had followed Staveley up the stairs. Damn it all. That did not bode well at all, and dread settled in Fin’s belly, though he kept his fears to himself. Lissy was in no condition to hear them now.
He held her tighter and whispered in her ear. “It’s all right, sweetheart. Everything is going to be all right.”
Lissy blinked her eyes open, finding the chambers filled with light. Her lids heavy, she closed her eyes once more and would have been perfectly happy to drift back to sleep.
But her sister’s voice from just a few feet away pushed through Lissy’s foggy brain. “Finally awake?”
“My head,” Lissy groaned. Why was opening her eyes so difficult?
Her bed dipped as Juliet sat on the edge of it and took Lissy’s had in hers. “Doctor Perkins gave you some laudanum. Do you remember?”
Lissy slowly opened her eyes to meet her sister’s concerned expression and wished the fog in her brain would lift as well…And then it began to recede.
She gasped as memories began to flood her mind, and she wished that she could forget everything.
Aaron.
Fin.
He’d been stabbed, hadn’t he? In their struggle? “Fin!” She bolted up and realized she wasn’t in her chambers. She was in Georgie’s old set of rooms.
“He’s fine,” Juliet assured her. “Though he’ll be put out with me that I didn’t rush to retrieve him as soon as you woke. He’s been sitting vigil here all night long until I made him leave a little while ago.”
“He’s fine?” Lissy’s pulse began to slow to its usual rhythm again. “But he was injured. I heard him scream.”
Her sister nodded slowly. “Doctor Perkins sewed him up in the middle of the night, right after he gave you a dose of laudanum.”
Why did she need laudanum? Was she sick? Feverish? “What’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing.” Juliet smiled and squeezed Lissy’s hand. “Well, other than jumping feet first into things without thinking everything through.” She shook her head. “You were shaking so badly last night, you couldn’t even talk. He thought it would bring you some rest and some needed peace. I hope he was right.”
<
br /> Lissy did remember the tremors that had racked her body. She remembered the fear that had spread through her like wildfire when she realized Aaron was in her chambers. She remembered the terror that took root in her soul when she realized he meant to kill Fin. She remembered pulling the trigger of Luke’s pistol. And she remembered Fin wrapping his arms around her a few moments later. He couldn’t be injured too badly with that being the case. Still… “I’m not sure if peace will ever find me.”
Juliet heaved a sigh. “Time will help. Sometimes it’s the only thing that will.”
Time. There would never be enough time in the world to erase last night or Lissy’s culpability. “I’m so sorry, Jules. I’m so sorry about everything. If I could do things over…”
“We’d all make different choices if we could do things over,” her sister replied evenly. “But you can’t go back. You can only ever move forward.” Then she moved closer to Lissy and wrapped her arms around her in a very motherly fashion, the way Georgie used to. “You are free now, sweetheart. Free to start over. Free to do things differently this time.”
But Lissy wasn’t certain that was the case. “I killed him last night, didn’t I?” she asked, just to make certain. With as horrifying as the previous night was, she needed to make sure she wouldn’t ever have to face Aaron Pierce again.
Juliet pulled back from her slightly. “You did.”
“So I’ll have to face a trial.” Lissy winced at the idea of baring her soul in an open courtroom. How would she ever be able to do so? She hadn’t even told Fin or Juliet all of it. But a room full of strange men?
“Sir Nigel isn’t charging you,” her sister softly interrupted her thoughts. “He never would have, as you were clearly defending yourself and Fin, but when he realized Captain Pierce had murdered Charles Mycroft last night to gain entrance…” her voice drifted off.
Sir Nigel’s eldest son? “Oh no!” A sob was wrenched from Lissy’s soul and she fell back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling above, the weight of her guilt weighing down on her.
Juliet fell into place beside her, grasping Lissy’s hand. “Oh, sweetheart.”
“It’s all my fault,” Lissy said through her tears. Charles Mycroft would still be alive right now if it wasn’t for her. No amount of time in the world would ever bring the man back to his father and brothers.
“It’s not your fault at all. Pierce’s actions were his alone, Lissy.”
But she shook her head. “He came here because of me. I put all of you in danger. You, Luke, Ben…” Oh, good heavens! Ben! Had he been in her chambers the night before? She seemed to remember he was there. “Oh, Jules, did Ben…?”
“Ben is fine. He’s safe.”
“But did he see anything?” Lissy would never forgive herself if that sweet little boy was plagued with those awful images for the rest of his life.
“He didn’t see a thing. Luke brought him to me, and he stayed with me through the night.”
Thank heavens. Lissy closed her eyes and wrapped her arms about her middle. “He could have been hurt. You could have been hurt.”
“And you were hurt, Lissy,” Juliet said softly. “You were hurt for a very long time and you certainly didn’t deserve such treatment at his hands.”
“I chose to marry him. I—”
“You were too young to make such a decision. He took advantage of your age, and naivety, and the fact that you didn’t have a guardian looking out for your best interests. It is not your fault. You didn’t make him the man he was. You didn’t make him do the things he did. You fell in love with the image he presented to you. It’s not your fault he wasn’t who he pretended to be.”
How could Juliet so easily forgive all of Lissy’s sins? Lissy couldn’t do the same. Her conscience wouldn’t allow it. Charles Mycroft was dead. Fin had been injured. And the rest of Prestwick Chase had been put in danger all because of her. She wasn’t blameless and Lissy’s guilt couldn’t be wiped clean with just a few words. “I should have been smarter. I should have realized he wasn’t who he seemed. I—”
“You were fifteen, Felicity. And barely that,” Juliet stressed. “You are not to blame and that’s the end of it.”
A mirthless laugh escaped Lissy. “You may be more stubborn than me.”
At that, Julie laughed in earnest. “Are you just now realizing that? You should have asked Luke, he’d have told you.”
“Well, Fin might disagree with him.” Fin. Lissy had the overwhelming need to see him just then. “You promise he’s all right?”
Her sister nodded. “The dagger went through Fin’s shoulder. As long as infection doesn’t set in, he’ll be fine.”
“I need to see him.”
“I imagine you do.” Juliet squeezed Lissy’s hand once more. “He loves you, Lissy. Injured, he sat vigil at your side all night as though he was afraid you might disappear if he looked away.
Fin’s entire right arm throbbed, from his shoulder right on down to his wrist. Of course, Doctor Perkins said it would be that way for a while since his muscle in his arm had been sliced open. He lifted a coffee cup to his lips with his left hand, which did feel a little awkward, but he’d make do.
“Sir Nigel just left,” Luke said as he entered the breakfast room.
The poor man had been more than grief-stricken all night after the loss of his eldest heir. But he hadn’t returned home until he’d removed Charles Mycroft and Aaron Pierce’s bodies from Prestwick Chase. “Something has been worrying me all night, Luke,” Fin said, lowering his coffee cup back to the table.
“Just one thing?” The man dropped wearily into a chair across from Fin, looking much older than his thirty-seven years.
“Staveley,” Fin replied. “I saw Pierce at that coaching inn in Northamptonshire. Didn’t know who he was at the time, of course. But I’m fairly certain he overheard what Staveley told me that night. And if I was a betting man, I’d wager he’s responsible for whatever has delayed your brother-in-law’s arrival.”
“Dear God.” Luke’s brow creased in concern, a look he’d worn most of the night. “I’ll travel there straight away, then. What’s the name of the place?”
“The Kettering Arms. I’d go with you but...” Fin gestured to his bad arm. Traveling would only open up his wound, Doctor Perkins had explained.
“No need.” Luke waived him off. “I just hope you’re wrong.”
“When has Fin ever been wrong about anything?” Lissy teased from the threshold, sounding more like her cheeky-self than she had in a while, clearly having only overheard that last sentence. Her pretty blue eyes twinkled as she met Fin’s gaze, touching something deep in his soul.
Damn it all. She took his breath away and Fin didn’t know what he would have done if the previous night had turned out differently, if she’d been taken from him by that madman. “Lissy,” he breathed out as he stumbled to his feet, as did Luke.
“Tell me, Luke,” she said as she navigated around the table to slide into the seat beside Fin, “what is he right about this time?”
Luke and Fin exchanged a glance, both silently agreeing not to mention Fin’s theory about Staveley at the moment. Lissy had been in such a state of hysteria the night before, and it was such a relief to see her looking so well this morning. Neither of them wanted to see her crumble like that again.
“That the coffee tastes like tar this morning,” Luke lied, forcing a smile to his face. “I had been looking forward to a decent cup.”
“You are looking well,” Fin said to her, dropping back into his seat.
She touched his wrist and smiled, heating him from the inside out. “Juliet said you sat by my bedside all night.”
After almost losing her, there was nowhere else he would have been, but he simply nodded instead of saying as much.
“Do excuse me,” Luke said, pushing out of his seat. “A lot to do today.” He didn’t wait for any sort of response before quickly exiting the breakfast room, headed most likely for Northamptonshire without
delay.
“How is your shoulder?” Lissy asked, her blue eyes focused so intently on Fin, he wasn’t certain he could even remember his own name.
Damn it all. What had she asked?
“Fin?” she prodded when he hadn’t uttered a sound.
“Yes?” he said quickly.
“Your shoulder. Juliet said Doctor Perkins stitched you up. How is it?”
His shoulder hurt like the dickens, but Fin feigned a smile for her benefit. “Tender, but it’ll be right as rain in no time, I’m sure.”
She heaved a sigh and her gaze drifted to the table. “I nearly lost you,” she said so softly it was almost a whisper. “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you.”
Fin tucked one of her stray flaxen curls behind her ear and let his fingers linger against her cheek until she met his eyes. “You won’t be rid of me that easily.”
“Easily?” A gurgled laugh escaped her. “How can you make a joke about that?”
“Because it’s easier to do so than to think about losing you, Lissy.”
“Oh, Fin.” She slid closer to him in her seat and gently pressed her lips to his.
For the first time since he’d raced back from Northamptonshire, Fin felt the world was right, even if his right shoulder throbbed like nothing else. It was worth it. Freeing her from Pierce’s clutches was worth any amount of pain he endured. And she was free now. No need to race to London. No need to utilize his contacts to obtain her an annulment. No need to do anything other than kiss the woman at his side and beg her to never let him go.
Someone cleared his throat from the threshold and Lissy quickly broke their kiss. Keeton, who looked as though he hadn’t slept in a week, stood just inside the breakfast room and said, “Lady Felicity, a Mr. Heaton to see you.”
At her gasp, Fin grasped her hand in his. “Who’s Heaton?”
“Aaron’s friend. His business partner.”
“What the devil is he doing here?” Fin pushed out of his seat. After all the hell Pierce had brought down upon Prestwick Chase last night, there was no reason for his friend to ever show his face there.
