“No, it’s damn well not true,” Parker roared. He’d never seen her eyes look so bleak and he swore at that moment he would do anything to see that look erased from her face.
She turned at the sudden movement behind her, swinging the pistol towards the newest intruder.
“Not so fast, Granville.”
She slumped when she saw Lord Rockwell sneak up behind her uncle with his own pistol trained on Granville’s head.
Granville’s head whipped around and he stared in disbelief.
“What…?” She trailed off, her face wrinkled in confusion.
Rockwell looked at Persephone and winked. “You can put your pistol down, sweetheart.”
She lowered the weapon, not surprised to see her hand shaking and swung back to face Parker when he began to speak again.
“You are a lady, Persephone,” Parker countered. “Nothing this bastard has done to you will change that.” The heat of his rage rolled through his body.
Persephone made a sound of disbelief. “Not anymore.” She shook her head in denial as she looked back over her shoulder at her uncle. She stood still taking a deep breath and another. “I know how the ton works, Parker. It can never go back to the way it was.” She inhaled and blew out her breath. “I’ve accepted that.” Her voice raw, unsteady.
“That is not true.” Parker shook his head. His heart raced, bruising his chest at the idea that he would not be near her again. “It’s not true.”
Granville stared back at her, his gaze flat before glancing over at Parker.
Parker lowered his own weapon stuffing it into his jacket pocket. “Why are you doing this?” He hadn’t intended to shout, but his voice roared as he strode the few steps across the room to stand over her. Grabbing Persephone by the upper arms his fingers bit into her soft flesh. His eyes filled with a consuming need. “Why?” His brow crinkled and he stared down at the top of her head. She gasped in pain as his fingers bit into her flesh. He released her arms quickly when he realized that he was causing her pain and cursed at his stupidity. He was doing the same thing her uncle had done.
“Because I am able.” She tossed his words back at him. “Because I finally have the strength to fight back,” she replied. “Matilda deserves to know that he will never be a threat to her. I do not want her to always be looking over her shoulder. Wondering what is around the next corner.” She closed her eyes. “I am not the first and I most definitely will not be the last. He has ruined dozens of innocent girls.” Her voice grew hoarse. “He must be stopped.”
“What happened was no fault of yours,” Parker stated perfectly serious. “Granville and these other men are sick.” Parker swore under his breath, closing his eyes.
“I don’t blame myself, Parker, but I am no longer worthy of you.” Persephone placed her palm against his jaw. “I will cherish my time with you, but that is over now.”
His eyes opened at her touch. “No…” He blew out a sound of frustration.
“These men, your acquaintances, your friends will know what these men have done to me.” She allowed her hand to slide around his neck and slide through the silky hair at his nape one last time. “They will laugh at you. They can ruin all that you have worked so hard to build.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I will not allow you to suffer because of me.”
“Persephone, you cannot protect the whole world by secreting yourself away.” He laced his fingers with hers and brought them to rest against his heart. “I will see that he pays for what he has done to you.” His whisper low and harsh. “He has ruined too many lives.”
“I am not your responsibility anymore.” She stared up at his features, caressed by firelight pleased by her brave words, glad that her voice had not wavered.
“You will always be mine and when this mess has been resolved you will marry me.” Parker announced. “And he will never harm Tillie or you again.” A look of distaste flickered in his eyes when he glanced towards Granville.
A single tear trailed down her cheek, and Parker wiped it away.
“When you invited me to Rosebriar for Christmas, Brother, I thought it was supposed to be a time for relaxation, not a gunfight.” The familiar drawl caused a smile to quirk up the corner of Parker’s mouth. “I was so looking forward to some Snapdragon; I would like an opportunity to win back that guinea from you.”
The tightness in Parker’s shoulders eased a fraction when he heard Peyton’s voice. He turned, the hint of a smile on his mouth. He spied Peyton leaning against the doorframe one booted foot crossed over the other his pistol securely gripped in his left hand trained on Granville and a wicked looking leather whip swinging lightly in his right. His stance deceptively relaxed, but Parker new different. The look in Peyton’s eyes reflected the barely controlled anger boiling up inside to those that knew him best.
Peyton narrowed his blue eyes playfully, then looked down at his nails as if bored by the situation he found himself. “Forgive me, Brother, but if I’m remembering correctly, you beat me last time and nearly lost your eyebrows in the process.” He looked up, a rascally sparkle to his eyes. All that changed when he turned hard eyes, suddenly cold as glaciers, back in Granville’s direction. He chuckled, amused, obviously not that impressed. “I’m sure you would have found it amusing as well, Granville, considering your proclivity for pain.” His eyes narrowed. “Forgive me, I have forgotten. You enjoy administering pain. Not receiving. I pray you will forgive my mistake.” He bowed mockingly.
“I recalled how bored you were over the summer. I wanted to make sure you could not complain of the same this time.” Parker flashed a glance at the object in Peyton’s hand, his left brow lifted in question.
Peyton flicked his wrist and the leather tail snaked through the hair with a hiss and then an ominous snap. He glanced askance at Granville, his brow raised. “I believe your toy of choice?”
Persephone winced, clearly startled at the sound, a loud gasp escaping her mouth as memories instantly flooded back. The sights, the smells, the sounds. She breathed deep in order to quash the nausea that threatened to rise from her churning stomach.
“Pardon, my lady,” Peyton said apologetically, glancing at her fully for the first time, his eyes widening almost imperceptibly when he recognized her for the woman in the cage. “Have you ever been on the receiving end, my lord?” He trained his eyes back on Granville.
Granville sputtered, glancing about the room his eyes skating fearfully over the three men. “You’ve no right to rifle through my belongings.” He almost looked discomfited by what Peyton held loosely in his hand.
Peyton’s expression guarded and his lips were set in a firm line, neither smiling nor frowning. “You are most certainly depraved, my lord,” Peyton added, inwardly cringing as he watched Granville preening under the term as if it were a compliment. He had seen the look of question in his brother’s eyes when he expertly wielded the whip. He knew what thoughts ran through his head, especially after all that he had heard. It was amazing the path of destruction that was left by a few wagging tongues. He had never given a damn what anyone thought of him, but he knew that he would have a lot of explaining to do when this was all over. He watched as some of the tension left Parker’s shoulders. He pushed away from the door; his pistol still trained on Granville and sauntered slowly towards the center of the room, his eyes traveled lightly over Persephone. “So she’s the one, is she?” he said in a low voice.
Persephone’s eyes widened, the blood rushed from her face. He was the one. Her breath hitched on a sob. Parker’s brother. She flushed; mortified with the knowledge that he had witnessed her humiliation. Seen her nakedness when she was caged, but he had saved her. He had slipped a pick into her cage giving her the means of escape.
Peyton winked, his thick blonde lashes and she was mesmerized as they fluttered briefly against his cheek. He quickly placed his finger to his lips to silence her.
Persephone stood still as the tall man with devilish blue eyes, the exact shade as Parker’s, but with h
air the color of wheat studied her as if he had never seen her before. His gaze roaming down her travel stained mantle to her hand still gripped tightly around the deadly pistol, her knuckles white, and he raised a brow.
Persephone swallowed uncertainly and stared at him with her nerves weighing down on her like a ton of bricks.
“Not much bigger than Poppy or Piper, is she?” He circled them with a smile on his face, raising his laughing eyes to his brother’s. “A wee fairy with all those red curls.” His bluntness and humor at a time like this caught Persephone off guard as well as the sensation elicited by Parker’s callused thumb rubbing slow circles over the palm of her hand. Her mind, her thoughts, her senses were overwhelmed.
“She’s perfect.” Parker slid his gaze sideways to Persephone.
Persephone’s eyes darted back and forth between the brothers, surprised at their discussion while they were in a room full of cocked pistols.
“I never knew you had a hankering for redheads.” A glimmer of amusement flickered across Peyton’s face.
Parker’s eyes never strayed from Persephone’s. As he spoke, he lowered his hand and removed the pistol from her loosening grasp. “Nor I, it came upon me quite suddenly one afternoon as I was taking a walk.” His voice softened. He regarded her in a way that sizzled straight to the center of her body.
Peyton stopped in front of her, bowing slightly from the waist. He lifted her hand and placed a light kiss on her knuckles. “Peyton Peregrine, at your service, my lady.”
Persephone’s eyes filled with tears and a choked sob escaped her smiling lips.
The corner of Peyton’s mouth turned up, creasing his cheek. “An honor, my lady.” He watched a tear seep out from beneath Persephone’s lashes.
Parker’s heart was in his throat as he watched the woman he loved smiling at his brother even though he didn’t understand why.
Peyton glanced at his brother as if to gain some sort of permission. Persephone saw Parker’s slight nod before Peyton raised his hand and caught a teardrop with his finger. “Don’t cry sweeting.” His actions surprised her, especially since he was standing in front of his brother. “You are in the best of hands.”
Persephone watched Peyton with a bemused expression.
“What the devil is going on here?” Granville all but shrieked. “A goddamned fucking family reunion?”
Persephone flinched at Granville’s tone.
Parker’s arm immediately circled her shoulders, pulling her snug against his side and she sagged into his embrace.
Peyton’s eyes once again turned cold. For a moment he stared at Granville in silence. “Do you mind? I am being introduced to my future sister-in-law for the first time, Granville, and you are being unforgivably rude,” he said in a terse voice that simply couldn’t be ignored.
“Bastard,” Granville spat. “But I’m taking great pleasure in watching the highly esteemed Marquis of Ashford felled by a whore.”
Persephone watched Parker bristle at the comment and start to push past his brother.
Peyton shook his head, stretching out an arm and laying it firmly across Parker’s chest to hold him back. His eyes narrowed, and they glittered dangerously. “Tsk, tsk, Granville, have you learned nothing during your time on earth? You cannot even show a modicum of fear when three pistols are trained on you.”
“Three?” Granville looked around the room his eyes landing on Rockwell and Peyton. A slow movement in the far right corner revealed the third. Declan Trenowyth, the Duke of Hawksley, stepped from the shadows.
“I thought you knew.” Hawksley’s eyes flicked toward Parker in greeting. “We come as a package deal, Granville.” All the men were roughly of a size, large, powerful, and full of righteous indignation and all there just for her.
Parker’s head swiveled in Hawksley’s direction and he grinned.
Hawksley’s green gaze flickered to Granville before returning to Parker.
Peyton stepped forward, leaning down to stand nose to nose with Granville, leaving barely a hair’s breadth between their faces. “I would assume you would rather wait for your beating, or are you that eager for the pain?” He cocked his brow arrogantly rubbing his chin. “Ahh, I see.” He smiled, slow and dark, studying Granville’s face, taking note of every nuance of change in his breathing, his color. “Is that what truly gets your blood pumping?” He turned back to Persephone and bowed again. “I beg your forgiveness for my plain speaking, my lady.”
Persephone tried to shake Parker’s fingers from around her arm. “This is my fight.”
Parker pressed his fingers over her lips. “When you woke in my field it was no longer only your fight. We are your champions. We will fight in your stead. You will never have to fight alone again.”
Persephone’s eyes widened and tears shimmered, pooling there as she stared in awe at the warriors that surrounded her enemy. Never in her life imagining that she would have her very own soldiers willing to follow her into battle so willingly. She allowed her eyes a moment to travel over each of the imposing figures fencing Granville.
Without question.
Without fail.
Parker gave Persephone a faint smile before turning back to Hawksley. “How is our Poppy fairing?”
Persephone watched as the duke’s face turned from dark and stormy with the lift of his mouth. “She is more than content to hold our babe in her arms.” His eyes glowed bright, full of an all-consuming love. “I would not have left her side if it weren’t so.” His eyes turned serious again. “Besides, I believe I owe you, and this will make us even, for now.”
Parker inclined his head in acknowledgement and Hawksley moved to flank Persephone’s side when Parker stepped away. Parker glanced back at his friend. “I’m not keeping score.”
Hawksley reached out his right hand and placed it firmly on Parker’s left shoulder. “Poppy would have had my hide if I hadn’t come to your defense.”
“How were you made aware of the magnitude of this situation so quickly?”
Hawksley raised a brow.
“Ahh. Aunt Adele.”
Hawksley’s brow rose even higher.
Parker swiveled his head towards his other friend. Rockwell just tilted his head with a grin and shrugged.
“Piper?”
Rockwell nodded to Parker, a glint of amusement in his eyes. “Among others.”
Parker tapped his toe once on the hardwood floor, his mouth thinned. “Leave me alone with Granville.”
Peyton fell back beside Parker his brow furrowed. “Do you think it wise to be left alone with this bastard?”
Persephone turned her back on the two men, her gaze colliding with Hawksley’s, as Parker and Peyton began to argue. It seemed a useless, pointless argument. She wasn’t normally a cruel person, but she wanted Granville and the other men to pay for what they had done not only to her, but to all the others that had suffered under their cruel hands.
For the games.
For their pleasures.
For their evils.
She licked her lips nervously and tried to straighten against the painful clenching in her stomach.
Parker turned cold eyes on his brother. He swiped his fingers through his hair, pushing back the brown strands and revealing the tension in the honed perfection of his face. “I have no plans to kill him,” he promised. “He is not worth the effort.” He stepped nearer to the man now trembling beside his desk.
Peyton chuckled despite the seriousness of the situation. “You’ve always been a stubborn bastard.” He flinched, sobering slightly. “Pardon, my lady.”
Persephone glanced at him.
Parker glared at Granville. “But he will be praying for death before I’m through.”
“Parker?” She watched his face soften as he shifted his eyes in her direction at the concerned sound of her voice, impressed with how he switched off his anger when he looked at her.
“Damn it to hell,” he muttered, then added, “I need you to leave the room, Persephone. I have
no desire for you to see me like this. I don’t want you to be scared of me,” he begged softly. It was all he could do to keep his voice level, to rein in his anger long enough to see her safely out of the room. His hands were in tight fists, his knuckles white, he wanted to pull at every hair in his head, and he wanted—no needed a bloody fight.
“I understand your anger, Parker.” Her voice was soft and soothing to his soul, but he didn’t want to be soothed right now. He wanted to pound on Granville. To draw his blood. To scar him as he had done Persephone. He wanted to take his anger out on Granville. He wanted to hear Granville beg for mercy. To beg for his life which was more than he allowed others.
She raised her pain filled eyes to his and saw the same pain reflected in his. Her pain was his pain. Her hurt was his hurt. “Do not let your emotions cloud your judgment. I have come to realize that he is not worth it.” She wanted to touch him, wanted to ease the tortured anger from his face, his eyes.
He rubbed his hand over his cheek, grimacing at the rough day’s growth of beard and realized he must look like a madman. A savage. “My emotions aren’t clouding anything, Persephone.” His brows lowered over his eyes, brooding anger shaping his face and thinning his lips. He reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. Perhaps patience wasn’t his strong suit after all. “He will face retribution and you will have your justice. It is my responsibility,” he said, his voice heavy.
“No it is not, but I have it now,” she said softly. “I see him for the weak man that he truly is.” Her gaze locked with her uncle’s. “His only power comes from harming those he sees as weaker than he. And I’ve won.” She turned her eyes back to Parker’s. “I have exposed his wickedness to the light. He can no longer slink in the shadows of night without fear that the world will know of his misdeeds.”
Parker nodded slowly, his gaze intent, locked with Persephone’s.
Rescue Me Please Page 23
