Winter's Warrior (The Wicked Winters Book 13)

by Scarlett Scott

  “How am I to be calm when that rotter has Caro?” he snarled, though he knew Sutton was not wrong in this, the jibe about the carpets aside.

  Demon was at his side, planting a calming hand on his shoulder. “Try to remain calm, brother. I know this is deuced difficult, but you’ve got to stay strong.”

  “Trying,” he bit out.

  Trying and failing.

  Caro was out there somewhere, in the clutches of a brutal beast, and he was the reason. What if Jones had hurt her? What if she was in pain? What if she was afraid?

  He would never be able to forgive himself for clinging to his pride and his anger instead of to his love for her. When this bloody business was over, he was going to tell her. He hoped to God he would have the chance.

  “Try ’arder,” Sutton snapped at him, shaking him from his apprehensions.

  Whenever the man started speaking like he’d been born in the rookeries, Jasper Sutton was worried. And for all that Gavin still resented Sutton for keeping him at The Sinner’s Palace under a pretense, he knew Sutton loved Caro.

  Gavin loved her, too.

  He supposed that did not mean Sutton was all bad.

  “Think about the plan instead,” Dom urged Gavin, his tone calmer, kinder.

  Gen and the legitimate Winters were the only siblings missing from this particular meeting. Gen was carrying a child and none of them—Sundenbury included—would countenance her joining them for a meeting with a madman. And this wasn’t the fight of the legitimate Winters, though Gavin had no doubt Devereaux would have gladly joined them had they sent word to him.

  There were enough Winters lining the halls of The Sinner’s Palace as it was.

  “The plan,” Gavin repeated slowly, forcing his spinning mind to settle upon it, for their actions were important. What they did could be the difference between life and death, between Caro’s safety and…

  Nay. Do not think about that now, Gav. Think about saving her. Think about how much you need her. Think about what you must do.

  A rap sounded on the door, and then was followed by three knocks in quick succession. Everyone in the room was suddenly, instantly on edge.

  Sutton stood. “Jones is here. Winters, hide yourselves.”

  With the push of a mechanism on the wall behind Sutton’s desk, the shelving popped open, allowing for a hidden chamber. Gavin could only guess at what purpose such a room ordinarily served. In this instance, it was to be where his brothers would wait while Gavin and Sutton faced Jeremiah Jones. There was a mechanism within the room by which those inside could open the panel should the need arise.

  “No emerging unless I say so,” Sutton warned.

  Dom, Devil, Blade, and Demon reluctantly shuffled into the room. There was a brace of candles lit within, but the space was incredibly cramped for four large Winter men.

  “Do not betray our trust, Sutton,” Devil warned, an icy edge to his voice just before the door closed.

  Trust and Sutton? Once, those two words would never have been married in a sentence. But now…well, Gavin did trust the man. If he wanted to save Caro, who was also a Sutton, he had to.

  “Are you ready, Winter?” Sutton asked, taking up his position behind his desk.

  “Ready,” Gavin said, feeling for the tiny pistol hidden in his coat.

  Another knock sounded. Just one.

  “Come,” Sutton called.

  Everything within Gavin tensed and tightened as the door opened.

  Caro stood on the threshold, a pistol pressed to her ribs, hands bound by a bit of dirty cloth, and a bruise on her cheek. Gavin’s heart lurched. At her side was Jeremiah Jones. The bastard was grinning as if he had just been declared the champion. The two of them crossed the threshold as one. Sutton nodded for the guard to close the door to the office.

  Holding himself in place required all the restraint Gavin possessed. He wanted to run to Caro, to haul her away from Jones, but he didn’t dare move. Not with the pistol in her side.

  “Gavin Winter,” Jones said. “We meet again.”

  “Jones,” he spat. “Let her go. Your quarrel is with me.”

  “You promised to exchange my sister,” Sutton added, his voice hard. “Release her now.”

  “He means to kill you, Gavin!” Caro blurted, her voice choked with fear.

  “Shut your gob, or I’ll shoot you,” Jones threatened, tightening his hold on her.

  “I won’t.” Caro shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I won’t let him hurt you again, Gavin. He’s the one responsible for the attack on you, for the attack on your brother.”

  “Here now,” Sutton said calmly. “That’s enough out of you, sister. Who gives a goddamn if Jones aims to murder Winter? One less bastard in the world.”

  Caro gasped, turning her gaze on her brother. “Jasper, how could you say that?”

  “Easy,” Sutton claimed. “I’m a Sutton, ain’t I? My loyalty is to you.”

  Gavin forced himself to recall the plan, just as Dom had urged him. “You lied to me, you whoreson,” he said to Sutton. “You told me I’d not come to harm beneath your roof.”

  Sutton shrugged, his countenance devoid of emotion. “I lied.”

  “Time to face me,” Jones taunted Gavin. “A final match.”

  A shiver passed down Gavin’s spine, for he knew Jones had no intention of fighting him fairly. He meant to see him dead, one way or another.

  Sutton withdrew a pistol, pointing it at Gavin’s heart. “You’ll go with Jones now, and I’ll have my sister back, and whatever the hell he does with your arse is your problem, Winter.”

  “No!” Caro cried out. “Gavin, you cannot go with him. I beg you.”

  “I ain’t stupid, Sutton,” Jones said. “Place your bleeding pistol on the desk, and then I’ll release the girl.”

  “More than ’appy to, my fine fellow,” Sutton said, making a grand show of lowering his weapon and sliding it to the very edge of his intricately carved desk, well beyond his reach. As he did so, he knocked on the surface of the desk, just beside the weapon.

  It was a curious gesture, but Gavin was too caught up in watching Caro to give a damn. As long as Jones released her safely, he would take his chances with the bastard. He had a pistol hidden in his coat. The moment they were no longer in danger of Caro or anyone else being harmed, he would try to defend himself.

  Unease swept over Gavin, and he sent up a silent, desperate prayer as he watched Jones lower the pistol and give Caro a shove toward Sutton. Caro moved in the direction of her brother, and then suddenly stumbled, falling to the floor.

  Scarcely a moment passed between Caro’s fall and the gunshot which followed. Terror clawed at Gavin, and for a moment, he believed Caro had been wounded. His mind was scarcely able to comprehend what had happened. A panel of Sutton’s desk had blown apart, splintered wood littering the carpet. Crimson was spreading on a dazed Jones’ shirt, his chest covered in gore. The gun he’d been pointing at Caro had fallen to the floor. Gasping, and making the most wretched of sounds, Jones collapsed. Caro’s head had popped up.

  Relief washed over him as understanding gradually hit. Somehow, Sutton had fired a weapon which had been secreted within his desk, because the pistol he had willingly capitulated remained on the surface, untouched. But the particulars didn’t signify to him at the moment. All that did was one woman.

  Caro’s hazel gaze met his and held. “Gavin!” she cried.

  “Caro.” He started for her, not giving a damn about anyone or anything else.

  She was all he saw, all he wanted.

  He fell to the carpet at her knees, splinters of wood piercing his flesh. Still, he did not care. Dimly, he was aware of the roars of his brothers as they rushed from their hiding place, of Sutton ordering someone to haul Jones from the room. He wrapped Caro in his arms, burying his face in her hair. “Are you hurt, my angel, my love?”

  “No,” she said.

  A flurry of movement and activity surrounded them. Gavin discounted
it all, because she was safe. She was safe, and she was in his arms, and she was the most beautiful, beloved sight he had ever seen.

  He kissed her. There was no elegance in the act, no seduction or persuasion. Rather, it was a hard, desperate mashing of his mouth upon hers. It was the measure of his relief, his love, his gratitude that she had not been harmed, that she was alive and so was he. Their teeth clacked together. They were both weeping, and the salt of their tears was on their cheeks, pouring down their faces, slipping into their kiss.

  Relief and love mingled, the emotions so profound, he scarcely knew what to do with them, what to say. He felt as he had when he had first awoken after being so near to death. Only this time, it was far different than the last. Because this time, he knew who he was, and he knew who she was. And this time, he understood how damned rare it was to have a love like theirs and how close he had come to losing it, first because of his own pride and then because of the machinations of a madman.

  He was not going to squander this second chance.

  He was going to cling to it—and Caro—with both hands.

  He raised his head at last and gazed down at her, hating the bruise that marred her cheek for the pain it had caused her. Hated knowing he was responsible for everything that had befallen her.

  “I thought I had lost you,” he said, the words torn from him.

  “I thought you were going to go with Jones,” she returned, tears still sliding down. “He was so intent upon becoming the champion, he would have done anything, Gavin. He would have murdered you.”

  “He did not have the chance for that,” he told her. “Thanks to your brother.”

  He glanced around them to find Sutton stalking in their direction, a grim expression on his face. “Get up, the two of you. I ain’t kneeling in the splinters.”

  Gavin rose and helped Caro to stand as well, belatedly realizing her wrists were still bound. “Christ. Does anyone have a knife?”

  Blade stepped forward, revealing a gleaming, sharp-edged dagger. “Happy to aid my future sister-in-law. Assuming you’ll accept his rotten hide, of course.”

  Caro flushed prettily, her gaze going to Gavin as she held her arms outstretched for Blade to slice through the linen binding her. “He has to wish to marry me before I can accept.”

  He swallowed against a rush of emotion. “I do. I want to marry you, Caro, if you will have me.”

  “Damned right you are going to marry her, Winter,” Sutton said, skewering him with a pointed glare. “You’ll make an honest woman of her, or you’ll find yourself no better than Jones.”

  He was not entirely certain Sutton was engaging in hyperbole, and he did deserve a sound thrashing for having bedded Caro before marrying her. He could admit as much.

  “You do not need to threaten me, Sutton,” he said. “I love your sister.”

  “Deuced strange conversation to be having with your future wife’s brother,” Sutton sneered. “Tell her you love her. She’s the one who needs to hear it.”

  Duly chastised, Gavin turned back to Caro, whose hands were now free. He took them in his, raising them to his lips for frantic, fervent kisses. “I love you, Caro. My heart has always been waiting to find yours. I knew it before, and I know it now. When I discovered you had been keeping who I was a secret from me, I was angry, and I clung to that anger and my pride instead of to our love. I almost got you killed because of it.”

  “No.” She shook her head, clasping his face in her hands. There were calluses on her fingers, and he loved them, loved her strength, her intelligence, her innate goodness. “I should never have lied to you. It was wrong. I wanted to make amends for my mistakes, and that is why I went to Jones. I thought I could pay him to keep from facing you in the match.”

  “I loved that desk, you know,” Sutton said, reminding Gavin he was still standing about, along with his own brothers.

  “How did you do it?” Dom asked, sounding fascinated as he took in the splintered desk.

  Sutton grinned. “I kept a pistol hidden within, mounted and loaded. Through a mechanism I designed with the help of my gunsmith, all I need to do is pull a lever within the desk, and it pulls the trigger.”

  “I’ll be needing to speak with your gunsmith,” Dom replied thoughtfully.

  Sutton grinned. “For the right price.”

  “Come along then, all of you,” Demon said, gesturing toward Gavin and Caro. “We should give the two of them some privacy.”

  “Stokes is going to see to Jones?” Devil asked Sutton, ever the practical one amongst them.

  “Aye,” Sutton said. “Stokes will handle everything.”

  Blade nodded. “Good. Although, I think you’re going to have to see the carpet replaced again, Sutton.”

  “Blood is surprisingly easy to remove from dark carpets,” Sutton said as the men left the room, their voices trailing behind them. “Why the hell do you think I chose this pattern?”

  When the door had at last closed and they were alone in Jasper Sutton’s office, the smell of gun smoke acrid in the air but the swelling tide of hope and love rising around them, Gavin dipped his head toward Caro. “Will you marry me, Caro Sutton? Will you be my wife and join these two mad families of ours in the greatest truce of all?”

  Her arms went around his neck. “I will.”

  “I love you, Caro,” he said again. He had spoken the words to her before, but this was different. They were alone. He wanted there to be no doubt between them.

  “Oh, Gavin. I love you, too.” She sniffled. “I thought I had lost you, and I would not have blamed you if you had never forgiven me for keeping the truth from you. My loyalty to you should have been stronger.”

  “You’ve more than proven your loyalty to me,” he said, humbled by what she had done, all to save him. “You found me that day, and you could have left me. But instead, you saved me. You saved me, and I fell in love with you as I saw what a caring, kind, intelligent woman you are. A gifted healer, devoted to helping others. And then, even after I had turned my back on you, you still tried to save me, putting yourself in grave danger.”

  “I would do it again.” Her lower lip trembled, calling to be kissed. “I would do everything again just for the chance to be with you, Gavin Winter. Just for the chance to love you and to be your wife.”

  He brushed his mouth over hers once, twice. Her lips were smooth and warm, an invitation he could not resist. It was like coming home. “My God, Caro Sutton. What did I ever do to deserve you?”

  “You incited the wrath of a Bedlamite and nearly got yourself killed on no less than two occasions,” she pointed out, sounding like Sutton.

  He grinned, drunk on relief and love and her. “From this moment forward, I swear that the only Bedlamite whose wrath I shall incite will be your brother’s. I can only hope Sutton won’t attempt to kill me.”

  “He would never,” Caro said, smiling back at him. “Believe it or not, Jasper has a good heart.”

  Gavin would have laughed at that—more proof that Caro was an angel among mere mortals—but he had to admit that Jasper Sutton wasn’t as much of a ruthless arse as he had once supposed him to be.

  “I don’t think he likes me much,” he said mildly, because he had his arms full of Caro, and that was an excellent armful indeed. All his cares had seemed to fade away, his mind suddenly making sense of the wild moments before Sutton had fired his hidden weapon earlier. “You pretended to fall when Jones released you. You knew your brother was going to fire the hidden pistol, did you not?”

  She nodded. “We all know about the secret pistol in his desk. The knock is our sign. Jasper has always said we can never be too prepared to meet our enemies.”

  “In that, he was not wrong,” Gavin acknowledged. “I am so damned relieved you are safe, Caro.”

  “I feel the same.” She rose on her toes, pressing a kiss to his lips that was slow and tentative at first, but then deepened.

  Their tongues tangled. Desire sparked to a steady fire. Somehow, the ra
wness of the day, the danger and the relief and the love, all blended together. They became frantic. Caro clutched him to her as if she feared he would disappear should she hold him any less tightly. He held her snugly close.

  They kissed until his lips ached. And still they kissed some more.

  Another rap sounded at the closed door.

  “No more of that until you are married, Winter,” Sutton called.

  Well, bloody hell.

  “When can I marry you?” he whispered to Caro.

  “Not soon enough,” she told him, and then she pulled his head back to hers for another kiss.

  Sutton knocked again, but they both ignored the sound.

  Epilogue

  Three months.

  That was how long it had taken for Gavin’s life to forever change.

  In that time, he’d almost met his end. He’d been saved by a guardian angel who’d stolen his heart along the way. He’d lost his memory, then regained it. He’d lost sight of what was truly important, and then he’d caught it before she had slipped through his fingers. He’d married Caro Sutton.

  And now, today, he had opened Winter’s Boxing Academy.

  He returned to the modest home he and Caro were keeping not far from some of his brothers’ Mayfair townhomes to find Caro awaiting him at the door. It would take some time to get accustomed to this new life he was living, a far cry from his early days in the rookeries. But there was one aspect which required no time at all, one aspect which was natural and instinctive, fitting and so very right.

  Caro.

  She was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and he drank in the sight of her—auburn curls framing her lovely face, an ivory gown that showed her bosom and lush curves to perfection, and a smile on her lips. But that did not mean he expected her to greet him at the door when he returned from working at the academy each day.

  He drew her in his arms and stole a swift kiss, all he would allow himself for the moment. “What have you done with the household, Mrs. Winter?”