He stood straight, his mouth pulling tight in a smug frown.
Smugness that didn’t give her even a moment of pause.
She wasn’t afraid of eight virile men. She couldn’t afford to be. Not with what awaited her in the Duke of Wolfbridge’s ballroom not but a hundred steps away.
“You won’t be kidnapping anyone, Lord Dunhaven. I swear it. I will be joining your traveling party of my own free will.”
“You don’t even know where we are headed to.”
“I heard you say you were ready for the journey home. Your home is in Scotland, correct?”
His dark eyebrows drew together, sending the shadow deeper onto his face. “You were eavesdropping in the billiards room? What else did you hear?”
“Nothing. I was standing in the ballroom near the entrance to the room and I heard you speaking with your companions inside. I only overheard that you would be leaving this very night and to a place far, far from here.” She braved her hand upward, her fingers grasping onto his arm. “And Scotland is a place I can disappear into. A place I need to disappear into.”
His look skewered her for a long moment before his gaze moved to her fingers gripping his forearm.
Too forward—far too forward, she knew. As an earl, she couldn’t imagine he would be accustomed to strange ladies grabbing him. Then again, the man had had no problem grabbing her neck and kissing her—a complete stranger—only a moment before.
He shook his arm, flinging her fingers from the sleeve of his dark tailcoat. His look lifted to her face. “What are you running from, lass?”
“My reasons should be of no bother to you.”
“You think an incensed suitor of yours chasing me through the English countryside with a bullet meant for my chest not a bother?”
Her hand flitted in the air. “That is dramatic. There will be no such threats upon your person.”
“Then you won’t mind telling me what you’re hoping to escape.” His arms drew up, crossing over his chest.
“Please, my lord, I will do anything. I need to leave and you are my only chance for a true escape.”
His left eyebrow shot upward, the devil pulling his lips back in a terse line that curled up at the corners of his mouth. “Anything, dove?”
Her breath caught in her throat. The man was dangerous. How had she not seen that?
More dangerous than just his brawn, his thick arms that could pop her neck in an instant and not think twice on it. Dangerous in how the wicked gleam palpitated in his eyes—hazel eyes, if she could trust the flicker of moonlight catching his irises.
She wasn’t trading one malicious monster for another, was she?
What had she heard Lord Falton call him—whisper to his companion as Lord Dunhaven had passed by them? The Iron Earl.
That was it. And that was dangerous.
The man was an iron wall, hard from the tips of his toes to the unyielding glint in his eye.
She started to take a step backward and the constant lecherous sneer of Mr. Moltson’s lips flashed in her mind.
Her heel dropped to the ground, digging in.
No. She couldn’t let Mr. Moltson happen. She couldn’t let the nightmare of that man happen to her.
For a long breath, she stared at the glowing white of Lachlan’s loose cravat. She’d seen this man with his sister, the new Duchess of Wolfbridge. She’d seen the care and adoration he had for her well-being. He was a boulder of unmovable granite with everyone, everyone except his sister. Evalyn had witnessed that in the last day and half since he’d arrived at the duke’s castle.
This man—Lachlan—he had it in him. Kindness. She’d seen it. No matter what he was to everyone else at Wolfbridge, with his sister he was loving.
Plus, he was an earl. A Scottish earl, but still, he had to adhere to some sense of propriety—including knowing how to leave his hands off her person. How to keep his men’s hands off of her.
Her feet solidly in place, she tilted her chin upward. “Anything your household requires, I can do it, my lord. I can join the kitchens, I can sweep, mop. I can sew. I can contribute, my lord, I swear it.”
He stifled a guffaw. “Now why would a fine lass of the ton be willing to trade in silks and madeira for a scullery maid’s life?” He grabbed her wrist, stripping off the glove from her right hand. He flipped it palm upward and examined her skin in the moonlight. He snorted. “Soft. This hand has never once felt a scrub brush in it.”
She yanked her hand away. “Looks can be deceiving, my lord.”
“Can they?” His eyebrow had not fallen from its high perch.
“The fortitude of my will is able to see me through anything, my lord. I can and I will do whatever is necessary. No matter how dirty. No matter how low. I swear upon it. I need this. I need to leave with you tonight.”
“Yet your will cannot see you through whatever it is you are trying to escape?”
The murmur of the voices grew louder, footsteps crunching on the gravel pathway coming their way. Time was running out.
She exhaled through gritted teeth. “My will is smart enough to know what I can and cannot survive. And I cannot survive what is ahead for me if I stay.”
His folded arms lifted slightly. “Why would you choose ruin, as that is surely what you are hoping for by asking to leave with us?”
“If ruin alone would help me, I would have done that the first night of this affair with a random gentleman. Ruin will not help me escape what is ahead.”
He stared at her blankly, his eyes still angled with skepticism.
He wasn’t taking her seriously—nothing of what she’d said had filtered through his brandy-soaked brain with any sense of urgency.
The footsteps drew closer.
Only a few precious seconds left.
Desperation sent her hand flinging out and she drew the dirk from the belt about his waist. Her hands in a flurry, she shoved the blade of the dagger between her breasts and yanked it downward, slicing open the gold embroidered bodice of her gown.
Her mother’s gown, the only thing she had left of her.
For how the sound of the fabric ripping sliced Evalyn to her soul, it was a sacrifice she had to make. She needed to leave. Tonight.
Her breasts half spilling forth, her nipples only barely concealed by the tattered gold and white fabric, she held up his dirk between them. “Don’t make me trap you, Lord Dunhaven. Give me your word I can come with you tonight, or I throw this dagger out into the pathway. I scream. They find us together like this and you are going to be bound to me in ways you would never want to be.”
That threat made it through his brandy addled mind.
The fury on his face was instant and his lips pulled back as a low growl shook his chest. Shook the air around him. “Brutal little harpy.”
Without breaking eye contact, she threw the dirk behind her. It hit the ground, skidding into the granite gravel.
His next breath seethed from his mouth, his eyes skewering her.
But his ire didn’t bother her. It couldn’t. Not with what awaited her.
Her words slowed, softened to the slightest shaking whisper. “My stepfather is Baron Falsted and he will demand satisfaction.” She grabbed his forearm, the cords of muscles under his coat sleeve steel against her gripping fingertips. “But I don’t ask that of you. I only ask that you swear you will take me north. Far away from here where I can disappear. Please. I am begging you…begging you, my lord. Please.”
His cheek twitched and his slow burr deepened into a rage that sent her legs trembling. “Baron Falsted?”
Her head flew in a frantic nod.
He sucked in a breath through gritted teeth and his arms fell to his sides. “Aye, then it seems I’m saddle with extra baggage on the journey home.” He glanced up at the night sky. “We leave in two hours, lass.”
“In the darkness—in the middle of the night?” Her look flew up to the stars above. “But—”
“Two hours and we meet at the stables. If
you are there, you can come. If not, we leave without you.”
He stepped around her quickly, disappearing out past the evergreen hedges that lined the entrance to the alcove.
She heard the scrape of the dirk across the gravel as he picked it up.
His footsteps retreated and a low, murmured acknowledgement floated over the tall hedge to her as he passed the people that had been walking on the pathway.
Her hand clasping the front flaps of her ripped dress to cover her breasts, she exhaled, sinking down onto the wrought iron bench nestled along the wall of evergreens beside her. Deep in the shadows waiting for the passerby’s to vacate the area, her eyes lifted, trained on the stars above her. They twinkled especially bright tonight, the full moon lending shards of hazy light to make them bigger than usual.
Stars she had stared at her whole life, wishing upon.
Stars that had finally delivered.
A way out.
Finally, a way out.
The Iron Earl, Valor of Vinehill — Available to order now!
~
More of my Books
Historical Romance
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my other historical romances—each is a stand-alone story and they can be read in any order (here they are in order of publication):
Stone Devil Duke, Hold Your Breath, currently free!
Unmasking the Marquess, Hold Your Breath
My Captain, My Earl, Hold Your Breath
Worth of a Duke, Lords of Fate
Earl of Destiny, Lords of Fate
Marquess of Fortune, Lords of Fate
Vow, Lords of Action
Promise, Lords of Action
Oath, Lords of Action
Of Valor & Vice, Revelry’s Tempest
Of Sin & Sanctuary, Revelry’s Tempest
Of Risk & Redemption, Revelry’s Tempest
To Capture a Rogue, A Logan’s Legends Novella, Revelry’s Tempest
To Capture a Warrior, A Logan’s Legends Novella, Revelry’s Tempest
The Devil in the Duke, Revelry’s Tempest
The Iron Earl, Valor of Vinehill
Paranormal Romance
Flame Moon #1, currently free!
Triple Infinity, Flame Moon #2
Flux Flame, Flame Moon #3
~
Descriptions of all K.J. Jackson books:
~~~
Stone Devil Duke
~~~
The first in the Hold Your Breath series by K.J. Jackson
Historical romance with strong women, undeniable men, and hold your breath adventure.
Marked for death, Lady Augustine Christopherson finds herself scouring the slums of London in a desperate search to find the men who killed her father, and are determined to dispose of her. To protect her family, to protect herself, she is determined to find the men before they find her. The last thing she wanted was an entanglement with a duke that threatens her very survival…
Hardened long ago, the last thing the Duke of Dunway wanted was an entanglement with a chit of the ton. But in the flash of a pistol, his fate is altered as he finds himself honor-bound to protect Lady Augustine from, of all things, herself.
Download your FREE copy today!
~~~
Unmasking the Marquess
~~~
The second in the Hold Your Breath series by K.J. Jackson
Historical romance with strong women, undeniable men, and hold your breath adventure.
Some people are born with backbone. Others have to fight for it.
List in-hand of suitable bachelors, Lady Reanna Halstead, the epitome of naivety, is thrust into London society with demands to gain a husband. To her utter amazement, she manages to capture the attentions of the Marquess of Southfork. Her love, dreams, and future are soon pinned on her marriage to this one man. One handsome, kind, fantastic man.
One man, who has a very different idea of what this marriage will be.
He will be hated, before he is loved.
Killian Hayward, Marquess of Southfork, is only one step away from completing the revenge he has fought his entire life for. All he has to do is marry Lady Halstead. The one woman that is the key to his revenge. To his peace.
The one woman that will threaten the very foundation of his entire existence.
Order your copy today!
~~~
My Captain, My Earl
~~~
The third in the Hold Your Breath series by K.J. Jackson
Historical romance with strong women, undeniable men, and hold your breath adventure.
One destined to live life on the seas.
As captain of the Windrunner, Katalin Dewitt has one mission in life. Serve the ship. The ship that has been her home her entire life. The ship that is the key to keeping her father safe from certain death.
She never expected to take pity on an injured deckhand from an enemy ship and allow him onto the Windrunner. And she certainly never expected to allow him into her life.
One determined to make his way home.
Bound, gagged, and held captive on one ship after another for two long years, Jason Christopherson had long since given up hope of ever getting back to land, much less to his beloved England.
He never expected to land on a pirate ship, bound for land. And he certainly never expected to fall in love with his new captain, threatening the one thing he needed most in life–to return home.
Neither expected to fall in love. Neither expected to be torn apart by a brutal betrayal.
Order your copy today!
~~~
Worth of a Duke
~~~
The first in the Lords of Fate series by K.J. Jackson
Historical romance with strong women, undeniable men, and hold your breath adventure.
One on the wrong side of the ocean.
Lost and wandering the woods, Wynne Theaton was surviving quite nicely until Rowen Lockton appeared. He saves her from getting trampled by a thief’s horse, but then becomes insistent on showing her where she truly is…
One refusing to deny fate.
Fate tossed Miss Theaton into his path, and the Duke of Letson is not one to deny fate. But the woman comes with a host of problems, not the least of which is her belief that she is in another country.
An undeniable attraction.
He was not looking for a wife. She was only searching for home. But fate has very different plans for the two of them—if they can survive the secrets of the past, of the forgotten.
Order your copy today!
~~~
Earl of Destiny
~~~
The second in the Lords of Fate series by K.J. Jackson
Historical romance with strong women, undeniable men, and hold your breath adventure.
Life as a backdrop has its rewards.
Miss Brianna Silverton not only prefers life in the background—she depends on it. It is far easier to decide upon a proper husband for her younger sister that way, plus, it keeps her rooted as the spinster she is determined to be. She has secrets to hide, and she isn’t about to let another man touch her—never again.
He knew it the very moment he saw her.
A constant wanderer, the Earl of Luhaunt, Sebastian Rallager, never paused in one place for long. Not until the moment he saw Brianna across a crowded ballroom floor. Instinct had never failed Sebastian, and he knew it instantly—she was his. Now he just had to convince her of that fact.
Fate always finds a way.
Just as Sebastian begins to see that staying in one place might be exactly what he had been searching for, secrets of the past loom. Because Brianna is not only hiding herself from the world, she is hiding secrets that cannot see the light of day. Secrets that could destroy her, and the one man determined to love her.
Order your copy today!
~~~
Marquess of Fortune
~~~
The third in the Lords of Fate series by K.J. Jackson
H
istorical romance with strong women, undeniable men, and hold your breath adventure.
A sheltered existence ripped away.
Coddled her whole life by her father and older sister, Lily Silverton finds herself the sole standing member of her family—her father dead, her sister barely holding onto life after a gruesome attack. Desperate to save her sister from death, Lily finds a beacon of hope in the rogue man that stumbles upon her in the middle of the night.
A chance meeting deep in barren woods.
Garek Harrison has things to do—responsibilities he needs to attend to. Responsibilities that include the need for a good deal of coin. Responsibilities that have nothing to do with the odd woman he meets in the middle of the night, swinging a hammer. But those responsibilities don’t stop him from approaching her. Nor from becoming entangled in the world that threatens to harm her at every turn.
Fortunes altered.
Thrust together by fate, neither Garek nor Lily can deny their mounting attraction. But when forces combine to tear them apart, fate intervenes once more and Lily and Garek must find the courage to fight their way back to each other.
Order your copy today!
~~~
Vow
~~~
The first in the Lords of Action series by K.J. Jackson
Historical romance with strong women, undeniable men, and hold your breath adventure.
“I have sworn twice in my life I would no longer touch you, Ara. And I have attempted it twice. But I am not a man that can stand by that particular vow.”
She prayed for death.
Stolen from her home, sold for her innocence, all Ara Detton wanted was death. One man stood in her way, Caine Farlington. Ara is forced to survive, forced to rebuild her life. A life that is orderly, busy—with a destiny that is her own. All would be perfect, if not for having to hide her love for the man that once saved her. The man that forced her to live, to survive, to flourish.
The Devil in the Duke: A Revelry’s Tempest Novel Page 23