by test
Her stomach churned. “I thought you were going to—”
Her voice trailed off. He smiled craftily. It was a beastly sickening smile, which made her want to heave.
“I must have been misunderstood. I wasn’t going to kill my hostages, what sort of worth would they be to me if they were dead? No, I was going to make Mallory suffer in a much worse way. I was going to take his life and make it my own, I have a very nice estate in Spain, and it is coming back to its former glory before the war. I should like to have you with me there. You are quite beautiful.”
“I’d rather be dead,” she decided, loosening her hold on Stewart as she stood up.
“Shoot me now, and spare me one more minute of your company.”
He ignored her and nodded to one of his men. The man came toward her and
guided her toward Herrer. The viselike grip he put on her wrist, made her grit her teeth together.
“We have made a bargain, you will uphold what I believe to be your end of it.”
She remained silent. She didn’t want him to turn around and kill Stewart just for the fun of it.
“I will uphold my end, I am always a woman of my word,” she vowed, lifting her head high.
“Excellent to hear. Now, at least I will be able to send detailed letters to your brother telling him how much I am enjoying his sister.”
“My brother will come after me.”
“I don’t think he will. Because if he does, you’ll end up dead.”
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“You don’t frighten me.”
“Perhaps, I don’t. But my partner no doubt will. Oh, he has been known to strike the fear of God into people.”
“Partner?”
“Yes, didn’t you know? I’ve had a helping hand in my little plot to come here, though I do think my partner wouldn’t like my tactics that I employ. He’s exceedingly chivalrous when it comes to the fairer sex and children. He believes they are to be protected.”
Her stomach turned sour. “Who is this partner?”
“That would be me.”
Hart stepped out of the shadows. Her heart stopped. “Why?” She felt a chord snap inside of her. This was the worst kind of betrayal.
“Because my dearest, there’s more to me than meets the eye.”
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Chapter Eleven
“We’ve come to an agreement, Lady Gemma and I.” Herrer smiled from ear to ear, his eyes glinting with greed.
“Have you? Because well, I’ll have you know, she’s mine!” Hart stood tall and straight. He commanded a certain regal attitude now, one that she’d never noticed before. It would seem that he was schooled in the art of illusion. The man could play many faces without missing one beat. The look in Hart’s eyes now made her believe he could best any man in battle. She even wondered if he could bloody Mallory. He was danger all rolled into one man. Her blood ran cold.
“She is?” Herrer looked thoughtful. His features softened slightly, his eyes lost a bit of their coldness.
“She is,” Hart accentuated the last word.
Obviously, seeking to drive the point home into Herrer. She felt as if she was being treated like someone’s chattel. She belonged to no man, least of all the type of man that Hart turned out to be.
“Then, of course I will let you have her. You know I can’t deny you anything. I suppose it was your ingenuity that got me this far—and we both lost something of great value to Mallory. Though, if I do not get Lady Gemma, I shall have to have something. I simply must be compensated for all of the strenuous activity I’ve been put through. She could have killed me when she shot me.” He looked to his winged arm. “Why did you let her shoot at me? I thought you were on my side. So, you must see my side of the story, I will not go away from this little adventure without some kind of reward.”
“How does two thousand pounds sound to you?” Hart sighed.
“Excellent.” Herrer grinned broadly. “It wasn’t just my brother that was killed anyway, he was yours as well. I’ll leave you to it, then.” Herrer walked away from them, leaving them alone.
“You should just plunge a dagger through my heart, I knew I was right to hate you from the get go. Mallory should never have trusted you!”
“He trusted me, because I wanted him to. You’ll find in due course that I’m a man that always gets what he wants—when he wants it.”
“You set this entire thing up! You wanted to get Mallory away from the house—
”
“I admit, I wanted to get back at Mallory by taking his wife and child. I was never going to harm Susan or Elizabeth for that matter. But you see, Mallory has caused me more distress and heartbreak than he will ever know. Herrer and I are brothers. We share the same father. As do all of my mother’s children, we all share the same father.
Herrer is older than me. His mother was married to my father before my mother married him. Unfortunately, Herrer’s mother passed when he was a baby—my mother became the only mother he knew. When I left for the war, my brother was only fifteen. When your brother killed him, he was too young to die! He was seventeen! They never should have been in Spain … but no matter, I’ve waited for this day, Herrer knew who had done HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 55
it, and even though I was serving with the English navy at the time, I bided my time, and made certain I traveled in the same circles as your Mallory. I knew Andrew as well. He was a bloody nice bloke. If only Mallory had been the one to die, my ax would have already been grinded, and we wouldn’t be standing here right now, looking at each other as enemies. My mother has been heartbroken since Joseph’s death. She was
inconsolable for a great deal of time. Do you know what it’s like to watch your own mother waste away because she’s lost a child?”
“My mother was torn up with grief when she heard of Andrew’s death. She only continued on because she had other children that needed her. When Mallory discovers your duplicity he will kill you.” Coldness tinged her voice. He looked surprised that she had turned on him so easily.
“Maybe. Maybe not. He killed my brother … and Mallory understands the old eye for an eye sort of justice more than you or I.”
“I can’t believe it’s come down to this. Well, I guess you’d better lead me bound and gagged away from Mallory Hall. I will never be yours the way that you want me to be. But I will stick to my word. You don’t need Elizabeth.”
“She’s hiding in the secret passages, isn’t she? I could root her out—and drag her kicking and screaming with her babe in her arms. My mother would love to have a beautiful baby like Susan around the Estate. She would be in seventh heaven.”
Never again would she trust a man so easily. To think she’d thought him to be a good just man. She needed to have her head examined. Her heart belonged to no man …
she’d been burnt for the last time.
She gave him a withering look, hoping he’d just shut up. “You will never find Elizabeth. The passages are made up of a complex network, if you take the wrong turn you could be lost for hours.”
“How fortuitous for me. Unfortunately, I don’t have hours to spare, at the moment. Your brother could be onto my scent as we speak. The sooner I abscond from this place, the better for both of us.”
“Better for you, perhaps. It would certainly not be better for me. You are not the sort of man I would steal away with in the dead of the bloody night. Leave now, while you can still keep yourself from making another fatal mistake. I might be able to convince Mallory that he doesn’t need to go after you, he might be swayed if I pleaded with him.”
“I’ve seen how much your so-called pleading can sway Mallory. When it comes right down to it, Mallory will do whatever Mallory wants and damn the consequences.
He is a man almost as selfish as you. Except now, he only has concern for his wife and child. You are next to nothing to him. He will be glad to be rid of you. He’s already offered your hand to me in ma
rriage, and I do believe I will take him up on it. You will become my wife whether you like it or not. Put that little shit, Kilworth out of your mind, dearest Gemma. I wasn’t going to take you with me when I first answered Mallory’s call, indeed I had been waiting for the right moment to strike out against your brother, and he served it to me on a silver platter. I must say, he can be quite accommodating.”
Her head whirled. “I need to sit down.” Her head was swimming so much she’d become lightheaded. Swaying on her feet, he moved forward to catch her. She blinked.
“I see stars, it must finally be overwhelming me.”
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He made a weird gesture with his hand, and someone stepped forward with a
leather flask. He handed it to her, “Drink this, it will get some of that lost color back into your cheeks.”
“I don’t need that.” She pushed his hand away. “Whatever sort of alcohol it is, I don’t require it. I want a clear head for whatever else you might try to pull over on me.
Mallory will fight his way back into reclaiming possession of this house. While we stand and chitchat like this, Stewart is losing a precious lot of blood. If I must go with you to expedite your withdrawal from this house, then why tarry?”
“Why indeed.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her with him. On their way to one of the back entrances they met a very unlikely blockade.
At first, Charles looked happy and relieved to see Hart and she. “Aunt Gemma, we’ve nearly got them beat, Seamus told me to run in here and check on—” Charles had never been a half-wit and he wasn’t going to start being dumb now. “You shouldn’t hold Aunt Gemma’s hand like that, she looks as if you’re pinching her.” He cocked his head to the side. Skye came trotting up to stand next to Charles. Gemma swallowed, as dawning recognition glimmered in Charles’s eyes. Surprise turned to dumbstruck horror.
“You’re, you’re—” Charles’s eyes widened. “You just let her go, or I’ll be forced to hurt you.” He balled his tiny hands into fists.
She bit her lip, looking frantically between Charles and Hart. She couldn’t let Hart lose his temper with Charles.
“Charles, just run. These men behind us aren’t on our side. Just go and tell Mallory that .…” She raised her voice with each word. Hart pulled her roughly toward him, her arm smarted.
He gently placed his hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry, I pulled too hard.”
“Save your apologies,” she mumbled, against his hand, fighting the urge to bite his hand. If she did bite him, he just might lash out at Charles. She couldn’t take that risk. Hart could call her selfish all he wanted, but she would not stand idly by while those she loved got hurt.
“Grab the child. He knows too much, we’ll have to take him with us. Grab the Maltese as well. We are leaving now!”
Charles looked as if he wanted to give a great struggle, but she put a look of warning on her face, hoping he would follow her silent command. She knew Hart wouldn’t kill Charles. She didn’t however, trust Herrer. She still believed him to be capable of anything, including killing Charles just to shut him up. She wouldn’t fight Hart. She didn’t have the heart left to give any sort of struggle. They carted Charles off with her pet before she could say anything else.
“If he’s hurt, I will make your life miserable.”
“I wouldn’t harm Charles. I like the little lad, and his tenacity is quite a credit to his character. He’s got potential. Reared right, he will turn into a commendable young man.”
Before she knew it, she was in a carriage, alone with Hart.
“So, maybe you should tell me your real name now?”
“You can still call me Hart. It’s as I like it, for now.”
“I’m sick to death of all of these different names you and Mallory like to employ.
As of now, we are done, Hart,” she spat out.
“Oh, I beg to differ with you on that one, dear Gemma. We are only just
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beginning. You’ll find that once we’re away from Scotland and England, you’ll want to stay very close to me.”
“Don’t bet on that. I’d rather stick close to a Frenchman. You aligned yourself with a man that betrayed my family, he shot my butler, and he would have shot me as well, had he not gotten the grand entertainment out of watching me watch another person suffer. You are too horrid for words. I can’t even comprehend why you would do such a thing. Mallory trusted you! He believed in you. He thought you were a good friend.
Instead, you’ve thrown it all away. For what? Revenge? If Mallory did kill your brother it was an accident! I can’t believe that he would intentionally fire to kill a young boy of seventeen. That’s just not in Mallory’s nature. My brother was determined to give me to you in the first place. You have gained nothing.”
“Oh, I’ve gained everything. I’ve shown Mallory just how foolish a man he is, and I’ve taken more than you will ever know from him. As for aligning myself with Herrer, I did not choose my family. As strange as it might seem, Herrer loves my mother as well, since she took him in after his mother died. She nurtured and loved him just as she loved all of her children. You don’t know just how much I’ve wounded your brother
… I wish I could see his face when he finally discovers just how cruelly I’ve taken him for a merry little ride. He will not be able to recover for I’ve taken his pride.”
“Oh, he’ll live. He will live so he can kill you.”
She shivered when he burst into hearty gales of laughter. “You will be a constant delight for me as a wife.”
“Indeed. Well, you’d best watch yourself, Hart. If I have to marry you, I’ll be certain to make myself a merry widow and be damned the consequences.”
“You could never cause me harm.”
“Never say never, Hart.”
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Chapter Twelve
Hart hadn’t realized how vehemently she would be with her disdain of him. What she couldn’t understand was his side of the story, and he doubted that she ever would.
She could try to paint him as a monster, just as much as he could try to justify his actions.
It was the only way he could ever put the ghosts of his past to rest. When he’d first set out to befriend Mallory and draw him into his complex web, he’d never counted on seeing the man behind the monster that had killed his brother. His brother never should have been in Spain. When he’d told his mother he’d wanted her to move back to Scotland she had scoffed at him, saying they could do more good in Spain. She, not being Spanish herself had worked many years to gain the confidence of the Spanish villagers that gave so much to their estate. How Joseph had gotten caught in the middle of a firefight between British Naval officers and his half-brother was a still a mystery to him. He had given Richard explicit instructions to keep Joseph out of his tangled web of affairs, and Richard had failed him. He should have known when he’d left Spain for service in the British Navy that Richard would align himself with whatever side seemed to be winning the war.
He watched as Gemma slowly nodded off to sleep in the carriage. Her head
lolled to the side. He sat up and quickly moved to the seat that Gemma sat on. Cradling her against him, he lent her his shoulder to use as a pillow. He had no choice in the matter … his mother had begged him to gain revenge against Joseph’s killer for years.
He couldn’t deny his mother, not when her health had continued on a steady decline. He wanted to see the strong robust woman he remembered, he wanted to see her powerful nature again, but she’d crawled into her own protective shell where she could seal her heart against other heartbreak while at the same time living in a reality of her own making. If gaining the revenge against Mallory would bring her back to the land of the living, then he would do that no matter how many enemies he created or how many bridges he had to burn in the process. Somehow he would get past Gemma’s fury. If he had to drag her to the wedd
ing alter and make her marry him under duress then so be it.
He wanted her as his wife, his lady, and the mother of his children.
Mallory would never be able to locate him. Even though they wouldn’t be far from him, Mallory wouldn’t suspect a thing.
At the moment, he was probably mounting an expedition to Spain or the
Caribbean, not even guessing what Hart had planned. Mallory believed himself to be a cunning and resourceful man, and Hart had allowed him to believe that he was the more intelligent one when it came to such matters. Mallory was in for a rude awakening, and by the time he did locate Gemma, it would be too late.
She murmured something inaudible in her sleep. He stroked the top of her blond head. His mother wouldn’t expect him to come home with his wife to be. Once she heard the entire story and saw how fiery and passionate Gemma was, she’d respect her for that. She definitely wouldn’t carry over her grudge to Mallory’s sister. In the beginning, she had wanted Mallory dead, but then, she had told Hart that she’d rethought HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 59
her plans of action and decided that there was only one way to properly punish Mallory.
They had to take away everything that he cherished the most and put him into his own living hell.
He had done that. And now, his grudge against Mallory was fulfilled. He never wanted to think of it again. He could only hope that Joseph could rest in peace now.
“It’s a mistake I tell you. Andrew can’t be dead! I don’t believe it, he promised he’d come home—” She moaned and awoke with a start. Confusion shone in her eyes for a brief second, only to be replaced with cold disdain. “Where are we?” She asked drowsily. Instinctively, she reached out and rested her hand on his arm. After a few moments, she pulled her hand back as if she’d been burned.