Wild Desire

by Lori Brighton

  Leo pulled open the door and glanced back at Colin. There was a telling amusement in her cousin’s eyes, amber eyes that matched her own. Yet she knew hers were not sparkling with laughter. “You’ll stay here with the women.”

  Bea practically huffed at that comment. As if Colin werecapable of protecting them in his sorry state. But reality set in and the breath died before it passed her lips. Heavens, they’d all die. She’d die here, in this foreign country, and probably be eaten by jackals.

  “Don’t be insane,” Colin muttered.

  Leo stabbed his finger toward Colin. “You’ll stay. We need you here in case …” Leo slid Bea a glance and didn’t finish his sentence. She wasn’t sure if she should be offended.

  “Leo,” Ella whispered.

  His gaze shifted to his wife and there was a noticeable softening of his entire body.

  Ella raced across the room and threw her arms around his neck. “Do be careful.”

  Leo pressed his lips to the top of her head, the affection for his wife evident in the way he held her tight. “I will. I love you.”

  Ella smiled. “I know.”

  Bea looked away, giving them a moment’s privacy. Usually their constant show of affection made her heart warm … gave her hope that, indeed, love could exist. But now, of all times, she was more than annoyed. They were going to be killed, for God’s sake! There was no time to kiss and cuddle.

  “I’ll take care of the dog,” she thought she heard Ella whisper.

  Bea jerked her head toward them, pondering the comment, but Leo had already moved into the hall, merging into the shadows like a thief in the night. Ella closed the door and locked it with a click. Her movements were quick, efficient, as if she’d done this before. Had they done this before? Bea pushed aside that discerning thought and focused on the situation at hand. Perhaps she should arm herself? What did one do when one was being attacked?

  “Ella,” she asked, deciding to ask the only other sane person in the household. “What shall we do? How serious is the situation?”

  Ella took Bea’s hands, her blue eyes wide and solemn. “I wouldn’t have brought you if I’d known this would happen. I thought we’d merely uncover information.”

  “Information? Information about what?” she demanded, her voice coming out shrill. “A trip, you told me we were going on a trip to see the sites and visit your cousin! Now you tell me there was another purpose?”

  She didn’t know what was more annoying, that Ella had lied or that they’d put her in a dangerous situation for no valid reason.

  Ella looked away, but not before Bea saw the guilt lingering in her blue eyes. “I’m so sorry. Really, it was for your own protection—”

  Bea jerked her hands away, hurt and offended. They’d lied. Ella had lied. “Ella, why are we in India, if not to see the sites and visit with your cousin?”

  “Shhh,” Colin whispered, shaking his head and moving to the door. “Quiet, woman.”

  The way he commanded set Bea on edge. Her eyes narrowed, her temper flaring, heating her blood. “Quiet?” she snapped. “You led them here and you tell me to be quiet?”

  He ignored her and pressed his ear to the door.

  “What do you hear?” Ella abandoned Bea and rushed to Colin’s side. Most likely to avoid Bea’s many questions.

  “Nothing.”

  “That’s helpful,” Bea muttered, gaining a glare from the man. Well, really, what did he expect? Gratitude? He should be downstairs assisting Leo, not cowering up here.

  Muffled shouting interrupted the silence, people arguing in a language Bea didn’t understand. Curiosity got the better of her. She edged closer to the door, tilting her head to better hear.

  “Leo,” Ella whispered, all color draining from her face.

  Colin latched on to Ella’s shoulders, forcing her to look at him. “Is he afraid?”

  Bea sucked in a sharp breath. If something happened to Leo, they’d have no one to protect them.

  “Leo’s never afraid.” Ella let her lashes drift down, her body frozen in concentration.

  Colin rolled his eyes. “Is he in trouble, or holding his own?”

  With her eyes closed, she started to nod, then paused, her brows drawing together. “No, he’s worried.”

  Bea didn’t understand. Didn’t understand anything. How could Ella possibly know what Leo was feeling? She latched on to Ella’s arm. As if breaking from a trance, the woman blinked up at her in surprise.

  “How do you know that Leo—”

  “Shhh!” Colin held up his hand, rudely interrupting Bea. “I have to go downstairs.” He stumbled to the trunk, his body still more drunk than sober, and pulled out a pistol.

  Ella jerked away from Bea and raced across the room. “No, absolutely not.” Jaw clenched, she held out her hand. “Give it.”

  Color shot to Colin’s cheeks. He looked like a lad caught watching the milkmaids swimming. “I’m not going to—”

  “You’re drunk and it’s more important that you survive.”

  Bea stiffened, wondering over the comment. “Why?” she asked, but they didn’t even look her way. She tapped her foot on the reed mats, more than annoyed that no one seemed to be capable of answering a simple question. They stared at each other for one long moment, at an obvious impasse. Finally, Colin sighed and slapped the butt of the pistol into Ella’s hand.

  Confusion turned to fear. Bea pressed her palms to her chest and shook her head. Ella couldn’t possibly think she was going to help Leo while Colin stood there doing nothing. “Wait a moment.”

  But Ella didn’t wait. She rushed past Bea and into the hall without hesitation, like a Viking warrior on a mission. Colin started to follow. Bea reached out, grasping on to his bicep. He stopped, glaring down at her. For a moment, the musclein his arm made her forget her next words. Dear Lord, the man was much stronger than she’d realized.

  “What?” he snapped. Apparently he was still annoyed that she was related to Henry.

  She tore her attention from his arm and met his gaze, refusing to quiver under his intense stare. “You’re … you’re just going to let Ella go?”

  He shrugged, but curiosity flickered in his gaze, as if she were a puzzle he was trying to figure out. “She’s a grown woman. She makes up her own mind.” His interest gone, he pulled away from her and disappeared into the hall.

  Shocked, Bea merely stood there, too stunned to move. Ella was going to confront the men. Ella. Sweet, cheerful, Ella. She’d be injured, or worse.

  They were insane. Every single one of them. Frantically her gaze searched the room. She could hide, hide under the bed and hope they left … or she could help. She paced back and forth, her mind spinning.

  Before she could make sense of what was happening, Leo’s voice rang out in an angry snarl, spewing words she couldn’t make sense of. Hindi, she realized by the lyrical tone. Blast it. They were mad. Every one of them. But they were family. Bea latched on to her small dagger and burst out the door before she could think twice.

  Ella and Colin were huddled close together on the tiny landing that overlooked the hall below. Bea slipped her dagger into her dressing gown pocket. The house wasn’t large. A kitchen, hall, and parlor made up the downstairs. While above the rickety steps was a medium-sized bedroom that Ella and Leo had claimed, Bea taking the small room that apparently doubled as a storage area. Not many places for a person to hide.

  “You’ll stay here,” Ella whispered, starting down the steps. Colin nodded his consent. Bea’s fingers curled as she resisted the urge to tell him what she thought of his cowardlybehavior. She certainly didn’t expect this from the infamous Colin Finch, a man Ella spoke so fondly of, Bea had thought perhaps he was a saint.

  Saint, indeed. With a snort of disgust, Bea swept past the man. She couldn’t let Ella go alone. She took a step down. A board groaned under her weight. Bea froze, her heart slamming against her chest. When no one came rushing her way, she knelt, peeking between the railings.

&nb
sp; Over the roar of blood through her veins, she could hear murmured voices, but she couldn’t make out the words. She leaned closer to the railings and spotted Ella, hidden in the shadows below. Bea inched farther down the steps.

  “Wait!” Suddenly Colin was at her side. He latched on to her arm, his grip stinging. He was so close she could smell the scent of whiskey on his breath.

  Bea fought the man’s hold, stunned he’d try to stop her when he’d let Ella go so freely. “Release me at once. You might be a coward, but I’m not.”

  He jerked her closer, his face only inches from hers. Her soft breasts crushed to his hard chest, the contrast strangely enticing. His breath fanned hot across her lips, but she refused to cower. “You have no idea what I am.”

  The way he said the words made her pause. Her stomach clenched. She felt as if the conversation had evolved somehow into something she didn’t understand. She shook off her unease. “We can’t let her go alone.”

  “We can.” His gaze was hard, uncompromising, uncaring.

  Alarm shot through her. Who was this man? This man who’d let his own cousin rush to her possible death? Bea struggled to free herself, but the evidence of his strength was there, in his tight hold. “You’re a coward.”

  “Damn it.” He jerked her closer. Bea’s hands flattened against his chest. “You go down there, you get shot, you may very well find out what I’m capable of.”

  She didn’t understand his words, so why did fear tingle at the tips of her fingers? Slipping her hand into her pocket, she pulled the dagger free and shoved it between the two of them. “Let me go.”

  Slowly, his gaze dropped to the blade. Amusement flickered across his blue eyes. “Will you stab me?”

  Of course she wouldn’t stab him, but he didn’t need to know that. She tilted her chin high. “Perhaps I will. I grew up in the wilds of Scotland, Mr. Finch. Don’t tempt me.” Actually, Scotland wasn’t as wild as everyone seemed to think and she’d lived the first ten years of her life in England, but he didn’t need to know that either.

  The left corner of his lips lifted into a crooked grin. He wasn’t afraid in the least. “Oh, I’ve heard about you, my dear.”

  Drat! She resisted the urge to cringe.

  “You were born in the mild country of England, sent to a castle in Scotland when you were just a child, pampered, and protected. I highly doubt you could fight a kitten and come out the winner.”

  She pressed the point of her blade to his heart, forcing her hand not to tremble. “Try me.”

  After a long pause, he released his hold, but the amusement was still there. Bea stumbled back into the stone wall. How did he know about her childhood? Before he could grab her, she raced down the steps. She was terrified, the fear growing with each step she took, gnawing at her stomach until she thought she’d be sick. She didn’t dare look back to see if Colin had stayed put. The man was a coward; surely he was still hiding upstairs.

  By the time her bare feet hit the wooden planks of the floorboards, her knees were knocking together. Hidden by a wall, she crouched low, her gaze pinned on Ella, who stood across from her, the open doorway to the parlor dividing them.

  “We want Colin,” she heard one of the men say. Bea had to resist the urge to point Ella’s cousin out to the intruders.

  “Unfortunate for you,” Leo growled.

  Bea moved a step forward and peeked through thedoorway. Leo stood in the middle of the room, two men in front of him. He was outnumbered, and from the soft glow of the lamp sitting on a table in the far corner, she could see that the men were just as large as he. None seemed to be backing down.

  Across the hallway, Ella stood hidden in the shadows, her gaze trained on Leo. “Ella!” Bea whispered, but the woman didn’t turn. Blast her. She wouldn’t leave until she made Ella see reason. She could not, in good conscience, let her cousin’s wife get involved. It was a sound plan—drag Ella back up the stairs by her hair, if need be. Yes, it was sound until she saw the large black dog sitting at Ella’s side.

  The mutt glanced back at her, his tongue hanging limply from his mouth, and Bea froze. Would he attack? Or worse, bark and alert them to her presence? Bea backed up a step and hit a small table. She gasped and spun around, latching on to the vase just before it toppled to the ground.

  “We don’t want a fight, mate. Marco sent us to bring back Colin Finch,” one man said in an Indian accent.

  Bea turned back to Ella, but her friend had stepped into the sitting room, pistol trained on the men facing Leo. “Drop it.” Ella’s voice was hard, harder than Bea thought possible from the delicate woman.

  The men fell silent, obviously weighing their options. Perhaps they’d relent and they could call the constable. Perhaps they’d not have to brawl after all. And perhaps she was a bloody idiot.

  She craned her neck, attempting to decipher one shadowed man from another.

  Movement flickered from the kitchen doorway across from Bea. Her heart lurched, and slowly she turned her head, hugging the cold, porcelain vase to her chest. The dog whimpered, lifting his paws. He’d seen it, too! Bea sucked in a gasp as the shadow emerged, morphing into a human shape.

  Without thought or hesitation, she lifted her arms andthrew the vase toward the shadow just as Ella turned. The vase hit the man’s head and shattered, pieces crumbling to the floor. He cried out and stumbled back, hitting the wall with a thud that shook the tiny house. With a groan, he slid to the floor. The dog lowered himself to the ground and growled, as if keeping watch over the stranger.

  “Ella!” Leo called out for assistance.

  Ella spun around and pulled the trigger. The blast rang through the room, leaving behind the acidic smell of gunpowder. Her aim was accurate. The intruder cried out, clasping on to his leg and hopping up and down.

  Leo lunged for the other man. They fell to the ground with a thud that had Bea stumbling back. Leo had the man pinned to the floor within mere seconds. Ella kept her gaze trained on the other two intruders, one unconscious from the vase, the other moaning in pain as he held on to his bloodied leg.

  It happened so fast, Bea’s mind spun. Her gaze flickered from person to person. Ella had shot someone. Ella, dear sweet Ella, had shot a man. And Leo, well, Leo had hit a man so hard that he was currently unconscious on the floor.

  “I am sorry,” Ella was mumbling to the man with the bullet wound. “But really, you brought this on yourself.”

  “Get Colin,” Leo demanded, turning to face Bea and interrupting Ella’s apologies.

  “I’m here.” The deep voice slid over her like velvet.

  Bea jumped, realizing he’d been behind her all along. Yet the bastard hadn’t offered to help. Colin turned to move past her, his chest brushing her shoulder, his gaze pinned to her. Slow and unhurried, as if gunfire in his home was a common occurrence, he moved into the small parlor. “How many seriously injured?”

  “Just him. Can you help?” Ella asked, nodding toward the man she’d shot.

  A man who currently lay upon the ground, a pool of red blood beneath his body. Bea’s stomach clenched.

  Ella had shot a man.

  Bea’s wide gaze landed on her friend. But the woman wasn’t nearly as unaffected as she first seemed. A fine sheen of sweat covered her face, and her arms were trembling.

  Colin crossed his arms over his chest, looking thoroughly disgruntled. “Why should I help him?”

  “Colin!” Ella reprimanded.

  He rolled his eyes. “Fine.” The man had stilled, his moans quieting.

  “How?” Bea demanded. “He’s practically dead! How will you possibly help him?”

  Colin and Ella shared a glance.

  “Not dead yet.” Colin smirked.

  Apparently finished with his tousle, Leo sauntered toward them and took the pistol from Ella’s hands. Bea sank onto the bottom step, her knees too weak to hold her any longer.

  “Well done,” Leo said, glancing at Bea and nodding toward the vase that lay shattered next to the thi
rd intruder. She didn’t know how to respond. He flashed her a grin as if he was proud of her. “Perhaps you’ll fit in after all.”

  Fit in? She didn’t want to fit in with this group! They were all bloody mad. “Would someone please explain what in blazes is going on?”

  They ignored her. Of course.

  “Did they give you any information?” Colin asked, kneeling down next to the bleeding man.

  Leo rested his hands on his narrow hips. Blood was splattered across his chest, but she knew it wasn’t his own. Still, the sight brought bile to her throat.

  “Henry saw you with Marco. He knows you’re here. Paid them generously to kill you.”

  “Henry?” Bea demanded, straightening. Her cousin Henry?

  Leo shrugged, as if it was general knowledge that Henry was in India.

  “We might have … omitted something, my dear,” Ellasaid, slipping her arm through Bea’s and pulling her to her feet. “We didn’t come to India merely to visit Colin.”

  “Why then?” Bea asked, not entirely sure she wanted to know the truth.

  Ella looked away, fidgeting with the belt of her night dress. “Well, we came to find a murderer.”

  “A what?” Bea cried out. Surely she’d misheard, surely—

  “A murderer, darlin’,” Colin interjected, standing and smiling in that obnoxious way.

  Bea shook her head. No. She wouldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe it. Yet she could see the truth in their eyes. For once, they weren’t lying.

  “Who is this murderer?” she asked weakly.

  Colin winked. The blasted man actually winked. “Why your lovely cousin Henry, of course.”

  Chapter 3

  A dull ache thumped in his head, drowning out all sensations but his own pain. From somewhere, light poured into the room, seeping through his closed lids and demanding he wake. He should wake. He needed to wake. Hazy memories tapped at his mind, insisting he take note. Something had happened.