by Faye Hall
Jason nodded his thanks, mumbling his many gratitude’s as he quickly walked out of the study.
Waiting for the other man to leave, Duncan turned back to Andrew Ross. “I am forever in your debt, sir.”
Andrew Ross smiled. “It should be me thanking you, Duncan. The cargo going with that boy back to England is gold that was stolen several weeks ago. I had no way of getting it safely out of the country. This way your young friend can say it is his profits from the gold fields and no questions will be asked. And if there are any suspicions, it will be he who takes the fall and not I.”
Reaching forward, Duncan shook the older man’s hand. “A very smart business mind you have, sir. The best I’ve seen in fact.”
Leaving Andrew Ross’s estate, instructions having been given to Jason about the origin of the cargo he was told to travel with, Duncan travelled in a carriage to his father.
“Are you certain this will work?” the dark figure opposite him asked.
Duncan nodded. “It has to.”
The carriage stopping at The Lester Company, Duncan turned to the dark figure. “If the plan goes to shit and I die in here, you make certain Phoebe gets to safety, Walter. You promise me!”
Walter O’Loan nodded as he pulled the black scarf across his face, covering his features. “I promise, Duncan.”
Duncan walked into his father’s office, the dark cloaked figure beside him acting for all to see as an old, injured figure of a man.
“Duncan, what are you doing here?” Charles asked. “And who is that with you?”
Duncan stood strong, knowing he must see this through.
“Father, this man needs your help,” Duncan explained. “He needs some goods transported.”
The old man looked suspicious. “Can’t he speak?”
The cloaked figure struggled to sit down. “N-not so well anymore, sir.” Walter croaked in a voice far beyond his age, a thick European accent cloaking his words. “I was caught in a mining accident a while back. Face and throat was burnt beyond recognition.”
“Tragic,” Charles mumbled as he shook his head. “What can I do for you Mr.—?”
The cloaked figure shook his head. “If I give you my name you will have the police here within a few minutes. I can’t risk that.”
Charles laughed. “Surely you can’t expect me to do business with a nameless face? What kind of fool do you think I am?”
The cloaked figure nodded at Duncan. As ordered, he brought forth a chest and opened the lid. Charles MacAllester gasped as the jewellery and priceless gems inside were revealed. Reaching into the chest, he brought forth a locket and studied it.
“T-These are the Llanberris jewels,” Charles asked, his shock covering his face. “B-But how?”
“As I said,” the dark cloaked figure muttered. “There was a mining accident.”
Duncan closed the chest up. “There are ten more trunks outside in the carriage, Father. This gentleman needs them sent back to his villa in Italy.”
“The authorities will be watching for these jewels at every port in Australia, Duncan!” Charles stated. “There is no way we can legally get this kind of cargo out of the country!”
“So do it illegally if you must, sir” the cloaked man spoke up. “I have been told before that The Lester Company is the best at smuggling merchandise out of the country, or have I been misinformed?”
The old man sat behind his desk eyeing the dark figure before him. “You haven’t been misinformed, sir...but such a thing will cost you extra.”
“Then it will cost me extra,” the cloaked man agreed.
Just as the men were to shake hands on the deal, the door to Charles MacAllester’s office was swung open by the inebriated figure of Gordon MacAllester.
“Where is my wife, you bastard?” Gordon yelled at Duncan.
“Gordon, this isn’t the place!” his father yelled at him. “You are drunk and this is my place of business!”
Pulling a gun from his jacket, Gordon swung it in the air in the direction of Duncan, seemingly deaf to his father’s words. “I want my wife, you son of a bitch!”
“Gordon,” he tried. “I can explain…”
Steadying his weapon, Gordon aimed it directly at Duncan’s head. “You will give me my wife...now!”
“Why?” Duncan asked. “So you can beat her some more? Or so you can finally kill her?”
Gordon hit Duncan across the side of the face with the gun, again aiming it at the now-injured man’s head.
“I need her money, Duncan!” Gordon yelled. “My debts have been all called in. I can’t even get loans against the company anymore!”
“You’ve been getting loans against the company?” Charles roared at his son. “You had no right!”
“I had every right!” Gordon yelled back at his father. “Just like I have every right to kill my bitch of a wife for her inheritance if such is my wish!”
“I won’t let you touch her!” Duncan yelled back at him, trying to struggle for his weapon.
Gordon struck him again with the gun, this time forcing him to fall to the floor from the blow, blood again seeping from the gash in his forehead.
“You won’t be able to save her!” Gordon yelled back at him, kicking him in the ribs, hard. “Phoebe will soon fall victim to my persuasive charms just like her parents did. Though she may not die so quickly as they did. I think I might enjoy watching her suffering, watch the blood drain from her face as I slice her up bit by bit. As for you, dear brother...,” Gordon chided. “You I will enjoy killing as slowly as possible. That is after you have watched Phoebe gasp her last breath of life.”
“Hold it right there, Gordon!” Walter O’Loan commanded from behind them, throwing the dark cloak and scarf from him, his gun raised and cocked. Reaching in his pocket, he pulled forth a whistle and blew it hard. Instantly, the office of Charles MacAllester began to fill with uniformed and undercover police officers.
“You men are under arrest!” Walter O’Loan yelled. “Arrest them, boys!”
Gordon fought against the police but soon he was being held down, handcuffs being placed on his wrists.
“You can’t arrest me!” Gordon yelled at the officers. “Have you any idea who I am?”
“You are the man guilty of corruption and smuggling,” Walter O’Loan yelled at him. “And by your own admission, guilty of the murder of the Porters.”
“Duncan!” Gordon yelled. “You have to help me!”
Duncan struggled to stand, his hand instantly going to the bloodied patch on his forehead.
“Are you alright, Duncan?” Walter O’Loan asked, approaching him and handing him a handkerchief for his wound.
“You’ve been working for them? For the police?” Charles roared at his son. “Why?”
Duncan placed the handkerchief on his bloodied wound. “You took my freedom from me, Father. You took my life! I now return the gift to you.”
Watching his father being taken from the office, he felt a certain pang of pain. “If you gentlemen look in the vault hidden beneath the desk you should find all the contracts detailing any smuggling agreements.”
“You bastard!” Gordon yelled as he was dragged to standing. “You betrayed us all!”
Going to his brother, Duncan struck him hard across the face with his clenched fist. “It appears then that we are, indeed, family, brother, for you have taught me well.”
“Get him out of here!” Walter yelled before turning to Duncan. “What is to happen to you now, Duncan? Where are you to go?”
“I have to go find, Phoebe.”
* * * * *
Duncan walked into the Inkerman Downs Station house, his eyes instantly going to the female figure tied to the chair, the two men standing behind her armed with shotguns.
“You can take the ropes off her now, David,” he requested calmly.
Duncan knew by the look on Phoebe’s face that she had connected him to these men who had taken her captive. He also knew he would have a hell of a
time explaining this all to her, still he knew he had little other choice.
Things had to have been done this way for her own safety.
Finally freed, she leapt up from the chair and stormed toward him, slapping him hard across the cheek.
“You know these bastards?” she asked, tears brimming in her eyes.
Duncan didn’t try to fight her or defend himself against her onslaught.
“David and his men work for me, Phoebe,” he answered her. “I ordered them to bring you here.”
She slapped him again, harder this time.
“You son of a bitch!” she cursed at him. “I thought you...that I could...”
Duncan watched as she struggled to bring control over her emotions. When finally she did, he was reminded of the feisty and beautiful woman he dragged from the Ravenswood Hotel months ago.
“You can go to hell!” she spat at him, her head held high as she went to turn away from him.
Duncan grabbed for her as she went to storm past him, knowing he had to make her listen to him. If she were to turn away from him now it would be with all the truth told and his soul bared.
“Phoebe. Please. You have to listen to me.”
Her clenched fists punched at his chest, her feet kicking him in the shins. “Let go of me, you bastard!”
“No!” he shouted back at her, being able to take her onslaught no more. “I had to do this. You have to understand this was the only way I knew to keep you safe, Phoebe.”
“Safe?” she struggled against him, trying to push him away and free herself from his hold. “I will never be safe while your family is alive, Duncan!”
He tried to still her struggles carefully, worried that she may hurt herself or their baby.
“Gordon and my father are in jail as we speak,” he explained. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. When I came back to Inkerman for you I knew you wouldn’t believe I wasn’t like the rest of my family. I also knew you would never be safe while Gordon was alive. But I couldn’t kill them, Phoebe, for I wasn’t that man anymore, nor was I willing to go back to being that man for anyone.”
“But you work for The Lester Company,” she rebutted, still being fuelled by her anger. “You destroy people’s lives to feed your own greed.”
Duncan shook his head. “No, I don’t, Phoebe. I wanted to keep you safe, and to do that I had to get as close to you as possible. My father’s company gave me that opportunity. The deal I made with the police gave me the opportunity to get rid of my family for good, something I knew had to be done if I was to keep you safe.”
“And what of Carmen?” she asked, the hostility in her words fading slightly. “Or have you forgotten about your fiancée?”
“She’s not my fiancée, Phoebe,” he answered, his grip on her wrists loosening. “She never was except for in the eyes of my family. Carmen was doing me a favour, nothing more. She has now returned to England and to her family.”
“You really expect me to believe that, Duncan?”
He nodded. “I smuggled Carmen's brother and husband out of the country five years ago using The Lester Company’s connections. She returned to Australia to help me and to repay what I did for her. Nothing more.”
Phoebe pulled away from his hold, shaking her head as if trying to clear her thoughts.
“I don’t understand,” she muttered, stepping away from him. “Why such an elaborate façade? Why do all of this when you could have packed your bags and left town, abandoning your family once and for all?”
Duncan stepped slowly toward her, his fingers lifting and caressing the silken skin of her cheek.
“I did it for you, Phoebe,” he answered her, baring his inner most feelings to her. “I begged my father’s forgiveness...I sold my family to the police...I even played at being the bastard I once was, and I did it all for you.”
Leaning into her slowly, Duncan’s lips lightly brushed against hers. “I did it to keep you safe, Phoebe, hoping one day you may again be able to look at me as you did that first night I held you in my arms.”
“But what if your plan hadn’t worked, Duncan?” she asked, her hand coming to rest on his. “What if your family had discovered what you were doing? What if you had been killed?”
He kissed her forehead lightly, marvelling at the taste of her skin beneath his lips. “Then everything I owned would have been left to you. It would have been enough to allow you to start a new life far away from here.”
“But why?” she asked, her confusion obvious.
Duncan breathed heavily knowing that he needed to confess even more to her.
“Because I love you, Phoebe,” he confessed, his words clear and soft. “I love you more than life itself. I would have given anything to have you back with me.”
He watched as tears welled and fell from her eyes, the salty liquid sliding down her soft, naturally blushed cheeks.
“B-but the baby?” she asked. “When I told you…”
Duncan’s hand cupped her cheek affectionately. “I was in shock, Phoebe. That was all. I couldn’t believe that a woman as delicate and beautiful as you would ever want me, let alone want to give me a child.”
He kissed her softly on her lips. “I would have you for my bride, too, Phoebe...that is if you will have me?”
She threw her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek.
“Of course I would have you, Duncan,” she gasped. “I would have you forever and always.”
About The Author
I’m an Australian by birth, and grew up not far from where all my books are set. I love my country, and I feel that by setting my stories in Australia, I can give my readers a little part of my world. I have always loved romance, and the happily ever after that goes with love stories, but I also love a good mystery and scandal too, and that’s what I try to incorporate in my stories.
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