“No…” she rasped. “Please…”
A demonic fury lit his eyes as he leaned over her, his hands digging at her fingertips to pry them away.
She tried to move her hands away from him, but it was no use. She couldn’t hang here forever, and sooner or later, he would pry her fingers loose. She tried not to think about the fact that in a matter of moments she was going to fall…
A roar shook the windows and disturbed the lonely nightingale in a nearby tree that had been watching these events. With a look of terror on his face, Crell was jerked away from the window and dragged into the darkness. It could only be one person.
“Darius!”
Meredith clawed, trying to pull herself up in the window, but she was too weak. Her fingers began to slip…
Darius’s fist struck Crell hard in the jaw, but the man had come prepared for a fight. He pulled a long blade from his waistcoat, which flashed in the dim light.
“You’ll hang for this, Crell,” Darius growled. “No matter what.”
“Do you think I care?” Crell snapped. “I won’t be trapped in another prison, my marriage was prison enough!”
Darius feinted left, then dove to the right as Crell lunged, swinging his blade. Taking advantage of his now exposed side, Darius buried his fist in Crell’s stomach. Crell staggered, but a strangled scream from Meredith snapped Darius’s focus away from the fight. She was hanging from the window, barely keeping her grip.
Darius leapt toward the window just as Meredith’s fingers slipped from the edge of the sill. abandoning the fight with Crell even if it meant leaving his back exposed. He had a mere instant to realize Meredith was falling. He grabbed her by the wrists just as her fingers let go of the edge of the sill. The weight of her body jerked his shoulders roughly, but he held fast.
A sudden, blinding pain nearly made him to let go of Meredith. Darius heard Crell’s cold, breathless laugh just as his blade pierced Darius’s back.
“I say, can anyone join in this dance?” Another voice called out. Crell was pulled off Darius, but he didn’t dare look to see what was happening for fear of losing his grip. The strength was bleeding out of him, and he was unable to pull Meredith up.
“Meredith… I can’t… I can’t lift you…”
“Let me go,” she said, her eyes beginning to fill with tears. “It’s all right…just let go…”
“Never,” he vowed, even as his vision began to turn black.
Bang! The report of a pistol nearly deafened him. There was a hard thud near Darius, but he dared not break his concentration. He had to hold on.
“Steady, old boy, let me help.” Warren appeared at his side, reaching past him to grab Meredith’s arm. A flood of relief gave Darius that extra bit of strength he needed to not let go.
“Hold on,” Warren called to Meredith. He and Darius pulled her up the side of the house and back through the window. She stumbled on her dressing gown as she tried to put her feet down on the floor. Darius moved to catch her and steady her.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, ignoring how hard it was to breathe. All that mattered right now was Meredith.
She shook her head, her hazel eyes now swimming with tears.
Darius pulled her into his arms, cradling her against him, never wanting to let go of her again. “Oh, sweetheart.”
Darius glanced down at the floor. Crell lay dead next to them. His sightless eyes reflecting the moonlight from the open window. “How the devil did he get inside? I thought Doyle took him away.”
“I have no bloody idea. It’s a damn good thing I didn’t leave. I was wandering around the gardens trying to think of a way to apologize to you, old boy, when I saw Meredith and Crell struggling at the window.”
Darius met Warren’s gaze, a friend who had always been there for him, yet he had chased Warren away in a fit of anger. If his friend had listened to him and left his house…he and Meredith would both be dead. A well of deepest brotherly love surged within him for this man he called his friend.
He almost choked with emotions as he spoke. “Warren, I’m sorry I spoke to you as I did. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I shouldn’t have?—”
“Yes, you should have.” Warren didn’t look away from Darius. “I was a fool. I should have convinced Meredith to tell you about her plan. Instead, I let her put herself in danger. You can be angry at me for the next century if you need to.”
“Right now, I’m glad you are so bloody stubborn that you didn’t leave after I threw you out.”
“What’s happened?” Frances’s panicked voice at the door, drew his attention.
Frances and Mr. Chelsea, along with the rest of the house servants now appeared in the doorway.
