“Ye willnae,” he surprised her by agreeing. She sank back into her chair and the twins resumed their meal. Connor glanced at Temple. “As I said, thatwasour plan. Circumstances have changed.”
Plans. They must have made them while she slept. As if they didn’t concern her at all.
Piper inwardly stewed while Connor provided the twins an abbreviated recounting of the problem at hand without the more personal details. She appreciated his discretion but not the summary of Rutledge’s motivations.
Rising, Piper paced to the fireplace and back, hardly noticing that the twins politely rose with her. She returned to the table and sat again, as did they. “All of this has been nothing more than revenge?”
“Aye, it had to be ye because yer brother was the one who had the bullocks to point the finger at Dormer.” Connor nodded.
Agitation brought her to her feet once more. Tam stood, plate in hand this time, and kept eating. Ian shook his head and remained seated. She didn’t care. “Dormer’s braggadocio started all of this and the duke has the audacity to blame Harry?”
“Harry was the one who outed him, so aye.” Connor shrugged. “That seems to be the case.”
Ian pushed back his now empty plate and crossed his arms over his chest as he lounged back in his chair. “I would say Dormer’s attack on an innocent lass started all of this.”
Tam adopted a similar stance. His expression, too, dissolved of all humor. “Aye, I’ll no’ stand by while the pair of them hurt another one.”
Little did they know that Rutledge already had. Somehow Piper doubted it would all end with her.
“I was counting on that,” Connor said. “And I’ll be needing yer help to set it all to rights.”
“Wewill,” Piper corrected, needing to take a stand. “This is my fight more than anyone’s. I want a hand in deciding how it will be resolved.”
Temple shook his head. “My lady, I must agree with Connor that your safety is paramount and should be our primary consideration.”
“I disagree,” she maintained. “There is much more that should be taken into consideration. Such as what might happen after I’m gone. Such as the possibility that I might want my own revenge. You do realize you’re allowing me no chance to find satisfaction for all Mother and Rutledge have done to me.”
“Ye haven’t the turpitude to confront Rutledge on his own level,” Temple told her.
“And Connor does?” She waved a hand at him where he stood by the fireplace. “For all your avowal to skewer him, you haven’t a malevolent bone in your body, Connor MacKintosh. You know nothing of the depths of his depravity.”
“I ken enough to have found a great deal of delight in envisioning his demise and the myriad ways it might be accomplished.”
His claim was in earnest. Given his mood when he’d departed earlier, she hadn’t been convinced, despite what she knew of him and Lord Temple’s assurances that he would refrain from spilling the duke’s blood.
For all Rutledge was deserving of punishment, she truly did not want his blood on Connor’s hands, or his demise on his conscience. While he might find fleeting gratification in the task, a man of Connor’s principles would come to rue taking such action.
He would make a terrible harbinger of death.
Piper had time enough to recognize the limitations of her wrath, as well. She wanted blood, yes. She longed to exact her pound of flesh for all that the duke had taken from her. Had even begun to think Connor’s preferred solution might be the most thorough route to guaranteed success. Be that as it may, Temple was right. She didn’t possess the fortitude to deliver a death blow.
That didn’t mean she wanted to run away and cower from her problems. That she didn’t want him punished and prevented from harming anyone else. “Why not face him? What can he do in front of a dozen witnesses?”
“We dinnae ken what he would do,” Connor allowed. “He shied away from a physical confrontation even when he had the advantage of an armed force.”
“He showed himself a coward tonight.”
Tam nodded in agreement with Ian’s statement. “Aye. Like father, like son.”
“Dormer’s proving himself to be like his da,” Ian went on. “They crow about subduing women and relish in their fear.”
“But they willnae stand up to a man in a fair fight,” Tam finished his twin’s thought with a sneer.
“Bottom line, he’s unpredictable,” Temple offered. “We don’t know how far he’s willing to go to achieve what he views as justifiable revenge.”
“His fixation makes him vulnerable, doesn’t it?” Piper argued. “You could use me as bait to—”
“Nay.” Connor covered her mouth before she could say anything more. “Ye may be his one weakness, but I’ll no’ risk yer safety against his manic obsession. I have another idea.”
