“Are you even a farrier?”
His laughter rang in her ears all the way into town.
Chapter 30
I dreamt he had me again. It seemed so real.
~ from the diary of Piper Brudenall, July 1893
“What happened? I’ll tell ye what bloody well happened,” Ian griped as Connor scowled down at them. “Tam’s got himself shot in the back.”
“Lucky it dinnae hit my kidney,” Tam groaned, as his brother knotted the torn arm of his shirt around the wound to staunch the blood flow. “I could’ve died.”
“Ye still might, ye daft diddy,” Ian told him, his face ashen. Whether it was his own blood loss or his twin’s dire condition that had him worried, Connor wasn’t certain. Either way, his rush of anger faded to apprehension. “All that blood, could have nicked something vital.”
“As long as it wisnae my bawbag.” Tam managed a wan grin. “Dinnae fash, I’m no’ going to die today. Fortune teller told me at that exhibition we went to last spring at the Earl’s Court that Ian would keel over before me, and he’s fine and dandy, ain’t he?”
“That auld witch told ye that? What was her name? Raya? Runa?”
“Riya Singh,” Tam managed a bare whisper.
Ian shook his head and tied the other arm he’d torn from his shirt around his thigh, where a bullet had passed through. Another had dug a furrow out of his shoulder and a rivulet of blood trailed down his forehead.
Despite the multitude of injuries, he appeared far more healthy than his twin. Despite the frantic urgency to get after Piper, Connor experienced a deep foreboding as he and Ian helped Tam to his feet. They needed to get him on a horse and into Aylesbury to the physician as soon as possible.
“Point is, they got her.” Ian wagged his head with true regret. “Sorry, brother.”
“It’s no’ yer fault,” Connor assured him. He held Tam steady while Ian mounted, and gave him a leg up. His cry of pain rang in Connor’s ear. “None of us kent the lengths Rutledge would go to.”
The sight of his brothers laid low, particularly as a result of coming to his aid, sent a hint of fear through Connor. The first he’d known thus far. For all Rutledge’s reputation and his concern for Piper, he’d never truly considered how far the duke would go in his obsession. That he would kill to get what he wanted.
“I’m more than sorry for all of this,” he confessed. “Where is Temple? Did they take him too?”
“Nay. He’s following them. Either they went into Aylesbury or turned south at the next crossroad to circle back around to Dinton Grange, I dinnae ken. They’ve no’ come back past us.” Ian nudged his horse into motion. Connor and Albert positioned themselves on either side of him to keep Tam upright should he start to keel over.
Ian relayed what had happened in quick detail. How they’d been followed from the Grange, taken by surprise, and outnumbered. And that Piper had recognized her captor, though Ian hadn’t known how.
“She did it to save us, foolish lass. Dinnae realize they could’ve circled back to kill us anyway. He would’ve stayed to help us, but Tam insisted he track down yer lass, obstinate bastard. Tam, no’ Temple.”
“Aye, I am,” Tam agreed hazily, leaning against his brother’s back.
“Dinnae fret about Temple. They’ll never see him,” Ian guaranteed. They were all well aware of the agent’s history and experience in espionage. Alone, he could be next to invisible. “Now, go. Git after them.”
“I cannae leave ye like this.”
“Go,” Tam insisted. “Git yer lass.”
Connor hesitated. “I’ll leave Albert to help ye.”
Ian shook his head. “There’s five of them left. More if there were others meeting them. Ye’ll need all the firepower ye can get.”
“We have that,” Connor assured him and with another grimace, spurred his horse into a run.
God help the man who dared lay a hand on Piper. There would be far more blood spilled than his brothers’ had already given to the earth.
* * *
With each mile, Connor’s dread elevated, and he gnashed his teeth in frustration. He’d finally found something in life to rank above all else, yet he felt as if he were failing to cherish it properly. Failing miserably.
