Wilkes flinched to the side and dove through the door. “You daft foozler. You’re going to shoot me!”
“No worse than what you were going to do to me!”
“I was never going to hurt you, you daffy chit!”
“I know, I know. You’re a decent bloke,” she muttered under her breath as she yanked the door shut behind him and rotated the shiny brass key protruding from the lock.
She’d done it! Against odds, she’d found a way to save herself! Piper stepped back from the door holding the key jubilantly. After all this time, believing she had no options because someone bigger and braver than herself wasn’t around to coddle her, she’d only needed to summon her courage and—
A thick arm snaked around her neck and yanked her back to meet a hard male body. Her heart sank in misery. She’d forgotten about the other guard!
A gun barrel dug into her ribs and the sluggish thud of her heart became a sprint of fear and anxiety. The key clattered to the floor and Piper remembered the pistol in her hand.
“Dinnae move.”
Piper flinched at the harsh command and the blast of gunshot echoed throughout the corridor. The heavy weapon recoiled and twisted her wrist as the door splintered and shuddered.
“Damn it, you blasted foozler,” Wilkes’s muffled shout sounded from within.
The pistol fell to the floor with athud. Another report split her ears and Piper covered them with her hands, yelping.
She’d genuinely believed Wilkes had been overreacting. She could have killed him. Now she had no weapon in hand and an enemy at her back…
“I said dinnae…”
The unyielding arm banded around her shoulders slipped down and brushed over her breasts. Then up, harder. Piper gasped again, this time in outrage and wedged her hands between the arm and her bosom. “Don’t you dare!”
Chapter 32
It’s my birthday. A year has passed since the day I ran. Albert remembers that day far differently than I. He remembers a girl brave enough to run. I remember one too afraid to fight.
~ from the diary of Piper Brudenall, January 1894
“Piper?”
Shock held her in its grasp for a split second before she spun around with the help of insistent hands. He knocked off her hat and stared down at her.
“Connor! Oh!”
Flinging herself into his arms, she relished his tight embrace as he hugged her against his broad chest. Relief sent her pulse racing and her head swimming with dizzy elation.
“Ochblessed Mary. Ye’re safe,” he whispered in her hair. His lips brushed her jaw, cheek, and the corner of her mouth before finding her lips in a rough kiss.
“So are you!” She drew back and clasped his dear face between her hands. “I was afraid you wouldn’t make it. You are to never leave me again!”
“Promise.” He kissed her and hugged her hard enough she feared her ribs would crack. “Ye had me so worried.”
“I got away,” she laughed, breathless. “I did it!”
“Aye, ye did. I’m so proud of ye.”
“Be proud later,” someone grumbled. “We’ve yet to achieve a clean getaway.”
Piper pulled away and beamed at Temple. Finding the act unsatisfactory, she embraced him. “You followed me. You swore not to.”
He patted her back awkwardly. “I lied.”
Over his shoulder, she spotted Albert hovering near the head of the stairs and hurried to him for another hug. “You are forever my savior, Albert. Thank you.”
