“I don’t know, Ollie. Let’s save Lady Lydia first.” But he wasn’t immune to the turmoil Ollie was feeling—the desire to protect a brother.
Patting the pistol in his jacket, he glanced over his shoulder, sensing Baxter’s men moving into place.
If he heard any indication of Lydia’s distress, he’d go in guns blazing, alone or not. In her note to him, she’d told him she’d always loved him. That she was his forever.
A pain stabbed at his heart, making it difficult to draw in his next breath.
No one else in the world made him feel the way she did. She could make him laugh when the world seemed humorless. She provided hope when his future felt hopeless.
He’d been a damned fool to ever walk away from her. If something happened to her, he would never forgive himself.
Hearing quiet footsteps approaching behind him, Jeremy stiffened. But he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was only Blackheart.
It was time.
“Everyone’s in place.” Blackheart crouched down beside him. He’d known the duke for years, but he didn’t think he’d ever seen such a bleak expression in the man’s eyes. Lydia’s brother must have seen a similar expression on his own face, because he added, “We’ll save her.”
“We will,” Jeremy agreed grimly.
“And then you and I will talk.”
Jeremy only nodded at this. A brilliant light flashed off to the left, the predetermined signal giving him the go-ahead to move in.
The men that had been assembled overtook the guards on the dock within less than thirty seconds, the men on the rooftops in even less time.
Jeremy didn’t bother with the plank but sprinted past it, to the opposite end of the ship where Ollie said they were keeping her. He then used the momentum provided by his speed to leap across the water to the ship’s deck. Blackheart was only a few steps behind him, landing almost noiselessly a split second later.
“She’s in the cabin on the quarterdeck.” Jeremy pointed to the window Ollie had shown him. He and Blackheart no longer bothered with keeping silent since the gang was well aware of their presence by now. With each pistol shot that sounded, his heart skipped a beat.
The door where Lydia was being kept was unguarded now. He tried the handle, but it was locked.
Jeremy glanced toward Blackheart and, with a giant rush of adrenaline, kicked the door in, sending it not only flying open but also knocking it partially off its hinges.
His gaze found her immediately, tucked in the back of the shadowed room, and he nearly saw red when he registered the state she was in. Her hands were bound and she was gagged, with blood crusted on her face. An older looking boy—Buck—was grasping her arm with one hand and holding a gun pointed directly at Jeremy’s head with the other.
But Lydia was alive, and he fully intended for her to stay that way.
“Put the gun down,” Blackheart ordered, his voice quiet and severe, as he moved to stand beside Jeremy.
“Mmmmph!” Lydia stared back at them, not with terror, but with trust and relief.
A deadly calm came upon him, the jagged edges of his anger sharpening into a single white-hot blade. Whoever had made her bleed would die for this.
Jeremy forced his gaze back to Buck—the same boy he’d caught sneaking into his garden more than once.
“Take yourself off, Tempest,” the adolescent growled, waving the gun. “You may ‘ave tricked my kid brother into goin’ soft, but you ain’t about to trick me.”
“Is that so?” Jeremy forced himself to appear relaxed, slumping his shoulders and leaning against the door frame. “You call feeding him, giving him a warm bed, and providing him with an education ‘tricking’ him?” He allowed a disparaging grin to stretch his lips.
“Yer makin’ him soft. So when you throw him back on the streets, he won’t know how to take care of himself. At least Farley teaches everyone how to keep fed… and alive.”
“But I’ve no intention of throwing Ollie out. And if you make the right decision, I’ll give you a better life too.” Jeremy was sincere. He’d told Ollie that Buck was trouble, but the boy could show him otherwise today. “Hot food. A warm bed every night.”
Both he and Blackheart had managed to sidle into the room by now.
“It’s your choice. All you need to do is drop the gun and I’ll take you in, the same as your brother. This is the chance for you to have a meaningful life, Buck.”
“And there’s chocolates, Buck.” Jeremy hadn’t realized Ollie had come up behind them, but now he stood in the door, his eyes filled with a sort of sacrificing love Jeremy knew all too well, pleading with his brother to make the right decision. “Mrs. Crump has all kinds and she’s not stingy with ‘em. Just let m’lady go. Please, Buck?”
