“The plan wasmine, damn you!Irecruited Silas Webb, not the other way around. I saw United’s failing prospects and hired Webb to help topple it from the inside. The company’s demise was inevitable. A sure thing. But then you came along, ousted Webb, and turned the venture into a bloody success. I’ve lost everything because ofyou.”
“You lost everything because you made a bad investment—and compounded matters by having me poisoned and shot.”
“What poison?” Mercer snarled. “What are you—”
“Get away from him!”
Alaric’s gaze jerked in the direction of the clear, feminine tones. Relief exploded in his chest—replaced instantly by bone-deep fear.What the devil is she doing?
Emma came toward them like some avenging angel, her unbound hair sweeping past her shoulders and a pistol in her small hands. She aimed it at Mercer.
Mercer gave a nasty laugh. “You’re not going to shoot.”
“Aren’t I?” Emma said calmly. “Your henchman underestimated me as well. Now he’s below deck—and he’sno longer moving.”
At her declaration, the seasoned cutthroats exchanged uneasy looks, a few shaking their heads. Alaric interpreted the silent male message:Females—they’re an unpredictable lot.
“Untie Strathaven.” Emma’s finger tightened on the trigger; she was within several feet of Mercer now. “Or I’ll put a hole through your heart.”
After an instant, Mercer snapped, “Do as she says.”
The lackey next to Alaric untied his wrists. Before the rope hit the ground, Alaric swiveled, securing Mercer in a chokehold and simultaneously grabbing the pistol from the earl’s belt. He pressed the barrel to Mercer’s temple.
Emma hurried to his side, her gun now pointed at the band of ruffians.
“You can’t shoot all of us,” Mercer gasped. “Put down the gun, and I’ll spare you and the women.”
“Drop your weapons,” Alaric growled at the cutthroats.
Mercer’s henchmen looked at one another, their expressions uncertain. Then the dark-haired brute, the one who’d met Alaric at the quay, guffawed.
Stepping forward, he said, “I don’t think so.”
Alaric dug the gun in deeper, making Mercer wheeze with fear. “I’m serious. I will shoot.”
“So go ahead—kill ’im,” the leader said with a sneer. “With the bugger gone, that’ll mean more gold for me an’ my men. You’re just savin’ me the trouble o’ killin’ ’im meself, isn’t that right, boys?”
Assent rose from his crew, and they came to stand behind him with ominous solidarity.
Bloody Christ. A mutiny.
“What?” Mercer spat at his employee. “You infidel! You foul betrayer!”
“I’ve ’ad enough o’ you lordin’ it o’er me an’ the boys. You ’aven’t paid us ’alf what you promised, ye bloody skinflint, an’ I’m tired o’ waitin’,” the leader snarled, levying his own gun.
Acting on pure instinct, Alaric released Mercer and dove for Emma. He knocked her to the deck, covering her body with his as a blast tore through the air. Heart thundering, he looked into her pale face.
“You alright?” he rasped.
“Yes. You?” she said.
He jerked his chin, looked back and saw—
Mercer still standing, his expression stunned.
The cutthroat leader, his mien equally startled as he looked down at the scarlet blossoming over his chest. A second later, he crashed to the deck like a felled tree.
“Aboard, men!” came a guttural cry.
