“He killed himself without any help from me.” Eldon smiled. “That’s what gave me the idea. With Julius gone, only Welham stood between me and the Kingston inheritance. And he was so easy to kill. No one liked him. No one cared. Everyone assumed I was the new Lord Kingston. Thenyoushowed up!”
“I’m sorry to have disrupted your plans,” Gordon said apologetically. “I don’t even want the title. If I’d known how much it meant to you, I could have stayed in some distant country. I could have even supplied proof of death for you. But since I returned to London to live a couple of years ago, too many people have learned about my continued existence.”
“Yes, you should have stayed away,” Eldon said in icy agreement. “I really don’t want to kill you and Catherine, but you’ve left me no choice.”
Playing on that reluctance, Gordon said, “No? It’s not too late for me to return to America and seem to be dead. I can’t mourn your sending Welham off this mortal coil prematurely, and I’ve always hated Kingston Court, so I don’t mind your burning it down as long as no one has been killed in the fire. Or do you enjoy killing?”
“No, dammit, I don’t!” Eldon flinched as thunder roared again, and the barrel of his pistol shook. He might want people dead, but he didn’t like killing them himself. Vile little coward.
“Do you accept my proposal?” Gordon asked. “Callie and I can quietly disappear tonight and it will be assumed we died in the fire. You become Lord Kingston and you can build a new and better house.”
Eldon looked tempted, but after a long moment, he shook his head. “I can’t trust you to stay dead unless I make sure of it myself. Sorry, Gordon.” He took a step closer. “You’re more amusing than my other brothers, but you should have stayed away.”
He cocked the pistol and prepared to fire at point blank range. Gordon dove to his left and at the same instant, Callie rose on her knees and hurled a stone that smashed into the middle of Eldon’s face. “Take that, you vicious little swine!” she spat out furiously.
Swearing, Eldon fell back, clawing at his nose. “What the devil?”
Gordon leaped forward and tackled his brother. The pistol went flying as the two men grappled. Eldon fought frantically but with little skill. He’d never battled for his life in deadly distant lands.
As they rolled across the ground, Gordon locked his hands around his brother’s neck. Lord Eldon Audley, who had killed one brother and done his damnedest to murder Gordon and Callie.
The thought of Callie in danger ignited Gordon’s rage. He caught his brother’s gaze, watching as anger turned first to fear, then to terror.
He waited as terror built. Then in one lethal movement, Gordon broke his brother’s neck.
One learned many useful things at the Westerfield Academy.
Sudden silence except for the sounds of the fire, distant firefighters, and approaching thunder. Callie crawled over the rough ground and snatched up the fallen pistol. “He’s dead?”
“Yes.” Gordon pushed himself up and stared at the lifeless body of his brother. Unlike Eldon, Gordon was experienced at killing. But he did it only when necessary, and he’d never killed a brother before. He wished to God it hadn’t been necessary.
Callie bridged the short distance between them and took his hand, raising it to her cheek. “I’m sorry, Richard,” she said softly.
“So am I.” He squeezed her hand, grateful for her touch. “My thanks for your very fine stone throwing. You always did have a good arm.”
“Dear God!” The new voice came from Francis, who was racing toward them. The light from the fire illuminated them clearly, but he seemed unable to grasp the scene before him. “I saw Eldon heading in this direction and wondered if you might have escaped the tower this way. But Eldon is dead?”
“Yes,” Gordon said flatly. “I killed him.”
“How could you?” Francis looked like a horrified child, not a capable young man. “Why?”
“Because Eldon set the explosion that blew up the tower!” Callie snapped. “Unfortunately for him, he failed to kill us. Were you in on his murderous plans?”
Francis shook his head as he struggled to grasp what he was hearing. “Eldon had no murderous plans! Why would he want to kill you?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Gordon said, feeling numb. “He killed Welham, too. He expected to inherit the title until I had the bad manners to show up alive.”
Francis fell silent for long moments, his face strained. “I didn’t think Welham would kill himself,” he said haltingly. “I thought his death must be a drunken accident, but it did seem odd. What makes you think Eldon killed him?”
“Because he proudly admitted it!” Callie rose unsteadily to her feet, her eyes flashing. “Richard is the only decent brother you had! Welham and Julius were brutes and Eldon was a murderer. They all took after your abominable father.”
“You shouldn’t say such things!” Francis said, appalled. “Father was stern with us, but he was a good and honorable man.”
“That ‘good and honorable man’ gave my father permission to beat Richard to death when we were caught in our attempt to elope!” Callie said fiercely. “Richard was already half dead when your father told mine,‘Feel free to kill him. I have better sons.’”
“No,” Francis said, his face paling. “No, he couldn’t have been that cruel!”
“No? I wasthere, Francis!” she spat out. “To save your brother’s life, I swore to my father that I’d marry his planter. So instead of killing Richard outright, my father trumped up false criminal charges and got him condemned to transportation. Our fathers werevilemen, both of them. And if you want to punish Richard for what he’s endured, I swear before God that I’ll kill you myself!” She raised the pistol.
