“Help! Please, I need help,” she cried out.
Thank God! The driver took notice and came running, bring a footman with him.Wait a moment. Is that David’s livery?
“Please get Lord Whitcomb! I need his help!” Oh, what she wouldn’t give to see her husband right that moment.
The driver called up, “Lord Whitcomb is in the house with Lord Effingham. He’s come to get you, my lady. He should be there any moment.”
“Clarissa,” David called out in a muffled voice behind her. An enormous thud made the door shudder. “I’ll be there just as soon as I break down this door!”
Another impact made the door give way. It splintered and fell into the room, revealing her husband.
A moment later, he gripped her with fierce strength, kissing her head and murmuring her name again and again. Nothing mattered but his warm embrace. Her knight had rescued her once again.
“Clarissa, my love. You’re safe. I have you.” He gripped her so tightly she could hardly breathe, and her heart soared. Hecalled her “my love”! He did have feeling for her, no matter how hard he tried to hold them at bay.
“I’m here. He can’t take me from you. Please believe me that it’s all a lie.”
He was silent for a long moment. Too long. Did he doubt her?
“I—”
The click of a cocked gun made them both stiffen.
“Unhand my wife.” Effingham. Would he never leave her in peace? And how were they to escape now that he had a weapon?
David pushed her behind him, shielding her from that lout she’d almost married—a folly that she would regret for the rest of her life.
She peered out from behind him. “It’s over, Effingham. I’m not your wife, no matter how many papers you falsify.”
“I don’t think so. My license cancels out his. And right now, I have a pistol, and he doesn’t. I saw him leave his in my study. That means I have the upper hand.”
No. There had to be some hope. It simply wasn’t possible for that pig to win. She refused to believe it. She might have been shaking like a leaf at the sight of the muzzle pointed at David’s chest, but she was not ready to give up.
“You want money, yes? That’s what this is all about?” She was grasping at straws, but she had to try something.
Effingham’s eyes narrowed. “In part. I owe too many unscrupulous people too many debts, including that harpy who matched you with Whitcomb. Though she isn’t the worst. One of my lenders put a bounty on my head last week, and my life is forfeit if I don’t pay up. I need a fortune, and I need it now. But that’s not all. You humiliated me, Clary. And no one does that without paying a price.”
Him and his stupid pride. She hoped he never lived down the humiliation of losing her. But she couldn’t afford to offend him when he had a gun pointed at the man she loved.
“I sincerely apologize,” she said as humbly as she could manage while she seethed inside. “It was never my intention to humiliate you.”Even though you humiliated me so thoroughly that I can never show my face in London again.
Jeffrey pressed his lips together and nodded. “That’s a good start. Let’s see if you can do better. On your knees, little wife. I want to see you beg for my forgiveness.”
“Never!” The audacity of this man!
But he took a step forward, aiming at David’s heart.
“No,” she shrieked. There was too much at stake. She wouldn’t sacrifice David’s life for her own pride. Slipping around David, she slowly knelt on the floor.
Effingham kept the gun leveled at David.
“If he pulls the trigger, run. Don’t try to save me,” David murmured.
No.She couldn’t lose him, no matter what the dangers.
“How much do you need?” She didn’t want to give the villain a cent, but if money and apologies were what it took to get Jeffrey out of her life once and for all, she would gladly pay the price.
“All of it.” His contemptuous sneer failed to disguise the greed of his gaze. Her ploy was working.
