Chapter Twenty-One
PushingMilly behind his back, he held her there.
“No!” She struggled to free herself. “I have a right to see the face of the man who has meddled in my life.”
“Milly, stay back!”
“I will not!”
“Such fire, my dear. We shall be very happy together, as I knew we would be when I made the deal with your dear, departed father.”
The man had a smug look on his face that made Joseph’s fingers itch. He’d disliked a few people in his life, but this man he reserved a special hatred for.
“Mr. George, I believe,” Joseph drawled. “You, sir, have caused my fiancée and me a great deal of trouble.”
The smile slipped slightly. “She will not wed you, my lord.”
“Oh, but she will, and let us not forget that several of my peers saw me walk through your establishment tonight. Imagine if this was the last place I was seen. Surely that would cast suspicion on you. As it would if you removed every last member of my family.”
“I will have her.”
“As I would die to keep her safe, you will have to walk through me first.”
“Why have you persisted in pursuing me?” Milly asked.
Joseph saw Mr. Brown appear briefly behind George and his men, and then disappear again. He had no doubt the Bow Street runner was planning something, and when he did, Joseph would be ready.
“Your father owed me, and I always ensure my debts are repaid.”
“You cannot repay a debt with a person,” Milly scoffed. “Neither you nor my father had a right to use me like chattel.”
Aware that his brothers were standing silently at his back, Joseph knew they would have seen Brown also, and would be ready and waiting.
“I wanted you from the first moment I saw you, Lady Millicent. Your mistake was in thinking I would stop before I had you.”
“But I loved another!”
“Milly, that’s enough, love—”
“No.” She spat out the word. “It is nowhere near enough!”
“This man has no morals, Milly,” Joseph said.
“Yes, my dear, do not mistake me for your cosseted, soft nobleman.”
“Joseph is ten times the man you are!”
“Thank you, Milly, but that will do now,” Joseph said. “You will never have her, George. We are at a stalemate, surely. Guns firing in the hallowed walls of this reputable establishment will draw people and suspicion, and finding several dead peers will not go well for you either.”
George paled slightly, then his lips pressed together, and Joseph knew he hadn’t put a great deal of thought into what he had done tonight.
“Fire!”
George turned, as did the other men at his side, at Mr. Brown’s roar, and Joseph seized the moment and leapt at him. Carrying the man to the ground, he pounded his fist into his face. It felt good enough to do so again.
Around him, his brothers were meting out their own justice to George’s men.
“Bastard!”
