“So then it will be exposure,” Fitzgilbert said. “That’s all the choice you have.”
“No,” Asher said. “Because we know what you are.”
Dane edged closer. “A traitor.”
For a moment, Fitzgilbert’s expression faltered and he actually looked surprised by the revelation. “You don’t know anything.”
“I’m an agent of the crown, Fitzgilbert,” Dane said softly. “It is why I pretended to be the Duke of Clairemont, for a case. At the time I first met you, I had no idea of what you were involved in, but you brought so much attention to yourself with this book nonsense, with this quest for revenge, that your activities regarding profiteering and collusion came to the fore.”
Fitzgilbert’s eyes bugged out. “You have no proof.”
“Idohave proof,” Dane said. “You can add a murder charge to all that if you hurt Felicity. But if you don’t and you help us, you may be jailed, but it could be comfortable. It could be easier. You could even be sent somewhere to start over. I could arrange for that.”
From Dane’s tone of voice, Asher could tell his friend was disgusted by the idea. But to save Felicity, he would bargain. Even with a man he despised.
“Think about it,” Asher said. “What he’s offering won’t come round again, you know that.”
Fitzgilbert’s expression was like a fox cornered by dogs. There was nowhere to run now and he saw it. No way to escape and it was everything this bastard feared.
His hand went lax around Felicity, and she looked at Asher. He saw what she would do just before she threw her elbow back and connected squarely with Fitzgilbert’s ribs.
The older man buckled and she darted from his arms toward Asher. In the same moment Dane jumped forward and tackled Fitzgilbert. They fell to the ground together with Fitzgilbert’s gun still in his hand. Dane grabbed for it and the two men struggled for purchase.
Asher pulled his own weapon from his boot as he thrust Felicity behind him and leveled it on Fitzgilbert, but he had no clear shot as Dane still worked to remove the old man’s gun.
“I will not be caged and my secrets will never be revealed!” Fitzgilbert cried. As he did so, he yanked, pulling the gun away from Dane’s grip. But he didn’t level it on Dane or Felicity or Asher. Instead, he lifted it to his own temple and pulled the trigger.
Asher grabbed Felicity to turn her away from the scene. She clung to him, trembling in his arms as he smoothed a hand over her hair. Dane crouched down over the now prone Fitzgilbert and then looked up at Asher with a small shake of his head. The man was dead.
“It’s over,” Asher soothed her. “It’s over now.”
There was a commotion in the hallway, and the parlor door flew open to reveal Asher’s friend Hendrix and a few other servants. When they saw their master dead on the floor, all of them came to a stop.
“Lord,” Hendrix said on a low whistle. “Everyone else all right?”
Asher gave his friend as reassuring a smile as he could. “Yes. Mr. Dane will need someone to fetch assistance in a moment. Would you step out until he’s ready?”
Hendrix held his gaze for a moment, then nodded as he ushered the others out.
Dane had been crouched over the body, and now he rose to his feet. When he faced Asher and Felicity, he had pages in his hands. “These were in his pocket.”
Asher instantly recognized them as pages from the diary, and from Felicity’s gasp, so did she. Asher tensed. “Do they have Felicity’s name on them?”
“Barbridge,” Dane confirmed as he looked over the pages swiftly.
Felicity went limp in his arms as she whispered, “Thank God.”
Dane nodded. “Yes. I’ll call for officials from the War Department, but I’m afraid this entire bundle will just be missing from the book when I return it. I’m certain it has the information we’ve sought.” He moved to exit the room to make his call for assistance, but as he passed Felicity, he stopped. “When this is over, you and I will have a chat about why you put yourself in such danger.”
She looked up at him, her body still tucked against Asher. “I thought he had a soul,” she whispered. “That no matter what horrible things he’d done, perhaps there was something in him that could be reasoned with. Something worth saving. It’s what I hoped others could see in me.”
Dane’s expression softened as he leaned in to touch her arm. “You are nothing like that monster, Felicity. Never tell yourself you haveanythingin common with him.”
Dane left the room and Asher put his arm around her to guide her toward the exit, as well. As they moved, she let out a great sigh.
“It’s my fault that Celia and Rosalinde’s grandfather is dead,” she whispered.
“Don’t take on that burden with the others,” Asher said as they made their way to the foyer. “He killed himself. There was no one to blame but him.”
