Gregory shrugged, as though the matter bored him. “I didn’t have to lift a finger. Loretta—bless her venomous little heart—offered herself. She despises April, and rightfully so, for I promised her the title would be hers when I proposed rather hastily. Best to strike before you saddle yourself with an heir, and it is easier to remove her now than deal with a brat later.”
Theo’s blood surged. A part of him—wild, primal—wanted to lunge forward and end this.Not yet. Not until April is safe.
“Why did you propose hastily to Loretta?” Theo asked with a slight title of his head. He wanted to understand more of Loretta’s motive.
“Since you are a dead man, I suppose I can tell you. She got with child while we were courting.”
Theo felt his brow rise. “Yours?”
“Who else’s?” Gregory snapped.
“Perhaps you should really look into it. Would be a shame if the Stone title passed on to an undeserving son.”
Gregory’s hand that was aiming the pistol at him trembled slightly. “I would be very careful if I were you, Theo.”
A bush shifted just over Gregory’s shoulder. There, Redmond’s form slid silently through the shadows.
Theo kept talking. “The Mercies are caught,” he said. “They’ve named names—yours among them. If you kill me now, the law will still find you. You cannot run forever.”
Gregory’s brow twitched. Just a flicker. But it was enough. His jaw clenched. He hesitated.
“You devil!”
A blur flew through the air and struck Gregory’s head with a thwack. His arm jerked, pistol misaligned?—
Two shots cracked into the silence.
Theo dropped to a knee, the ringing in his ears blocking all else. Smoke drifted across the clearing. His vision cleared just enough to see Gregory collapsing, howling in pain, clutching his bleeding shin.
A beaded reticule lay in the dirt beside him.
Theo’s heart leapt.April.
She was running through the trees, breathless and furious, skirts tangled around her boots.
Redmond and Elderman were already on Gregory, disarming him, forcing him flat against the earth.
Theo surged forward and caught April in his arms, pulling her tightly against him.
“You bloody stubborn woman,” he said, his voice rough with relief, pressing kisses to her brow, her cheeks, her mouth. “No sense of danger. Absolutely none. Do you know what you’ve done to me?”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on as though she might never let go.
“You are the most maddening, golden, reckless ball of sunshine I cannot—will not—live without.”
He kissed her again, deeply, hungrily. “I didn’t mean a single word of what I said back there,” he whispered against her skin. “Not a syllable. I only needed you safe. I thought if I broke your heart, you’d stay behind.”
She drew back slowly. Her face was impassive.
“Nothing,” he said again, more desperate. “You are not convenience. You are not obligation. You areeverything.”
She said nothing.
“I will do anything to see you smile again,” he pleaded. “Anything.”
“Anything?”
“Yes.”
