The man on the left took a step toward Tate Hall first, shifting backward as he kept his eyes on Julia and the revolver. The other followed his lead almost immediately, most likely not wanting to be the easier target.
Lord Murphy cursed loudly again, pressing hard against the wound in his thigh. “Wait ...” Lord Murphy called from the ground. “If you fetch the doctor, I won’t hunt you down.”
It was a much better order than he’d given them earlier, and the two men nodded, seemingly happy to take the chance to leave the unfolding drama.
“No,” David said, and the men stopped again. “Don’t fetch the doctor.”
Lord Murphy hissed. “I’m the one paying them, you ingrate.”
“We all know you won’t be paying them anymore.” He turned to Julia. “Put the gun back on them,” David said. Julia nodded and trained the gun on them once again. “We will let those men go and fetch James once we’ve reached an agreement. The first one is this: You are never to speak to my wife again.”
“Or me,” Julia added.
Lord Murphy pressed down on his wound, blood seeping through his pant leg and onto the ground. “I’ve never hurt you, Julia.”
“You never burned me, but you hurt me. You hurt me enough that I’m not certain I won’t shoot you again. This time with better aim. It would be a mercy to our family to have you gone.” Julia’s voice was like granite.
Lord Murphy gritted his teeth, his eyes dulling after Julia’s words. Had he really thought he could retain her love after all he had done? The man was sick.
With a groan that seemed to imply he felt he was being treated unfairly, Lord Murphy tore his eyes from his daughter and focused on David. “I’ll promise never to see the two of you again if you promise you won’t have children. I can’t have tainted blood in line for my title.”
“No,” David said. “You will not dictate when or how many children we have. If we do have children, we don’t want them anywherenear you. If you try to find us, we will bring them to London and set them as heirs. We will make certain everyone knows exactly who they are. But if you leave us alone, we will change our name and disappear.”
Lord Murphy pushed harder on his wound, a dark pool was starting to form under his leg. “And if I don’t agree to this plan?”
“I suppose you will have to hope that bleeding stops on its own, because we are leaving one way or another.” David motioned to the two men Julia had her revolver trained on. “Those two men are your only chance at getting James here to treat you, and we are happy to keep them here, delaying the doctor, until you do finally agree.”
Lord Murphy swore loudly, banged his fist on the ground, and then quieted. Silence fell over the path. Finally, he nodded. “I’d rather never look upon you again anyway. We have an agreement. Thank the heavens, I have one child who has not squandered the life I’ve given him.”
Julia lowered her gun, and the men waited until she nodded to leave. The sound of their boots pounding down the path grew softer until all we could hear was Lord Murphy’s groaning. Julia still held the gun, and she was the first of the three of us to move. She strode forward, never taking her eyes off Lord Murphy. It took David and me several seconds to realize exactly what she was planning, but when it dawned on us, David dashed forward, while I sank to the ground. As Julia had said, this was a family matter.
If Julia wanted to shoot her father again, I wasn’t going to stop her. Not after what he’d done to David and what he’d threatened to do to our future children.
David reached Julia just as she put a foot on her father’s chest and pushed him flat onto the ground, the revolver pointed directly at his heart.
David put a hand on her arm but didn’t push it away from its target. “Don’t do it, Julia,” he said softly.
For the first time since the gun had come out, a crack formed in Julia’s cold countenance, and her hand trembled. “I should. I think it’s the right thing to do.”
David shook his head. “No, it isn’t.”
Julia whipped her face toward him. “You think he deserves to live?”
David’s shoulders slumped, and he moved his hand from her arm. “I don’t have an answer for that, but I know you don’t deserve to have him take one more thing from you.”
Lord Murphy spat up at David. “You’re so weak. Even now. I tried to make you tougher, but—” Julia pressed her foot down harder on his chest, his grunt of pain cutting off his sentence.
“Those words do not make me want to shoot you less,” she said with an edge of madness in her tone.
The sound of pounding hooves came from the house, but when we glanced up, the horses were headed away from Tate Hall. It looked as though Lord Murphy’s men were leaving.
“Let’s go.” David motioned not to the house but to our original route.
Lord Murphy groaned. “You’re going to leave me here? Bleeding?”
David’s face had gone as cold as Julia’s. “I assume your friends will be clear in their directions to James. He can help you back to the house.”
“One man?” Lord Murphy looked small curled on the ground, his eyes measuring the distance to Tate Hall.
