“Stay back, Cecilia. Head away. My cousin and I are with a shooting party.”
“He’s gone mad, Lady Gantry. Servant, he’s trying to kill me.” He looked up but the footman didn’t move. With all the things Tramel had done, they were trained not to admit to anything.
Cecilia pressed forward and locked her arms about Felton’s waist. “Don’t do this for me.”
Felton patted her arms. “I won’t have to. He’ll be dealt with as a traitor and executed by Lord Liverpool himself.”
Gladstone got up, wrenched the gun from behind his back. “I’ll kill you, Gantry, or the wife if you don’t order a horse set free. I have one shot. You know I’ll get one of you.”
“No, you won’t.” Felton raised his weapon. “You’re a hunted man. You’ll never have rest.”
The fiend ran to the footman, who’d begun to untie the horse.
The carriage door opened. A young, thin woman in a ghostly gray shawl popped out. “Yes, Jeremiah. You’ll never have rest.”
As if he’d seen a specter, the man backed away. “Helena? You’re alive? They said you died in a rebellion.”
She said nothing but paced toward him.
There was something in her hand. Oh, Lord, she had Old Brown, Felton’s blunderbuss.
“Helena, stop. He’s going to be taken in.”
“It’s Mrs. Gladstone, Lord Gantry.” His sister-in-law’s hand shook. “He’s a thief. I’m dealing with the rotten horse thief. He needs to cower and be terrorized. Beg for your life, like I did.”
Gladstone backed up to the cliff again. His heels dangled close to the edge. He could’ve shot Helena, but he shook too badly. “Helena, I’m sorry. Let me explain.”
She held the gun out straight.
She squeezed the trigger.
The shot sounded and whizzed at Gladstone.
The smoke cleared.
The sand gave way.
Gladstone clutched his chest and fell backward.
The impact of his body hitting the rocks was like an explosion.
Cecilia and Felton ran to Helena. His wife dragged her sister away from the edge and he took the gun.
The door to the carriage opened. “Gantry!” Tramel sat inside propping the door with his cane. “Gantry, get the ladies into the carriage.”
His father, who seemed to have made a full recovery, waved them forward.
“Tramel, Father, take the ladies back to Warwick and let’s make this all disappear.” He gave him his discharged rifle. “Make this disappear before the inquest.”
Cecilia intercepted the gun. “It’s warm, Felton.”
“Yes. That’s what happens when it’s used. Have I taught you nothing?”
The duke held out his hand for Helena. The woman looked like an empty shell.
Felton kissed Cecilia’s cheek. “Take care of our family, you and Tramel back at Warwick.”
Cecilia didn’t get in the carriage. She reached for his neck. “Felton, I don’t want to leave you. We don’t do well separated.”
