Page 83 of The Lady’s Sweet Revenge

Before the man got out another word, Reese strode to him and punched him right in the face, knocking him to his back there in the drive. He heard a low chuckle come from inside the carriage. Merrick was likely amused that his captor had been knocked from his senses.

Fortunately, both Merrick and Polk were chained in irons to the inside of the carriage where they would stay until they arrived back in London. When Collins came to a few moments later, he shook his head and sat up.

“What the bloody hell, Breckenridge?”

“I don’t give a damn about any of this.” He waved toward the carriage. The only thing Reese cared about had left him without giving him a chance to explain. “You put an innocent woman in danger. I will make sure the counsel hears of what measures you took to capture your target. This is not how a gentleman goes about these things.”

“You were an agent yourself, so you know that sometimes people get hurt in order to protect the great good.”

Reese lurched out, planning to strike the man again as the first time had obviously not helped him. Collins was ready this time and ducked away.

“If this about the girl, I’m sure she’ll come around.” The man rolled his eyes as if he didn’t know how close he was to having the life choked from him. “Everyone knows you’re a catch.”

With that, the man jumped up into his carriage.

“Lord Breckenridge,” Polk said, his face streaked with tears. When Reese’s attention moved to him, the man continued. “Thank you for taking care of my niece. You don’t know how relieved I am to know she is alive and safe. I am in your debt.”

“Now that the truth has come out, Harlow may forgive you.”

Polk frowned and shook his head. “I don’t deserve her forgiveness. But I’ll do whatever is needed to see this man can never harm her again.”

He glared at Merrick seated next to him. It was clear that Polk would testify against Merrick and the captain would be hung for his crimes. But what would happen to Polk?

“See that he is given a chance,” Reese said to Collins. He didn’t know if or when Harlow would see the truth of Polk’s involvement, but if she did, she wouldn’t want to find out he was hung. That would likely weigh on her, and Reese wouldn’t have it.

“Yes. It seems he’s not as bad as we thought. That will be for the court to decide. Not me. We need to go.”

With that, they rode off, leaving Reese standing there alone in his drive as the sky finally let loose with the rain.

Eventually, he made it into the house to find his mother waiting for him.

“You may return to London, Mother. You are no longer needed here. I’ll see your accounts are paid.”

“Reese? Are you well? I can stay—”

He didn’t answer. He continued alone to his study and locked himself inside with a substantial amount of whisky.

*

Luke took Harlow to their country home in Lancashire where her entire family was waiting. Well, not her entire family. Uncle Edgar was not there, and she doubted she would ever see him again. He’d been taken into custody with Merrick and would be tried for his involvement, which turned out to not be as she’d thought.

In fact, he’d done the right thing in getting rid of the list and keeping the information from falling into the hands of the French. And she wanted to believe he’d not known Merrick’s plans to take her from the park that morning.

He’d been right when he’d said he couldn’t have fought off so many of them. Yet, he hadn’t even tried.

It was strange that she missed someone she’d thought to do away with by her own hand. But if she’d learned anything in all of this, it was that emotions didn’t always make a bit of sense. For she also missed Reese, and he had used her to get his own revenge on the man who had tried to kill him.

Her brothers kept their distance, offering worried smiles when she made eye contact with them. Luke must have told them all that had transpired in Scotland and they either didn’t know what to say or were terrified of her.

She didn’t bother to do anything to ease the tension for she didn’t know what to say to them either. She was angry at everyone, including herself. It was best for her to just stay in her room looking out the window at nothing.

“Dearest?” her mother called as she came into the room. “You need to eat something.”

Harlow had been there for three days already and had barely eaten for fear she might not keep it down. Her appetite seemed to have remained at Slains Castle along with her heart. She was a mess of conflicting feelings. For even after Reese had betrayed her, she loved him still.

“He lied to me,” Harlow said, breaking down into tears despite her aversion to crying. It did nothing to help a situation. She still felt awful.

“Shh…” Her mother sat next to her and pulled her into a hug much like she’d done when Harlow was small and she’d been upset over her brothers leaving her behind. “I’m sorry, pet. I know you are hurting, but I’m so glad to have you here. Safe and sound. You don’t need to worry about anything that happened in Scotland. You never need to think on it again.”