Page 49

This was how the butler must have coerced Molly into leaving with him. How long had the servant had the pistol in his possession? Had he tired of making his attempts at murder look like accidents and decided to take a more direct course? MacNaby would have had to have taken it even before Molly had uncovered his corruption.

Soon the four of them waited out in the entry hall for the carriage to be brought around, Marco bouncing on his toes with impatience while Lorenzo distributed the daggers Marco had gathered up.

“I think we should take the rifles, too.”

“I could not find any gunpowder. They are useless,” replied Marco.

“Yet a Brown Bessie can be used as an effective club,” commented Sebastian.

“Then take one.”

Lorenzo and the Norseman nodded, grins spreading across their faces as they each took up a rifle from the display, a circle of firearms radiating outward from a central point on the wall.

Marco pondered their difference in moods. They seemed almost eager to hunt MacNaby to the ground, while he could not stop thinking about what would happen if he failed her. A world without Molly Carter was … inconceivable.

“You hold her in more esteem than I realized.” Angelo spoke from behind his shoulder, Marco watching the street to see the second the carriage approached.

“I do not desire it … to hold someone in such high regard, knowing the frailty of life. It is … perilous to one’s state of mind.”

“Molly is not frail.”

“We are all frail.”

“That is rather … pessimista?”

“I think … pessimistic. And it is my experience.”

“You mean because of what happened with …” Angelo paused, as if searching the depths of his memories. “Miss Dashwood?”

“Sì. And our father.”

“Marco, I am disappointed by your cowardice.”

Marco frowned, spinning on his heel to glare at his brother. “Cowardice?”

“Chi non intraprese mai nulla non realizzò mai nulla.”

“He who never undertook anything never achieved anything?”

“Sì. You cannot compare Miss Dashwood to Molly. Molly is strong. Undaunted.”

Sebastian chimed in. “Miss Carter? That young lady has gumption. She will be alive and well when we get there. I am sure of it.”

The sound of the carriage approaching had Marco turning back to the window, flinging the door open to hurry outside as fear for Molly’s safety continued to make his heart pound against his bruised ribs with unrelenting force. His woman needed him.

“I hope so. MacNaby is a lunatic.”