“My lady will do,” Heather replied. “Now, will you do me the great favor of lowering that gangplank? I do not wish to sail anywhere today.”
The caption nodded, giving a curt order to two men, who leapt to obey. By now, both Ian and Robert (where had he come from?) were waiting to swarm up the moment they could.
“Heather.”
She turned to see Niall standing in the middle of the deck.
Giving up any pretense, she rushed into his arms. “Niall. Oh, God, Niall.” That was all she said, but the moment she felt his arms around her, she started shaking, her heart beating rapidly within her breast. The terror she’d staved off for so long came rushing up now that the danger was over.
“Did he hurt you?” Niall asked, his voice gruff.
“No.”
Then he carefully disengaged, setting her at his side. “Wait here.”
He stalked back to Webb. “I should just throw you over the side and let you drown,” he said.
“You can’t do that!”
“Well, I can. But I won’t. Though you’re not worth much, I want to keep you around long enough to be punished for kidnapping Heather.”
“Heather was promised to me,” Webb sputtered. “Me! I would have had her every night, whenever I wanted, and she could never say no.”
Like a child pouting about a sweet, he was. Heather listened, more repelled by him with every passing moment.
Niall also recoiled at the rampant lust in the other man’s tone. “You’re old enough to be her grandfather.”
“So? That pretty body, plus five hundred every year, what man could say no?”
“Thousand,” Heather corrected automatically.
Webb looked at her in confusion. “What?”
“I’m due to receive ten thousand in income every year, not one thousand. So if you both split it, you’d get fivethousand.” She tipped her head, giving him an almost indulgent smile. “But Uncle Cyril never told you that, did he. I realized that in the carriage, when you never mentioned the size of my inheritance. He let everyone, including me, think I was worth far less.”
“Five thousand?” Webb echoed, his mind clearly stuck on that revelation. “Fivethousand?”
“Aye. Though as we’ve all made quite clear, I’m already married to another man, so it’s a moot point.”
“Five thousand.”
“Stop saying that over and over,” she told him. “You sound like a parrot.”
Niall was obviously out of patience, and said, “Enough. Webb, you’ll go with my brothers to make a full report to the local magistrate. A written statement, mind. You’ll not be backing out of this. And when I pursue charges against Mr. Cyril Hayes, you may hope that your account will give you some leniency regarding your sentence for kidnapping a countess.”
Webb’s forehead was sweaty and his skin pale. But he had no way out now, so he nodded. Heather suspected he’d cast all the blame he could onto Cyril. And in truth, she didn’t much care, so long as both men were punished.
Still, she added, “And you’d better not warn my uncle of this change in fortune. Because if he goes underground or leaves the country, you’ll have no one to point a finger at. And hewasgoing to cheat you out of thousands of pounds.”
Webb nodded again, his lips pursed as he considered his fate. “Let him be surprised,” he muttered. “It’s his turn.”
Niall looked to Ian and Rob. “See that he gets to the magistrate, will you?”
“Oh, he’ll get there,” Ian said, stepping forward to grab Webb by the arm. “In fact, let’s take your fancy carriage.”
“Good idea,” Rob added, looking to the driver, who had remained scared and silent during the whole exchange. “I’ll sit up with you, show you the way.”
The driver nodded quickly, accepting that with no qualms. It meant that there would be no last-minute diversion onto another road.
