There was no more time for thinking, processing.
He lunged at her.
Elizabeth flung herself aside, banging her hip on a rocking chair as she attempted to get away. Carter’s momentum carried himinto the cradle, overturning it with a violent crash. The fake baby rolled limply across the floor in his direction.
Carter snatched the bundle up, yanking back the blanket with a victorious grin that froze as soon as he saw it was empty.
“No,” he gasped. “No!”
Elizabeth scrambled backward towards the door that led to the nurse’s adjoining bedroom where the guards were supposed to be hidden, blood running warm down her arm. Carter rounded on her, his green eyes wild and filled with rage.
Where are they? Do not they know he’s here?
Sucking in a deep breath, she screamed with all her might.
Doors exploded open—both the one behind her and the one that led to the hallway. Half a dozen men burst into the room, their movements quick and precise. Carter turned to run towards the window, and Elizabeth’s heart clenched.
Not again!
“Do not let him get away!” she called. “It is him! He tried to kill me—he tried to kill the baby!”
He almost reached the window, but the nearest guard tackled him mid-stride. The others descended in a blur of motion, ropes already in hand. Two guards wrestled Carter to his knees, binding his arms tightly. He thrashed once, but the rope held. Blood trickled from a split on his temple where he had hit the floor.
She sighed in relief.
Darcy barreled through the doorway. “Elizabeth!”
She hardly saw him before she was in his arms, her fingers gripping the lapels of his coat, her cheek pressed to his shoulder.He smelled like fresh air and warmth and safety, and she sank into the comfort of his embrace.
Mr. Bennet arrived seconds later, his cravat askew, a look of fury in his eyes. He took in the scene with a long, sweeping glance, then looked at Darcy with raised brows. “Well,” he said dryly, “I see I have been replaced. Ah, the passage of time.”
Elizabeth let out a choked laugh against Darcy’s chest. He gave a breathless chuckle in return and tightened his hold on her.
Colonel Fitzwilliam stalked toward the bound figure. “Report.”
Before they could speak, she turned her head and said indignantly, “I was nearly killed. He threw a knife at me, and if I had smelled him just a half-second later, I would have been dead.”
Darcy looked down sharply and sucked in a breath. “You are bleeding.”
“I am fine,” she said faintly, though her arm throbbed with pain.
Mr. Bennet rounded on the colonel. “She is not fine! I thought you said she would be protected!”
“I take full responsibility,” Fitzwilliam said, jaw tight. He turned and glared at one of the men, whom Elizabeth presumed to be the leader. “What happened?”
The guard straightened, his hand twitching up as if fighting back a salute. “We needed to be sure, sir. With witnesses. With evidence. We were watching from the adjoining room through a crack in the door, but he threw the knife so silently, we did not notice it until she had screamed. As soon as we heard her, we entered.”
Understanding dawned as Elizabeth let out a slow, deep breath. “I see. If he had not reached for the cradle or attempted to attack me, it could have easily been explained away in court.”
“That does not mean I will not wring his neck myself,” Darcy growled.
Mr. Bennet stepped back, his eyes on the wound. “I will fetch Mr. Jones.”
“Also, Sir William and Colonel Forster,” Fitzwilliam added. “They will need to see this for himself.”
Mr. Bennet nodded and left the room. Darcy began ushering Elizabeth in the same direction. “Come, let us remove to the library, where you can be properly tended. And out of the reach of…him.” His lip curled in disgust.
Allowing herself to be led away, Elizabeth chanced one last look back at the man who had caused so much terror in the past weeks.
