Seth felt a storm of emotions, all tangling and blurring together. His primary concern was Cassandra, who had finished his glass of brandy during his conversation with Cooper. She hiccuped and burrowed closer into his chest, and the resoundingreliefthat she was alive brought tears to his eyes. As he held her, a lingering fear rent his heart into unsteady tempos, spiking and plummeting, not knowing the consequences of the actions taken tokeepher alive.
“I don’t feel anything either,” Cassandra slurred, her eyes flutteredclosed. “Warm.”
“That’s the brandy, love. It wears off,” Seth kissed her brow. “You’ll feel different in the morning. Worse if you don’t stop now.”He faced Cooper. “Your numbness will wear off, too.”
Seth jumped when a sharprapsounded on the door, and he relaxed when he saw Adrian. Pristine in his suit, hair slicked back, he had a minuscule furrow to his brow that he wore whenever he faced a particularly tedious task. In an uncharacteristic show of emotion, he came into the room andsighed.
“Sir Reginald Thomas is dead.”
“I know he’s dead, Blackmoor, I shot him!” Cooper snapped. Cassandra flinched at his tone. “What does that mean for me? I killed a man tonight.” Running a shaking hand through his hair, he whispered, “Will I hang for it tomorrow?”
“No,” Adrian said at once.
“You say that with such certainty.” Seth frowned. “Bishop will demand justice, he’ll accuse us all of murder.”
Adrian gave an unaffected shrug with one shoulder. “It’ll amount to nothing. Tomorrow you’ll make a statement to the magistrate claiming self-defense, and I’ll do the rest.”
“That simple?” Cooper asked. “I’m officially a member of the Hollingsworth family, hm? I can murder someone, and you can make it go away?” He snapped his fingers. “Just like that?”
“All I do is make thingsclean, Lord Lincolnshire. You acted in self-defense. It’s my job to ensure there’s no question of that,” Adrian said. “I’ll have witnesses, but I doubt I’ll need them. Sir Reginald kept an extensive journal stating his intentions to take Mrs. Reeves’ life. It will be found in his study tomorrow morning.”
Seth quirked a brow. “Is that journal being written as we speak?”
“Of course not.” Adrian glared at him. “And it’s best if you don’t inquire further.”
“This is just another day in the office for you, isn’t it, Blackmoor?” Cooper tossed back his brandy, squinted, and pointed past Adrian. “You… in the shadows beyond the door. Come into the light.”
With a mop of brown hair and a downcast face, Trevor toed into the room. His watery eyes leaked onto tear-splotched cheeks, and he stood at attention. His mouth moved open and then closed.
He looked at Cassandra and sobbed, “Ifailedyou.”
Cassandra rushed to him. Tripping over her skirts, she all but toppled the boy over to wrap him in a firm embrace. “No, mydarlingboy. Yousavedme.” She shushed him, but Trevor only cried harder. “You weresobrave… you dideverythingright. Dry your tears. That’s a good boy.”
Seth stood and guided them back to the sofa. Cassandra wrapped a blanket around herself and Trevor, and whispered soothing words in his hair as the boy continued to weep. Until that moment, Seth hadn’t pieced together why Trevor had been there that night. Or in their lives to begin with. A boy that came from nowhere that wouldnottake no for an answer, who wroteextensiveletters on his dining room table to his—
Seth glowered at Adrian. “You wouldn’t be ‘Ma,’ would you?”
Cassandra’s head snapped to Adrian’s, and she froze him to the spot with the strength of her fury. “It was you.Youwere the one who told him to defend me with his life. Seth would have never given that order,” she said through gritted teeth. “This is your ‘security’? You should be ashamed of yourself, Adrian! Trevor isfourteenyears old. He should be in school! Or at home, enjoying his childhood. He shouldn’t be spying on my household, stalking madmen around balls, and sacrificing himself at gunpoint!”
Chastised, Adrian tried to speak, but Cassandra cut him off. “You clearly can’t be trusted with him, so I’m taking him off your hands. He’s mine now.”
“Wait.” Adrian blinked. “He’s what?”
If Trevor kept following Adrian’s path, he would arrive at the same destination that Seth had, or he might not arrive at all. Adrian may have planted Trevor in their lives, but he wastheirsnow—Seth’s and Cassandra’s—and they would raise him right.
“I believe what my wife means to say, Lord Blackmoor, is that you’ll be releasing Trevor from your employ into our care. We’ll take over from here.” Seth smirked. “And it’s best if you don’t argue further.”
At Cassandra’s glare, Adrian averted his gaze and said, “Very well.”
Trevor’s lip quivered when he met Seth’s eyes. “I’m not a good valet.”
“Trevor, I’m not hiring you as a valet, I’m offering you ahome.As far as employment, we’ll find something constructive for you to do,” Seth promised. “It never hurts to have someone around that’s handy with a pair of pincers.”
“I’ll be useful, I swear it.” Trevor rubbed his fists into his eyes. “I know how to use most tools. Chisels. Saws. Hammers.” He sniffed. “I’m really good with hammers.”
Turning green, Seth shot a pointed look at Adrian. “The less I know the better.”
Adrian nodded. “Indeed.”
