“Yes. I was. But thanks to you, I shall never be fooled again. Thanks to you, I have grown. I have learned I can rely on myself. I escaped you on the continent and made my own way back to England. I kept my son safe. And when you came for us, my loved ones and I defeated you. You are going to prison, and I rather hope they will throw away the key.”
“Here, here,” Lucian said, and clapped. “I am beginning to think we ought to make you an honorary Langley wife. You certainly have the constitution for it.”
The men took hold of Devereau, who continued to shout all manner of insults, and his fallen brute, who was already grunting his way back to consciousness.
“Lucian,” Julian called, “someone ought to let James and Gideon out and see to Nathaniel. The three of them got themselves rather thoroughly ambushed by this fellow’s man.”
“Of course, they did.” Lucian grinned. “We shall make certain they are unharmed. And once we know they are, we shall hold this over them for the rest of the year.”
“The rest of the year?” Rhys said. “For all eternity. I can already think of a dozen jests we can turn their misfortune into.” They chuckled and walked out.
“I will go with them and show them where they are being held,” Arabella said.
They were all leaving. Clara realized, with a jolt, that in another moment she would be alone with Julian. She tensed and tried to follow them, but Arabella turned, and with the one free hand not holding Horatio, she gently pushed her back.
“You need to listen to my cousin,” Arabella said. “He is an utter fool, as we both know, and he said things he should never have said, but you also acted upon hearing only part of it. The two of you rather deserve one another, for neither of you has the patience or foresight to confront the other properly. Now, you will stay in this room until matters are sorted.”
And with that she swept out and followed the men down the hall.
“I do not understand,” Clara said.
“Neither do I.” Julian shook his head then collected himself. “That is to say, I do. I can only imagine what you heard.”
“I heard you say you did not love me. That this was all an arrangement. That our involvement was what caused you to be distracted from keeping David safe. Or Horatio, I suppose we ought to call him by his proper name again now.”
“I did say those things. But that is not what I meant. I said what I thought I ought to say because I was frustrated and angry at myself because there was nothing I could do and because I could not bear that I had failed to keep him safe. If you had stayed only a few moments longer, you would have heard me say none of it was true. That I do love you. You should have seen me these last hours after I knew you were gone. I thought my life had ended. I had never wanted to love anyone again. And then I met you again, properly this time, and you opened my eyes, and you opened my heart.” He walked towards her and took her hand.
Her first instinct was to pull away. She did not because she knew, in her bones that he was right. She had heard a snippet of a conversation and let it confirm her worst fears, and she had acted on those fears rather than confronting him with them. He had spoken recklessly, but she had run.
“I could think of nothing but finding you,” he said. “You were not at the inn when we arrived, but the innkeeper had your letter.And there was a woman who saw you knocking at the carriage windows to be let out. I came here as fast as I could. I heard him threatening to take you to Italy and…”
“I heard. I also heard you say you would hound him to the very end of the earth.”
He dipped his head slightly. “I would have. I meant every word of that.”
“Yes. I know. I was standing in the hall for quite some while with that vase raised above my head, only waiting for the right moment.”
“How did you find your way here? Where did you come from?”
“I did not think anybody would find me. Devereau was quite clear he expected Arabella to come once word spread that I had disappeared and equally clear he was not opposed to either of us meeting an unfortunate end. I knew I had to get out. I found a jib door behind an armoire in the chamber where they kept me. It had a hidden passage with another door. I made my way through several covered rooms, and I had been planning to go through the house with the baby and out the front door.” She took a breath. “I heard footsteps in the house and naturally thought it was Devereau and his men, so I hid upstairs in a closet and listened, waiting for them to pass. Then I recognized Gideon and James’ voices. I was about to come out of my hiding place when this brute—I do not know his name…”
“Heath,” Julian said.
“Yes. Heath. I had just stepped out when I saw he had followed them and locked the door behind them. I hid myself again until he had passed. Then I followed him at a distance, only to know which way to go to avoid him. I saw him go down the secondary hallway, open a door, and return a moment later with Arabella. I followed them as far as I dared. That was when I saw the light from this study and heard your voice. I hid Horatio in a drawer and crept up to the door. I saw the whole exchange. When Arabella tripped him, I knew it was my chance.”
Julian smiled. “You really are quite handy with assorted household items. This is the second time you have felled a man considerably larger than you. Well, Arabella set it up for you rather nicely, I suppose.”
“I suppose you did not know I had it in me.”
“Oh, I knew. I have known for some time you are not the timid girl you once were. You are rather formidable in fact. In more ways than one.”
“As you said. I saw you take down Devereau yourself.”
He shrugged. “It had to be done.”
“I agree.” She paused. “What do you think will happen now?”
“We’ll rejoin the others. We’ll send for the constables. As I said, he kidnapped you, a peer’s wife. He held Arabella prisoner. He had his men assault three peers of the realm. He will go awayfor a very long time, and we shall be safe. I doubt even his uncle would care to assist him after a failure of this magnitude.”
