Page 124 of Four Promises to Love

“I am so sorry I put you and your babe in danger. I don’t know how you can forgive me⁠—”

“You didn’t endanger me—Carver’s cutthroats did. It wasn’t your fault I went downstairs for milk, and they cornered me. In fact, you offered to take my place and tried to barter your freedom for mine.”

Finn shook her head. “My actions placed you in that situation.”

“Did you tell Carver about the ring and where it was kept?” Xenia asked.

“No.”

After a brief hesitation, Finn shared Caleb’s role in the fiasco. She didn’t like portraying a fellow Hawk in a bad light, but he was in trouble. If she wanted the Harringtons’ help to save her gang, they needed to know the full story. She’d learned her lesson. There would be no more lying—even by omission.

“I tried to keep the ring and final clue hidden from Carver,” she concluded. “I thought that by doing so I could protect Iris and all of you. But I failed. Now Caleb, Nell, and Simon have marched off to rescue Iris, and I couldn’t stop them. I’m so scared they will suffer a terrible fate. I know I have no right to ask for help after everything I’ve done. But I am asking. Will you please help me save my family?”

Owen put his arm around her.

“You can count on us.” He looked at his family. “Can’t she?”

The marquess spoke up. “This is dangerous business. The sort best left to the authorities.”

“The authorities aren’t interested in helping people like us,” Finn said.

“Justice is justice. This Carver fellow is a criminal: the police must apprehend him, and he must be tried in the courts, according to the laws of the land.”

Desperation filled her. How could she make the Blackwood patriarch understand the plight of the Hawks? He was a peer of the realm, a war hero admired by all. Of course he believed that justice existed and was freely available—because for people like him, it was.

“By the time the Peelers get to Carver—if they manage to get their hands on him—Iris and the others will be dead,” the Duke of Grantley said.

At Finn’s look of surprise, he shrugged.

“I know a thing or two about cutthroats,” he said sardonically. “If we want to save the Hawks, there is only one solution.”

“Find the treasure,” Owen’s mama said with a nod. “The jewels are our only leverage.”

Finn’s jaw slackened.

“My dear girl.” The marchioness looked faintly amused. “Did you think you were the only one in this room who has dealt with ruthless brutes?”

“Well, yes,” she admitted.

The marquess lowered his brows. “Penny, this is far too dangerous⁠—”

“Ad Finem Fidelis, Marcus darling. That is the family motto. And Finn is to be part of our family—isn’t she?”

She directed the last question at her youngest son.

“Yes,” Owen said firmly. “She is.”

Joy spilled through Finn like a brilliant sunrise. The warmth and brightness reached every lonely corner of her soul and banished the shadows. The feeling she’d yearned for her entire life filled her, and she knew she’d truly found her home.

But she was still Finn Kidd.

She arched her brows. “That’s rather presumptuous, isn’t it?”

“Are you going to refuse when I ask you to marry me?” he countered.

“That is the most backward proposal I’ve ever heard,” she muttered.

“Well, that suits us, doesn’t it?”