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Percy snorted in disgust. “I should run you through, but I think I’ll leave the manner of your death for the magistrate to decide.”
“You’ve no evidence.”
“Need I more than the four witnesses here today to say you shot the man you were to second? For that alone I’ll see you dangle at Tyburn,” Percy told him. “But if that’s not enough, then I know you put him up to courting Eden. You wanted revenge on her for rejecting you. I was to have been the means, but when I failed to carry through, you went to Ravenwood.”
“I don’t know what you
’re talking about,” scoffed Wells. “His father had already spoken to her parents concerning a match, at the start of the Season.”
“Yes, but he wasn’t interested in pursuing it until you forced his hand. At first, I couldn’t understand how a man with your lack of influence had managed such a feat, but then I discovered his secret just like you did—only I had no need to frequent Madam Jack’s in order to learn it.”
The man paled, and Percy favored him with a humorless smile. “That particular establishment caters to a very select clientele. The only way you could have known about Ravenwood’s vices was if you were neck-deep in the same pool.”
“I’m no buggerer,” hissed Wells. “Just try and prove it!”
“I don’t have to,” Percy said smoothly. “If shooting the man you were to second in cold blood is not enough to see you strung up, you’ve indulged in another offense that guarantees it.” He bent low. “I’ve sent someone to Crown Court to fetch the girl.”
He watched Wells’s eyes widen, and a tingle raced down his back as the man’s panicked gaze darted to the woods on the far side of the clearing. Ravenwood’s last words echoed in his mind. He’d want no witnesses… “Monty,” he murmured. “You don’t happen to have another loaded pistol about, do you, old fellow?”
Montgomery’s hands stilled in their task of binding a cut on Percy’s upper right arm. “I do.” Reaching beneath his coat, he pulled one out from where it was tucked into his breeches and handed it to him. “I took it off Wells after I knocked him down. He was carrying two.”
“I’ve another, too,” said his driver. “Your lordship often travels to dangerous places, and I don’t like being without some sort of protection. It’s in back under m’coat.”
“Excellent. We’ll probably need them to cover our exit,” Percy said, keeping his tone nonchalant as he planted a boot on Wells’s back and wrist to allow his driver to rise and retrieve his own weapon and hand the other back to Montgomery. “I think we ought to take our friend here back into town.”
Percy bent and shoved the business end of his pistol against Wells’s temple. “Get up—slowly,” he instructed, removing his foot from the man’s back. “Make any quick moves and I’ll put a bullet in your brain. Just so we’re clear, I’m fully aware of your men hiding out there. Signal them to stand down.”
Wells dropped all pretenses. “Bloody bastard, I should have shot you first.”
Percy dug the cold tip of the pistol’s muzzle into the man’s flesh. “Up. You,” he addressed the driver, “keep tight hold of him. Monty, take his other side and watch the trees. Stay close.”
Wells heaved himself to his feet, muttering curses.
“Signal them,” Percy commanded.
“Leave off,” shouted Wells. “Do nothing or they’ll kill me!”
“Good. Now I know you still owe them money,” Percy said, satisfied. “Otherwise you would not bother asking them to help keep you alive.” He nudged him. “Walk. Slowly. Everyone keep close.”
Clustered tightly around Wells, they crossed the field.
Something nagged at the back of Percy’s mind. “Why did you shoot Ravenwood?” he asked Wells as they shuffled across the green. “Why not simply leave it to your friends out there rather than dirtying your own hands in front of witnesses?”
Wells shot him a malevolent look and pressed his lips together, appearing for all the world like a sullen child thwarted of his mischief.
Percy worked it out in his mind. “I’ll wager there’s only one man out there.” He knew from the way the other man flushed it was so. “One of us was to have died in the duel. Your man would have held up the party as they carried the body, with instructions to kill only the victor. Whether it was Ravenwood or I was immaterial, so long as we both died. Instead, we both lived. You knew your man couldn’t pick us both off at once, and you couldn’t risk either of us surviving.”
He looked to the gun in his hand. “Despite knowing this duel was to be fought with swords you brought your pistols, so if your first plan failed, you and your friend out there could shoot us all and then you’d run to London with a tale of robbers in the woods. Clever.” He looked to the waiting carriage and had another thought. “I’m guessing Ravenwood’s driver won’t be returning with a surgeon, will he? You’ve either paid him to keep quiet or paid someone else to make him disappear. Since we heard no shots as he left, may I assume the former?”
No answer.
They approached the carriage, and Percy bade his driver prepare for departure. As the man reached to open the carriage door for them, however, a single shot rang out.
Before Percy could do more than flinch, Wells slumped in his arms. Red began to gush from the back of his enemy’s head.
“Get us out of here!” Percy shouted to his driver as another shot was fired at them. “Leave him, Monty! He’s gone.” Jerking open the door, he flung himself inside and turned to help pull Montgomery up and in, just as the vehicle lurched into motion.
Scrambling to his knees, Percy peered out, looking for a target. There was nothing. The man—or men, he’d never know for sure—Wells had hired remained concealed in the wood.
