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Lord Banyon.
He paused mid-punch. “What the blazes are you doing?”
Lord Banyon, whom he had never thought of as more than a dull and suitable man, had transformed into a vile human being. “I ought to have known you would be around. I thought you were supposed to be on your way to South America. I suppose you could not bear to leave your precious Tallie,” Julius spat the words. “I have seen the way the two of you look at each other. Did you know she called your name when I grabbed her from behind? Is that the sort of games the two of you play at Slattery Hall?”
Zander’s fist landed against Lord Banyon’s jaw with a satisfying crunch. “That ought to shut you up.” He let go of Banyon and watched him fall to the ground.
Rushing to Tallie, he shrugged off his coat and wrapped it around her. The two other men had fled the scene as soon as his fist had connected with Banyon’s jaw. But, he did not trust them not to return.
Besides, all he wanted to do was to have Tallie in his arms and assure himself she was unharmed.
Like she was precious cargo, he gathered her to him and hurried towardThe Night Princess.
It must have been a reaction to the shock of Lord Banyon’s attack, but Tallie’s entire body convulsed in shudders, breathing became labored and she gasped for air in desperate gulps.
“Shh, Tallie, you are safe now. Safe with me.”
She clutched at Zander’s arms that encircled her. The shaking of her hands made it impossible for her to close them around his forearms, but she rested them over top of his hands. Zander glanced down at his terrified little ward and regretted he hadn’t done more damage to the son of a bitch who had dared to attack his girl.
When he considered how he had practically forced her to agree to marry Lord Banyon, his blood ran cold with fury. How had he not seen Lord Banyon for what he truly was? Had Zander been so focused on getting Tallie married he had neglected to pay attention?
Zander hunched over her as they barreled up the gangway, shielding her with his body as he continued to murmur words of comfort to her. Once they were inside his cabin, the door securely locked behind them, the shudders slowed, only to be followed by sobs. Gut-wrenching sobs, as though she was trying to purge the whole experience from her being.
Feeling helpless, Zander did the only thing that made sense, which was to simply hold her and allow her to cry it all out. He handed her a handkerchief, and then another, until she lay upon the bed, spent.
There was a soft tapping at his door. Both Zander and Tallie startled at the noise and Zander stood, on alert to protect his precious girl.
“Zander, are you in need of assistance?” He breathed a sigh of relief when he recognized Captain Wright’s voice. He opened the door and stepped into the passageway.
“Thank you, my friend. There has been a bit of trouble, but I believe I have dispatched it. However, there has been a change of plans and I will not be returning to Slattery Hall tonight.”
The captain raised an eyebrow, but simply nodded in reply.
“I shall need to impose upon your discretion for a most important errand, if you would be willing.”
“Of course,” Captain Wright replied.
Zander stepped back into his cabin and wrote out a list of instructions as well as the address for Slattery Hall and gave those pages, as well as a handful of bills, to the captain.
Captain Wright glanced at the list and nodded again. “I shall be swift and discreet.”
“I am counting on it. I would trust no other.”
Relieved he had a trustworthy friend in a dire situation, Zander returned to his cabin, where Tallie had fallen fast asleep.
He removed her tattered clothing and tucked her safely into the bed. He turned his chair to face the door, the firearm he’d kept locked in his desk resting across his lap.
In all likelihood, a man like Banyon who attacked a helpless woman in the dark while his two flunkies stood watch would not have the bollocks to come aboard ship and seek revenge, not to mention the fact Zander felt quite confident he had broken the bastard’s jaw. Still, he had also never imagined the oh-so-proper and highly suitable Lord Banyon would behave as such a brute. Zander would no longer take any chances, not as far as Tallie was concerned.
He glanced at her sleeping form. How could he have believed himself capable of allowing her to marry another?
A wave of anger and regret moved through him.
There was nothing he could do about the past, but he vowed to make the future perfect for his sweet Tallie.
* * *
Tallie woke with astart, sitting straight up in bed, the room bobbing up and down.
