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Had he said that he and Jacob needed to finish something? Is that what Jacob still needed to tell her? As if he’d heard her thoughts, Jacob began to speak. “You ran out in such a hurry the other day, I hardly got to ask you any questions.”
Tinderwell’s gaze flicked into the woods directly where she was standing, and she pulled back further behind a tree. “We stopped talking because you were lying when you told me that you’d brought Emily to her aunt.”
“Is my mother here?” Jacob asked, drawing a sword from beneath his jacket.
“Do you really think you can keep me from Emily, Robinson? I’ve had the upperhand from the first.”
“If you’ve the upper hand, then why do I have Emily?”
“A point I mean to correct, momentarily.”
“Do you plan to dispatch me the way you did her parents?”
Emily gasped even as Tinderwell’s gaze flicked toward her again. Pushing off the trunk, she began to move through the shadows, getting closer to the two men.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You didn’t orchestrate their deaths so you could gain access to the grieving daughter?”
Tinderwell gave Jacob a smile that was so cold, so malevolent, she knew Jacob’s accusation was true. Her heart stuttered in her chest.
Why would he do such a thing? But she knew. The jewels, the money…he had wanted her for her dowry all along.
“Fine. If you don’t want to answer that question, how about this one, how long have you and my mother been lovers?”
Emily covered her mouth with her hand to keep from making a sound, but she realized just how much Jacob had discovered when he’d been in London.
So many questions clouded her thoughts, but she pushed them all back as another shape appeared in the woods.
Crouching down, Emily watched a small, slight figure pick her way through the forest, her skirts brushing the ground as she moved.
The baroness. It was confirmed a moment later when the moon appeared from behind a cloud, lighting the other woman’s face. A coldness that matched the moonlight made her features appear almost like a mask and Emily inched closer even as Jacob eased a pistol from behind his back.
But Emily only watched him for a moment as she ducked around a bush, staying out of the moonlight.
Another glint caught her gaze and that’s when she saw the small derringer in the baroness’s hand, the silver catching the cool light.
The baroness leveled the gun, the barrel pointing directly at Jacob’s heart.
Emily didn’t wait to think, didn’t hesitate as she launched herself from behind the bush at the other woman.
The baroness turned toward her, the pistol swinging at Emily a moment before her body hurtled into the older woman’s, sending them both crashing to the ground.
The shot blast through the air, a cry filling Emily’s ears even as she heard the dull thud of the baroness hitting something hard.
Emily scrambled back, eyes wide, as the gun bounced several feet away. The baroness lay motionless on the ground, a keening cry falling from her lips.
Jacob was at her side in a second, scooping her up in his arms.
“Tinderwell?” she asked, her entire body shaking as he held her tight.
“Dead,” he answered, placing a kiss on her forehead. “Thanks to you, my mother shot him instead of me.”
She shook her head even as the baroness let out a low moan. Relief made Emily’s bones turn to jelly. She knew that the woman had tried to shoot her own son but still…Emily didn’t want to be responsible for anyone’s death. “I’m fine,” she whispered. “It’s her you’ll need to carry.”
Jacob’s jaw clenched as he gave his mother a hard stare. “She just tried to kill me.”
Emily reached for his cheek then. “I know. But you’re so much more than she is.”
