Too Wicked To Kiss Part 41

Tears streamed down her cheeks when she finally bit through one of the strands of b.l.o.o.d.y twine. Her teeth tore at the rest of the cording, ripping the rope from her burning wrists. The dusty air stung the open wounds. Free. Her hands were free.

She lay back, arms raised, and rotated her wrists until feeling returned to her fingertips. So dark. The walls were closer, tighter, she was sure of it. Closing in. Suffocating her. No. She freed her wrists, she could free her ankles.

How? She scrabbled at the twine until her fingernails tore. Still tied. Still helpless. Still here.

Days, he'd said. He would leave her locked inside for days. She would go mad.

A faint knocking noise. Someone paying a call? If they came inside, she would scream for help. If If they came inside. Move closer. Listen. they came inside. Move closer. Listen.

She lifted her head. Tried to scoot toward the door.

Ouch. Something thin and sharp sliced the back of her calf. What cut her? She flopped around, patted the floor until her fingers closed around a sovereign-sized shard of gla.s.s. Smelled like whiskey. A piece of the tumbler her stepfather had thrown. Sharp. Sharp enough to cut her-sharp enough to cut twine?

She sawed at the cording. Her fingers flayed as much as the rope, but at last a strand snapped in two. She yanked the twine free, ma.s.saged her tender ankles. A thousand p.r.i.c.kles burst along her skin as blood rushed to her numb feet.

Voices. Whose voices? Neal, of course, and...Gavin? Here? Could it be possible?

Evangeline leapt to her feet, fell back down, hauled herself back up gingerly with one hand clutching the locked doork.n.o.b. It was was Gavin. It was. Gavin. It was.

She banged her fists against the unforgiving door and screamed his name.

Noises. Scuffling. Rapid footfalls.

Gavin: "Evangeline! Where are you?"

Neal: "None of your business."

Gavin: "I'm making it my business."

The door handle jiggled.

Neal: "You can't have her. She's mine."

Gavin: "I'm hers. Now open that door."

Neal: "Never. She disobeyed me. She knew the punishment."

Gavin: "What? Get her out of there. Give me the key. Now!"

Scuffling. Fists connecting with flesh and bone. A thud. Cursing. Struggling. A yelp of pain. Keys jangling.

A crash.

"Evangeline, I'm going to get you out of there. Stay strong." More jangling. "d.a.m.n it." Hollow clicking. "Not this one either. d.a.m.n d.a.m.n it." it."

Then the door swung open and Evangeline tumbled out into the hall.

Gavin caught her before she hit the floor, stared at her in horror. "What the h.e.l.l did he do to you?"

She could only shake her head and cling to him.

"Come on," he hugged her tightly. "Let's get you out of here."

"You can't." Neal hauled himself up from the floor. "I'm her legal guardian."

"Not for long." Gavin swept Evangeline into his arms, carried her to the receiving room by the front door, laid her on the sofa closest to the crackling fire. "Please," he said softly, kneeling before her. "Will you marry me?"

She nodded, touched his hand. "I would love to."

It wasn't until she saw his eyes widen that she realized even now, even under these circ.u.mstances, he hadn't been completely convinced she'd say yes.

"Gavin." She smiled up at him. "You are are a good person. I love you." a good person. I love you."

He grinned. "I love you you."

"Touching," Neal drawled as he lounged against the doorway. "But she can't marry you without my permission."

"Then you shall give it." Gavin searched his pockets. He pulled out a pistol, set it on the cus.h.i.+on by Evangeline's feet, then pulled out several sheets of folded parchment.

She stared at the parchment, the pistol, then Gavin. He was so calm, so rational. Not railing at top volume or throwing vicious punches like the murderous madman he'd been made out to be. Which was good. One madman in the room was enough.

Her stepfather stepped closer, knife drawn. "What the h.e.l.l is that?"

"Marriage contract." Gavin rose to his feet. He held the papers out to Neal, who s.n.a.t.c.hed them immediately.

Evangeline blinked up at Gavin. "When did you have time to draft a marriage contract?"

"I didn't," he confessed. "This contract was supposed to be for Nancy and Teasdale. Hetherington was making copies of it that night in my office. I brought pen and ink in the carriage and changed a few details. Like the bride. And the groom. It'll serve as intent until I can have my solicitor draw up another. By tomorrow, at the very latest."

"a.s.suming I sign," Neal interrupted. His face twisted in distaste. "Why would I?"

"Money," Gavin answered simply. "I have plenty. If you keep her here, you'll see none of it. So name your price."

"You'd pay for her?" Neal sneered, but his eyes lit with greed. "Like a wh.o.r.e?"

Although his jaw tensed, Gavin lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "I'd give her my life. What's money? Sign."

"Hmmm." Neal cast Evangeline an appraising look. "If I keep her, I can use her as a witch and and a wh.o.r.e. Perhaps I can rent her out and make more money than whatever you're offering." a wh.o.r.e. Perhaps I can rent her out and make more money than whatever you're offering."

"Touch me and die." Evangeline picked up the pistol Gavin had placed at her feet and aimed it at her stepfather. She would never hurt another human being...but Neal Pemberton hardly counted.

Eyebrows raised, Neal glanced from Evangeline to Gavin, then back to Evangeline. "Put the gun down."

She kept it trained on her stepfather's chest.

"See here," he said, backing up a step. "I can't sign if I'm dead. I won't sign either copy until it says exactly how much money I have coming. Ten thousand pounds?"

"Done." Gavin gestured toward the papers.

"I meant fifteen," Neal said quickly.

Gavin inclined his head. "Get your ink and I'll sign."

Neal returned with a traveling desk in seconds, dipped his pen, scratched a few lines on both sheets. "There. It says you owe me twenty thousand pounds, payable at the time of betrothal. Nonrefundable."

Evangeline's stomach dropped and the pistol wavered in her sweat-damp palms. Twenty thousand pounds? Did anyone anyone have that kind of money? have that kind of money?

"So be it." Gavin's tone was bored. "Did you sign?"

Neal did so with a flourish, re-inked his pen, held it out for Gavin.

When both doc.u.ments had been signed, Gavin left one on the desktop and returned the other to his pocket. He turned toward Evangeline and held out his hand.

"Come, my love. Let's go home."

"Wrong." Neal shook his head. "She's not going anywhere."

Gavin's hands fisted. "You just signed-"

"A marriage contract. She's still mine until the wedding."

"Over my dead body." Gavin scooped Evangeline into his arms and headed for the door. She laced her arms around his neck, careful not to let the pistol fall from her trembling fingers. She stared over Gavin's shoulder at her stepfather's twisted expression. Terror strangled her heart.

Neal slid a poker from the stand next to the fireplace. "As you said. 'So be it.' I'll get my money either way."

"No!" Evangeline cried. Gavin ignored both of them and hurried through the doorway. She beat against his shoulders. "Gavin! He has a poker!"

Gavin strode faster.

Evangeline held tight with one hand and used the other to aim the pistol at her stepfather's arm. Neal leaped toward them, slas.h.i.+ng down toward Gavin's head. Evangeline squeezed the trigger.

The bullet burst into her stepfather's chest, sending a tide of crimson pulsing across his waistcoat.

He dropped to his knees. The poker slipped from his fingers. He fell forward and didn't move.

Gavin spun around, his heart thudding against Evangeline's. She tightened her hold around him, buried her face in his neck.

The pistol fell from her fingers and clattered to the floor.

"Is he dead?" she mumbled into Gavin's collar. He held her tighter, kissed the top of her head. She was safe.

"I'll make sure." He set her down, squeezed her hand. She hugged her arms around her chest and forced herself to breathe. He knelt next to the body for a long moment before glancing up. "Yes."

"I didn't mean to kill him," she whispered. "But I'm not sorry he's dead."

"I know." Gavin gathered her in his arms, hugged her, stroked her hair. "It was an accident. You're safe now. I've got you."

"Forever?"

"Forever."

As she traded her village for Blackberry Manor once again, instead of running away, this time Evangeline was finally going home.

Epilogue.

A breeze rifled Gavin's hair as he peeked around the canvas.

"Quit hitting your sister, Rebecca," he called from behind his easel.

Evangeline considered switching places with Rachel in order to break up the twins' row before she remembered Gavin had already begun painting them standing in the previous order. Oh, well. He'd figure it out. She held hands with the twins to keep them from fighting, and exchanged a grin with their mother.

Having Rose and her daughters come to live with them at Blackberry Manor had been the best wedding present Evangeline could've asked for. A family. At last.

"Beautiful day, wouldn't you say, Eve?" Rose commented, tilting her face to the sun.

Evangeline nodded. "Absolutely."

Gavin had been right about Blackberry Manor in springtime. The field at their back was alive with thick green hedgerows, delicate white flowers, and the most heavenly scent in the air. Beautiful as it was, Evangeline could hardly wait for the blackberries to bud. It would be her first time picking the delectable fruit. She smiled at the thought of Rose's little girls racing between the hedgerows, hands sticky with blackberry juice.

"Everybody else chose pall-mall and kite-flying for their birthdays," Jane groused for at least the hundredth time that afternoon, "and Uncle Lioncroft picks portraiture. We'd be done by now if he would've just painted a miniature like he did for the locket he gave me on my birthday."

"You were just one person," Nancy reminded her patiently. "We're six. And this portrait's to adorn a wall in Uncle Lioncroft's library, not dangle from his neck."

"We'll fly kites afterward," Evangeline promised. "You can have first pick of the colors."

When the girls immediately began arguing over who would fly which kite, Rose cupped a hand over her mouth and turned to Evangeline.

"Any word yet?" she murmured.

Evangeline shook her head. "Benedict's letter said he was sure the baby's birth was imminent, and he still plans to raise the child as his own when Francine goes to Newgate. Gavin says Benedict's always wanted a child."

"And you?" Rose prompted, arching a brow. "Are you still nervous about motherhood?"

"Gavin isn't," Evangeline admitted, touching a hand to her belly. Maybe someday soon..."He says if we have a daughter with visions, we'll be sure to give her as many siblings as she wants so she'll never be lonely."

"And if your daughter doesn't have visions?"

Evangeline grinned. "She's stuck with plenty of siblings either way. Gavin promised."

The twins began poking each other. Nancy rolled her eyes and let them fight. Jane started complaining again about kite-flying and pall-mall.

Rose shook her head. "How could any child be lonely with so many well-behaved cousins to play with?"