In Deep (26 page)

Looking back at Connor, Talbot grinned. It was hard to imagine that Hugh was in fact Connor’s stepbrother. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this moment. There are several scenarios I played out in my head, but somehow they all end the same way. The one question I always ask in the beginning is: Will you come with me?”

“And hang for the scheme you concocted?” Connor laughed low, the sound lacking any trace of humor. “Never.”

“See.” Talbot waved his hand in an airy gesture. “I knew you’d say that.”

“You know bloody well I’ve never smuggled contraband.” Connor gritted his teeth, his hands balling into fists at his thighs.

“Yes, but we’re the only ones.”

Connor’s eyes darted back and forth between his stepbrother and the young soldiers, who were gawking at Talbot then exchanging puzzled glances. “That’s not true. They know now too.”

“They?” Talbot turned as though he’d totally forgotten about them. “Oh, yes. Now they know. Let me remedy that.”

Drawing the two guns at his front, Talbot fired. One of the guards was hit right in one eye; the other one was hit in the shoulder, stumbled back, and slumped with a groan.

Talbot furrowed his brows as he glared at the pistol in his left hand. “It’s a bit off.” His eyes wide, the soldier stared at him before he fell facedown and went limp.

Connor sucked in his breath. He hadn’t just witnessed that, had he? He knew Talbot was capable of many things–but murder in cold blood? He wouldn’t have thought it possible. But it gave him an idea where this encounter with the Constable would lead. Certainly the hangman’s noose wasn’t the worst of his problems any longer.

“What a pity.” Talbot gave a theatrical sigh and turned to Connor. “Say, why did you have to kill them?”

Clenching his teeth, Connor remained rooted to the spot. “
She
knows as well.”

“Gabrielle? Don’t concern yourself with my wife. I can handle her.”

“Handle her? As in ‘beat some sense into her’?”

Talbot pursed his lips, nodding with a dreamy smile. “Something like that.”

“You’re pathetic,” Connor spat.

“Says the man who’s about to hang from the gallows.” Talbot let Connor hear that brassy cackle again, then cupped his chin, his eyes narrowing. “You wouldn’t believe it, but as often as I put the cane to her back, you’d think I’d beaten him out of her. No such luck. He, on the other hand, was much easier to be persuaded of her wavering alliances.”

Any movement on Connor’s part could have Talbot snap and going at his throat. Not that Connor had any problem with that, though somehow he knew Talbot, despite his supposedly blue blood, would fight dirty.

“So, is Gabrielle the reason for the grudge you hold against your own brothers?”

“Why do you care?” For the blink of an eye, Talbot’s face twisted, but immediately fell back into his fake geniality. “I have my reasons for needing to destroy you.”

Connor didn’t let his bafflement show. Instead he feigned interest to keep him talking. “What do you mean?”

“Your father never loved me the way he loved you two, his ‘real’ sons. And don’t you dare call me your brother. You were never anything to me. Mother was a fool to remarry so far beneath her.”

That was a blatant lie, and Connor didn’t believe one word of it. His mother–her maiden name was Fanny Driscoll–was widow to the late Baron Wickfield, and she remarried an Irish merchant out of love. She was a wonderful woman, and Connor and Kier’s father was absolutely devoted to her and tried to treat them all equally, which sometimes meant that he was harder on Connor and Keir than he’d have been on his ward, Hugh Talbot. Being a few years older than his common stepbrothers, Talbot had always looked down upon them. But Connor had a feeling his animosity went much deeper than that.

“If I’m nothing to you, then why bother going through all this trouble?”

Connor noticed that Talbot grew agitated. “All your charm and your good looks and your father’s money. And later, when you were older. All that decadence you two indulged in. Despicable. You even more than your brother.”

“How so?” So was it envy that had grown into some sort of twisted jealousy?

“You know very well what I’m talking about.” Talbot’s chin tilted higher, his nostrils drawn in disgust. “Your flexibility when it comes to
partners
. What you do is not natural by any stretch of the word. It’s an abomination!”

Connor let his eyebrows wander up his forehead. “Why? Because I’m not ashamed to live it as opposed to others?”

Talbot’s face alternated between a deep red and a sickly pale color. Connor saw the muscles in his jaw jump, his eyes narrowing considerably. He had definitely hit home with his last remark. That Talbot desperately clung to that reasoning could be exploited. He’d just have to draw him out, make it up the stairs, and run.

“I know all about your dirty little secret, Hugh,” Connor bluffed. “You may act the aristocratic, traditional, and unadventurous man, but you feel inferior to us. Taking Gabby, then framing me. It’s Kier you’re focused on, isn’t it? This was all about hurting Kieran. Could it be that you love Kier and you know he’d never have you, so you concentrated all your frustration and hatred on him? You took the love of his life from him and then concocted that scheme that branded me a criminal. But you really hate what you yourself crave, not Kier.”

Talbot’s face contorted into a mask of pure hatred. “I’ll make you bleed and die slowly for that,” he pressed out between clenched teeth.

Connor gave a jaded shrug. “I don’t suppose you fight like a gentleman rather than the devious scum you are.”

With a toothy grin, Talbot shed his coat and wig. His glare darkened to a dangerous gleam just before he hunched, dropped his shoulder, and let out an enraged snarl as he charged Connor.

Bracing himself against the impact, Connor flexed his muscles, ready to pounce himself. But Talbot got to him sooner. Connor grunted as Hugh’s fist landed in his stomach with all of Talbot’s body weight behind it, driving Connor into the crates behind him.

The pistol at the small of Connor’s back bit into flesh and bone, grinding against his spine mercilessly. If Talbot got his hands on it …

Oh, this was going to get ugly, Connor thought as he regained his footing.

_____________________________

J
aidyn’s heart sped up. She could feel Connor was here somewhere. All the other hideouts they’d tried had been empty.

She almost crashed into Neil as he suddenly stopped and cocked his head. Muffled grunts traveled toward them from somewhere in front of them, or maybe it was under them. It was the first time they’d actually heard something, and as quickly as they could, they tried to find the source.

With each hasty step forward, the din became louder and Jaidyn realized they were the sounds of a fight. She thought she’d been anxious before, but now her nerves were contorted into a raw, bloody mess as she heard Connor fighting for his life somewhere beneath them. Jaidyn struggled not to throw up.

Around the corner, amidst several stacked crates, Jaidyn saw an open trapdoor. The sounds of the fight were loudest there. Neil tiptoed, one arm stretched behind to keep Jaidyn where she was, stopping her instinct to rush forward into the fray.

Bile rose in her throat when they reached the trapdoor and she saw the two young soldiers lying at the foot of the stairs leading down into the pit. One moved, but only just. With his face down, he tried to reach his musket with the bayonet on it. His fingers, splayed like a spider’s legs, dragged his hand toward the weapon. The other soldier couldn’t move anymore, Jaidyn realized. All the blood drained from her face.

Once they reached the end of the stairs, they found Connor in the throes of a desperate battle. Jaidyn wanted to howl, tears of pain and despair running down her cheeks. He was trying to ward off a man who seemed bent on killing him, fighting with a determination bordering on madness.

Neil enveloped Jaidyn in his arms. She gripped his upper arms tightly watching the scene before her, helpless to do anything but cling to her father.

Connor grabbed the stranger’s arm, spun him around, and slammed him into the stone wall. Dust rained down on them all and it seemed the whole building shook with the impact. The stranger grunted, twisted and kicked, and pulled away with a snarl.

Back on his feet, he spat, blood running from his nose, and charged Connor again. He hooked an arm around Connor’s waist and slammed him against the crate behind him so hard it knocked the wind out of Connor. The crate cracked, groaned, and splintered.

Snarling, Connor punched him squarely in the face and sent him sprawling across the filthy ground. The stranger gave a low grunt, then scrambled backward. He stilled for a heartbeat as his eyes fell on something lying on the floor. Jaidyn followed his gaze. A small pistol lay abandoned near both men’s feet.

The man gathered some of the grit and dust of the ground in his hand and threw it in Connor’s face. Blinking furiously against the dirt that blinded him momentarily, Connor froze. Meanwhile, the stranger bolted for the pistol.

Shaking his head as if it would help him to see clearer, Connor stalked over to the stranger and towered over him. He kicked him in the stomach and the man lost his grip on the pistol.

Connor kicked him again, this time in the ribs, then bent over him and pounded him. The stranger somehow managed to gain a little ground. But suddenly the men were in a heap on the ground, rolling in the dust. It all happened too fast for Jaidyn to see anything but a blur.

Fists flew, punches and grunts followed.

Jaidyn’s eyes traveled from the men on the ground to the place where the pistol–

Sucking in her breath, she struggled against Neil’s grip. The pistol, it wasn’t there anymore. Instead, she could see it in the other man’s hand, pointing at Connor, who was trying to fight it off.

A shot was fired and all the fighting stopped.

Jaidyn stared at the tangled bodies of Connor and the stranger lying there, unmoving.

Neil’s hold on her tightened as she stopped fighting him. Her knees gave out and she heard herself whimper. Nausea rose in her stomach and she thought she was going to faint.

Connor lay there. Unmoving. The shadows were too hazy to make anything out beyond that.

She needed to get to him. Jaidyn needed to tell him she loved him before it was too late.

Strength came back to her in a heartbeat, something at the end of her spine sent invigorating tingles through her body. She fought Neil’s hold, fought as desperate as a greased cat until she broke free, shoved past Neil, and stumbled toward Connor.

Tears blurred her vision as she groped Connor’s shoulders and separated him from the other man. She groaned with effort as she turned Connor on his back, dreading the thought of finding his eyes empty.

They were closed. Jaidyn could see a dark blotch on his chest and she burst into tears. She’d seen wounds like that before.

She knew what it meant. All her strength left her and her forehead bumped into Connor’s ribs. She’d lost him, had lost him before he knew what she felt for him, before she could tell him she loved him and she wanted to be with him, only him, no matter how, no matter where.

“Connor,” she sobbed, knowing her heart would never recover from this. “I love you. Oh God, I love you.”

Connor’s body twitched. Jaidyn jerked her head up and sat back on her heels. She hiccupped, wiping her face with her hands.

Connor gave a low groan. Still not opening his eyes, he gingerly patted his ribs and winced. “Woman, I knew you were going to be the death of me.”

“Oh God! You’re alive!” Jaidyn let out a relieved sob and threw her arms around him.

Connor cringed and gave a pain-filled grunt. Lifting his head a little, she saw his wonderful dark blue eyes glitter with an emotion that sent warmth and elation through her.

“Of course I am.” He smiled and Jaidyn gave another sob.

“I thought I’d lost you.”

Cupping her cheeks, Connor held her still, locking his gaze with hers. “I’m not that easy to get rid of.”

Jaidyn’s lips trembled, the corners curling into a hesitant smile. Oh God, she was so beautiful. And she’d said it–had said that she loved him. His heart did a complete somersault and he wanted to tell her he loved her too, but suddenly the harsh reality crashed down upon him and he caught his breath, blocking the words so that they didn’t spill from his lips.

Connor released Jaidyn from his grasp and sat up slowly. She scrambled back to give him room. A sharp pain pierced his chest and for a moment he was dizzy, but somehow he managed to stand.

Jaidyn’s probing hands brushed down his arms and chest as if to make sure he wasn’t injured. With another sob, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her nose in the hollow where his shoulders met his throat.

“Jaidyn …” Connor struggled to find the right words. He couldn’t be so selfish and do that to her. He couldn’t accept her love, not now when she’d just found a home. Theirs would be a life on the run, because he’d just piled murder on top of the ugly crimes he’d been charged with in the first place. “I … must leave at once and never come back–ever.”

“So? I’ll come with you.” He could hear the smile in her words.

“You can’t. You must stay here.”

“What?” Jaidyn stepped back, narrowing her eyes at him.

“I can’t stay here. But you … There’s no way we can be together.”

Connor could see Jaidyn’s nostrils flare. “You’re not only stubborn, you’re a coward as well.”

“Is it cowardice to not want to be hanged?” Connor growled.

Before Jaidyn could reply to that, she was cut off by someone stomping down the stairs. Turning his head, Connor saw Kier coming to a halt, his gaze shocked and unblinking as he took everything in. Connor realized Neil was there also, his chin quivering as he pressed his lips into a fine line. What was he doing here?

“About time you showed up,” Connor grumbled in Kier’s direction, shaking and flexing his scraped hands.

More footsteps could be heard above, moving toward the trapdoor.

“Stay there.” Connor heard the bellowed order before the man who had issued it came down the stairs. Dread enveloped Connor in a frosty grip. The man was wearing an officer’s uniform.