One Night of Surrender: The Brothers Mortmain, Book 1 (14 page)

BOOK: One Night of Surrender: The Brothers Mortmain, Book 1
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A tear ran down Katherine’s cheek but she stayed silent.

“I admit when I saw you in Newgate I had thoughts of revenge. For what Edward had done to me. But when you came into my cell it became clear to me that it was just you I wanted. Not to make Edward sorry. It was my last night on earth and I wanted to spend it with you. I thought…”

He smiled against her neck.

“I thought that although by cock crow I would be dead and gone, I would live on in your memory. I didn’t expect to leave a more tangible reminder. I never thought you would give me a son, Katherine.”

She shook her head. These were words she’d longed to hear but she seemed unable to respond. She teetered on a knife-edge. The doubts and pain from the past on one side, and Gervais’s promises of a bright new future on the other.

“Katherine?” he said sadly. “Will you trust me? Will you believe that I always wanted the best for you and acted accordingly?”

She gave a choked laugh. “The best for me? Why would you want the best for me? Why did you arrange for me to have oranges where no oranges will grow?”

She turned then and he saw that she was crying. His eyes darkened with pain and in the moonlight the lines about his mouth seemed deeper. He looked older. He looked as if he had suffered too.

“Because I love you.”

Her eyes closed and she sighed. When she opened them again she was smiling. Gervais searched her face, clearly not persuaded he had convinced her of his sincerity.

“I love you, Gervais. I have loved you ever since that night.”

With a soft groan he leaned in to kiss her, long and deep. “You are everything to me, Katherine. You and Anthony. You have given me hope, a life to aspire to, and I will be forever grateful to you for that.”

He led her to the bed in the darkness, their food forgotten, and she discovered that all those highs and lows of emotion over the past hours had turned into a raging desire. They kissed wildly, and without undressing he lifted her skirts and opened his trousers, and pushed into her.

No finesse, just the desperate urge to join together.

Their climax came quickly, rocking them, and they lay exhausted. Soon Katherine fell asleep, but Gervais held her long into the night, alert for any sound outside, knowing he would protect this woman with his life if it came to it.

Chapter Sixteen

The night sky was becoming grey with approaching dawn when Katherine finally awoke. And found herself alone. “Gervais?” she called, sitting up and pushing her tangled hair from her eyes.

“Sssh!” he hushed.

Turning around she saw him standing beside the window, peering out cautiously, without allowing himself to be seen by anyone outside. She slipped out of bed and went to him.

“What is it?” she asked, also keeping her voice to a whisper.

“I heard a horse whinny. It may be just a passerby but…”

She gasped. “It’s him. He’s found us.”

“Possibly. But there’s no need to worry.”

“He’s capable of anything, Gervais. You don’t know him as well as you think. He can be charming but underneath…if you see his true self…” She shuddered. “He’s evil, Gervais. He doesn’t just use violence to get what he wants. He enjoys it.”

Gervais frowned as he thought of what his Katherine must have gone through with that man and for how long. Well, she was safe now and he would do everything in his power to see she stayed that way.

“Katherine, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. We seemed to have other things to say to each other.” He gave her a quick smile. “But we’re not alone here. My father and his men have been following Prime. If he’s out there then so are they.”

“Your father?”

“And half a dozen of his best men. With pistols.” He sounded very sure of the fact but Katherine thought he was saying it just to comfort her. How could he know his father was out there?

“I saw a letter on your desk…”

“He’s been keeping me informed.”

More secrets, Katherine thought darkly, but she didn’t feel as annoyed as she expected she would.

“Could you find us something to eat?” Gervais turned back to the window and whatever was outside. She noticed he had a pistol on the sill beside him, and realised that was what she had seen him slip inside the saddlebag just before they left the castle.

Katherine went to the table and searched through the food packed by the cook. She found some bread and thick slices of ham and cheese, and passed both to Gervais, along with a flask of wine. She sat at the table and forced herself to eat; she wasn’t hungry but who knew when she might have the chance to eat again? If Edward came and tried to take her away… The food lodged in her throat and she forced it down.

It was still not full daylight when she heard a sound in the stillness outside. The dull thud of a horse walking, moving toward the back of the bothy. She looked at Gervais but he was moving away from the window, following the sounds.

Then the front door burst open and Edward Prime stood there, the pistol in his hand aimed at Gervais’s heart. He’d tricked them, she realised too late, by sending his horse off alone.

“So, Hawley, escaped the hangman after all, eh? But not for long.” Edward’s voice was hearty and loud, full of gloating excitement. It was Edward at his worst.

Gervais did not flinch. “There’s nothing for you here, Prime. Have you forgotten that if I’m captured then I’ll turn you in too? We’ll both face the hangman.”

Prime gave a laugh. “Nothing for me here? What about that whore you’re protecting? My property, Hawley. You stole her from me and I’m taking her back. I’d have come much sooner but you’re a hard man to find, and then I learned that she was with you. But I’m here now. Come to me, Katherine.”

He glanced toward her, but only for a moment. His attention was focussed on Gervais, and Katherine used the moment to reach into the saddle bag for something to use to defend herself.

“No, you’re not taking her back.” Gervais’s voice was cold and hard. “I won’t let you.”

“You won’t
let
me?” Edward sneered and came closer, and in the growing light of morning Katherine could see that he had changed. He looked older and his eyes were dead of everything but the need to hurt. Her fingers shook inside the bag and then she touched something sharp. She closed her hand around it.

“I don’t think I’ll wait for the hangman,” Edward said. “I’ll shoot you in the guts. You’ll live long enough to watch, while I take her right here beside your body.”

Terrified, Katherine looked to Gervais but he was focused on his opponent. Surely he had his pistol? And then she saw that it was still on the windowsill. If he reached for it Edward would shoot.

“There are men out there waiting for you, Prime,” Gervais said in his cold, calm way. “My father—”

“I’m tired of this,” Edward cut in. He lifted his pistol, pointing it at Gervais. “Goodbye, Gervais. May you rot in Hell.”

Edward smiled, just as the knife Katherine threw hit him in the chest. He wasn’t hurt—not with its rounded tip—but he was startled enough to drop the pistol. It clattered across the floor and under the table.

Now Gervais would grab his own pistol, Katherine thought. She was horrified when instead Gervais leapt on Edward and they hit the floor together. She could hear fists hitting flesh but was unable to see much as the men rolled around locked in combat. She had no idea which man was winning the battle, or if there could be a winner. She trusted Gervais to protect her but she’d seen Edward fight before. There was no honour in him, no fairness.

The pistol on the windowsill beckoned her, but the two flailing men blocked her way. Instead she groped frantically under the wooden table until her fingers at last grasped the cold steel of Edward’s weapon. She wasn’t sure how to use it, but perhaps if she just pointed it at him, Edward would surrender. She stood up and faced the two men, still wrestling and smashing each other with their fists.

“Stop it! Edward, I swear I will shoot!” she called out, her voice shaking.

The room was suddenly quiet as both men looked up at her. Gervais had split his lip and Edward’s nose was bloodied.

“Get off him,” she added, trying to keep the pistol steady in her hands.

Edward laughed. He pushed away from Gervais, getting to his knees, staring at her with contempt. “Katherine, you have no idea what to do with that. Give it here before I get very cross with you.”

But Katherine was no longer the weak, gentle girl she had been when she lived at the inn. She had grown in strength and character and his scorn made her furious.

“How do you know what I’ve learnt since you left me, Edward? I went to prison in
your
place and spent months living with criminals who would slit your throat for tuppence! You think I’m the same woman who allowed you to treat her however you saw fit? The same submissive little mouse? Oh no, Edward. I’ve learnt much since you left me.”

Edward looked a little less certain of her. He got to his feet slowly, his gaze on the gun. Gervais had also gotten to his feet and taken his pistol from the windowsill.

“Do you want to shoot him, Katherine, or shall I?” he said. Although his words sounded flippant there was nothing careless in his expression.

“I think I should do it,” she answered, her gaze never leaving Edward. “When I remember what he did to me…”

“But he sent me to be hanged,” Gervais reminded her.

“Perhaps we should shoot together then,” Katherine replied. Gervais’ confident tone had become infectious. “I will aim for his heart and you for his head.”

Edward’s face had paled. His eyes widened. “You don’t mean that,” he said, all the bluster gone from him. “You can’t kill me in cold blood.”

Katherine laughed in disbelief. “No? You were going to kill us, Edward.”

He wiped a hand over his face, spat some blood onto the floor. “
You
betrayed
me
, Katherine. You gave yourself to him. And you, Hawley, you always wanted her. I knew it the moment you saw her at the inn. I knew you’d find a way to take her from me. So I struck first.”

There was something pathetic about him. The man she had been so afraid of was nothing but a bully. Katherine sighed and lowered her pistol. “I couldn’t betray you, Edward, because I never loved you. I only went to you because of my father’s debts which are long since paid. There was nothing to betray.”

Edward looked as though he was going to cry. All the bluster and excited fury had left him like a pricked balloon.

Behind him the door opened. Katherine saw it filled by the Earl of Mortmain, and behind him two sturdy men with pistols at the ready. The earl cast his eye over the room, pausing when he came to Gervais, still holding his pistol at Edward Prime.

“Perhaps you should put that down, Gervais,” he said calmly. “I’ll take care of the matter from here.”

Gervais shook his head. “And do what? You can’t give him over to the authorities without him telling them about me. And if you let him go…he’s certain to come back. We’d be forever looking over our shoulders. No, let me finish this. It’s no less than he deserves.”

Katherine bit her lip. She hadn’t been serious about killing Edward. She’d thought they were just stalling for time. Edward deserved to die, but she didn’t want Gervais to kill him. She didn’t want that to darken their future.

“No, Gervais,” the earl said. “I will send him far away. I have mines in South America and they’re always in need of good strong workers.” His gaze ran over Edward, who was standing with his hand against his dripping nose. “Your alternative, of course, is a noose. Well, man, what is your answer?”

Edward nodded.

Slowly, reluctantly, Gervais lowered his weapon. The earl breathed a sigh of relief and, with a nod to his men, had Edward dragged protesting from the bothy.

“I was beginning to think you weren’t coming,” Gervais said with an attempt at humour, but Katherine noticed his hand shaking.

“I’m sorry. We were delayed.” He looked at Katherine and she saw that his expression had lost its usual harshness. Like the morning he stood outside Gervais’s cell at Newgate, he was overcome with emotion.

“Thank you,” she said, and smiled. “I am most grateful.”

The earl smiled back. “Anila is outside. She insisted on coming and she would like to speak to you.”

Katherine had not forgotten how Anila had betrayed her to the earl, but her heart lifted at the thought of seeing her now. They had been friends once, and perhaps they could be again.

 

Gervais looked at his father. “You promise me he won’t return. Ever.”

“I promise,” the earl said promptly.

“I wish to marry Katherine.”

The earl blinked but took it well, Gervais thought. “Then you must marry her. You realise, Gervais, you can never leave Scotland? I can only protect you so far. Although you will be able to live in relative comfort as Jerome, you must always be careful not to grow complacent.”

Gervais nodded. “I know and I am content, Father. With Katherine and Anthony by my side, I will be the happiest man on earth.”

The earl seemed to consider him a moment and then he bowed his head. “Then so am I.”

BOOK: One Night of Surrender: The Brothers Mortmain, Book 1
3.81Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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