Page 81 of A Bride for the Beastly Duke
Lily sniffed, wiping at her eyes before nodding slowly.
“Good girl.” Pemberton beamed at her.
After he was done, he picked her up. “Come, let us go outside and wait for the carriage that your butler is bringing.”
Aaron’s words had Edward freezing for a moment, and that was all the other man needed. He put his hands around Edward’s neck and squeezed hard, choking him.
Edward coughed, scrabbling at the man’s hands, trying to loosen Aaron’s hold on him, but the other man was quite strong and very determined. He bared his teeth at Edward. “Tonight, you die. Just like your brother before you. You were right about the knife, you know. Same one I used on him.”
Edward began to see spots before his eyes. His vision was fading in and out, but he heard Aaron perfectly clearly, and a surge of anger went through him. Using his hips as leverage, he surged upwards and butted Aaron’s head.
The other man grunted in pain, his nose immediately gushing with warm blood that fell on Edward’s exposed chest, his shirt having been ripped askew.
Edward felt dizzy and disoriented, but he did not let that stop him from butting Aaron’s head again. The Earl fell backward, landing on the soft grass at the edge of the cliff. Edward panted, blinking a few times, trying to clear his vision.
He staggered forward and fisted Aaron’s shirt. “Why?” he growled.
Aaron laughed cruelly. “Because he was in the way. Lord Sandringham thought he might find another way to deal with your brother. He wanted to have him transported for treason. Can you imagine? Sending him off somewhere with what he knew of our plans?” Aaron shook his head. “I couldn’t take the risk, so I took matters into my own hands and…” He made a slashing gesture across his throat. “Quick and clean.” He threw back his head and laughed.
Edward felt the rage take over, and he pulled back his fist to hit the Earl. But then suddenly their legs were entangled, and the Earl had tumbled him over so that his feet were dangling over the cliffs.
Aaron bent down, a macabre grin on his face, blood-tinged teeth showing. “He begged me, you know. For his life. My brother needs me, he said.” Aaron threw his head back and laughed. “I told him not to worry. I’d make sure to take good care of you too.”
Edward growled, reached out, and grabbed Aaron’s hair, pulling at him and using Aaron’s weight to pull himself up and away from the precarious ledge. Aaron flailed forward, his head connecting with a stone. He gave a grunt of pain before rolling away, but instead of heading away from the cliff, he rolled towards it. Edward gasped, stretching his hand out to stop Aaron’s forward momentum.
“Papa!”
Edward’s head whipped around, and he saw Lily in Pemberton’s arms, her hands stretched out as if wanting him to carry her. A grip on his arm had him turning to see that it was Aaron’s turn to be hanging precariously.
“You hear that?” he said. “My daughter’s calling for me.”
Edward snorted in derision. “Is that the first time you’ve acknowledged that sheisyour flesh and blood?” He shook Aaron’s hand off his sleeve.
“If you kill me, she’d never forgive you,” Aaron said as he slipped further towards the edge.
“Yes, well, that’s very convenient for you to think, isn’t it?” Edward shuffled backwards, away from Aaron. His vision was still quite blurry, and his head was throbbing. A shout from behind had him turning his head to see Mr. Gabriel running towards them.
He turned back to see that Aaron had hold of his broken sword and was in the process of swinging it towards him. He ducked, a pistol shot went off, and there was a loud cry. He looked up in time to see the Earl of Fenton disappearing over the edge of the cliff.
“Oh Lordy. Did I kill him?” Mr. Gabriel sounded quite horrified.
Edward looked up at the pistol that Marcus was holding. It was an old thing that had belonged to his father. It usually hung onthe study wall, more as a decoration than a weapon. Edward was bemused that Marcus had even thought to grab it.
“I doubt it,” he said. “Perhaps the sound of the report had him startled enough to loosen his grip on whatever was keeping him from sliding off the edge. I expect if you look around, you’ll find the pistol ball somewhere on the grass.”
Marcus was panting loudly, seeming panic stricken. “Calm down,” Edward said slowly.
“Papa!” Edward turned just in time for Lily to fall into his arms and bury her face in his shoulder. “Papa, I was scared.”
He rubbed her back soothingly. “It’s all right. Everything is fine now.”
Notley had summoned an old sawbones named Crowley, who was well respected in the district. Ava was afraid that he might start cutting off limbs, but all he did was bandage Edward’s head, hand him a tisane to drink, and order him to rest. “He is not to leave this bed for the next week,” he told Ava sternly.
Ava nodded agreeably. “I shall make sure of it.”
He then turned to Lily, who was lying next to her father in the big four poster bed that dominated the sleeping chamber inthe Dowager’s cottage. Ava had told him what the Marquess of Pemberton had said about Lily’s injuries.
“The man was right. I do believe her 4th rib is fractured but not broken. This is good news, but she still has to be very careful. Her bindings must be changed daily. Who will do it?”
