Page 39 of Kissed By a Scoundrel
Glad to be useful, Katie reached for the rope and handed it to Nelson, who quickly and efficiently tied Gummy’s arms behind his back.
“Is that a dead woman in the corner?” Nelson asked as he tied Gummy’s feet.
“Nooo. Endora’s mine. You can’t have her…” the man screamed and suddenly leaped up and lunged at Sebastian.
Katie screamed. The kidnapper looked like a bull charging at Sebastian.
Sebastian fired the gun, sending the kidnapper flying back and landing on Endora Deville’s body.
“I suppose he meant it,” Nelson said with a smirk.
“Check for a pulse, will you, Nelson?” Sebastian said, still aiming the pistol at the prone man.
Nelson strode over to the kidnapper and placed his fingers against the man’s throat. “He’s dead.”
Katie collapsed in a heap on the floor, sobbing, “Thank God!”
Sebastian knelt beside her and gathered her in his arms. “I thought I’d lost you.”
The tears were pouring down her cheeks. “I thought I’d never see you again. How did you find me?”
“Doogan told us about the cemetery when we questioned him,” Sebastian said, taking a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiping her tears.
“Thank you,” Katie whispered. “For the handkerchief.”
“I will always have one for you,” he said in a tender voice.
“The drawings, really,” Nelson said. “I suppose this was Rosco.” Nelson gave a derisive laugh. “Now I know where I’ve seen this one before. The Tower of London—he was a guard there.”
“He killed Endora Deville,” Katie said.
“Yes. His name is Rosco Black,” Sebastian said.
Nelson checked the ropes around Gummy’s feet and hands.
“You took your time getting here. How far away did you park the carriage?” Sebastian arched an eyebrow at Nelson.
“Sorry about that, Slice. But I figured you’d have everything under control.”
Sebastian rolled his eyes at his friend.
“It was Endora,” Katie said. “I heard him talking to Gummy. It was her idea to kill Wendel and—and she wanted me dead too so my family would suffer. She hated Thomas and Frankie and the dowager.” Katie began to tremble again. “I—I thought Wendel was killed because of the pearls, but the robbery was just a pretense. Wendel was meant to die. A—and so was I. Only Thomas and the footmen came running before Rosco could finish the deed. And he must have waited until I began to emerge from the house again, and he—just waited for the right opportunity to kidnap me and…”
“Hush, sweetheart, it’s all right. Everything is all right now. We’ll talk about it all, I promise you, but right now, I want to get you out of here.” He kissed her forehead and stood up, lifting her in his arms as he did so.
Katie felt a mixture of emotions—grief and anger at the tragedy of losing Wendel in such a horrific way by such a diabolical woman bent on revenge, disbelief at how close she’d come to being killed not once—but twice in fourteen months, relief that Sebastian had come in the nick of time.
Sebastian. I love you.
As if he could read her mind, he tightened his hold around her as he carried her out of the cottage.
She closed her eyes knowing she had to tell Sebastian how she truly felt. She knew he cared about her, but was he in love with her as she was with him?
I will tell him, no matter what.
Katie had lived in fear for more than a year. Rarely venturing out, she’d become, in effect, a prisoner herself.
Well, that ends tonight.
