Page 144 of The Lyon Returns
Gideon hesitated, then Brice added, “Don’t test my patience. I’m an expert marksman, remember? I’ll shoot her dead before you can squeeze off the first shot.”
He pulled the weapon from his waist band and threw it lightly behind him.
“Now get over here,” Brice snarled, absent his usual affable tone. “Climb. Halfway between Gwen and myself for starters.” Brice aimed the pistol at Gwen and cocked the hammer.
Gideon’s insides tightened with fear. He moved forward.Calm.He told himselfStay calm.
Gwen did not utter a word. Only when he was equidistant between her and Brice did he realize that Brice had not only bound her wrists. Her ankles were tied and a gag was in her mouth. Her entirebody trembled, with fear or cold, making a fall that much more likely. He had never been more terrified in his life, nor more filled with a lust for blood.
“Where’s your groom?” Gideon asked in a casual tone that belied the dark emotions running roughshod through him.
“I sent him into town on foot.”
Gwen grunted and Gideon’s gaze jerked upward. She angled her head toward the river—and then wobbled as a result.
His breath froze in his lungs.
“Oh, all right,” Brice said. “I couldn’t leave any witnesses, so after he tied Gwen”—he shrugged—“I shot him. He’s down there somewhere.” He wagged his pistol.
Dear God.He was dealing with a mad man. When had Brice lost his mind?
“Stop right there,” Brice shouted.
Gideon had been inching higher, hoping to reach Gwen or at least shield her with his body. He gazed up at her, his eyes drinking in the sight of her, his insides twisting with guilt, love, fear, and desperation. He could not fail her.
“What’s this about?” he asked Brice.
“I think you know. Mr. Holt, the stakeholder you visited earlier, had strict orders to notify me if and when anyone matching your description came asking questions. He notified me.” Brice sighed. “Why couldn’t you just stay gone, Gid? Was that too much to ask?”
Gideon couldn’t take his eyes off Gwen. “Can I remove her ties?”
“If you’re ready to go over together, to die after having a lover’s quarrel and chasing her up the escarpment, be my guest. Personally, I thought you’d want to know a few things first.”
His breath stuttered in his chest. He turned to Brice. “Why did you target me?”
“It started a long time ago, when the duchess hired me to keep an eye on you. At first, I only wanted the money. But then I started seeingwhat she saw. How easily everything came to you. Women especially. They fell over themselves to get to you, even from a young age. Grayson, I could have stomached. He will be duke. But you? A bastard by birth?
“I had the looks. I had the charm. But the women who visited the abbey paid me no heed. Fannie saw me, though. She understood me like no one else ever had. Then one day, she joined the ranks of Gideon worshippers.”
“If you wanted her, then why didn’t you marry her when you got her pregnant?”
“My, you have been busy. If you must know, I had to punish her for the many times she’d made a May game of me—at Averly. How she saw fit to lift her skirts for me then went all doe-eyed the moment she spotted you, as if I were nobody. That summer before you returned, I set about seducing her again. She fell hook, line, and sinker—and I admit I grew to care for her more than I expected. But I had my priorities.”
“Money above all else,” Gideon summarized.
“Moneyandprestige. When I learned—only after she told me she was pregnant and that we’d have to marry—that her family was practically bankrupt, I had to cut her loose. Can you imagine? Me? Poor? No. I had to go with option two—Lady Mary. Kind, average, recently of the nobility thanks to her father inheriting the title, and madly in love with me. Oh. Did I mention how wealthy her father is?
“That’s when I came up with idea for you to marry Fannie. I had to do something or she would have talked and ruined everything for me. I thought it was rather poetic justice. You never wanted her, and now you’d be stuck with her forever—while raising my child, a bastard raising a bastard. It was unfortunate that they both died. But out of that tragedy, came another golden opportunity.”
While Brice expounded on his accomplishments, Gideon changed tactics. Inch by slow inch he moved closer to Brice. He only had tokeep Brice talking.
“The duchess became obsessed with Fannie and her supposed grandchild. When they died, and she couldn’t bear the sight of you, my true brainchild was born.”
“You decided to get rid of me, and pave the way to make a killing—while pinning me for the crime, and you assumed the duchess would aid you. You never counted on her changing her mind.”
“Unfortunate. When I mentioned I had a plan to drive the two of you away, she asked me to stop. Can you believe that?”
He was nearly close enough. One flying leap, even if he did not quite reach Brice, would draw the man’s aim off of Gwen. It might end with Gideon shot, no matter what, he would not allow himself to die without seeing her safe.
