Page 53 of Provoked

David’s gaze shifted to Euan. He looked almost as bad as he had a few hours ago as he’d stood at David’s door. His coat was filthy from sleeping on the ground, his face shadowed with weariness, but something held him upright—the same thing that made his eyes burn with conviction as he considered David and Balfour.

“Murdo—”

This was from the captive. His eyes were wet, his expression slack with relief.

“Keep your eyes on me,” Euan snapped, and the man turned his head back.

Balfour took one slow step forward. He held his pistol away from his body, pointing the muzzle at the floor.

“If you take another step, I’ll blow his head off,” Euan said flatly.

Balfour stilled. “All right,” he said, his deep voice even and slow. “We only want to talk to you.”

Euan gave a short, humourless laugh. “Is that so? That’s just what we’ve been doing, haven’t we, Lees? Having a nice talk about how you betrayed my brother and all his friends.”

Hugh closed his eyes and swallowed, the momentary relief from seeing Balfour all washed away.

“Euan, listen to me—” David began. The knife felt wrong in his hand.

“I said don’t move,” the younger man shouted, even though David hadn’t shifted. “Don’t take another step, Davy, or I swear—” He broke off, incoherent.

Balfour’s hand landed heavily on David’s shoulder. “Careful,” he murmured.

“Why did you come here?” Euan exclaimed. His eyes went briefly to Balfour before he returned his gaze to the kneeling man. “And withhimof all people?”

“I needed his help to find you,” David replied. “I came because I was worried about you. I felt sure you were in danger, and I felt responsible.”

Another harsh laugh. “Well, as you can see, you had no need to worry. I told you before that I know what I’m about. Now you’ve come in here with your damned sense of responsibility and complicated everything.”

“Is that what you think?” David replied. “It seems to me I’ve come just in time to stop you killing him—that’s not what you came here to do, is it?”

“What do you mean?” Euan replied, his frowning gaze on Hugh. “I always meant to kill him. How could you have thought otherwise?”

David gaped at him. “You said you wanted to confront him,” he said at last.

Euan smiled grimly. “And here we are. Confronting one another in the simplest way possible.” A flickering glance at David. “Your trouble is you judge everyone else by your own standards, Davy. Most people aren’t as good or honourable as you imagine.”

“That’s not true,” David said. “Youare a good man, Euan. A loving brother, a fine student, a loyal friend. You are not a man who murders for revenge. Please don’t stain your soul with this crime.”

Euan made a noise somewhere between despair and amusement. “You want me to let this cur live? Let him marry that stuck-up Galbraith whore and have a nice, comfortable life while Peter is sent across the sea in chains?”

Hugh made an angry noise and began to rise. “How dare you speak of Miss Gal—”

Euan interrupted this protest with an angry roar. “Shut yourfuckingmouth!” His gun arm stiffened, the pistol in his hand dark and deadly. His eyes blazed, and his thin, wiry body vibrated with tension. David twitched with the need to move, to intervene, but Balfour’s hand on his left shoulder exerted pressure, keeping him in place.

“Think carefully,” Balfour said, addressing Euan. His voice was calm and firm. “You’ve only got one shot. After that, you will be unarmed, and we will overcome you. You’ll be arrested. Hanged. All this will have been for nothing. All you have to do to avoid that is to put down your gun and leave.”

Euan considered that. “It wouldn’t be for nothing,” he said at last, his gaze never wavering from the kneeling man. “Hewould be dead.”

“And so would you be, soon enough.”

Euan just shrugged, and David’s heart wrenched to see how little the lad seemed to value his own life.

“If you lower your pistol,” Balfour continued, his voice calm and low, “you can walk away. We won’t stop you. Think of that.” Balfour’s intent black gaze was concentrated on the other man, and as his attention narrowed and deepened, so too did his grip of David’s shoulder loosen, till his big hand was merely resting there.

David saw that Balfour believed he could persuade Euan. He didn’t seem to have realised yet, as David had, that Euan’s desire to revenge his brother was far stronger than his desire to save himself.

Balfour didn’t know how little Euan had to live for.