Page 28 of The Devil Himself (The Devil You Know #1)
Twenty-Six
B y the time dinner was laid out in the formal dining room, Luc was beginning to think Arthur had fallen and died on the road or had decided better of coming after Gareth and was just going to leave for the continent along with Daffyd.
Then Deacon Collingsworth’s men had arrived, saying that Arthur was on his way. “I reckon he’s close enough, Devil,” one man said. “Not real bright. Should we dispatch him?”
“It was terribly tempting,” Rys told him before Gareth came down for dinner.
“But then he doesn’t pay for his crimes.” Luc sat at his place on Rys’s left. Rys had taken the head of the table. Luc wondered whether that would offend Gareth or not. He didn’t think so. The lad didn’t seem particularly interested in assuming his full marquess duties just yet.
“No, he doesn’t, and I need to make sure that we create an example for Daffyd to see just in case he ever decides to come back and make a second attempt.”
“Do you truly believe he had nothing to do with you being hurt and me being shot?”
“I think that his behavior encouraged Arthur to do exactly what he did. Daffyd is far more manipulative and smarter than Arthur, but I do truly believe that he has something of a conscience inside him. We saw a glimpse of it when he came to the club. Still, I would much rather send Arthur to the magistrate.”
Luc tapped his fingers on the table, his mind racing. “It will cause a great scandal for Gareth and his mother, however.”
“Oh, my dear, you forget I control much of the underground, where the men of the Ton come to get their gossip and their opinions are formed. Between Dionysus and the Devil’s Playground, we will make sure that Hannah and Gareth come out as traumatically injured victims who are to be admired and taken into the bosom of society rather than to be rejected by them.
I also have contacts at a couple of the biggest gossip rags.
A few coins here and there will make sure that Hannah and Gareth are treated favorably while Arthur is made out to be the single rotten apple that fell from the family tree. ”
Luc had to smile. “Of course you control the papers. And what of Hannah’s broken engagement to Julian?”
“Why, we will make sure that everyone knows that Julian was simply valiantly trying to protect her from her traitorous brother-in-law. He will come out as a hero.” Rys rubbed his knuckles on his jacket.
“I can see that you’ve thought all this through.
” Rys always seemed to be at least two to three steps ahead of him, but then he supposed he’d really never had any need to perfect the art of manipulation or skullduggery or whatever Rys might call it.
He would imagine that the word skullduggery had never fallen from Rys’s lips to be honest.
And he was rather intimately acquainted with those lips now, and of how they did all things, including speak.
A flurry of activity crowded the door to the dining room, footmen rushing into the room to stand at attention, the butler proceeding Gareth into the space so that he could hold his chair at Rys’s right. “Does the seating arrangement suit you, my lord?” Tyrell asked Gareth.
Gareth smiled faintly. “I find it most pleasing, Tyrell. You may serve the first course.”
Tyrell bowed and left the room with two of the footmen, and Gareth turned his stare on them. “Is it terrible that I want this over with? Where is he? What is keeping him?”
Rys tilted his head, appraising the young man fully.
“I imagine he now knows you’re here under guard.
Arthur is impulsive, but he is not completely without wits.
I’m sure he has the lay of the land, and he’s trying to find the best way to handle the situation.
I still think he will bluster his way into the house, or try to, but who knows if there are servants who are loyal to him here.
Someone who might let him in should he manage to get a message to them.
Even with all of the men that we’ve hired, you must be on your guard, Gareth. ”
“I will be. I promise.” Garreth slid about restlessly in his chair. “The waiting is incredibly difficult, however.”
Luc smiled. “I understand. I find it the same way. It’s intolerable, but it’s important for us to make sure that there’s something we can hang on Arthur that will be worth the magistrate’s time. And we need copious witnesses. You understand this, correct?”
Gareth sighed. “I do, even if I don’t like it. I’m just glad Mother is not here. Her nerves have been so overset by all of this.”
Luc felt for the lad. He had been the heir his entire life, but since his father’s death, he had to feel a certain sense of helplessness, and that must chafe.
The soup course was served, and they all fell to it with a grim determination, each of them knowing that they would need their strength for whatever came their way.
The meal progressed in mostly silence, the clinking of spoons and knives on dishes really their only sounds, all of them knowing that Arthur must now be in the area unless he had given up.
Which seemed unlikely given the intelligence that they had from the guards who had only just come to inform them of Arthur’s movements.
By the dessert course, Luc could see Gareth was done with this meal. He pushed his gooseberry fool around in its crystal dish, his nose wrinkling every time he tried to take a bite.
“Would you like something else, my lord?” Tyrell asked, and Gareth had just opened his mouth to answer when a furious pounding set up at the front door, echoing through the entire lower floor of the house.
Tyrell turned a panicked gaze to Rys, who rose, nodding to Luc to join him.
Joe appeared, his big form moving with a silent sort of grace, and he stopped in front of Gareth. “Come along, my young Lord. We need to get you out of the line of fire.”
Gareth also looked to Rys, who waved a hand, and he left with Joe, two more men falling in line with them as they took the young man up the stairs.
“Answer the door, Tyrell,” Rys told the butler. They both took up positions in the foyer along with Deacon Collingsworth’s men. There were more men outside, he knew, waiting to see what Rys’s command would be.
Tyrell opened the door and stepped back out of the way, as he had been warned to do, because Arthur charged into the house like a rampaging bull, his face red, his clothing in utter disarray. His last stop on the road must have included a great deal of liquid courage.
“Where is he?” Arthur shouted. Clearly, he was in his cups, his words slightly slurred as he swayed on his feet.
“Do you really think I’m going to let you anywhere near him?” Rys’s voice snapped like a whip, and he stepped forward slightly.
Luc hated that he had put himself in the front as a target, but he understood what he was trying to do. Rys truly meant to draw Arthur out and make him do something stupid in front of witnesses.
“You!” Spittle flew when Arthur shouted. “You ruined everything. Why did you have to come back? Why couldn’t you just stay gone? You never gave a damn about this family.”
Rys’s smile was incredibly insulting, Luc thought. Deliberately provoking. “I think I’ve proven rather strongly that I do care about certain members of this family more than you ever could, and I will not let you hurt the boy.”
Arthur’s gaze flitted to the grand stairs as if he was gauging his ability to gain them before he was stopped. Luc drifted toward the stairs, making a blockade.
Arthur’s face darkened even more. “You ruined everything. You and your bugger of an earl.” Arthur pulled a pistol out of his jacket, which surprised Luc.
Frankly, he thought Arthur would resort more to subterfuge or wheedling.
He pointed it at Rys, but then the barrel wavered between Rys and Luc, who balanced on the balls of his feet, his heart kicking into high gear.
One of Deacon’s men was circling around behind Arthur, ready to disarm him at a moment’s notice, and Luc felt relatively confident that this would all be over soon when they heard shots ring out from above the stairs.
Arthur’s wild laughter rang out. “Too late! He’s bloody well dead now!”
“Take him!” Rys shouted before whirling on his heel and running as if the real devil was actually at his back.
Luc followed, hearing a high-pitched horrified scream and another shot booming out. He raced after Rys, taking the stairs two at a time.
He could only hope they weren’t too late for Gareth.