Page 34 of The Lady’s Sweet Revenge (Safely in Scotland #3)

H arlow barely felt the cold barrel of the pistol at her temple. She had been so angry she worried she might catch fire with her hatred at any second. But now she had lost control of the situation.

“Let her go, Merrick,” Reese said and Harlow felt her stomach lurch at the knowledge that the man holding a gun to her head was the man who’d had her taken from London in the first place.

Only vaguely did she wonder how Reese knew the man by sight.

But the fear had pushed away all thought but self-preservation.

“Ah, Breckenridge. I thought I killed you once but missed my mark. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Merrick was the man who had hurt Reese?

Her uncle looked up from where he had knelt on the ground begging for forgiveness from his dead niece. It was exactly what she had wanted, but it hadn’t made her feel any better. She still hurt from the man’s betrayal.

Now, Edgar blinked and looked around in confusion.

“You see her? She is alive?”

“For now,” Merrick chuckled. “I have to say I was wondering what this performance was all about. I was quite entertained until she planned to kill the man who holds the names I need. The man who owes me for his disloyalty.” He gave Harlow a pat.

“Don’t worry, love, I’ll do away with him for you.

But only after I get what I need first.”

She thought she might be sick. All this time she’d been so angry at her uncle, blind with rage.

And he had only been a pawn in Captain Merrick’s plans.

It was hard to let go of the anger she’d cloaked herself with all this time.

But it had been misplaced. She should have been angry at Merrick. It was he who needed to pay.

Reese took a step closer and Merrick pulled Harlow closer.

“Stay back, unless you want to watch the girl’s head get blown off. It would be a shame as I’d had other plans for her…” The man leaned down and sniffed her hair.

“Reese?” She didn’t know what he could do, but she needed him.

“Aye, your hero and I have some business as well. Come. We’ll sort everything out on the Zephyr.”

She shoved at the large man but he didn’t loosen his grip around her waist. The barrel of the pistol bit into her temple, causing her to whimper. She hated the sound of weakness coming from her throat, but there was nothing for it. She was defeated.

Suddenly a shot rang out and Merrick dropped behind her.

She lifted her head to see a stranger with a pistol step out and rush at Merrick, kicking the gun from his grip. The captain was shot in the shoulder and was still alive but moaning as he grasped his wound.

Then she was pressed against Reese’s chest.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

She didn’t know how to respond so she didn’t.

“Good job, Reese. The plan worked perfectly,” the other man said with a wide smile. “We finally got him, and you got your revenge on Merrick.”

She was shaking as everything that had happened seemed to twist in on itself. It was all tied together in a huge knot of deceit.

“You used me to get to Merrick,” she whispered. “You agreed to help me only to get what you wanted.”

“No. Harlow. That’s not—”

She pulled away from him and went to her brother.

“Take me home. I wish to be away from this place.”

Fortunately, Luke didn’t hesitate to do just that.

*

Reese ran his hands through his hair as he watched the Ardmere carriage ride off with the woman he loved.

“The Home Office will hear about this, Breckenridge. You’ll be up for a commendation. You assisted in capturing Merrick and now we have Polk’s confession as well.” Collins fairly gleamed with excitement, oblivious to how thoroughly Reese’s world had just imploded.

Before the man got out another word, Reese strode to him and punched him right in the face, knocking him to his back there in the drive. He heard a low chuckle come from inside the carriage. Merrick was likely amused that his captor had been knocked from his senses.

Fortunately, both Merrick and Polk were chained in irons to the inside of the carriage where they would stay until they arrived back in London. When Collins came to a few moments later, he shook his head and sat up.

“What the bloody hell, Breckenridge?”

“I don’t give a damn about any of this.” He waved toward the carriage.

The only thing Reese cared about had left him without giving him a chance to explain.

“You put an innocent woman in danger. I will make sure the counsel hears of what measures you took to capture your target. This is not how a gentleman goes about these things.”

“You were an agent yourself, so you know that sometimes people get hurt in order to protect the great good.”

Reese lurched out, planning to strike the man again as the first time had obviously not helped him. Collins was ready this time and ducked away.

“If this about the girl, I’m sure she’ll come around.” The man rolled his eyes as if he didn’t know how close he was to having the life choked from him. “Everyone knows you’re a catch.”

With that, the man jumped up into his carriage.

“Lord Breckenridge,” Polk said, his face streaked with tears. When Reese’s attention moved to him, the man continued. “Thank you for taking care of my niece. You don’t know how relieved I am to know she is alive and safe. I am in your debt.”

“Now that the truth has come out, Harlow may forgive you.”

Polk frowned and shook his head. “I don’t deserve her forgiveness. But I’ll do whatever is needed to see this man can never harm her again.”

He glared at Merrick seated next to him. It was clear that Polk would testify against Merrick and the captain would be hung for his crimes. But what would happen to Polk?

“See that he is given a chance,” Reese said to Collins. He didn’t know if or when Harlow would see the truth of Polk’s involvement, but if she did, she wouldn’t want to find out he was hung. That would likely weigh on her, and Reese wouldn’t have it.

“Yes. It seems he’s not as bad as we thought. That will be for the court to decide. Not me. We need to go.”

With that, they rode off, leaving Reese standing there alone in his drive as the sky finally let loose with the rain.

Eventually, he made it into the house to find his mother waiting for him.

“You may return to London, Mother. You are no longer needed here. I’ll see your accounts are paid.”

“Reese? Are you well? I can stay—”

He didn’t answer. He continued alone to his study and locked himself inside with a substantial amount of whisky.

*

Luke took Harlow to their country home in Lancashire where her entire family was waiting.

Well, not her entire family. Uncle Edgar was not there, and she doubted she would ever see him again.

He’d been taken into custody with Merrick and would be tried for his involvement, which turned out to not be as she’d thought.

In fact, he’d done the right thing in getting rid of the list and keeping the information from falling into the hands of the French. And she wanted to believe he’d not known Merrick’s plans to take her from the park that morning.

He’d been right when he’d said he couldn’t have fought off so many of them. Yet, he hadn’t even tried.

It was strange that she missed someone she’d thought to do away with by her own hand. But if she’d learned anything in all of this, it was that emotions didn’t always make a bit of sense. For she also missed Reese, and he had used her to get his own revenge on the man who had tried to kill him.

Her brothers kept their distance, offering worried smiles when she made eye contact with them. Luke must have told them all that had transpired in Scotland and they either didn’t know what to say or were terrified of her.

She didn’t bother to do anything to ease the tension for she didn’t know what to say to them either. She was angry at everyone, including herself. It was best for her to just stay in her room looking out the window at nothing.

“Dearest?” her mother called as she came into the room. “You need to eat something.”

Harlow had been there for three days already and had barely eaten for fear she might not keep it down. Her appetite seemed to have remained at Slains Castle along with her heart. She was a mess of conflicting feelings. For even after Reese had betrayed her, she loved him still.

“He lied to me,” Harlow said, breaking down into tears despite her aversion to crying. It did nothing to help a situation. She still felt awful.

“Shh…” Her mother sat next to her and pulled her into a hug much like she’d done when Harlow was small and she’d been upset over her brothers leaving her behind.

“I’m sorry, pet. I know you are hurting, but I’m so glad to have you here.

Safe and sound. You don’t need to worry about anything that happened in Scotland. You never need to think on it again.”

“I loved him,” Harlow confessed. “And he lied.”

“I know. I did as well. I never thought my own brother was capable of such a betrayal. He will pay for his mistakes.”

Her mother thought she was overwhelmed with everything that had happened, and in truth, she was. But this heartache was not because of her uncle.

“I was speaking of Lord Breckenridge.”

“Oh. I see.” Her mother looked out the window in surprise before tilting her head and smiling. “Love?”

“Please do not plan to have the banns read, Mother. He doesn’t wish to marry. And he was not the man I thought he was.”

“Because he lied?”

“The whole time I was there he was using me to lure Captain Merrick to him so he could retaliate for being shot.”

“It does sound like there was an awful lot of revenge going about in Scotland. Luke said you turned a pistol on Edgar. While I would gladly beat the man to his reward with my hat, that is not like you, Harlow.”

“I thought he’d betrayed me. While he was a coward, I don’t think he meant for me to be harmed. He did not handle things well at all, but at least he did not use me merely for bait.”

“We’re speaking of Lord Breckenridge again?”