Page 48 of The Wild Rose of Kilgannon (Kilgannon #2)

“I will ignore that, you damn fool,” I said coldly.

“How can you ask me that? Don’t you see what you’re risking?

DeBroun is one of the men in control of Alex’s fate.

If DeBroun is killed or injured, Alex will pay the price, not you, not Harry not Duncan!

How can you gamble with Alex’s life for your damn pride? ”

“It’s no’ pride, Mary. Something must be done.”

“Oh yes, and killing DeBroun is just what the other judges need to persuade them to be lenient,” I sneered. “Alex will pay the price for this folly. Why could you not leave DeBroun alone? ”

“If we did nothing they’d hang Alex, Mary. Or worse.”

“You don’t seem to understand how delicate this balance is!

” I cried. “You’ve put Alex at risk with this scheme.

I don’t care for DeBroun, only for Alex, and you have played dice with his life.

He’ll pay if you’re wrong! I am trying to keep him alive and you’ve just made my task much more difficult!

How could you do this? Angus, how could you do this?

” We glared at each other and in the silence that stretched between us I could hear the slow ticking of the clock in the corner.

I don’t know what he had intended to answer, but the baby moved just then and I put my hand on my middle.

Angus’s gaze followed it, and I watched his anger fade and his expression soften. He took a deep breath.

“I dinna play dice with Alex’s life,” he said slowly.

“I love the man, as ye do.” He looked at the ceiling and then back at me.

“Mary, I beg yer pardon for doubting ye even for a second. Forgive me, lass, please. But with or without yer permission, we have done this and we will see it through. We had to do something.”

“What if it doesn’t work? What will they do to Alex?

” I whispered. “What if something happens to you as well? Do you not see that you have put all of you at risk with this? If something were to happen to you, or Harry, or Matthew, or Gilbey, I could not bear it. Angus, I could not bear it.” I wiped the tears from my cheeks and Angus leaned to wrap his arms around me.

“Nothing will happen to us, lass. Nothing will happen.”

“It already has,” I said to his chest. “Angus, I’m so afraid. Please. Please, let DeBroun go.”

He released me. “I canna, Mary. It’s too late for that now. ”

I clung to him then and sobbed while Louisa patted my back protectively. Eventually I quieted and stepped back from him and we all sat down again, discussing what next to do. Louisa told Angus she agreed with me, and Angus nodded but said the deed was done. Randolph poured Angus more whisky.

“Angus,” Randolph said, handing him the glass. “Why does DeBroun want revenge on Alex?”

Angus waved a hand. “It was a long time ago.”

But Randolph persisted and the story came out slowly. When Alex was twenty, before he’d married Sorcha, Angus said, he and Angus had stopped in London after a successful trading journey.

“We played cards at the home of a friend, and DeBroun was there. He and Alex were at one table, I at another, when Alex accused DeBroun of cheating. Now, mind ye, we’d done a bit of drinking, but false accusations are no’ like Alex.

I believed him, but others dinna. Alex threw the table over and lunged at DeBroun and found cards stashed in his waistcoat.

DeBroun was humiliated before all his fine friends, but the worst of it was when the woman who had been DeBroun’s favorite…

” He paused and met my eyes. “She went home with Alex.”

“I see,” I said, remembering DeBroun saying what an agreeable surprise it had been to meet me. I’m sure it had been.

“I thought ye might,” Angus said.

“But it’s been ten years,” Louisa said.

“He’s no’ forgotten,” Angus said. “Nor have we.”

My instincts had been correct, I thought. DeBroun was neither overwhelmed by my beauty, nor a man in love. I had been a tool, a means to wound Alex further; I was to be part of his revenge. I shook my head as my hatred of him grew. But now I understood.

“What will the court do now?” I asked.

“Harry’s back,” said Randolph. “He’ll find out. The court won’t talk to me, but they will to him.”

My head snapped up. “What do you mean, Harry’s back? Where is he?”

“Harry said he’d invent a story about having been at Grafton to see Betty. His staff will confirm that,” said Angus. “I left him this morning at the cottage; he should be in London by now. He said the best thing to do was brave it out. No one would dare to accuse him of kidnapping DeBroun.”

“They all but have,” I said and told Angus of the soldiers’ visit to Louisa and Randolph’s house. He nodded and I realized Randolph must have told him already. “What will happen now?”

“The court will have to continue the trial with or without DeBroun,” Randolph said, looking from me to Louisa.

“There’s more news. The papers have been busy again.

Steele has taken DeBroun on as the scourge of humanity, and so have the others.

Much of London has rallied for Alex, which the judges cannot have helped but hear.

DeBroun will not be able to show his face for a long while.

Whether it will change anything for Alex, I do not know. ”

Angus left us then and Randolph went to see Harry at his town house. But Harry was not there.

The next night, Matthew came to visit, creeping in after dark through the kitchens.

He stood before us in the library with an unhappy expression.

“My da wants ye to go to Mountgarden,” he said to me.

“That’s why I’m here. He said ye may have questions but I dinna have to answer them and that ye’d ken what that means. ”

I thought of my promise to Angus, and I nodded. “I’ll leave in the morning,” I said. Randolph and Matthew both sighed with relief.

But I didn’t go to Mountgarden, for the next morning we discovered that Harry was dead.