Chapter 29 #2
It creaked open before he took his next breath, putting his body on instant alert.
Every muscle went taut as he readied himself to face a potential threat.
Never mind the fact that his ankle now roared in pain.
He gritted his teeth, curled his fingers tightly around the dagger’s grip and positioned himself in a wide-legged stance with his arm raised, prepared to strike.
But it wasn’t a brutish thug who stepped into the torchlight once the door had been fully opened. Nor was it Chapman, the scoundrel who’d probably built the bomb for O’Leary.
It was Melody Roberts with her arm slung around Samantha as they stumbled into the open outdoors together. Behind them came another woman, followed by Murry.
Adrian’s heart could barely stand it. His hands started shaking so violently he dropped his dagger. They were alive. Both of them lived. A realization that made his eyes sting with emotion.
Merciful heavens.
He handed the torch to Murry, who refused to meet his gaze. “I think it’s time you found yourself a new valet.”
Adrian stared at him, at the bruises marring his face. “What are you talking about?”
“I failed both you and your wife. She rescued me when I ought to have rescued her.”
“You were restrained and locked in a room that was bolted shut from the outside,” Samantha whispered.
“I know, but—”
“You’re alive,” Adrian said, his voice firm, the words directed not only at Murry but also at Samantha.
Desperate to have her back in his arms, he reached for her, his gut twisting in response to the damage caused to her beautiful face.
But it could have been worse. She could have been carved to pieces.
Killed. Yet she was whole and they were together again.
He hugged her to him, palms splayed across her back as he buried his face against her neck and breathed in her scent.
“Thank Christ you’re all right,” he murmured. And then, “I’m sorry, Samantha. This never should have happened to you. It’s all my fault and—”
“No.” She nudged him back, forced him to meet her cold gaze. “You didn’t do this. O’Leary did. And I will find him so I can have my revenge.”
Adrian nodded. Looking at the bruises that edged her eyes, the swelling that made it difficult for her to blink, her puffy lip and the cut on one cheek, he was ready to murder O’Leary himself.
A notion that made him look toward the end of the alley and the two figures now striding toward their assembled group.
“Well?” Adrian asked once Kendrick and Edward came within earshot.
“You missed,” Edward said. “O’Leary’s gone.”
With this confirmation, Adrian told Samantha, “I’ll help you catch him.” To Melody and her companion, he hastened to add, “You should go, before Marsdale sees you.”
“We can’t,” Melody said. “One of us fell through a roof on our way to save Samantha. We can’t leave without her.”
Adrian sent another glance in Edward’s direction. He was approaching too fast. “Murry. Snuff out the light so Marsdale can’t see.”
Murry moved to do as requested but Melody stopped him. “It’s too late. He’s already seen me.”
She jutted her chin in Edward’s direction and Adrian turned. Sure enough, Edward was looking straight at her, his mouth set in a firm line while hints of confusion played in his eyes.
And then he and Kendrick reached them, but Edward’s focus was solely on Melody. “Miss Roberts. What are you doing here?”
His voice was flat, devoid of emotion.
“I came to save my friend,” she replied. When Edward continued to stare at her but said nothing more, she told Samantha, “I’m sorry, but Holly and I have to go and get Tara.”
“Do you need help?” Murry asked, the gruffness in his voice suggesting he might not be as all right as Adrian thought.
“Thank you,” said Holly, “but I believe we can manage. Go tend your wounds. All of you.”
“I’ve a question before you leave,” Kendrick said. “How did you know where to find her?”
Holly exchanged a look with Melody, then said, “Harlowe informed us.”
Between dealing with the explosion, O’Leary’s attempt at escape, and the wonderful news that Samantha was safe, Adrian hadn’t had time to consider the implication of Melody’s and Holly’s presence. Now that he did, the facts slammed into place, jarring his nerves.
“You launched your own rescue mission without informing me first.” He stared at the women. “Even though you must have known I would burn the City down in order to save her.”
“We don’t have time for this now,” Holly said. “Tara—”
“Will have to wait a while longer,” Adrian snapped as his hand shot forward to grab Holly’s arm.
She deflected the move with lightning speed, both she and Melody arming themselves with lethal blades as they took up defensive stances.
Murry looked ready to strike them both down, but when they backed up a step, he held his ground.
“You’re the reason O’Leary didn’t show,” Adrian added, thinking his way through all that had happened.
“When you attacked, his plan went sideways, so he chose an alternate one. A fuse was lit. The explosion that followed provided him the distraction he needed in order to flee. You’re the reason we lost the chance to stop him for good. ”
“A battle for another day,” Melody said.
Adrian wanted to roar his displeasure. “You had no right to meddle in my affairs.”
“I had every right,” she told him, her voice fiercer than he’d ever thought her capable of.
Her eyes were also filled with a quiet rage that put him on edge.
“Samantha was my sister long before she became your wife. Had it not been for you and your criminal past, O’Leary would never have threatened her in the first place.
But he did. He had the upper hand and he would have killed you both if Holly and I hadn’t foiled his plan.
We were the unpredictable variable. That’s the only reason we managed to do what we did. Because he didn’t see us coming.”
But he’d seen Adrian without having to look. O’Leary had known he would come for his wife without fail. This was what he’d prepared himself for.
“I knew it to be a trap,” Adrian said. “As such, I took precautions.”
“Not enough, it would seem.” Melody slowly re-sheathed her blades. Holly did the same, then the pair darted off, into the night.
“Be grateful,” Samantha murmured while leaning on Adrian’s arm.
“Of course. I just…” He shook his head. “I should have been the one to save you, and I should have killed that bastard in the process.”
“I’m sure there will be another chance in the future. Considering O’Leary’s motive for coming after us in the first place, I doubt we’ve seen the last of him. But for now, I’d like to get some rest.”
Adrian agreed. He just had one final task before he could leave. Addressing Kendrick, he said, “Show me where the body is.”
The chief constable led the way to where a man lay, partially propped against the side of a building, as though he’d been thrown against it. Adrian dropped to a crouch beside him so he could better study his face. It was Burton, the thief.
Adrian released a weary breath, then stood. To Kendrick he said, “If you’re able, please send him to St. George’s. I’ll make arrangements for his funeral in the morning.”
* * *
Edward declined Adrian’s offer to drop him off at his house. Instead, he chose to wish the Crofts well and to hang back with Kendrick. The chief constable wanted to make sure the rest of the men who’d accompanied them here this evening were all accounted for.
Croft’s associates, of course, had all departed in the explosion’s aftermath. Eldridge and Moorland, were there, however, sitting on the ground, weapons drawn to dissuade any villains from preying upon them.
“Are you hurt?” Kendrick asked as he and Edward approached.
“I think my leg may be broken,” Eldridge grumbled. “Hurts like the devil.”
Kendrick scanned his surroundings. “Any sign of my Runners?”
“They went in search of you,” Moorland said.
Kendrick nodded, then gave a loud and distinctive whistle.
It didn’t take long for his Runners to show, upon which he swiftly issued instructions for them to help Eldridge back to his carriage.
“He needs a physician. Make sure his driver takes him straight to the hospital of his choosing. Jackson and Gordon, go with him so you can help.”
“I’ll accompany him as well,” Moorland said.
They parted ways, leaving Edward to walk back in the direction of Oxford Street together with Kendrick and his remaining Runners.
“Thank you for your help tonight,” Kendrick said, his strides matching Edward’s. “Even though things didn’t go as expected, your presence made a difference. Had it not been for you, Croft would have run head-first into danger without second thought.”
“Maybe doing so would have allowed him to face his opponent as he desired.”
“It’s never wise to think in terms of maybes.” Kendrick cut him a look. “What’s done is done. Let’s be glad the people who matter are out of harm’s way.”
Edward sighed. He couldn’t wait to get home and take a hot bath then collapse into bed. Still, he had to ask, “Did you know Miss Roberts would have the skill to launch her own rescue?”
“Yes, I did, but I wasn’t aware she’d returned to England until I saw her tonight.”
“I don’t…understand. I can’t… I feel as though the world I knew has been torn apart at the seams. Nothing is as I believed.”
“I don’t suppose it is.” Kendrick’s voice was soft, sympathetic. “There’s a great deal you still don’t know, none of which I’m able to share, but as far as Miss Roberts goes, there’s more to her than you’ll ever realize.”
“She’s not who I thought she was.” The crushing weight of disappointment that filled Edward’s heart made every beat hurt. Anger seeped into the hollow space it left in his chest. Despite her questionable parentage, he’d been prepared to risk scandal in order to make her his.
Yet she’d not even deigned to tell him the truth about who she was.