Chapter Eighteen
Hannah’s head spun from the abrupt change. Though she clung to Evan’s hand and was glad to leave such a horrible scene, she needed an explanation.
“That’s that, then?” Hot anger filled her chest to push out the fear and disgust. “You have nothing more to say about what you just did?”
“What is there to say?” He glanced at her from over his shoulder. “Littleton threatened to kill you as well as me. Then he tried to murder you with his bare hands. I stopped it. There is no more story.”
“But…” Her mind reeled as she tried to make sense of everything. It had been frightening, to say the least. “We left him there.”
“We did. Someone will find him tomorrow, perhaps during an early morning ride. This is the way of things.” When she threw off his hold, he blew out a breath and turned to face her.
“Look, Hannah, I still have much to do this night. I’ll understand if you wish to berate me, and I’ll deserve every word, but can we please postpone the inevitable until I complete this duel with my brother? ”
“What?” A different sort of shock plowed into her, pushing her once more into sixes and sevens. “You are fighting in a duel tonight?”
“I am. It’s down toward the opposite end of the park. There’s a bit of a clearing and is traditionally where duels are arranged, but we must hurry. Midnight is approaching faster than anticipated.”
She had to trot to keep up with his long-legged strides. “Duels are illegal.”
“I know.”
“You could be killed.”
“I am aware of that as well, but since I avoided death once already tonight, I rather like my odds.”
What a prick. Hannah glared at him. “Please don’t do this. After the lovely times we shared recently, I don’t want that ruined by you acting the nodcock and entering a duel. Surely there are better ways of taking your title back.”
“Perhaps, but this is the most effective way. James and I have made the decision that whoever wins the duel can keep the title.”
That made no sense, for Evan was bound to it by law.
“Unless you’re dead. Corpses can’t hold a title.
” When he didn’t respond, she had no choice but to follow behind him as he wended his way over the path.
Eventually, he slowed to a halt. Up ahead, lantern light bobbed, and the low buzz of conversation filtered to her ears. “Is this the spot?”
“It is.”
Knots of worry pulled in her belly. “Evan, listen to me.” She put a hand on his arm, turned him around until he met her gaze.
“Don’t do this. You’ve already killed one man tonight.
Don’t murder another.” Tears welled in her eyes from frustration and fear.
“The more people you kill, the less humane you become. I…” Now was not the time for weakness.
“I care too much about you to see you succumb to the dark depths. Keep your humanity, it’s all we have that separate us from the vile elements of society. ”
Shadows reflected in his brandy-hued eyes. After he tugged a handkerchief from an interior pocket of his jacket, he wiped various parts of her face and décolletage, no doubt wishing to remove the blood splatter. “I must do this, Anna. There is no other way.”
“Surely there has to be.” She tugged at his hand, stilling his actions. “Come home with me. It’s safe there. We will talk, make a plan—”
“Stop.” Gently, he detached her hand from his person, put the handkerchief into it and curled her fingers around it.
“This is for the best. I have grown weary of having James prance through society pretending he is the new Duke of Bettington when all my life, I have known this was my fate. All that ends tonight.”
Unless your life ends…
As best she could, Hannah stifled a cry. “What if something goes wrong?”
“It won’t. I’m quite a good shot.”
Nerves crawled beneath her skin. “I am not strong enough to survive you leaving me again.” Did that make her seem far too desperate?
His eyes flickered, but it was too dark to read his reaction. “I’m not going anywhere. You’ll remain as my mistress for as long as I can keep you.” When he reached to cup her cheek, she stepped away as far too many emotions flooded her mind. He sighed. “All will be well.”
But she didn’t wish to be only his mistress.
She wanted him in all the ways that mattered, even if such a thing was impossible.
“How can you be so…. So…. Arrogant and nonchalant after what has already happened tonight?” The urge to both retch and run away warred for dominance within her chest. “You are going to be a duke, Evan! For God’s sake, rise above the dreck. ”
For the space of a few heartbeats, he regarded her with a half-smile that sent a fleeting host of tingles through her lower belly.
“I often wonder whether existing in the dreck is where I’ve always been meant to be, so perhaps I’ll discover the truth of that tonight.
” Then he turned his back on her and walked toward the clearing.
With nothing else to do, Hannah trailed after him. Once they arrived in the clearing, it took a few seconds for her eyes to acclimate to the lantern light. Surprise rocked through her chest to see the Dukes of Thornton, Foxcroft, as well as Ravenhurst there.
“Miss Ulrich, that is Thornton with the cane and Ravenhurst is the one looking dark and brooding.” They both nodded in acknowledgement of her. “And of course you know Foxcroft.”
“Yes.” She bounced her gaze between all those powerful men. Had they already been privy to Evan’s plans this evening? Is that what they discussed when they’d been closeted in Foxcroft’s study earlier in the night? “At least you won’t be alone in this madness.”
Thornton’s lips twitched. “That is indeed what this is. I’m here to serve as the voice of reason, while Foxcroft is Buckthorne’s second.”
“And you?” she asked of Ravenhurst as she flicked her regard to him.
Nodcocks, the lot of them.
“To identify the body should the doctor pronounce him dead,” he said without preamble but there were shadows in his dark eyes. “This is no place for a lady. I’ll have my driver take you home—”
“No!” Her exclamation sounded overly loud in the clearing. “I’ll stay here. I want know… have to know the outcome…”
“Very well.” Ravenhurst pointed to a man standing in the middle of the clearing.
“That is the Duke of Othello.” When she furrowed her brow, he chuckled.
“Sometimes the men of our club take make believe ducal titles. It is a long story. He is also a medical doctor, served as a surgeon of sorts in the war. He is doing us a favor by being here tonight.”
“This is insanity,” she whispered. “You will all be arrested… or worse.”
“Have faith, Miss Ulrich.” He gestured toward the other end of the clearing where a man in evening clothes she assumed was Evan’s brother waited with the men assisting him. “We are nearly ready to begin.”
Dear God, I can’t let him do this horrible thing!
Quickly, she moved to Evan’s side as he accepted a shiny, brass pistol from Foxcroft. “Please don’t do this. There are other ways to acquire the title.”
Though shadows filled his eyes, when he met her gaze, something else glimmered there she couldn’t quite identify. “As I said before, there is no other way. This must happen tonight, and it’s fitting, for it’s All Hallow’s Eve. Perhaps if I expire, I’ll forever haunt James with my ghostly form.”
The bit of humor fell flat, for she scowled at him.
“I never thought you were an idiot, Buckthorne. I’m furious enough with you that I might see to your demise myself if I had the stomach for it, but you are sorely in need of a dressing down.
” There was no way to describe the fear and anxiety and fury that mixed within her chest at the moment.
“While I understand your torment, what I am about to do will not change. It must happen, don’t you see?” He cupped her cheek with his free hand, ran the pad of his glove-covered thumb along her chin. “Have faith.”
Ravenhurst came over to them. “It’s time. I’ll count things off for the two of you,” he said as he removed a silver watch from the pocket of his waistcoat.
The feeling of illness bubbled through her belly. “Evan, please!”
It was the Duke of Thornton who wrapped an arm about her waist and led her some distance away, outside of the reach of the lanterns. “Come with me, Miss Ulrich.”
“This is horrible. Doesn’t he realize how much danger he is in?
” But she allowed Thornton to lead her away from the immediate scene.
Once they’d gone beyond the lanterns, the duke stopped.
Hannah kept her gaze on the scene where Evan stood at one end of the clearing while his brother stood at the other.
Both held pistols in their right hands. “How can he be so irresponsible?”
“He is doing what he thinks is best.” Thornton stood at her side, no doubt for support as well as to use his body as a shield.
She snorted. “His thinking is flawed.” As put out with him as she was, she couldn’t look away from the dueling field.
Foxcroft stood behind Evan as his second while a man she didn’t know did the same with James. The doctor hovered at the opposite side of the field as she and Thornton occupied. Ravenhurst was in the middle of the clearing.
“If both the duelists will join me? We’ll then begin.” The man’s baritone voice carried across the field.
She watched in fascinated horror as Evan and his brother met in the center with Ravenhurst between them. “How can I bear this?” she whispered to Thornton.
There was no need for an answer.
Ravenhurst glanced between the participants.
“I will count down from ten. With each number, you’ll take one stride.
When I reach one, you will both turn and fire.
Because you have already agreed to terms, whoever remains standing and alive will be known as the new Duke of Bettington. Do you both understand?”
“I do,” Evan said. “And I will be proven the duke as I should have been all along.”
James huffed. “I understand, but I will be the victor in this case.”