Chapter Sixteen #2
Jack and Uncle Dominic stumbled around her office as they tried to wrestle the weapon from each other.
Kitty attempted to grab her uncle’s arm, but he shoved her away.
She fell against her desk, the breath knocked out of her.
Jack fell to the floor, hitting his head on the edge of the desk and lay there, apparently dazed.
“No!” Shannon jumped on Dominic then, but he twisted and grabbed hold of her, this time pressing the pistol against her temple.
“I’m done with this! Open the safe and retrieve my money. ”
Oliver’s heart pounded as he halted his horse in front of Larson’s Bookshop and Printing Press. He needed to reach Kitty. On the way to the London Docks, Dominic Larson had escaped from Mr. Hutchison.
The man could be anywhere. Smith and Mr. Hutchison had stopped to notify a constable and would rejoin him shortly.
As he made his way into the warehouse, Oliver heard a man yell from the bookshop building. He hurried to the door but opened it slowly and quietly.
Oliver slipped into the building and began to move down the corridor, following the sound of the voices.
His stomach clenched when he heard Kitty’s voice.
He reached her office and hid behind the wall to peek around and see Larson standing just inside the doorway, holding a pistol to Shannon’s head.
“Please stop pointing the weapon at her. I’m doing what you asked,” Kitty pleaded.
“We would be all done with this if you had done as I asked the first time,” Larson bit out. He pushed the woman further into the room and redirected the aim of the pistol at someone else. “Now continue.”
Oliver’s heart pounded with a mixture of fear for Kitty and pure fury that this man dared to threaten his wife.
He inched closer and caught sight of Jack, who stood next to the desk; Kitty stood behind it.
Jack lifted his gaze to Oliver then, and gave a brief nod, acknowledging that he saw him as well.
He tipped his head slightly and shifted his eyes toward Dominic. A signal!
That was it. Oliver took a deep breath and charged at Kitty’s uncle. Jack joined him. They both wrestled to get the gun from Larson.
Oliver grasped and tugged at it. Larson roared and flailed, trying to keep the pistol but get them away from him. The gun went off with a loud boom, a puff of smoke, and the acrid scent of gunpowder. Oliver finally wrenched it away, looking around frantically and worried about who might be hit.
His gaze darted to Kitty. She peeked up from behind the desk. “I’m fine.”
Jack hurried to Shannon, studying her and she, him. They turned to Oliver and said, “We are fine too.”
Meanwhile, Larson stood still, looking up at the plastered ceiling, now sporting a blackened hole, the only victim of his wrath. He dropped his chin to stare directly at Oliver with widened eyes.
“You could have killed my wife!” Oliver growled, overcome with feelings. Time slowed and everything narrowed down to this one moment, just as it did in battle.
Before he even realized how he intended to react, he lifted his fist and slammed it into Larson’s jaw. The man crumpled to the ground without a sound.
Jack muttered, “Good riddance.”
Kitty rushed to Oliver. “I knew you would come.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and collapsed into him.
He held on tightly. He could have lost her.
The thought was terrifying. After a moment, however, she raised her face to his.
He kissed her, but not as deeply or thoroughly as he would have liked. They had an audience, after all.
He broke the kiss, then turned to Jack and Shannon. “Mr. Hutchison said he jumped out of the carriage on the way to the London Docks. What a damn fool.”
The man they were talking about groaned on the floor. Oliver cast him a disgusted glance and bit out, “Don’t even think about moving.”
A commotion outside the office made Oliver glance at the doorway. Benton, Mr. Hutchison, and a constable were there. They rushed into the room toward them. Oliver motioned them to the floor where Dominic lay, groaning, with his hand to his jaw. “In here. He was trying to steal money.”
The constable said, “I’m Mr. Howard, my lord. Did everyone witness the theft in progress?”
Everyone in the room said, “Yes.”
“It was more than theft. He tied me up. He threatened to shoot my wife. He had a gun. He almost shot Lord Everly. And Kitty!” Jack declared.
“He shot my ceiling!” Kitty declared, and pointed upward.
“Well, that’s it, then.” Mr. Howard pulled Larson off the ground. “Up with you now. You will be spending your days in Newgate Prison until we get this sorted. And then, perhaps, even longer.”
Larson gasped in outrage. “They are publishing and selling illicit material here, and you dare to take me in.”
Everyone in the room gasped. Their secret was out.
“You are a horrid man,” Benton exclaimed.
Oliver and Kitty stared at each other, alarmed, but then the constable said, “You’re already in trouble. Do you want to end up in the asylum for crazy talk? You shouldn’t speak poorly of Lord and Lady Everly, especially after you threatened them with violence and tried to rob them.”
Larson struggled. “But it’s illegal to distribute! It’s immoral! It’s the truth, I tell you! I’m not lying!”
“And holding people at gunpoint isn’t? I’d shut up if I were you. You’re just digging yourself in deeper.” Mr. Howard shook Larson’s arm. Then he glanced at Oliver. “My lord, I will meet with you all in the morning at your home.”
Oliver nodded, and Mr. Howard dragged a resistant Dominic Larson out of the office. Then Oliver hugged Kitty tightly. “It is over. Finally. You won’t have to worry about him anymore.”
“What if he talks about the books?”
“It doesn’t matter. He held you—the wife of a peer—under armed threat. He has lost all credibility. We will make sure he stays far away from you and our family forever.” He brushed his lips over the top of her head. “Christ, Kitty, I was so worried.”
She looked up at him. The expression in her eyes held all the emotion that Oliver could feel in his heart. Gratefulness. Desire. And most importantly, love. “Can we go home?”
Yes, that was what Oliver wanted to do. They would deal with whatever messes Larson had caused here today, tomorrow. He glanced at Benton and Mr. Hutchison. “Will you lock up and make sure Shannon and Jack are taken home?”
Benton nodded. “Yes. I’m so relieved that everyone is unharmed. Go. I will handle all this.”
“Thank you,” Kitty said.
Oliver, holding tightly to his wife’s hand, guided her out of the office and into the store with his other hand around her waist. She said, “I’m fine.”
“Good,” he stated, “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you go anytime soon. You will have to deal with being attached to me.”
“I can’t think of anything better, Oliver.”
A look of adoration passed between them, and they continued on.