Haunted by the Earl's Touch - By Ann Lethbridge Page 0,92

Miss Wilding is very fond of boats.’

‘You didn’t care about that when you booked her passage from St Ives,’ Gerald said. ‘But actually, no, the only one going sailing is me. You will be staying here.’

He waved the pistol. Bane prepared himself to jump and bring the little worm down.

The pistol steadied on Mary once more and Bane unclenched his fists. He did not want to give advanced notice of his intentions.

‘Miss Wilding,’ Gerald said, ‘would you be so good as to take the lantern from your fiancé?’ His voice dripped with sarcasm.

Bane handed it over, glad to have two free hands, but he didn’t like it that it made Mary an easier target. She looked as pale as a ghost in the lamplight and her eyes, her pretty blue eyes, were large and frightened. He wanted to tell her not to worry, that he would think of something, but he could only give her an encouraging stare.

‘See those chains beside your feet, Bane?’ Gerald continued. ‘The one with the manacles attached.’

Coldness bored into Bane’s gut as he looked at the manacles. ‘I see them.’

‘Kneel and fasten one to your wrist.’

‘No,’ Mary said, her face full of horror. She’d guessed, like Bane had, the purpose of those chains. ‘This is absolute nonsense. Gerald. You cannot do this. Don’t you realise murder is a hanging offence?’

Gerald tittered. ‘What a preachy schoolmarm you are. Just like my tutor, until I found a way to be rid of him.’ He grinned. And the evil in that smiling angelic face made a shiver run down Bane’s back. More than oddness resided in his cousin, he realised.

‘Mary is right,’ Bane said. ‘You can’t get away with this. And when the crime is discovered they will think it was Jeffrey.’

Gerald frowned. ‘Why would they think it was him? Not that they will think it was murder. I have it all planned. They will just think you fell in the sea and drowned. You should have drowned anyway,’ he said, flashing a look of hatred Bane’s way. ‘For years everyone thought the woman and child pulled from the sea the day your mother ran off was you.’

Bane wondered if he should threaten him with Templeton’s expected arrival, but he had the feeling he needed to keep that card close for the moment. ‘Any suspicious death of a peer comes under scrutiny and Jeffrey is the only one who benefits by my death.’

‘Put your hand in that manacle. Now. Or I will shoot Miss Wilding.’

‘And how will Jeffrey explain a bullet wound to the authorities?’

Gerald frowned. The pistol wavered. Then his face cleared. ‘I’ll tell them you shot her to get the money. And when I tried to protect her, you fell in the sea.’

Bane cursed. The lad might not be right in the head, but he had a chillingly cunning mind.

‘Do as I say. Now. Or she dies.’ He lined up the pistol on Mary’s chest. Mary was looking at Bane in mute horror, expecting him to do something. Anything he could do right now would get her killed.

He did not want to put his wrist in that manacle, to willingly chain himself to a wall and leave himself helpless. He felt sick at the thought. But there was no other option, if he was to keep Gerald from firing his weapon. Gritting his teeth, he knelt on the cold hard rock and closed the iron around his wrist.

It was tight, but it wasn’t yet locked.

Gerald grinned as if he’d read his thoughts. He held up the key. ‘Catch it. If you drop it, I will shoot her in the head.’

Cursing inwardly, Bane caught the key and turned it in the lock. His insides rebelled at the sound.

‘You can throw it back,’ Gerald said. ‘Be careful, I wouldn’t like Miss Wilding to suffer for your poor aim.’

‘Let her go, Gerald,’ Bane said. ‘She is a pawn in all of this.’

‘She is a witness.’

Surreptitiously, Bane tugged on the chain. It seemed solidly attached, but that didn’t mean one good hard tug wouldn’t pull it free. ‘She would probably just as soon marry Jeffrey as me. She was only doing it because I forced her.’

Gerald glanced at her.

Bane noticed she’d shifted, moved away from the wall and... Oh God, she still had the damned poker hidden in her skirts. If she tried that, he’d shoot her for certain.

‘You know, Gerald,’ he drawled, ‘if you kill her, the money will be tied up in Chancery for years. Why do you