Not Without Juliet - By L.L. Muir Page 0,91

Quinn replied. “You understand handfasting, Lord Dunbar?”

This guy is a Lord? And what the hell is handfasting?

Dunbar threw his head back and laughed. “You know that won’t matter.”

“It matters to me.” Quinn bent down and whispered in her ear. “That business we conducted in the loo, lass, was Scottish marriage the old way. Yer mine now.”

All Jules got out of it was loo and marriage. He’d married her in the bathroom? Was he effing kidding?

There was no time to find out.

“And I’m certain,” Quinn addressed Dunbar again, “the legality of handfasting would have to be addressed, as would any extradition of a British citizen, would take a wee while to sort out.”

She really didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. She wanted to go back to the states. And she needed to go now.

“Look,” she said. “I have to get to New York, to testify. If we don’t get moving, it will be too late.”

If anyone could get her there in time, it should be these guys.

Dunbar stopped playing with his fingers and leaned forward. “I’m afraid your testimony is no longer necessary. The defendant was murdered.”

“Defendant? You mean Gabby?” Her heart sped up. It was all she could hear.

Gabby was dead? Her Gabby?

“Gabby Skedros is dead?” She was finally able to ask it out loud. “You’re sure?”

“I’m afraid so.” Dunbar watched her closely. “He was poisoned. Of course you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you? You’ve been in Scotland since you landed nearly two weeks ago?”

He’d said it, but he didn’t believe it. His condescending tone made her nauseous. He was no different than the Feds she’d dealt with for months, trying to make her feel like a guilty prisoner, instead of the witness they were supposed to be protecting. But with Gabby dead, she wouldn’t need protecting anymore.

“I didn’t want Gabby dead,” she said. “I wanted to look him in the eye when I testified. I wanted to tell him what a coward he was for shooting a defenseless boy. I wanted to assure him that Nikkos would have hated him in those seconds before he died. I wanted to show him he would never get the chance to betray me like that. I was going to betray him. For Nikkos.”

Quinn’s hand rested on her shoulder and she reached up and touched his fingers. She wanted to double over and puke out the hate she’d been carrying around for a man that was already dead. She didn’t need to hold onto it anymore. She could let it go. And she did. In a flood of silent tears.

She didn’t care who saw, or what they thought. She had to let it out.

She had Quinn. And she didn’t want that stored up hate anywhere near him.

Jules thought of Percy and the fact that he would never have to taste that intense hatred of his father. And she wouldn’t either. She was done. It was over. She and Percy would move on.

Quinn cleared his throat. “If her testimony is no longer required, why the need to restrain her?”

Dunbar’s smile helped her get a grip. She could almost hear the rattle of his snake’s tale.

“Assault of a Federal Officer is a serious charge,” he said pleasantly. “An FBI agent by the name of Dixon is demanding her head, or at the very least, her extradition.”

Quinn laughed. “What did she do, bash him on the head?”

Jules laughed as she wiped away her tears. How well he knew her already.

Dunbar opened up a laptop and turned it to face her. Agent Dixon’s mug flashed up in a Skype frame.

She stopped laughing, but didn’t lose her smile.

“Hello, Dickie,” she chirped.

The man’s face turned red. It was always red. Easiest man in the world to goad. She couldn’t believe the FBI took him on.

“Yes, Lord Dunbar,” Dickie said. “That’s her. Be careful. She’s very dangerous. I’d suggest a full set of chains and perhaps a muzzle for transport.”

Quinn reached over and spun the laptop away from her. “Lord Dunbar? May I have just a moment’s time to defend my wife?”

Dunbar smiled and nodded. “You may have five minutes. Then we’ll take her and go in spite of your handfasting. If you want to spend that five minutes defending her, be my guest, but—”

Quinn was already gone.

She could hear him running down the hall and then...nothing.

Well, at least he was hurrying. Maybe he’d even get back in time for some macking before they hauled her out. And she needed to remind him that he