with my bare hands.” But he couldn’t rush this, not with a pistol aimed at her head. For the first time in his life, he was truly terrified.
He would not fail her.
“I told you,” Culpepper shouted from behind her, ”I just want the money.”
Westerley kept his pistols trained on the others. “You won’t see a halfpenny if anything happens to her,” he declared, not even blinking as he watched the men on the ground.
“So, let’s let bygones be bygones, shall we?” Culpepper’s arm snaked around Tabetha’s waist. “I’ll take your sister off your hands and in exchange, you pay off my vowels. Everyone wins. Even Spencer over there, stands to benefit.”
It was good to keep the duke talking, anything to distract him from the gun pointed at Tabetha’s head.
“Not sure I’m following you.” Stone clenched his teeth, relishing the thought of cutting off the man’s airway with his bare hands.
“According to Scotland, no record exists to prove your ill-timed wedding. You, Mr. Spencer, are free and clear. And dearest Lady Tabetha gets the title she’s always wanted.” He lowered his mouth to Tabetha’s ear. “Come now, it’s all you really care about, isn’t it, Lady Tabetha?”
No record? Stone reached in his pocket and sure enough, it was empty.
“Looking for this?” Culpepper held up the certificate, and placing a corner between his teeth, tore it in two.
He did this a second time and for a moment, Stone wondered if the man was going to chew the certificate up and swallow it.
But he only dropped the pieces on the ground, and a gust of wind immediately picked them up, tossing them across the road and off into the meadow.
“You are free to become my little grace, now.” He all but cackled at his own humor.
But Tabetha was not going to be taken easily. She narrowed her eyes, glancing over her shoulder. “I’m not your grace and I never will be!”
“But you’ve always wanted to be a duchess.”
“I don’t want to be a duchess!” she shouted, a panicked look in her eyes.
“Tabetha.” Stone demanded her attention. “Love.” He needed her calm.
Culpepper had already resorted to desperate measures in kidnapping her, an earl’s sister. Stone flicked a gaze to where the duke’s hand gripped the pistol. His finger was looking awfully twitchy.
His debts must be outrageous. He had nothing to lose.
Culpepper shifted his gaze to where his men lay cowering. “Let them up or she gets a bullet to the brain!”
“Tabetha,” Stone said evenly, and this time, she stilled and focused her eyes on his.
“I’m so sorry, Stone.” She looked almost resigned.
“You’re going to be just fine. Westerley can redirect the funds but we’ll all have to get to London first.” His words were very deliberate.
Redirect.
“Let them up or your sister’s blood is on your hands.” Culpepper’s attention remained on Westerley, who had no choice but to slowly lower his weapons.
In the same moment, Tabetha made a barely discernable dipping motion with her chin.
Redirect, she mouthed. She understood, and she trusted him.
God help him, she owned him. He was hers. In every possible way.
I love her. And the full realization, rather than frightening him, cloaked him in a deadly calm.
“Is that Archimedes?” Stone pointed up the road, and the duke’s head swung around. Exactly as he’d hoped.
At the same time, Tabetha punched the muzzle up, redirecting it, but not before a shot exploded, the sound echoing off the trees.
Tabetha dropped to the ground.
Stone burst across the space separating them and wrestled the weapon out of Culpepper’s hands. A single whack in the ducal nose, and the blighter was out cold. But… Tabetha…
Tabetha.
Scrambling in the dirt, he rolled her over, terrified the bullet had caught her after all.
“Stone!” Her scream pierced the air almost louder than the bullet had, and God help him, he nearly fainted.
Her slim but surprisingly robust arms flew around his neck. The little minx tugged him onto the ground on top of her. “I knew you’d come!” She peppered his face with kisses and then clumsily claimed his mouth with hers, laughing and crying at the same time.
She was safe. She was here. And she was his heaven.
She had always been his heaven.
When she shuddered and buried her face in his chest, he reluctantly lifted his weight up. She was soft beneath him but the ground couldn’t be comfortable.
“You aren’t trapped with me, love. You can be a duchess still. There are other dukes than Culpepper”
She blinked and shook her head. “I don’t want to be anyone’s duchess.”