Page 27 of A Lady's Dangerous Secret
James climbed into a hackney that would take him near Lady Hardwicke’s town house. He peered out the window and noted the illumination of the streets from the moon. While the vehicle rattled along, he wondered if Charlotte would even meet him, and cursed himself for being a selfish, pompous arse by tempting her, an innocent, with his proposition.
When James was around her, he lost all good sense and could not get enough of her. She was like an opium addiction, and he kept crawling back for more. She was a hard habit to break.
The hackney stopped at a side street not too far away from Lady Hardwicke’s home, and James hopped out. He paid the driver half the fare and instructed him to wait. Once he approached the alleyway behind the town house, he heard a man’s voice slice through the stillness of the night.
“You bitch! I finally found ya, and yer gonna rot in ‘ell!”
James quickened his pace and pulled out the dagger he kept handy.
“I’ll kill you!” shouted a woman’s voice.
An eerily familiar woman’s voice.
James swiftly approached the source of the sound and moonlight filtered into the alleyway.
There stood Charlotte with her hair askew, pointing a pistol at a man on the ground who grasped a dagger. The look in her eyes was hard to read, but she must be frightened.
“You won’t do it,” the man snarled. James froze, not wanting to cause a misfire by surprising Charlotte.
James recognized her look—he had seen it in some of his men. It was a past trauma suddenly reemerging, causing a person to freeze.
James jumped into action at the same time the man realized Charlotte was frozen. The ruffian sprung to his feet, clutching his dagger. James gave a warrior’s cry while running toward the two of them.
The rogue held his dagger at her throat and eyed James. “Who are ya? One step and she’s dead.”
Charlotte’s eyes widened. The blade dug into the front of her neck, and a trickle of blood dripped down her throat.
James met her gaze to give her a look of reassurance, though he was not optimistic with only a dagger in his hand. Then, out of the corner of his eye, James spotted the pistol Charlotte had dropped.
“I don’t know this wench. Why don’t you just blow the grounsils with her? No need to waste such a pretty thing,” James said, and relaxed his arm that was wielding the blade. He had to outsmart this bastard, and there was only one thing he thought would work.
One terrible thing.
The man contemplated what he had just said. “No, this chit ?as to die. She tried to kill me.”
“Why can’t we have a little fun with her? If you won’t, I want a turn before you finish your business,” James taunted.
“What do you ?ave to do wit’ anything? I’m the one who gets ?er.”
James shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “You don’t seem to want her.”
Charlotte flinched. The knife at her neck had moved while the man was thinking. James used all his might to not move and rip the blade out of the bastard’s hand and give him the slow and painful death he deserved.
“I’m gonna fuck this strumpet.”
“I’m glad you grew some bollocks. You get her on the ground, and I’ll hold her for you. I don’t want her screaming.”
The scoundrel pushed her onto the ground. She landed with anoomphthat shattered James’s heart. He could not make any mistakes.
He sprung toward Charlotte’s pistol.
“You son of a bitch!” Charlotte screamed. As James had hoped, she fought the man tooth and nail, though he had not expected the litany of expletives with which she verbally thrashed him.
James reached the gun; it was primed.
The blackguard had foolishly turned his back on James in order to straddle Charlotte. James wanted to shoot him in the back. The bastard deserved no honor, but there was a chance the bullet could pass through him and hit her.
James quickly maneuvered so that the man could see him.
