Page 118 of The Duke's Mysterious Lover
Oh excellent plan! Save the princess by getting him to shootyou.
But his desperation, his bitter anger was the only edge she had. Kit could see it all clearly, in the way Thorne was shifting his weight, the way his eyes flicked around the room.
The man she loved was about to be a hero, throwing himself in front of an innocentyet againto save a life.
And she’d lose him.
No.
“Father!”
“Yes,” he growled, the revolver never wavering. “Youarethe cause of all my problems, aren’t you, Katherine? You and your mother should’ve had the sense to stay in that godforsaken country.”
The gun was still pointed at the Princess, but Father glanced down at her. The motion tilted his head to one side, pulling away from her. “Now I’ll have to kill you both.”
“Blackrose,” Thorne called placatingly, “dinnae do anything rash.”
“Rash?Rash?” Grinning evilly at Kit, his finger tightened on the trigger. As she reached desperately for his arm, he calmly said, “I’ll show you—"
Each second seemedan hour as Thorne’s heart pounded, trying to see a way out of this mess. “Aye, of course,” he cautioned Blackrose, inching to one side. “Ye can have the folio.”
The trick was to keep the bastard talking. Thorne knew he was leaving the Princess unprotected—what the shite had happened to her guard?—but he couldn’t get an angle on Blackrose from here. Perhaps if he moved—
Fook.
Blackrose took advantage of his motion to swing the gun back toward Princess Louise. Thorne wasn’t the only one to gasp, but hewasthe only one to see what was going on behind Griffin.
The man had moved forward to reach Blackrose, but also putting his body between the gun and Bull. His son, however, didn’t seem concerned, and was eyeing Blackrose thoughtfully as he slipped that small knife of his from his sleeve.
The knife he could flip and catch without cutting himself. The knife he now held at his hip as he edged to his left, out of Blackrose’s line of vision.
“Now, Stroken,” Blackrose barked, demanding the folio of blank papers they were using to bait this trap. The trap which had turned disastrous with Kit in so much danger.
He could not lose her.
Bull cared for her as well, and Thorne couldseethe lad’s fiercely calculating gaze. “Dinnae do anything stupid,” he warned Bull, who shot him a surprised smirk.
Meanwhile, something had changed. Kit gasped, dragging Thorne’s gaze back to her. “Father, don’t!” she cried. “I’m the one who foiled your plans!”
And Thorne wanted to growl.Nay! Dinnae draw his attention!Thorne was positively frantic at the thought of the Princess in danger, his loyalty to her absolute, but hecouldn’tlose the woman he loved! He couldn’t! He wanted that gun pointed athiminstead.
But his brave, noble Kit wasn’t going to let him sacrifice himself. “I’m the one you’re angry with!” she was saying to her father.
Whose face twisted into something ugly, something hate-filled, and even as he glared at the men around him he spat that anger at his own daughter. “Yes! You are the cause of all my problems, aren’t you, Katherine?”
He said more words, but Thorne’s pulse was pounding too loud for him to focus. For the first time in years, he found himself really praying.Please keep her safe. Keep them all safe!
But he knew whathehad to do. He’d die before he let Blackrose harm another innocent.
The bastard chose that moment to glance at his daughter, letting Kit see the evil in his expression. It meant his head was tipped back, but that didn’t seem to affect his ability to sneer. “Now I’ll have to kill you both.”
Oh Christ, no. “Blackrose, dinnae do anything rash,” Thorne managed past the lump in his throat. He balanced on the balls of his feet, trying to keep everything, everyone in his sight at once.
“Rash?” Blackrose repeated, the gun still pointed at Princess Louise. Kit’s hands moved upward, but Thorneknewshe wasn’t going to be in time. “I’ll show you—”
His words cut off mid-threat in a sort of gurgle as Kit lunged for her father’s arm. She grabbed him around the elbow and yanked, so when his finger spasmed, pulling the trigger twice, the bullets tore into the finely polished wood floor.
Thorne lurched forward as the gunshots drew the attention of the other guests, shouts and screams rising behind him as he reached for Kit.
