Page 77 of Her Magnificent Mistake
“Good point.” Rupert was just out of his view and Hawk didn’t risk turning, but he could imagine the young man nodding thoughtfully. “Perhaps the better quotation would be from Vigil’sAeneid, Book Four I believe. Dido curses Aeneas and his descendants and saysLet there be war between your people and mine forever.Scholars believe?—”
“You really are quite annoying, young sir,” Artrip announced in exasperation. Then he swung the revolver toward Rupert, and shot him.
When she saw the flash of the barrel, saw her younger brother spin about as the bullet hit his upper arm, Marcia’s breath froze, making it impossible for her to scream.
But screaming wasn’t necessary.
Instead, she burst over the top of the staircase where she’d been crouched, listening to Artrip’s mad monologuing and biding her time.
The time for waiting was past.
Marcia burst into the clearing in front of the cottage, all her instincts shouting at her to go to Rupert—but Hawk had sprung into motion sooner and as he lunged for Artrip, the older man dodged and grabbed a screaming Allison.
Not Allison!
Marcia changed direction mid-stumble and threw her arms around Hawk’s middle, trying to anchor him in place, desperate to keep him from throwing himself at Artrip as the butler backed away, slowly dragging Allie—with his gun pointed at her jaw—toward the cliff.
“Do not startle him,” Marcia hissed, impressed at how steady her words sounded, although her heart was breaking inside. When she heard her brother’s groan, she almost whimpered in relief, and risked a quick glance to the side.
Rupert had been thrown flat, but now he was trying to roll to his feet, while clutching his arm and looking quite pale. He’d beenshot in the arm? Marcia breathed a little sigh of relief to see him conscious, and flicked her gaze back to the action.
Ohdamn.With Allie seeming far too at ease for having been taken by a madman, Marcia couldn’t help but think how sheherselfwould have reacted…and groaned. “Allie, stay calm, do not struggle.” Because if the girl was anything like Marcia, she’d already be concocting a plan.
Marcia had been in these situations before in the last ten years, but never with the lives of people she loved on the line.Oh God, not Rupert, not Hawk—and Allison was an innocent. She would not let them be hurt.She tried to focus on what she’d learned from Bull, and how to turn this situation to their advantage. “Keep calm, Hawk. There is no telling what he will do.”
“Iken,” moaned Hawk, and she could hear the heartbreak in those words. “Fook.” He twisted to wrap his arm around Marcia’s shoulder so they were plastered together, as if that would help keep him steady. “Artrip, let her go!”
Allie seemed remarkably calm for someone being held hostage by a madman. Her gaze kept flicking between Marcia’s face and her chest. When Marcia finally noticed, Allie turned her attention firmly to Marcia’s breasts.
Well, that was certainly not expected, though she knew plenty of ladies who?—
No, not her breasts.
To what dangled between them.
Almost unbidden, Marcia’s hand rose to the blue glass pendant Lady Mistree had claimed was herinheritance. As had becomeher habit, she worried the glittering amulet back and forth on its chain, the motion unconscious as her attention remained firmly on Artrip.
Interestingly, the movement halted the butler’s slow escape. He stopped backing toward the cliff, his gaze caught by the sparkle of Marcia’s necklace. “What is that?” he barked, his eyes wide and entranced. “That—that bauble?”
Marcia felt Hawk’s arm tighten around her, as if he was trying to tell her something, but she couldn’t risk glancing at him. Allie nodded slightly, a satisfied gleam in her eyes, as if she wanted Marcia to talk about the pendant.
At a time like this? They all thought she should talk about…jewelry?
“This?” Marcia slid the blue glass along its chain again, trying not to look at the prone Rupert to her left. “It was a…a gift. I was told it is a rare and valuable treasure, because it is no ordinary jewel.”
Her mind raced, thinking about what Artrip had so casually announced and his reasons for doing it, and how on earth the pendant could be relevant.
What had Lady Mistree said about it?
Slowly she straightened away from Hawk, allowing her arm to drop, inching away so that they both had space to act. “You see, this pendant is not merely made from blown glass.” Holding it away from herself, Marcia pretended to focus her attention on it, as if it were fascinating. “It came from a mysterious old woman and contains—well, I suppose it is silly to believe such things.”
“It containswhat?” barked Artrip, slowly relaxing though the barrel of the gun was still too close to Allie.
Marcia pretended to blink in surprise. “Why, it contains aspirit. A sprite. That explains the swirling blue glitter.” She held it up farther. “It is beautiful, is it not? Oh!” She pretended to come to a sudden realization. “Perhaps it isPook! You said he disappeared from the glen when the burn was tamed! Perhaps he now resides in this pendant!”
Artrip’s hungry and utterly insane gaze was locked on the piece of jewelry.
Marcia inched farther from Hawk, hoping to give him room to do whatever he was going to do as she distracted Artrip, and made her voice as gentle as possible.Do not panic. Just breathe. You remember breathing?“Release Allison, Artrip.” She could only speak this soothingly if she ignored the little whimpers of pain her brother was making on the picnic blanket behind her. “Let us all walk down the mountain without harming any of us, and I will give it to you?—”
