Page 90 of What a Scot Wants
Her gaze flicked to the listening servants, who kept their eyes carefully averted, and despite the warnings in the pit of her stomach, she ushered him into the small room that Ronan had just vacated. Leaving the door wide open, she remained carefully out of his reach, watching as he removed his hat and gloves.
“That is not what I want,” she said.
“Yes, it is.” He lowered his voice to a whisper that only she could hear. “You don’t even know the man you’re engaged to. I know his secret, you see. He’s illegitimate.”
Imogen couldn’t help it—she burst out into humorless laughter. “God, you’ll stop at nothing, won’t you?”
“It’s true, and I have proof from your own father’s desk.” He grinned widely. “A letter penned from Lady Dunrannoch to Lady Kincaid alluding to the fact that your precious duke would be born out of wedlock. So he’s a bastard and lower than me in the eyes of theton.”
“That’s absurd,” she said, but the conviction in his voice threw her.
“Marry me and I’ll call off the duelandtake that secret to the grave.”
Imogen blinked. “You’re insane.”
But her mind raced. Such information, if it was indeed true, would destroy Ronan. But she had to believe Silas was bluffing. Why wouldn’t he have used it before? And why bribe her rather than Ronan? Unless he didn’t actually have such a letter in his possession and he didn’t believe he could trick the duke into believing him.
“What is your answer?” he asked calmly.
She stared at him, her shoulders heaving. “Why did you accept the duel?”
“It was a means to an end.”
A murderous end. Silas’s skill was unmatched, and while she knew that Ronan would be a fearsome opponent, one simply did not survive a shot to the heart. Imogen’s mind raced. If she couldn’t get to Ronan with her prior plan, she’d have to find a way to stop it somehow. Alert the police? Or the Runners? The man she’d spoken with after she’d been kidnapped, Thomson, would be an option. Dueling was illegal, after all.
“Dawn appointments at Putney Heath don’t strike me as your usual fare, Silas.” She made her face blank. “I have it on good authority that you favor running like a rabbit with a fox on its heels.”
His face stayed cold. “We’ll see who the fox is at Regent’s in a few hours.”
Regent’s. That was almosttooeasy. Almost as if he’d known what she was doing and wanted her to know. Because telling her the location made it real. She could see the small park in her mind’s eye, see them counting off the paces, squaring off…firing. Dying. Bile rose into her throat. Silas would not miss.
“Finish what you started,” he said, watching her. “I saw the look on your Highlander’s face as he left here, as well as yours earlier when you left with your parents. Let him have a chance to live. His life and his future are in your hands. All you have to do is say yes.”
“You were waiting outside my home?” she asked, horrified. “Did you follow me?”
“For quite some time and with great patience, Gennie.”
Like a spider waiting for a fly.
Revulsion filled her, coating the back of her tongue with sour bile. Without a doubt in her mind, she knew she could not allow this man to get anywhere near Ronan or near his family. And while she could just marry Silas and end it that way, a part of her knew she could never do it. She’d rather die.
“Why do you want me so much?” she whispered. “I’m nothing to you.”
“I’ve come to realize I don’t like being deprived of what was mine.”
She sucked in an agonized breath. “You weren’t deprived. You took what you wanted and left.”
Left me in pieces.
His laugh was cold. “Not of my own accord, I assure you. I was chased out of Edinburgh by McClintock at the point of a pistol. Several pistols, to be precise. He can be very convincing. And yes, dear Gennie, I was deprived.Cheatedof a future owed to me…what I had worked for all those years, slavering behind your father, pretending to be the son he always wanted, ingratiating myself, and for what? To be run out of Edinburgh by McClintock and his band of brigands. All because of Belinda.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “A man has needs. She was willing.”
“She wasn’t willing,” Imogen said. “Neither was I.”
But Silas wasn’t listening; his eyes were wild and feverish. He looked utterly demented, as though possessed by some other spirit. Imogen shivered.
“And until I saw you here in London, I hadn’t given you another thought. But then I realized just how much had been stolen from me. First you, then Beatrice. Then others. I could not understand why they all kept slipping through my fingers, but I realized when I saw you at that ball.Youwere the first mistake I had to fix. My second chance.”
Imogen nearly backed away from his fervor.
