Page 48 of The Allure Of Lord Devlin
“I’ll ensure everyone knows how honorably you have behaved in helping Lord Devlin and myself.”
“It won’t be enough. Look at Lord Devlin. He’s tried so hard to restore the family name to everyone’s good graces, but after ten years, still they judge. I’m ruined. I need to leave and make a new life in the Americas. Unlike Devlin, I have money. Plenty of money.”
She squeezed his hand because Fencourt was correct. “Powerful people will stand by you. The Duke of Sinclair, my brother, and the Marquis of Devlin.” How ironic because it should have been his family name that had been ruined all those years ago anyway, and Lord Longton had cost the late Lord Devlin his life. How could Longton make up for that? One thing was for sure. She would not let Devlin lose his life as well. Or the opportunity to prove beyond a doubt that his father was innocent.
She took a deep breath. “I won’t lie. You are rectifying something that should have been known ten years ago. I respect your decision not to come with me, but I have to go.”
“Where are you going?” Philippa asked, as she tried to enter the drawing room as Dharma was leaving. Lady Clayton looked at Fencourt.
“Excuse my manners, Lady Clayton, but I must take my leave too.”
Dharma pressed Philippa’s hands. “I haven’t got time to explain. Send word to Tobin, tell him to get word to Lord Sinclair. Lord Longton has captured Devlin. Fencourt says he’s being held in the stables at Tattersalls.” And before Philippa could stop her, Dharma raced for the stables to ride to the rescue.
With the help of a groom called Hamish, she saddled her mare, Cleopatra, and with the young man accompanying her, she made ready to stop Longton.
She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She should wait for the men, but the delay might cost Devlin his life. She would simply ensure Longton didn’t move Devlin before her brother and the other men got there. If Longton moved Devlin, the two of them would follow. She would not let her beloved out of her sight. She’d only intervene if Devlin was in immediate danger. Besides, Hamish had brought a gun with him and she had her trusty little pistol in her pocket.
Her heart lodged in her throat the closer they got to Tattersalls. The sun was still high in the sky, but that meant the streets were busy. Hamish rode close beside her and she was thankful for his company.
Longton needed Devlin dead, but he needed to know where Devlin had hid the evidence. Then, Longton would simply kill Devlin and hope that it would resolve the situation. Dharma suspected how he was going to achieve it, because Fiona was missing, too. He’d make it look like Fiona had killed him in a fit of jealous rage for calling off their engagement and then probably he’d stage it so it looked as though Fiona had killed herself.
Longton did not know that Devlin had already given the evidence to the Duke of Sinclair or her brother. They also had copied it, word for word, in Gaelic and English. She bet Longton didn’t know that it was now safely in Lord Liverpool’s hands. If he learned that truth, Devlin would be dead.
Worse still, Longton thought Devlin had found the note, but it was actually Rosemary and her who had found it. Several people had read it. He couldn’t kill all of them, could he? Certainly not without raising suspicions.
Whatever Longton did, it was over for him. Perhaps that is how she could get him to surrender, by letting him know there was no point in killing Devlin.
If the bastard touched a hair on his head, she’d see Longton destroyed. See how Longton liked living with the rumor of murderer and traitor over his head? She now understood Devlin’s need to avenge his father and how he’d risk all to do so.
She dug her heels into Cleopatra’s side and urged her horse through the crowded streets, trying not to breathe too deeply.
ChapterFourteen
Pain.
Pain everywhere.
He wondered if it was worse to be stretched on a rack, waiting to be drawn and quartered? Every muscle in his body was on fire. The chains pulled taut; his arms stretched far above his head so that his feet barely touched the ground. His joints screamed, wanting to pop from their sockets.
He tried to raise his head, but each tiny movement caused nausea to erupt deep in his gut and he fought the urge to vomit. He’d been hit hard on the side of the head and when he blinked, trickles of blood ran into his eye.
Devlin closed his eyes and stayed his head, trying to focus through the pain. His pride was in tatters at having let the enemy overpower him and render him unconscious with one simple blow. He should have realized Longton would act sooner than expected. How much did he already know? Had Sinclair reached Lord Liverpool with the parchment? He didn’t mind dying if he thought it would not be in vain.
Except—he would miss Dharma. He would disappoint her and she would be so upset. He didn’t want to leave her grieving.
He forced his eyelids to lift and waited for the haze to clear. He kept his body still, hiding his return to consciousness from anyone who might be in the vicinity. Like a fox testing the poacher’s trap, he evaluated his position.
They’d chained his hands above his head, stretching toward the ceiling, and he could smell horses. The slate stones beneath his feet were covered in bits of hay. Was he in the stables at the back of Montague House, or had he been moved? He hoped the former, because Sin was meeting him here and if he didn’t turn up, he was sure his friend would search the area.
The burning pain in his shoulders had his head spinning. Don’t faint.
The stable was quiet except for the sound of horses stamping and snorting. Deathly quiet. Sensing he was, in fact, alone, Devlin gingerly lifted his head to survey his prison. With the ringing in his ears and the haze clouding his brain clearing, he noticed more.
There was a piece of tarp on the floor with metal implements laid out in a line. Torture implements. Fear grew to unimaginable proportions. He yanked on the chains with all his strength. The chains did not break. Would he have the strength to withstand the torture? Longton wanted the parchment, but it was too late. He needed to resist any torture as long as he could for two reasons. One because of the chance of a rescue, and the other, if Longton learned Liverpool had the note, he’d simply kill Devlin.
Just then, he heard the door to the stable opening and murmurs. Would it be Longton himself or one of his minions?
Hope briefly flared when he caught sight of Fiona, but then he noticed that someone had tied her hands behind her back and her face was streaked with tears. He yanked on his chains in a futile attempt to get free.
