Page 39 of How to Seduce a Viscount
Luce fell into stride with his brother, matching him step for step, another reminder of their similarity, their innate synchronicity. There was urgency in their steps. Perhaps his brother was as eager to get back to Ellen as he was to get back to Wren? He had told her so much, made so many arguments but perhaps Stepan was right. For all he’d told her, he hadn’t told her enough. For all of his words, he hadn’t given her the right ones. I love you. He did love her.
He felt Stepan’s hand on his arm. ‘Are you expecting anyone?’ Stepan asked. ‘There’s horses outside that aren’t yours.’
‘No, no one.’ Luce felt cold fear steal over him. Gerlitz was here. He knew it. ‘Where are the boys and Anne?’
‘Helping at a neighbour’s.’ They exchanged knowing looks. There was only Wren and Ellen in the house.
Luce’s mind was already sorting through his options. ‘There are four horses, so four men. Perhaps two are stationed as lookouts. We have to take them out quietly before they can raise the alarm. The other two are in the house.’ Wren would have her stiletto. Would she be able to use it without endangering Ellen? ‘Do you have a weapon on you?’ Stepan shook his head.
‘Then our first stop is the barn. Grab a pitchfork, lumber, a scythe, whatever is handy,’ Luce instructed. ‘Lead us in, you’ll know the best way to reach the barn without detection.’
His brother nodded grimly. ‘We can’t be seen from the house if we come up on the west side.’
It was slow going, slower than Luce would have liked. The distance suddenly seemed infinite. But there was no margin for error. They ran where they could, they crouched when they had to and they made the barn without detection. Stepan armed himself with a butchering knife. They approached the cottage cautiously, careful to avoid detection from the horses. There was no one stationed outside. Perhaps Gerlitz’s men counted on the horses to raise the alarm.
‘All four must be inside.’ Luce didn’t feel comfortable with that assessment. It seemed off to him. These were professionals. They would not set themselves up to be taken by surprise purposely. There ought to be a sentry, someone outside. But where?
‘Do we go in hard and fast, take them by surprise? Capitalise on disruption?’ Stepan asked.
Luce shook his head. ‘Something in between. We go in fast, grab the man closest to the door, make him a hostage, survey the room and start negotiating. Show no mercy. Every word you speak will matter. If you say it, you must mean it. Be prepared to carry it out.’
Stepan nodded. ‘I’ll go in first and do the grab. You negotiate.’
A pistol cocked ominously behind them and a rough voice spoke. ‘A good plan but I know a better one. Why don’t you gentlemen step inside and join us for tea? I think you’ll know some of our guests. Lovely ladies.’
That would not do. They’d have no surprise, no negotiating power. They’d all be trapped inside in a very small space. No room to manoeuvre. Out here, Luce had a chance. From the sound of the man’s voice, he was close. Too close and too confident in the advantage his gun gave him. Luce wagered he could reach him before he recovered from his shock.
Luce whirled and charge, lowering his head like a battering ram and catching the man in the stomach. The gun fired into the air. The man went down dropping the weapon as he fell. Luce grabbed the weapon, wielding it like a club and delivering a blow that rendered the man unconscious. ‘One down,’ he said grimly but Stepan had melted away, looking for another way in, another way to Ellen.
‘That’s all you’ll get, Horseman.’ The cottage door opened and a roughly dressed man emerged, holding Wren against him, a pistol to her head. Wren was pale, her quicksilver eyes wide, her jaw set with determination. ‘Unless of course, you don’t value her. Then you might get past me.’ He gave a shrug as if his life and Wren’s life were of no consequence. ‘Of course, we have the other woman, too. Get past me, and her throat will be slit before you can reach her. So, rushing me doesn’t seem to accomplish anything for you.’ He offered his analysis with a toothless grin.
‘What do you want?’ Luce asked in even tones. ‘She is nothing to you. Let her go and negotiate with me.’
The man spat. ‘Sheissomething. She is Falcon. Not the same as a Horseman of course, but still. Falcon has betrayed us before. She’s the one that got word to you about the sabotage on the Greek arms. She got our boss’s cousin killed. She killed our comrades a few weeks ago.’
‘Got two more of them just a few days back,’ Wren managed through gritted teeth. ‘You’re running out of friends.’
Luce stifled a chuckle. He didn’t want her bravado to get her killed right in front of him.
‘Shut your mouth, missy. You’re in no position to talk.’ The man wrenched her arm and Luce saw her wince. ‘You save her, you lose the other one. You’ll never get to both in time.’
Wren held his gaze and Luce feared she was saying goodbye, that she had concluded as he had that he couldn’t rush this man, couldn’t draw his knife before the man could fire. He might get the man afterwards, but it wouldn’t matter. It wouldn’t save her. ‘Take me instead,’ Luce offered the trade, his arms held out wide in surrender. ‘You’ve got two Horsemen here. Surely that equals the score.’
‘Or maybe, while you two gents are talking, a girl can save herself.’ Wren’s eyes flashed and she moved with lightning speed. A foot to his instep, an arm coming up to smash into her captor’s arm at short range and full force, jarring the gun loose but not before it fired. Luce half expected to feel the bullet hit him as he ran forward, his knife out. But there was nothing, not even the wind of passage. Stepan was behind him, then pushing past him into the cottage with a guttural yell to dispatch the man inside.
A blade glinted in Wren’s hand and her captor fell, clutching himself. But Wren fell, too, stumbling away and grabbing atthe side of the cottage for purchase, her hands red, blood everywhere.
‘No! Wren!’ Luce lurched towards her but the fourth man spilled from the cottage, blocking him. Luce dispatched him with a ferocious stab and shoved him aside. He wanted only to get to Wren. Wren who was down. Wren who was bleeding. Wren whom he loved but hadn’t told.
He knelt beside her. There was so much blood. Dear God, the bullet. His first thought had been she had not been fast enough to divert it’s trajectory. ‘Are you hit?’ He gathered her to him, his hands running over her looking for the injury. ‘Are you hurt?’
‘It’s not my blood,’ she managed shakily. ‘It’s his. At least it’s mostly his. I think.’ She sagged against him and real terror took Luce.
‘Luce!’ Stepan was beside him. Ellen with him, frightened but unharmed. ‘Is she…?’
‘Fainted,’ Luce said with a conviction he forced himself to believe. He lifted Wren in his arms. ‘She might have been shot. I can’t find an injury, though.’
‘Bring her inside.’ Ellen led the way, stepping over the carnage and clearing the table. ‘Lay her down here. I’ll bring a lamp.’
