Page 50 of A Victim, A Viscount, And Miss Mifford
He was not handsome at all, Jane decided, as she watched the two men confront each other. The lines of Mr Adonis' face no longer appeared perfect, but cruel and sharp. His eyes were cold and unfeeling, and his lips were drawn into a sneer. He was not some lost Roman God, but the devil himself, Jane thought, as she nervously watched him.
"Going to kill me, eh, Crabb?" Mr Adonis questioned, his voice mocking and—in Jane's opinion—slightly deranged, "Go ahead. It would be a mercy after all that I have suffered."
"All that you have suffered?" Jane could not help but interject, "It is Lord Crabb who is dead, poor Flora who is injured, and Prunella who is gasping for breath on the floor—how is it you who has suffered?"
Mr Adonis paused and glanced down at Jane with contempt, "I should not expect you to understand what it is like to suffer the injustice of being born to a station far inferior to what you are rightly entitled to. To watch men, stupider and uglier than I, succeed at life because of the privilege and wealth they were born into. I thought in Miss Hughes that I had finally found a means by which I might claw my way to the top, but I backed the wrong horse when I chose Prunella."
Prunella, who was curled on the ground in a ball, began to sob softly at his words. The noise she made appeared to irritate Mr Adonis, for he flinched, his eyebrow twitching erratically and turned to confront her.
"Cease your caterwauling," Mr Adonis roared, his voice no longer a cultured Oxbridge drawl, but pure East End cockney, "You've caused me enough trouble."
Mr Adonis made to aim a kick at poor Prunella, but, mercifully, Lord Crabb had anticipated his move and dragged him away from her. A struggle ensued, in which both men fought in a most dishonourable manner, until a shot echoed through the archway, causing Mr Adonis to fall backwards, hitting his head against the wall as he fell.
"Is he..?" Jane gasped, rushing forward despite the dread she felt.
"I shouldn't think so," the viscount answered wryly, "I aimed the shot in the other direction; I merely meant to scare him, not kill him. I expect it's the knock to the head that did him in."
Indeed, Mr Adonis looked remarkably pristine as he lay unconscious upon the ground. Not a blonde hair was out of place and even his breeches were free of the grass stains and mud which covered Lord Crabb.
"At sea, we used to say one should never trust a clean man," Lord Crabb commented idly, as he took off his gloves and proceeded to untie his cravat, "I feel our Mr Adonis has proved that right."
Lord Crabb then hunkered down beside the unconscious gardener and used the cravat to tie his hands together.
"Impressive knot," Jane commented lightly, earning herself a wink.
"I may have had practice," Lord Crabb replied and, despite the complete desperateness of the situation they found themselves in, she could not help but feel a jolt of desire toward him. Underneath his coat, his muscles were easily discernible, and his hands as he undid Mr Adonis' cravat—which he then used to bind his feet together—were big and strong, yet quick and deft.
"I shall return to the carriage to summon the footmen," Lord Crabb whispered, rising to a stand, "He's completely unconscious, but if he wakes the knots shall hold him until I return. You may threaten him with this, if you need to."
The viscount reached out for her hand and placed his pistol into it. Upon seeing Jane's look of pure horror, he gave a light smile and touched her cheek affectionately.
"It's not loaded," he whispered, "It's just for show. I shall be gone but a few minutes, do not fear."
She nodded, for she trusted him completely, and once he had her permission to leave, he turned and departed, taking off at a light jog.
Jane then turned her attention to Prunella, who was still curled in a ball against the wall, sobbing quietly to herself.
"Are you hurt?" Jane queried, kneeling down beside her and reaching out a hand to touch her arm. Prunella shook her head in response, lifting her eyes to meet Jane's.
"I am so sorry," she whispered, her voice hoarse, "It is all my fault."
"Hush," Jane admonished, "None of this is your fault, it is Mr Adonis who is to blame."
"Is he dead?" she queried, her voice full of hope.
"Not yet," Jane shrugged, "Though no doubt he will hang for all he has done. Tell me, Prunella, how on earth did you come to be involved with him?"
In a halting voice, Prunella explained how she and Mr Adonis had met in Bath—just as Jane had suspected. The handsome gardener had charmed the naive Miss Hughes, stealing kisses and professing his love for her. When the time had come to depart, however, and Prunella had questioned him about marriage, he had informed her that he was too poor to offer for her hand.
"He might have told me before," Prunella added darkly, though Jane was too polite to enquire "before what?", for she already knew the answer.
"I was so frightened," Prunella continued nervously, "That he would disappear after I had given him everything. Luckily, or so I thought, Theodore formulated a plan. He knew of Lord Crabb, of how he was practically dead and had no heir, and he convinced me that if I were to marry the viscount that he would die soon after. Then we could be together and live our lives in luxury—how stupid I was."
Jane remained silent, though she was inclined to agree. She had read many love stories and in not one of them had the hero decided that the best course of action was to marry his lady-love off for his own gain.
"And so I did it," Prunella shrugged, a look of distaste on her pretty face, "I flirted with that ghastly old man—it was not difficult to make him fall in love with me—and within a sennight, we were engaged. Then I persuaded him to hire Theodore, so that he might be close by. I thought I could bare it, but as the wedding neared, I realised that I could not go through with marrying that wretched creature and told Theodore that I wished to cry off. I begged him to run away with me, but he refused. He said we had come this far and that it was clear as day that Lord Crabb would not live long after the wedding..."
Prunella broke down into quiet sobs and Jane rushed to find a hankie for her.
