Page 80 of Inventing Vivian

She was relieved. Lord Hargreave’s words had frightened her, but Benedict wasn’t afraid, and that calmed her worries.

A pair of constables ran up the road. They stopped when they reached the group, looking between them, trying to understand what had happened.

The elder of the constables put his hands up, walking carefully toward Benedict. “Easy there, sir. Put down the guns.”

Benedict lowered the pistols slowly. He turned them around, handing them to the police officer.

“Now, what’s happened here?” the other constable asked.

“Thank goodness you’ve come at last.” Lord Hargreave stood, looking terrified. “These two thieves accosted myself and my associates.”

The police looked at Benedict and Vivian.

“That is not true,” Vivian said. “Lord Hargreave tried to have us killed.”

“Lord Hargreave?” the police officer holding the pistols asked, looking at the viscount.

“Yes, that’s right,” Lord Hargreave said. “The woman shot at me. Blew my hat right off my head.”

The younger of the officers knelt on the ground, assessing the henchmen. “These men need a doctor.”

“Send for Inspector Jonathan Graham, H Division,” Benedict said. “He’ll sort this out.”

“And who are you, sir?” the constable with the pistols asked.

“Lord Covington. And this is Miss Vivian Kirby.”

The constable looked at their clothes and smudged faces, and his expression was doubtful. “How do I know you are who you say you are?”

“You don’t,” Benedict said. “But Inspector Graham knows us.”

The elder constable chewed his lip, looking back and forth between the two gentlemen and down at the injured men. “Send for two police wagons,” he said at last. “We’ll work this all out at the station.”

The other constable hurried away.

“Now, you lot sit on the curb there, where I can keep an eye on you.” The police officer motioned with the pistols. “And if one or both of you gentlemen are who you claim to be, I apologize.”

Vivian sat on the curb beside Benedict. She rested her head on his shoulder as a wave of exhaustion nearly stole her consciousness.

Benedict put an arm around her, pulling her closer and nestling her against him.

Vivian closed her eyes, thinking as she fell asleep how within just a few hours she and Lord Benedict had come to be on shoulder-pillow terms after all.

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