Page 79 of A Scandalous Vow

But she nodded, making him slightlydizzy.

“For Chrissake.” His hand was most definitely trembling then. “Why didn’t you say something?” Why had they just gone through this whole ridiculous exercise? If she’d told him thetruth—

She shook her head, her golden curls bouncing against her shoulders. “Because I wanted you to choose me, Marc, not feel obligated todoso.”

Damn it all. That old familiar fear twisted his heart. A child.His and Caroline’s child.Howcouldhe—

“No one’s future is certain,” she said again, seemingly reading the panic that must be in his eyes. “Not yours, not mine, not thisbaby’s.”

Perhaps not, but he was going to do all he could to ensure their safety for as long as he could. “The damn thing is at Prestwick Chase? Thecodebook?”

She nodded. “I’ll write a note so Keeton he won’t give you adifficulttime.”

Chapter28

Half a dayfrom York to Derby in a mail coach and then onto Prestwick Chase in the heart of the Peak District. Two hours for the ducal staff to locate the right box in the attic and for Marc to finally put his hands on Staveley’s bloody codebook. He was tempted to stay the night at Luke and Lady Juliet’s country estate, but the sooner he got to London, the sooner he turned over the damn book, made his way to the Archbishop for a Special License, and made his way back to Saddleworth, the sooner he could make Caroline his in the eyesofGod.

He still couldn’t quite believe that she was with child…Well, hecouldbelieve it. He knew how these things happened. The two of them hadn’t spent a night apart in weeks, and he hadn’t been careful at all, not as he should have been. He had filled her with his seed more than once in that time. This was not Caroline’s fault. It was mostdefinitelyhis.

Marc could, and still did, blame Carys for Callie’s conception, however. She’d taken advantage of him upon his return to England, in his despondent state over Max’s death, and he was completely certain that his less-than-scrupulous wife had put a little something in his drink that fateful night. And when she announced she was with child a few weeks later, Marc thought it was more than certain she was attempting to pass some other fellow’s bastard off as his own. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d attempted such a thing, after all. But when Callista had been born, when Doctor Starkey had handed the tiny little black-haired bundle to Marc, he had known without a doubt that she belonged to him. It went beyond the fact that she looked so much like Marc and his mother, he could feel his connection to the child the first time he touched her. And even though he didn’t have a complimentary thing to say about his late wife, he had lost his heart to Callie the very moment hesawher.

And now there would be another child. This one born from the love he had for Caroline. Marc was quite terrified about the prospect. Somehow he would find a way to protect them, all of them, from hisunsavorypast…

If only Caroline could be talked into living at Saddleworth all year long ‘til the end of time. There wasn’t an inch of the place that wasn’t heavily guarded. From the gamekeeper to the gardeners to the stable boys and footmen, every member of his staff was more than prepared to defend the Hall as well as those inside its walls. They would be as safe as he couldmakethem.

But she’d been rather stubborn about that in particular.I can’t live like Callie, hidden away from the world.If she wasn’t so damned lively, so damned adventurous…she wouldn’t be her. And he loved her, every lively, every adventurous inchofher.

The mail coach rambled to a stop at the Gloucester Street Coffee House and Marc quickly climbed from the conveyance with his small valise. He glanced down at his pocket fob. Two in the morning. On the dot. No need to hie off to Whitehall at this hour, Galloway would be…well, who knew where the devil he’d be, but he wouldn’t be in his office, that Marc wascertainof.

So he crossed Piccadilly and hired a hack to take him to Upper Grosvenor. After all, it might be helpful if he could get a bit of rest before he headed to Whitehall in the morning. Of course, he wouldn’t sleep as well as he had done the past several weeks with Caroline in his arms, but at least it would be hisownbed.

The ride to Haversham House wasn’t terribly long, though Marc was quite exhausted by the time he arrived. He paid the driver and just as he started toward his stoop, a shadow seemed to move behind him and then the sharpness of a blade poked into his back, right above hiswaist.

“I never thought it was you.”St. George’s voice. God in heaven. “Never oncesuspectedit.”

Damn it all. Marc’s blood ran cold. He’d been so tired, he’d let his guard down. And now…He couldn’t die just like Max had. Not now, not with Caroline, their baby, andCallie…

“But I started thinking about it after encountering you at Vauxhall. And the pieces suddenly fit together. Itwasyou allalong.”

“You’re mistaken,” Marcbegan. “I—”

“You there!” came a voice acrosstheway.

Marc blinked into the darkness and his mouth fell open in surprise. Of all the goddamned idiots in the world to show up now. He’d never been glad in his life to see bloody Blackaby, not one time. But at the moment, the Runner’s face was the most beautiful sight in theworld.

“I’ve been looking for you,” Blackaby continued, crossing the way with a determinedstride.

“Who’s that?” St. George hissed near Marc’s ear as his blade travelednorthward.

“Bow Street,” he replied. “He’s been out to get me for years.” And thank God for it. If Marc could just convince St. George he was as awful as Blackaby thought he was, he might just get out of this alive.Ifhe…

And then the man’s blade jabbed into Marc’s back, and he stumbled forward in searing pain. “He can haveyouthen.”

The edges of Marc’s vision were fading, but he managed to yell, “For God’s sake, shoot the bastard,” before everything wentblack.

* * *

Lucas Beckford droppedinto a seat beside his old friend Marcus Gray’s sickbed. For the love of God, was history doomed to repeat itself? Caroline had lost Staveley this same way. Of course, Staveley hadn’t abandoned Caroline to go gallivanting across the countryside with an actress. So perhaps she wouldn’t be as devastated this time. If Marc wasn’t fighting for his life, Luke would have been half tempted to hand the man his ass after the way he treatedCaroline.

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