“It’s time to end this. With as long as it’s been since the hunting party, she’s surely with child.” Sir Reginald kept his eyes on Seth. “Now you’ll know how it feels to lose ason.”
Movement in the hedge behind him caught Sir Reginald’s attention. He swiveled his head to the side, but before Seth could take the shot, Cassandra ducked low and stabbed her hairpin into Sir Reginald’sthigh. He shrieked. She thrust her elbow into his gut. Sir Reginald grappled with her, both falling to the ground in a tumble. Seth raised his pistol but couldn’t get a clear shot. Cassandra was moving too fast. If he took the shot, he could kill her, and if he didn’t, Sir Reginaldwould.
His heartbeat deafened his ears. Cassandra was on the ground. She was on theground,and he couldn’tmove. He couldn’tbreathe. Sir Reginald recovered, holding his bleeding thigh in one hand and his pistol in the other, raising it to her once more. From behind Sir Reginald, dark hair and ruthless eyes stepped forward. Another flash of metal glinted. With the stark knowledge of what was about to occur, Seth ducked.
And heprayed.
A percussive explosion rent the air with a thunderousBOOM!
Cassandrascreamed.
Jerking forward, Sir Reginald fell to the ground next to her in a spasming heap. His gun fell out of his twitching hand, landing soundlessly against the grass. The scent of blood shrouded the air, assaulting Seth’s nose with the sheer force of it. He gagged when he saw Sir Reginald, bleeding from a wound in the side of his head, gaping andblackand—
Seth sank to the ground and wrapped his coat around Cassandra. He covered her head and pushed her face into his shoulder, holding her as steady as he was able with every ounce of him shaking. Cassandra grabbed handfuls of his shirt, popping buttons in her effort to get him closer. All the while, she labored with gulping, wretched gasps. He tasted salt from her tears as he kissed her cheeks, then slanted his trembling mouth on hers to feel her breath, and he thankedGod.
Flailing, Cassandra twisted to see from outside his coat, her eyes darting back and forth.
Seth locked his gaze on hers. “Cassandra, don’t look… no, sweetheart. Look at me. That’s right… only me. That’s it… breathe, love… I’ve got you. You’re safe, you’resafe.”
Her fingers dug into his back hard enough to bruise, as if letting go for a moment would cause him to disappear. But there was no fear of that anymore. Nothing could have torn her from him.
And now, nothing ever would.
Because on the other side of Sir Reginald Thomas’s prone form stood a man with a smoking gun at his side, steam blistering the air, matching controlled puffs of breath leaving his mouth. With a completely blank expression on his face, Lord Matthew Cooper, Viscount Lincolnshire, stepped forward.
“That’ll be the last time someone threatens my family.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Cassandra gulped down a full glass of brandy, wiped her thumb over her lips, and promptly said, “More.”
Seth allowed her to take a small sip of his. At her swallow, he put a fingertip to the rim of the glass and lowered it.
“Slow,” he said, taking the drink from her to have a generous swig of it himself. The liquor burned a path to his stomach, warmed his chest, and provided a fuzzy lightness that he too craved more of. On a plush velvet sofa, surrounded by the familiar red walls of Lord Bolderwood’s sitting room, bone-weary and spent, it would be too easy to drink himself into a stupor, as Cassandra seemed intent on. Instead, he placed his half-full glass on the tea-table in front of them and glanced over to their companion.
“You’re being quiet, Cooper,” Seth prodded.
Cooper sat in a leather upholstered chair beside them, his unfocused eyes trained on the untouched snifter of brandy in his hands.
His nose scrunched. “I still smell blood.”
Seth did too, in his clothes and in Cassandra’s hair. He would help her bathe after they finished speaking to Adrian. Cassandra reached for his glass of brandy again and drank half of it.
If she hasn’t passed out by the time he arrives.
Adrian had his hands full at General Martin’s manor.
After showing Cooper to the hedge maze, Trevor had rushed back to find Seth’sotherbrother. Adrian had arrived at the same moment that Sir Reginald took his last breath. Taking charge of the situation,he escorted Seth, Cassandra, and Cooper past screaming aristocrats, loaded them into a carriage, and ordered the driver to take them to Lord Bolderwood’s townhouse, where they were to wait for his return.
Still draped in his coat and in a fit of nerves, Cassandra held onto Seth with bruising force until they got to Lord Bolderwood’s, only parting from him to have a drink. Her breathing finally eased when the alcohol took effect. As it did, his worry for her lessened and shifted to Cooper.
He had seen the same look on young soldiers. Taking a life ruptures a person deep in their core. This night would shape every one of Cooper’s actions, change the lens through which he saw the world, and there was no telling what that shift would bring.
“I don’t know if I feel anything at all,” Cooper said blankly. “Is that normal? No, don’t answer that. I don’t think there’s anormalresponse that one can have after they’ve killed a man.”
“He wasn’t going to stop,” Seth said. “If you hadn’t shot him, I would have. You did the right thing.”
“I know I did the right thing. It was him or Cassandra… he was mad. It wasn’t a difficult choice to make. But… I put him down like a dog.” Cooper’s hands shook. “And I don’t feelregret. Does that make me evil? No, don’t answer that either.” He took a sip of brandy, then returned to staring at the glass. “Somehow, I expected I would feel… I don’t know,something.”