An Unsinkable Love(72)
A pale object caught his eye and he reached down to pick up a caramel-colored tassel with a small scrap of ivory lace still attached. Tighter than ever, the band of fear crushed his breath. Bree was in trouble. Since Eldon followed Carlisle and the lane didn't have any place wide enough to pass the big car, his stepfather couldn't have missed the Rolls Royce, even in the dark. Bree wasn't physically capable of hurting a man of Carlisle's size—but Eldon was.
Regretfully leaving the chauffer lying in the road, Malcolm ignored the door and leaped over the side of the sports car, slamming it into gear as soon as his feet touched the pedals, and pushed the Mercer to its maximum speed. He was forced to slow as he entered the town proper, using his horn when required to warn slow-moving carriages as he overtook them.
Angry shouts echoed behind, but he ignored them.
Up and down the grid-like streets he cruised, checking each glint of metal for Eldon's Pierce Arrow. He completed a full circuit and came back to the start. "Damn!" Malcolm cried, pounding his fist on the steering wheel. If Eldon hadn't stopped in town, he could be half-way to Boston or several other cities. There was no way of telling. Slumping in despair, he let his head fall back, eyes closed. The vision of Bree, a hurt, reproachful expression on her face, filled his head. What had he done?
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An Unsinkable Love
by Terri Benson
"Mebbe I can help."
Malcolm jerked as he heard the Cockney accent.
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243
An Unsinkable Love
by Terri Benson
Chapter 38
As Eldon held the thrashing hellcat in his arms, he had a moment to wonder if he'd bitten off more than he could chew.
Slapping Bree when she'd tried to escape downstairs hadn't had the effect he had expected. Instead of cowering from him, she'd come at him, nails slashing at his face, feet kicking at his shins. It took all his strength to hold her off. He knew he could easily have knocked her out, but he didn't want to damage her pretty face. And, more importantly, he wanted her wide awake when he began her education in bed. He looked across the warped floorboards to the tarnished brass bed in the corner and smiled. He'd put clean sheets on it himself earlier today in preparation for Bree's "classes." She probably wouldn't appreciate the fact he wouldn't have considered such menial labor for anyone but her. He expected proper thanks for his efforts—or perhaps, improper thanks.
The back of Bree's head slammed against his chest with enough forced to nearly knock the breath out of him. Who would have expected such a small package to have such potent strength? Damn that stupid Carlisle. He'd followed orders to get Bree away from the house, but then he'd gotten cold feet. Eldon could use another pair of hands to control the hot-headed minx. Instead, the fool had tried to play Sir Galahad.
Eldon automatically countered Bree's struggles as he sorted through options. It would have been wiser to speed through town and get as far away as possible, considering it 244
An Unsinkable Love
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wouldn't take long for someone leaving the party to find the Rolls and Carlisle's body. But, then again, it was unlikely anyone had seen the three of them together. There would be too many questions and confusion for anyone to come hunting for him right away. It hadn't come off exactly as he'd planned, but he'd gone to so much trouble to put together his secret hideaway, he was damn well going to use it.
It never ceased to amaze Eldon that people wanted to believe him, no matter the evidence or how odd the circumstances—even more so now he was rich. No one ever connected the dots in the past. Not as a child when animals kept turning up mutilated and dead, not after his poor brother died so suddenly, not when the company accountant disappeared with all that money and, of course, not when his wife's devoted maid absconded in Europe. The stupid bitch thought she could blackmail him when she caught him adding the powder to Elizabeth's morning tea. Eleanor's disappearance hadn't even raised an eyebrow. He was probably the only one who missed her, and only because she had been somewhat amusing in bed. He'd tired of her, anyway.
Eldon glanced down at the coppery head pummeling his chest. To spare himself any more bruises, he placed his hand over her mouth and nose and held it until her struggles weakened. Just when he thought Bree sufficiently subdued, sharp teeth sank into the flesh beneath his thumb. He twisted his other hand in her tangle of hair and yanked her head back, staring down into flashing green eyes. "You little hellion! I'm going to enjoy repaying you for every single 245