Stranger in My Arms(97)

“Let Auntie Rachel go,” Johnny cried, and fired. The toy emitted a feeble pop, the sound causing everyone to freeze.

Realizing the tiny pistol was harmless, Lonsdale began to laugh incredulously, his mocking gaze fastened on the small, furious boy at the top of the stairs.

All at once a shadowy figure moved through the open doorway with a lithe, animal-like spring.

“Hunter,” Lara breathed, while he launched himself at Lonsdale with an impact that sent both men crashing to the floor.

Rachel was thrown aside from the force of the collision, and she rolled once, twice, before her body went limp from pain and shock. She closed her eyes and fainted, her arms flung out like a discarded rag doll’s.

The men fought viciously for the gun, swearing and grunting as they pummeled each other. Lara turned and clambered up the stairs as fast as she could move. She reached Johnny in a matter of seconds and pulled him to the ground, sheltering his body with her own.

The boy gasped with confusion, his cheeks wet with tears. “Mama, what’s happening?” he asked plaintively, and she hugged him tightly.

She risked a glance at the scene below, where Hunter twisted and grappled for the weapon. Biting her lip in terror, Lara fought to keep silent. The two large men were locked in deadly combat, rolling across the polished floor… and then the air was shattered by a thunderous explosion.

Both men were still.

Lara gripped Johnny, her wide eyes focused on the two long bodies and the pool of ruby red blood that seeped around them. She made a strangled sound in her throat, and covered her mouth with her hand to hold in an anguished scream.

Hunter moved slowly, disentangling himself from the other man and pressing his large hands over the gaping wound in Lonsdale’s midriff.

Breathing heavily, Hunter looked at the servants nearby. “Send for Dr. Slade,” he growled at a footman, “and have someone else fetch the sheriff.” He motioned to the butler with a jerk of his head.

“You-take Lady Lonsdale upstairs before she wakens.” His curt voice seemed to make sense of the chaos. They all rushed to obey, grateful for his leadership.

Trembling with relief, Lara took Johnny’s hand and pulled him away from the scene. “Don’t look, darling,” she murmured as he strained to glance over his shoulder.

“He’s come back,” Johnny said, gripping her fingers fervently.

“He’s come back.”

It was almost dawn by the time the sheriff departed, after the prolonged questioning of the Hawksworths and the servants. The sheriff had shown no great surprise at the turn of events. As he had remarked laconically, everyone knew of Lonsdale’s habitual drunkenness and violence. It had only been a matter of time before he received his comeuppance.

Although it appeared the matter would be set aside with no charges made, Hunter couldn’t dismiss it easily. Grimly he scrubbed himself in a hip tub in his room. A thick application of soap removed every trace of dirt and blood, but he still didn’t feel clean.

For most of his life he had been able to ignore his conscience. In fact, he had been fairly certain he didn’t possess one. But he was deeply troubled about the consequences of bringing Rachel to Hawksworth Hall. If he hadn’t, Lord Lonsdale would probably still be alive. On the other hand, if Hunter had left Rachel to her husband’s mercy, she would likely be dead.

Had he made the right choice? Had there been a right choice to make?

He dressed and combed his wet hair, and thought about Lara. There were still things left to be said between them… painful things that he didn’t want to say and she would not want to hear. Groaning, he dug the heels of his hands into his sore eyes. He considered how all of this had started, with his overwhelming wish to become Hunter Cameron Crossland. The surprise of it all was how natural it had felt. He had made the name his own, until even he had trouble remembering that he was living a stolen life. His other bleak existence had been closed away like a dusty attic room he had no wish to visit.

And Lara, for some motive he couldn’t begin to understand, had made it possible for the charade to continue. Perhaps she was trying to think of him as one of her many charity cases, and save him from what he was.

But he couldn’t allow Lara to become part of the lie. He couldn’t bear to corrupt her any more than he already had.

Filled with dread and longing, he went to tell Lara good-bye.

Lara sat in a chair before her bedroom hearth, shivering as the heat of the coals wafted over her bare toes. Rachel was fast asleep in her own room, drugged by a dose of laudanum the doctor had administered.

Johnny had been tucked away in the nursery, soothed by a glass of hot milk and a story.

Although Lara was exhausted, she stayed resolutely awake, afraid that if she fell asleep, Hunter would leave her once again.

Her body gave a little jump as the doorknob turned, and Hunter entered the room without knocking. She stood automatically. After one look at his remote face, she held back and wrapped her arms around her middle, hugging herself.

“I thought you had left me after the depositions in London,” ~he said quietly. “I thought you weren’t going to come back.”

“I wasn’t But then I thought of you here alone with Rachel, and I realized what Lonsdale would do.” He made a sound of self-disgust. “I would have come sooner if I’d been thinking clearly.”

“You came in time,” Lara said, her voice cracking.