An Affair So Right (Rebel Hearts #4)(77)

“Friends don’t hurt each other, do they Gently,” he said.

“What did I say about using that name?” Small’s jaw clenched. “It’s not your job to do the talking or the thinking. It’s mine! I’ll explain everything later when we are away from here.”

“Wait!” She knew that name. Quinn had asked her to look for a reference to the same name, but hadn’t told her why. He knew Quinn’s family too. Even before she asked her question she knew the answer. “Are you not Dennis Small?”

Nelson cringed away from his friend. “Sorry, Gently.”

“Mr. Roman Gently,” she asked just to be sure.

“That weak fool is gone,” Small, or rather Roman, snapped.

Theodora shook her head. “But he’s not forgotten. Someone important is looking for you.”

“They’re too late.” Roman Gently tightened his grip on the knife as he tensed, ready to strike out at poor Nelson. “Nelson, come closer.”

Nelson didn’t. He turned suddenly at the sound of a boot scuffing the straw at the doorway to the stables.

Quinn! Her heart burst with adoration at the sight of him coming to her rescue.

“Yes, do come closer. But I think you’ve said more than enough to ensure you both hang,” Quinn announced as he stepped into the filthy stables. He planted his feet wide in the doorway as he held two pistols, one pointed negligently toward Mr. Nelson, but the other aimed squarely at Mr. Gently’s head.

Quinn’s face was frightening “Give me an excuse to fire. I beg you.”





Chapter 31





Quinn took in Mr. Gently’s shock at seeing them with great pleasure. If not for his groom’s quick thinking, Theodora would have come to harm in the hands of this monster. The men Quinn employed for his carriage had all followed the stolen vehicle on borrowed horses, sending back urchins wearing pieces of their livery to Newberry House, to warn him of their heading.

He took in the poor state of the stables, Mrs. Dalton bound on the ground, Theodora’s bruising cheek as she backed away, and his temper soared. He’d arrived too late to protect Theodora from harm. Whoever had struck her would pay dearly for that.

“Drop the knife,” he demanded of the man his late sister had once loved.

“I ain’t got no knife,” Nelson complained, then glanced at his partner in crime. Clearly slow to comprehend that he’d been moments away from being stabbed, it took another painfully long moment for him to see the knife Gently held at the ready. He turned to face the other man when he did. “Why do you have a knife?”

“Shut up,” Gently growled.

“You were going to hurt the ladies?” Nelson tilted his head to the side, blinking in surprise. “You can’t do that. It ain’t right to hurt innocents.”

“Women are never as innocent as they seem.”

Nelson tackled Gently suddenly, and wrestled the knife from his grip very easily. He waved it about. “Knives are dangerous. People misunderstand when you hold a knife for too long. You told me that.”

Nelson threw it across the stables, embedding the point in a post far from reach. Quinn breathed a sigh of relief that he wouldn’t have to shoot the dumb ox and moved closer to them, never taking his attention from Mr. Gently, who he now judged the only threat in the room.

“So I understand you’re the man who murdered Mr. Dalton.” Mary had loved this man, a fellow who had abducted his Theodora and her mother. “I believe you also knew my younger sister too.”

Gently’s face transformed for a moment then hardened. “Slut.”

“How dare you say that?” Deacon bellowed.

“It’s the truth.”

The force of Deacon brushing past Quinn nearly knocked him from his feet. Deacon fell upon Roman Gently and slammed a fist into his face. “You used her and then abandoned her!”

“She used me too,” Gently snarled, struggling against the much larger Deacon.

“Stop!” Theodora shrieked.

Quinn clenched his jaw briefly. “Why should I stop him doing what needs to be done?”

“Because he must be punished under the law for my father’s murder.”

Deacon threw Gently away across the room so hard the man staggered. “I’m glad Mary’s not here to see the type of man you’ve become.”

Quinn gaped. “You knew about Mary and him all along.”

“I introduced them,” Deacon mumbled, looking down at Gently in disgust. “Mary unwittingly helped your father undercut the business.”

Quinn blinked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I promised Mary that I wouldn’t ever speak of him again or tell you what she’d done,” Deacon confessed. “She was ashamed. She knew you’d try to punish him for her mistake. But he was never supposed to return to England.”

“Her mistake?” Quinn swallowed hard and quickly gestured to Hastings who was blocking the exit with his men. “Bind their hands.”

“Don’t hurt Nelson,” Mrs. Dalton pleaded suddenly.

Quinn dropped down behind Mrs. Dalton to loosen her bonds before helping her stand. “Madam, he abducted you and forced you to come to this filthy place.”