Dark Deceptions: A Regency and Medieval Collection of Dark Romances(24)

Adam took the packet, eying the bundle. He undid the knotting and pulled out the top sheet. Snapping it open, he scanned the parchment. It was his writing.

Except it wasn’t his writing.

He picked his head up and glanced at Stone.

“You’ve been traveling,” Stone explained.

“Traveling?” he said dumbly.

Stone motioned to the stack. “Italy. Greece. Spain.”

Adam threw the stack down next to Stone. The packet landed with a decided thump.

“And you, Blakely?” Adam shot the question at the older member of The Brethren.

Blakely shrugged almost apologetically. “I’ve only been in the hands of Fox’s men for less than a fortnight. I’m sure a trip to the country will explain my absence.”

Of course, The Brethren had seen to everything with a needlelike precision, as they always did. With their far-reaching influence, it shouldn’t have shocked him in the least that they’d managed to explain away his captivity.

They had taken care of everything.

His heart seized up. Except Georgina. They hadn’t taken care of her.

During the long months of his captivity, he’d longed for the day he’d be free. He had expected his liberation would be sweet. There was nothing he’d wanted more in the world than his freedom—not even Grace. As the carriage sped along, putting Bristol far behind him, Adam realized again he’d been wrong. There was something he wanted more than his freedom—it was Georgina’s.

But now she was beyond his reach.

He closed his eyes.





Irish radicals are planning to establish communication with United Irishmen in the Metropolitan area. Fox is being charged with the task of building an army of men to help the French in a fight against England.



Signed,

A Loyal British Subject





Chapter 6




Adam, Blakely, and Stone had made their escape in a firestorm; now all that remained were the dying embers of inactivity. Georgina had learned early on that silence was never a good thing.

As expected, the explosion came fast.

Father shoved the kitchen door open and scanned the space. “I’ve been calling. Why didn’t you answer me?”

Georgina wet her lips and took a step backward, placing the kitchen table between them. “I—”

“Why is the cellar door open?” he snapped. He rushed over and slammed it closed, turning the lock in place.

A giggle of hysteria bubbled up from her throat.

“What’s so funny, gel?”

Mayhap she could leave before her deception was discovered. If she could get Father to go into the cellars to visit his recently released prisoner, she could make her escape to the waiting carriage.

A roar more fitting a savage beast reverberated from the floor above, followed by footsteps thundering down the stairs. She flinched.

Jamie ran into the kitchen.

And Georgina accepted that all hope of escape was gone.

“She set them free!” he shouted.

Georgina turned on her heel to flee. She made it past her father. Jamie wrapped his hand tightly around her forearm, cutting off the path to freedom.

He shoved her.

Father caught her and turned his glare on Jamie. “What are you talking about?”

Jamie spit. “Markham’s gone!”

Father cursed. “When?” He shook Georgina until her teeth rattled. “When?” He looked to Jamie. “Go see if you can stop them. There are three men and two of them badly injured! They cannot be far.”

Jamie rushed to do his bidding.

Please let Adam be free.

“It is too late. They are long gone,” she lied, praying it would quash Father’s efforts and provide Adam with much-needed time to escape.

Her father slapped her across the cheek with a speed and intensity of a man twenty years his junior. She went down hard, landing at the base of her tailbone. Pain radiated along her spine. His face blurred before her eyes.

Georgina tried to shove herself backward, away from him, but her back met the kitchen wall.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

Blood seeped from the corner of her right nostril. It traveled a moist path down to her lip. She opened her mouth and it trailed in. She gagged, which was why she didn’t see her father rear back and kick her with the tip of his boot until it was too late.

Her hip absorbed the shock of his attack.

Georgina curled up on her side, wrapping herself in a ball.

She knew this latest transgression could not be forgiven. Father wrenched her by the hair and dragged her to her feet.

She cried out as the strands tugged at her scalp line. She looked around the room for help in vain. Adam was gone and Georgina was as she’d always been—alone.

Her father shook her until Georgina feared he’d knock her teeth loose. “I asked you a question!” he roared.

Georgina’s head swam too much to make sense of any questions. “What?” she managed through numb lips.

“Did you free him?”

She met his question with stony silence.

He threw her away from him and she collided with the table. The hard oak bit into the flesh of her hip. She reached behind her and gripped the edges to keep from falling.

Her father brought his fist back. She hunched her shoulders, bracing for the blow.