Noah was about to untie the gag when Eva said, “Wait. There’s something I want to say before he spouts his vile diatribe.” She closed the gap between them and stopped but two feet away. “You’ve been causing mischief, Howard,” she said, her tone unsurprisingly cold. “Perhaps I should just leave you to rot in the attic.”
Dunn’s eyes grew wide, the fading bruises beneath a sure sign he’d broken his nose. He mumbled incessantly while thrusting his tied hands at Eva. He nodded and jerked his head as if pleading with his tormenter.
“The strange thing is I don’t care about the dreadful things you’ve done to me,” she said, bitterness imbuing her tone. “I don’t care that you plotted to extort money, that you colluded with a man whose only motive is to control me.”
As she broke for breath, the ingrate thrust his hands in her direction and mumbled like a madman.
But then Eva slapped his face, the shock of it taking the wind from his sails. “That is for taking Mother’s jewels,” she said, her voice breaking. “Mother suffered for years before her death. I remember the day she pressed the earrings into my hand and said she hoped I might wear them on my wedding day.”
A tear trickled down Eva’s cheek. Pain twisted around her beautiful features as grief surfaced. Noah knew the feeling well—the dreaded emptiness, the choking ache.
Every instinct said to leave the rogue in his bug-ridden bed. He should let Bower and Cole deal with the devils and take Eva home. But then she drew her fist back and punched her brother in the stomach.
The man might have crumpled to the floor had Noah not been holding him upright.
“That’s for Clara, not for me. I shall never forgive you for corrupting her, for luring her into one of your pathetic traps to gain funds. Lord Benham would rather his sister were ruined than have her married to a scoundrel like you.”
Noah thought of his own mother’s plight. Perhaps he should warn Benham that some women were not strong enough to deal with shame. One had to hope that the bond with her child gave Clara Swales a reason to live.
“As for the child you sired,” Eva continued, the tears flowing freely now. “Had I a pistol to hand, I would shoot you between the legs. No child deserves to live with the pain of having a heartless prig for a father.”
“I second that,” Noah said, pride and love for this woman ready to burst from his chest. “Now we just need to find a pistol.”
Eva managed a weak smile as she drew her hand across her cheeks to dry her tears. “Shall we see what he has to say for himself?” She shuffled back, keen to put a little distance between her and the unpredictable devil.
Noah reached behind the rogue, ready to untie the filthy neckcloth used as a gag. But Howard Dunn suddenly raised his bound arms, jabbing them at Eva like a man possessed. Frightened, she shuffled back further and almost stumbled over the old trunks.
Noah was of a mind to punch Dunn, too. “Stop whining.” He yanked the neckcloth from the fool’s mouth. “And be careful what you say else I shall shove my fist down your throat.”
Howard Dunn gasped for breath and only managed to form a single word. A word of warning. “Hemming!”
As if conjured from the depths of hell, Hemming suddenly sprang up from inside the trunk. Before Noah could pull his blade from his boot, Hemming grabbed Eva around the neck and pressed the muzzle of a pocket pistol to her temple.
Cole heard Eva’s scream and came to a crashing halt in the doorway.
“Stay back!” Hemming gathered Eva tight to his body, using her as a human shield. “Stay back else I shall shoot, and neither of us will have her.”
The wild terror in Eva’s eyes rendered Noah frozen to the spot.
“Harm a hair on her head and I’ll kill you with my bare hands,” Noah countered. “Lower the pistol. We know about the blackmail note and your devious plans. Smith told us everything.”
He didn’t mention Smith was at Bow Street making a statement to implicate Hemming in exchange for his freedom. Hemming needed to believe he had a chance of escaping, else heaven knows what he might do in desperation.
Hemming ground his teeth. “It’s your damn fault. Seducing her with your picnics and poetry.”
“I’m in love with her,” Noah said, raising his hands in mock surrender. He needed Hemming to fire a shot at him. Amid the frenzy, Cole would take the blackguard down. “You’ll have to shoot me as I’m determined to have her for my wife.”
Recognition replaced the panic in Eva’s eyes. “He’s lying. I have changed my mind. You were right. I fear Mr Ashwood wants to control me once we’re wed.”
“And yet you didn’t heed my warning,” Hemming snarled.
“I’m going to marry her,” Noah reiterated.
He was not acting or playing a role. He would marry Eva Dunn and love her for the rest of his life. She would bear him strong sons and spirited daughters. They would never disrespect each other as their parents had done, never abandon their children.
“Let us leave,” Eva pleaded with Hemming. “Let’s go somewhere quiet, away from here, and discuss what we should do now.”
“No!” Noah challenged.
But then the bane of Eva’s existence flexed his vocal cords. “Don’t leave with him, Evangeline. The man is as mad as a March hare.”
Hemming couldn’t take the chance that Eva might listen to her brother, and so he shuffled back towards the door while keeping a firm grip on his prize.
Cole met Noah’s gaze and stepped aside.
“You can’t let him take her!” came Dunn’s outraged reply. “I need her to help me out of a fix.”
Noah turned and punched the fool hard
