They didn’t get it. None of them knew anything about London or society. They knew nothing about how Darius’s dreams of success and family always came to naught. “That man was the law here and what he says goes. We don’t have the power to go up against any of them.”
“We have the gun power,” Wes countered.
“It’s not enough. We can’t go killing this lord and that. We can’t let the children get caught in the crossfire.”
Tarquin puffed up, a look of sheer malice on his face. “We should have killed that Wickham and his bloody son when we had the chance. We could have buried them next to the duke and been long gone before the spring.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“We’re not killers,” Darius said quietly. “We’re sailors.” He should let them blow off their tempers while they could still summon the passion to care.
“We can be both,” at least three of his men answered at the same time.
Darius stood and addressed them all. “We are traders, all of us. Legitimate cargo traders for a good company run by a good man. Would you risk all of that to charge to a rescue that would see us all hanged if it failed? You heard what Eliza said as well as I did. We can’t save her.”
“Bollocks to that,” one of his men said.
“Like hell we can’t,” chimed another.
Wes clapped him on the shoulder. “Seems we should be able to decide on our next course of action, on our own fates.”
Darius shook his head. “I am your captain and I say we keep out of it. The ship is repaired and outfitted. We can leave on schedule.”
A cry caught his attention and he remembered Sarah. Innocent, helpless Sarah. She was his responsibility now and the least he could do was get her out of England. He was a bastard who could save his bastard sister. That much he could do. Taking the baby into his arms, he turned to go back into the house but then someone spoke behind him.
Darius would later call it the voice of reason.
“Are we cowards or are we men?”
A rousing chorus yelled back, “We are men!”
“Are we killers or are we yellow-bellied dogs?”
“We are killers!”
Holding Sarah close against his chest, he walked back down the steps and pushed his way into the circle of roaring sailors. “You are not killers. We are not killers. The law has to take care of Eliza and her siblings now. It is not cowardly to know when you are outnumbered and outmanoeuvred. If you looked at her face before she left, you would know she no longer wants our interference. She no longer wants my interference.”
Benny, the sailor who began the rousing came forward to lay one hand on Darius’s shoulder and another to Sarah’s back. “Whether the lady likes it or not, whether you can admit it or not, we are a family now. All of us. Yes, you lied to her, but she lied to you in a far worse way and on more than one occasion. She’ll see that soon enough. If you’ll be begging my pardon, Captain, that bleeding female doesn’t know what she wants and those poor children have no say in any of it.”
“That’s my wife you’re talking about,” Darius said through gritted teeth and clenched jaw.
“Not if she goes off with the likes of your sire. How long till he discovers she married you? His bastard? The one he tried to off as a lad? The thorn in his side? If her dowry is already gone, he’ll move on to the next one and then the one after that.”
“Society won’t allow it.” He heard himself utter the words but he had no belief in them. He only had to marry one girl to make the others tow his line. He only had to threaten Eliza’s life and the rest would fall in with his greedy, malicious plans. He didn’t even have to marry Gabriella himself. He could give her to Harold.
Chills took him. Harold. Where had he been while it had all played out? Was he waiting with a vicar in town? Would he believe Eliza if she told him she was already married or would the bloody martyr keep the information to herself and go through with the vows to buy time for her sister?
She bloody well would. Eliza was stronger than anyone really gave her credit for. Would she go through with a wedding night as well just to save face until they got to London?
Sarah’s wails alerted him to the fact that his grip had tightened as his vision had darkened with the fury of it all. Eliza might not think him up to the task of protecting them. She might not think him up to the task of being everything a husband entailed but he was her husband. They’d said their vows and sealed their bargain with a passion he hadn’t known existed in English roses.
He had one chance to show her that even though he wasn’t a dragon slayer, he was a protector. He had one chance to show her that even though he wasn’t worthy of her, he would fight to his last breath to defend what was his—and she was his. She had made a mistake today in walking away from him.
If nothing else, he had to find her and prove her wrong. Prove that he could and would be the husband she deserved to have after all the years of being let down by the men in her life.
*
Sickness churned deep within Eliza’s belly as she held Grace and Ethan close on the crowded seat in Wickham’s hired carriage, Gabriella to her left and Nathanial directly across next to the two men who’d brought about their doom today. Black spots swam in her vision and made her head feel lighter than a feather but she
