She did not know what to say at that. She did not think she had been kind, but he certainly could have been at the hands of a more brutal death than the one she had given him.
At least, it had been quick.
He had not had to go to rot in prison.
“What shall we do?” she asked, stunned.
Grey stroked his hand along her back, holding her close. “It just so happens I’m the local magistrate, and I shall make certain that nothing happens. His body shall find a wonderful resting place at the bottom of the cliffs in a secluded cave.”
“That does not sound like justice,” she replied carefully.
“Sometimes, justice is done without assistance from the law.” he countered.
“I do not know,” she said.
“No, my darling,” he assured. “You defended yourself. And I do not wish to put you through an inquest. Do you wish an inquest?”
“Yes,” she said firmly. “I wish it.”
He stared down at her, weighing his reply for a long time, and then he said steadily. “Then, we shall do whatever you desire, and I shall protect you every step of the way.”
She nodded. “Good. Because then justice will truly be done. Everyone will know what kind of man he was.”
“All that matters,” Grey said tightly, “is that you are safe and that you are here in my arms. I love you, Phillipa, and I shall never put you in such jeopardy again.”
She wrapped her arms about him, holding him steady. “You cannot make such promises, Anthony. This life is wild and full of danger. I left my father, who was not a kind man, only to be confronted by this man. You cannot promise me perfect safety, and I do not wish you to.”
She hesitated and gazed up into his eyes. “But you can promise you will always be by my side and that you will always support me. Will you?”
She found she was holding her breath as she awaited his answer.
“Yes,” he affirmed, his voice rich with emotion and determination. “I will never abandon you or leave you to face this world alone again. Even out of a foolish sense of self-righteousness. I love you, Phillipa. I love you with all my heart, and I am sorry for ever forsaking that love.”
Tears stung her eyes. “I love you too, and we need never be alone again. And we need never face a man like Adams alone again, either.”
He pulled her closer and led her out of the room. In the hall, he rested his head upon her head. “You are so very brave. I cannot tell you how much I admire you.”
She said nothing, but held onto Anthony.
And she knew she might have sleepless nights over these terrible events, but at the same time, she could not help a sigh of relief.
For, everything Anthony and Merrill had said about Adams was true.
The world had been freed from a monster, a monster in the shape of a man, a man who had all but admitted to torturing children.
And for that, she could not feel very sorry.
Chapter 17
The events of the day had made it impossible for him to peruse the note Tom had brought him at the lake immediately.
But he had not forgotten its existence or the words that might lie therein.
Those words had the power to give him hope or leave him in the obscurity of never truly knowing what had become of Joe.
Forgetting the note was not a possibility.
It had burned a hole in his pocket the entirety of the time that he had assisted to calm the servants, called for Merrill, and informed the local authorities—though he was the most powerful of those authorities—of what had transpired.
Yes, he had to be careful. Ensure the proper steps were taken for the inquest and ensure that Phillipa and his sister were cared for.
Whether or not Adams was a devil, what had happened to Phillipa was no small thing. He’d all but hovered, holding her hand whenever possible. He’d arranged tea laced with spirits and warm blankets.
The whole day, the day of Adams’s death, had been devoted entirely to Phillipa and his sister.
Reading the note would require his full attention. So, he had kept it. Safe.
The knowledge it was there had always danced at the edge of his mind.
But due to the intensity of it all, that part of his mind had to be put aside. And unsurprisingly, despite the enormity of Adams’s death, that had been hell.
Because the blatant fact was that he had been thinking of Joe for months and agonizing nightly over what had befallen him.
And if he was honest, he’d hoped to God a million times that Joe had not died.
Of course, his mind assured him that Joe had died at sea just as Merrill had informed him aboard the Indomitable, but his heart had told him something very different indeed.
Anthony had been unable to ignore the hollering of his heart.
He shuddered as he thought of the moment he’d been handed the note. He shuddered thinking of Tom’s words and the announcement that the Earl of Harrowton had come to call.
Anthony had known immediately that something was truly amiss. There was no way the Earl of Harrowton would return to England so abruptly and come to him.
No, Harrowton had to have known his reputation, that he would thrash him within an inch of his life for daring to come to his castle and manipulate Phillipa.
This knowledge had placed a splinter of fear in him.
So, he had not wasted a moment’s time and hurried back as best as someone like him could hurry.
He had only returned just in time to hear a pistol crack. That crack had nearly broken his mind and his heart in one moment. If he thought the Battle of Trafalgar had been one that could break him, he had been vastly mistaken.
For standing at his castle’s entrance, the shot reverberating through the air? That moment had nearly suspended his life in time.
For a horrific
