Page 95 of A Remarkable Rogue

A soft sound of scuffling came from the training room, and her shoulders relaxed.Of course.She rolled her eyes with a smile. Where else would the two of them be?

“Every army marches on its stomach,” she declared as she stepped into the training room. “You won’t be able to learn to fight unless you—”

The words choked in her throat, and she froze midstep. For one dreadful moment, her heart stopped.

“Hello, Sydney.”

Charles Langley, Marquess of Hawking, stood in the center of the room with one hand holding Robbie by the scruff of his neck and the other clamped over the struggling boy’s mouth to keep him silent. McTavish sat bound and gagged in the corner.

Her blood turned to ice, and she rasped out, “Let go of him.”

“Imagine my surprise to find you here.” He dragged Robbie forward. “But then, you always did enjoy the overdramatic.”

“Don’t hurt him.” Desperation stung at her eyes. “Please, Charles…you know who he is and what he means to me.”

She reached out toward Robbie, but when she took a step toward him, Hawking yanked the boy back.

She dropped her hand to her side and rasped out, “How did you get in here?”

“That’s the secret about these old armories. For all their thick walls and defenses, they can still be breached by the doors.” He took another step forward and stopped with Robbie directly in front of her. “Imagine my surprise to find the yard door left open and your son playing on the gravel.”

“Please,” she whispered and blinked hard. She twisted her hands in her skirt to keep from reaching for Robbie again. “He’s a defenseless little boy.”

“I won’t hurt him.”

Her shoulders slumped with overwhelming relief, yet terror still slithered down the length of her spine.

“If I wanted to hurt him, I would have been able to a hundred times over by now.” Hawking’s eyes gleamed icily. There was no trace in him of the man she’d once believed was a friend. “Did you really think I wouldn’t have someone watching you the entire time, from the moment you first visited the Horse Guards dressed like a boy to your trip halfway across England and back?” He raked his gaze over her and sneered, “A baroness with a cavalry captain…slumming.”

Her heart lodged in her throat.

“Don’t worry, Sydney. I’m not here to hurt the boy.”

To make his point, he released Robbie with a fierce shove that sent him tumbling backward onto the floor with a loud cry.

Sydney started forward to protect him. Hawking grabbed her by the arm and yanked her toward him.

His hot breath fanned across her cheek. “I’m here to killyou.”

A knife blade flashed in the light from the gas lamps overhead as he pressed it against her throat.

“Noooooooo!” Robbie screamed.

He launched himself at Hawking, scratching with his fingers and kicking hard with his boots. He knocked the surprised marquess backward just far enough that Hawking loosened his hold on Sydney in order to shove the boy away.

She wrenched herself from Hawking’s grip. She grabbed Robbie into her arms and raced with him to the edge of the room where swords and rapiers hung on the wall. With every step, she heard Hawking’s pounding stride behind her. She tore a rapier free from its hooks and slashed wildly through the air in a wide arc to keep him away.

The marquess snarled and stepped back, just out of reach of the razor-sharp blade.

“Don’t,” she warned through clenched teeth. She tucked Robbie behind her to protect him. “If you take one step closer, I will run you through. You willnothurt my son!”

Hawking bellowed a fierce curse, and his eyes flashed like brimstone. His hand clenched the short knife so tightly that it shook. Sydney knew if she took her eyes away from him even for one heartbeat, he would pounce.

“Back,” she ordered as she stepped slowly down the length of the wall, driving him through the central room and toward the narrow stone passageway that led to the front door. The blindingly bright sunlight slanting into the passageway told her that the metal barrier had been left open when he’d entered. That was the same way the bastard would leave.

Step by agonizing step, she forced Hawking to retreat at sword point, and always, she kept Robbie tight at her heels. The terrified boy had started to cry, but she didn’t dare look down at him, didn’t dare move her attention away from Hawking.

They crossed the Armory into the narrow entranceway one slash of the blade at a time. Her arm ached from the strain of holding the rapier at the ready, but she didn’t dare lower it, although she had no idea what she would do once they reached the door.