Page 72 of To Hunt the Hunter

“Aye,” Jack replied, his face clearing. “Told him we had some business to settle, what with her not wantin’ anyone to know she’d been with you and get caught up in some nasty scandal, and me wanting to keep me neck out of a noose. Told him we’d made a deal, but not what it was.”

“Do you think he swallowed it?”

“Oh, aye. I left one of the boys there and he’ll run ahead once the cove is on the move, but he’ll be here tonight. Reckon he knows the lady has figured he was behind it, and he’ll want to silence her.”

Lucian nodded. “Very well. You will inform me the moment he arrives. I find I cannot wait to see the look on his face when he sees me rise, like Lazarus, from the dead. In the meantime, take Miss Hunt and Miss Barrington to their rooms and guard them with your life. My uncle is to get nowhere near them, do you hear me?”

“Aye, lord.”

“No.”

They both looked up as Matilda shook her head.

“No, Lucian, this won’t do. Your uncle is bound to come armed, and you’ve already been shot once this month. Let us not risk another bullet, please.”

“I should say not,” said a voice from the doorway as Pippin came in. “I’ll not want all the bother of patching you up again, my lord.”

She walked up to the table, pursing her lips in displeasure as she looked Jack over. Jack returned the favour, though he didn’t look the least bit displeased. His dark eyes twinkled appreciatively.

Lucian shook his head. “My uncle is expecting to deal with you, Matilda. He’ll believe he can frighten you into silence with tales of scandal. When he realises his mistake, and that I am very much alive, he will be furious, but he will not shoot me in full view of the hotel staff and guests, for he will hang for it. So, we will have a little chat, and Jack and his men will escort him to the nearest docks, where I will have him returned under armed guard to India, and this time he will not be treated as kindly as before. He will not be coming back.”

To Matilda’s surprise, Jack gave her a reassuring smile.

“Don’t you fret, lady. His lordship is right. The old devil can’t do nowt in public and my men will guard him, don’t you worry none.”

Pippin made a scathing sound of disagreement, and Matilda frowned, equally unhappy at the arrangement and about to say so when raised voices sounded outside the door.

Lucian glared at Jack, who shook his head.

“It ain’t your uncle. My men would have warned us,” he protested.

Jack was right, and Matilda gave a startled cry of surprise as the door flew open and her brother appeared, followed in quick succession by… by everybody, apparently.

“Good heavens, Nate!” she exclaimed, getting to her feet. “What are you doing here?”

Nate advanced on the table, ignoring her completely and stalking towards Lucian, who stood slowly, his face expressionless.

“Bastard,” Nate growled, his tone one of white rage. “Name your seconds.”

“Nate!” Matilda shouted, pushing between the two men in the instant before Nate made a grab for Lucian’s cravat. “Stop this at once!”

There was something of a scuffle as her brother was restrained between the Earl of St Clair and Gabriel Knight, and Matilda stared about her in astonishment.

“What is the meaning of this?” she demanded, uncertain whether to be touched or outraged at their interference.

“We’ve come to take you home, Tilda,” Nate said, yanking his arms out of the men’s hold. “Your reputation has been shredded by this bastard, and all the vile stories circulating the ton.”

“That is not why we came,” Alice said, glaring at her husband, running to Matilda and taking her hand. “We came to be with you, Matilda, because… oh, because we think you will need us. Nate is right, love. The stories are just awful, though Helena has assured us they are not true,” she added, giving Lucian a doubtful glance.

“How could you?”

Matilda looked around to see Prue’s husband, the duke, had addressed Lucian, though Prue was not beside him. Lucian was very still, his expression as cold and hard as she had ever seen it. He looked to Phoebe, who had gone to stand with Pippin and held out his hand. She ran to him and took it before he turned back to Bedwin.

“I would like my niece returned to her room before I am subjected to an interrogation.”

“Oh, now you consider your niece, and wish to observe the proprieties?” Bedwin said with obvious loathing.

How dare he.