Page 92 of His Sinful Touch

“Oh, but they will,” Dearborn said meaningfully. “Your reputation is in shreds, Sabrina. You have to marry Peter.”

“I won’t.”

“You have no other choice. If you think your precious Alex will marry you, you are sadly mistaken. No doubt you’re fine for dallying with, but a duke’s son will look much higher for a wife, believe me.”

“And that, Dearborn, is where you are mistaken.”

* * *

EVERYONE IN THE room whirled around to see Alex standing in the doorway, leaning casually against the frame, his arms crossed. There was a trace of a smile on his lips, but it was as cold as his eyes. “You see, I fully intend to marry Miss Blair.”

“You! You—You’re—” Dearborn spluttered.

“What?” Alex raised an eyebrow. “Did you really think you could contain me there?”

“Alex! Oh, Alex!” Sabrina broke from her momentary paralysis and ran to him, throwing her arms around his waist, and he curled his arms around her.

Con grinned at his twin. “What took you so long?”

“Sorry. I was a bit delayed.” Alex returned an identical smile. “Hope I didn’t inconvenience you.”

“Not a bit,” Con said cheerfully. “I was just about to have a conversation with this chap.” He glanced contemptuously at Dearborn. “You saved me a scraped knuckle or two. What do you say? Shall Tom and I take him to jail for you?”

“Jail!” Dearborn looked thunderstruck.

“What did you think would happen to you?” Alex set Sabrina aside and stalked toward the man. “You’ve abused the trust Sabrina’s father placed in you and have been bilking his estate for years. You abducted me. Worse, you abducted my future wife. You drugged her. You and your son concocted a scheme to fool her into thinking she had married him. Your cur of a son hit her. She had to run for her life from the two of you. I don’t really want to put you in jail. I’d like to kill you.”

Rage contorted Dearborn’s face, and he leaped at Alex. Alex met his rush, looking, Sabrina thought with some astonishment, pleased. Raising his left arm to block Dearborn’s wild swing, Alex punched him in the stomach. As Dearborn doubled over, the air whooshing out of him, Alex hit him with an uppercut to his chin, and the man went down in a heap.

“Stop! No! He’s an old man!” Peter cried, rushing over to his father and kneeling beside him, propping him up as Dearborn struggled to breathe.

Alex squatted down and looked into Peter’s face, his eyes blazing. “Listen to me. Listen well. I have proof of every crime I just listed. Not only Sabrina’s word or mine. I have written evidence of the many times Dearborn embezzled money from Sabrina’s fund. And your friend Fairfield signed a confession.”

“What?” Peter’s jaw dropped.

Alex smiled faintly at Peter’s alarm. “Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to toss your father and you in prison and let you rot. But for Sabrina’s sake, and that alone—because her father was Dearborn’s friend, because of the affectionate regard she holds for your mother, because I will not have any scandal even touch Sabrina’s good name—I don’t intend to press charges against him or you...yet.”

Peter looked at him sullenly. “What do you mean, yet? Do you intend to make us suffer, wondering when you will ruin us?”

“No, that’s the way you and he would think, not I. I won’t reveal any of this as long as you meet my conditions. You take him to your home in the country. You stay away from me and mine. You say nothing of any of this, and you never, ever come anywhere near Sabrina or attempt to contact her again. Am I clear?”

Peter nodded, clenching his jaw. “I understand.”

“I hope you do. Because if I hear of any scandal regarding my future wife, if there is even the slightest bit of gossip about Sabrina, if you ever so much as speak to her again, I will come down on you like the wrath of God. Your name will be ruined, and you and your father will spend the rest of your lives in prison.”

Alex held his gaze until Peter dropped his eyes. Alex stood up and turned to the others. “I think we’re done here.”

* * *

ON THE CARRIAGE ride home, Alex regaled them with the story of his capture and imprisonment, and because of Lilah’s presence, he carefully omitted all mention of his unusual ability. Con, frowning slightly, said, “Yes, but I don’t understand. How did you lure him to open the door?”

“I pretended to be ill.” Alex sent his twin a look.

Con’s eyebrows flew up and he settled back in his seat, then said, “Ah. I see now.”

“What about you?” Alex asked, directing the conversation away from that precarious subject. “How did the three of you wind up there?”

“Sabrina went running to the Dearborns to save you,” Lilah began.