Before The Scandal (29 page)

The solicitor scrambled out from under the table. Picking up his ink and pen and the papers, he brought them around to the whimpering, gasping viscount. “Here you are, my lord.”

“You shot me!”

“That barely qualifies. There are three more pistols in this room, and you have three more limbs. Sign them.”

His hand shaking, Donnelly dipped the pen into the inkwell, and with trembling fingers signed the documents, including both copies of Alyse’s grant. Then the papers went around to Smythe and Ellerby, and Sullivan untied their hands so they could witness both. Only when Ellerby set down the pen did Phineas let out his breath.

“Now, Donnelly,” he said, “I’m going to have my man here patch you up. After that, we will have no more contact with you, except for the men I send over to collect Alyse’s things. Is that clear?”

“Yes, for God’s sake. Help me before I bleed to death.”

“If I see you again other than at some public gathering in London, we will have to finish this encounter. And I guarantee that you will not be pleased by the outcome. Agreed?”

“Agreed. Agreed. You blackguard.”

Phineas stood again. “Oh, and you may send Alyse’s funds to Quence Park.”

“I already gave her—”

“Ten thousand pounds,” Phineas repeated.

He waited as Gordon patched up Donnelly’s leg, and then motioned the sergeant and Mr. Pepper out of the room. “This is finished, Donnelly,” he said evenly, leaving one copy of Alyse’s grant on the table and taking the rest of the papers with him. “It’s not just me who knows what you’ve done.” He sent a pointed glance in Bram’s direction. Whatever his friend’s reputation, as the Duke of Levonzy’s second son, his word would carry weight. “No one else need be informed of any of this, unless you force my hand.”

Only when they’d returned to the horses and started back for Quence did he begin breathing again. Now only one single thing remained.

“None of this is your fault, Magpie,” William said from across the library. He’d had his valet wheel him to the window, and he hadn’t moved since. “I don’t know how I could have been so blind.”

Alyse began yet another circuit of the room. William and Beth didn’t realize that none of this mess would have happened if she hadn’t been trying so hard to ingratiate herself with Richard. She’d been the one to tell him about the ruins. And now when she’d finally found Phin again, she was going to lose him.

“I see riders,” William announced abruptly, a sharp, worried edge to his voice. “Four of them.”

Please let one of them be Phin
, Alyse prayed silently.
Please let him be unhurt
.
Let them all be unhurt
.

After a hundred hard beats of her heart, the library doorway abruptly filled. “Phin,” she sobbed at the sight of his disheveled, soot-covered form, and threw herself at him.

He wrapped his arms hard around her, his face buried in her hair. It wasn’t enough. She wanted to crawl inside him, to be part of him so that she could be certain he was there, he was real, and he was safe.

“Alyse,” he whispered, so quietly only she could hear. “Alyse.”

“What happened?” William’s relieved voice came.

Goodness.
She’d forgotten that anyone else was even in the room. She loosened her grip, but Phin didn’t let her go.

“It’s finished,” he said roughly.

“Donnelly?”

“They’re all alive,” Lord Bram supplied as he entered the room, his tone somewhat regretful.

“And no permanent damage,” Phin took up. “He’ll be leaving Donnelly, I presume for Halfens. That was my suggestion, anyway.”

“What’s to keep him from attempting something else?” William asked.

Finally Phin loosened his grip on Alyse enough to pull a folded piece of paper from his pocket. “This,” he returned, shifting to take her hand and then leading her over with him while he handed the paper to his brother. “I told him it would be sealed when I gave it to you, but he annoyed me. In any case, we’re to keep it safe, and he will mind his manners.”

William lowered his head as he unfolded it. His face paling, he looked up again. “There’s blood on this.”

Phin shrugged. “It’s not any of ours. I needed to use a little persuasion.”

His brother resumed reading, then slowly folded the paper again. “You did well, Phin,” he said slowly. “Good God.”

“I also informed Donnelly that
we
would be renovating the baths.”

“I would love to. At the moment I…” His pale cheeks flushed. “It will take some doing to get the front rooms repaired. That has to come first.”

“I have some funds at my disposal,” Phin said, putting his free hand on his brother’s shoulder. “And I think I may be looking for a change of career.” He glanced at Alyse as he said that last part.

Beth swarmed up and hugged him. “Do you mean it? You’ll stay? Truly?”

“If you want me to.”

“For God’s sake, Phin,” the viscount whispered. “Of course we want you to stay.”

Alyse tried to pull away. This was clearly a moment for the family, and that did not include her.

Phin, though, didn’t release her. Instead he peeled off his sister. “Excuse us a moment, will you?” he said huskily. Without waiting for an answer he half dragged Alyse past Mr. Waring and Lord Bram and into the hallway.

“See to your family,” she hissed at him.

“I’m attempting to. Stop fighting me.”

She stopped struggling against his iron grip. “Fine. What is it?”

“First of all, I want to clarify something. I have always valued your friendship. Always.”

Tears gathered in her eyes. “Phin.”

“When I came back here, I expected to find resentment and skepticism, because I’d earned them. I didn’t expect to find you, Alyse. You…you’re not the only reason I want to stay. But you are the one I can’t imagine leaving.”

A tear overflowed and ran down her cheek. Phin caught it with his finger. “I know everyone in your life has left you or cast you aside. I will not do that. Not ever. I love…” He cleared his throat, his voice unsteady. “I love you, Alyse. I’m not a duke, and I’m certainly not a prince. But I am your friend. Forever.”

She grabbed his lapels, twining her fingers into them so she could lift up on her toes. They kissed, though she couldn’t say who’d begun it. It just was, like they were. “I love you,” she whispered shakily. “I do love you.”

“I’m going to ask you again to marry me,” he murmured back. “But before you answer I want you to have this. I want your answer to be what you want, not what you think you might need.”

Frowning, not having a clue what he might be talking about, she looked down as he pulled a second piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. Half her attention still on him, she opened it. In plain, direct lettering, signed by Richard and witnessed by his two friends, she was being given the ten thousand pounds she’d been promised. She gasped, having to read it again before she could believe what it said.

“Phin, how did you—”

“He laid out the conditions for the money, and you fulfilled them. It’s your money. I only made certain he kept his word.”

“This is…I can’t believe it.”

He smiled, the expression touching his hazel eyes. “Believe it.” He touched her cheek, very gently, as though he thought she might break. “And now, Alyse, will—”

“Wait,” she said, covering his mouth with her fingers.
Oh, could she? Why not?
It made sense. It made perfect sense. And she could be here. “Wait here.”

Before he could answer, she slipped back into the library to find everyone clustered just behind the half-closed door. She ignored that, and instead approached William.

“I have a proposal for you,” she said.

He looked truly startled, one of the few times she’d ever seen him surprised. “Yes?”

“I have just…come into a large sum of money. I would like to invest it in the restoration of Quence and the Roman baths.”

“I—”

“Say yes,” Phin said flatly from directly behind her.

“The—”

“Say yes,” he repeated.

“Well, yes,” William finally uttered. And then he smiled.

Phin yanked her back into the hallway. Before she could even gasp, he’d turned her to face him and covered her mouth with his. He kissed her with such…passion that it stole her breath. It stole her soul, it seemed.

“Marry me, damn it,” he muttered against her mouth.

“I—”

He resumed kissing her, pressing her backward until she came up against the wall. Alyse groaned, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, pulling herself against his chest until no space remained between them.

“Marry me, Alyse,” he repeated.

“Yes,” she managed between kisses. “Yes, I will marry you. I love you, Phin. I love you so much.”

“My dark-eyed Alyse,” he breathed, laughter in his voice. He shifted to embrace her, lift her into the air, and spin a circle with her in his arms. “My dear, dear friend.”

“My love,” she returned, kissing the tip of his nose. “My highwayman. My Phin.”

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BEFORE THE SCANDAL
. Copyright © 2008 by Suzanne Enoch. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Microsoft Reader June 2008 ISBN 978-0-06-169599-5

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