Elusive (21 page)

How could he possibly make her understand?
“Blair, you could never disappoint me.” He kissed her, and the
seduction began again.

They spent a glorious night together during
which Alexandre came to a frightening conclusion. He had fallen in
love with her. Not here in his bed, but it had been a slow tumble
from the moment he first laid eyes on her. Now, he would just have
to deserve her. After all she had been through, he wasn’t certain
he ever could.

**************************

Chapter 27: Ah, Family

Edinburgh, Scotland – July 1912

The next morning, he had let her sleep. He
sat at the breakfast table that had been brought up with room
service. As he downed more hot coffee, he kept mulling over what
he’d heard from the investigator, and then from Angus.

A man doesn’t want to admit that his own
relatives could be bloodthirsty heathens out to harm an innocent,
young woman. Nor did he want to admit that they could be capable of
killing a kind man like her uncle or an old man like Pierre LeGard.
But some things could not be avoided.

He was certain he knew who was at the heart
of this. Aiden and Hugh, his distant but greedy cousins, had lusted
for the wealth and status the estate brought with it, since they
were small children. His father’s cousin, Iseabail, had always been
greedy—for gossip, for money, for power—her children were even
greedier. But murder?

Now greed was one thing. He could almost
understand a person within reach of such a large fortune becoming
greedy, feeling a degree of jealousy. They were human, after all.
Quite frankly, if they had asked Alexandre, he would gladly have
shared his own good fortune with them. But, no—the brothers and
their mother had been too dishonest to ask. He could have provided
them with positions that would have, through their own hard work,
provided them a wealthy lifestyle. But they were more interested in
the scheming, the taking. That was something he would never
understand—or forgive.

They had gone too far! They had endangered
Blair—murdered the man who had raised her, loved her. They had
tried to have her killed right there in Edinburgh—murdered an
innocent old man. And for what? Money! Power! As much as family
meant to him, these three had to be stopped. Family ties or no, he
thought, Blair was wrong—I would kill them with my bare hands to
protect her.

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt
her arms come around his shoulders as she leaned down behind him.
Releasing the tension that had built up in his shoulders, he set
down his cup and swung her around to sit on his lap. “Good morning,
lass. Did you sleep well?”

“Should not the question be, did I sleep?”
she giggled.

He loved that sound. It was the giggle of an
innocent school girl. He hoped to hear a lot more of it. But, to do
so, he would first have to keep her safe. Nibbling on her ear, he
whispered, “I have to go out on business for awhile. Can I trust
you to stay here where it is safe and not go out?”

“Yes, of course,” she answered, as she pulled
back and looked up at his face. Beneath the smile, there was a
feeling of tenseness about him. “Alex, what is bothering you?”

“Not now, Blair. I’ll tell you about it when
I get it all worked out in my head. For now, please just humor me
and stay here where you’re safe?”

“Alright,” she agreed. She had to admit that
it was a relief to be able to just stay put without having to worry
about the next possible attack.

Alexandre lifted her off of his lap, kissed
her gently, and then he returned to the bedroom to dress. A short
while later he left to track down his cousins who were now in dire
danger of being on the receiving end of his full wrath.

Three hours later, unable to get any leads,
he decided to go back to the hotel. He supposed he would be wiser
to let Bill Campbell do the investigating. He would concentrate on
keeping Blair safe.

***

In Alexandre’s absence, Blair sat down to
finally write to her friends in Paris. She had missed them all so
much. She knew by now they would all be very worried about her. She
briefly explained what had happened, and that she was alright.

Blair carefully answered the knock at the
door and found a bellman holding out an envelope with her name on
it. After closing the door, she opened the envelope, pulled out the
note, and read the tiny, scrawling handwriting.

Blair,

My meeting will be over by
noon. Please meet me at the Fox & Hound for lunch. I’ll wait
for you there.

Alexandre

Blair did not remember ever seeing his
handwriting. She had to admit it was not exactly what she’d
expected from such a powerful personality. She just thought a
strong man like Alex would have a strong, bold hand with big,
sweeping letters. This was…different somehow—surprisingly
hard-to-read lettering. Well, that didn’t matter. She pushed her
thoughts aside. She would have to hurry to get there on time.

***

He had hoped to get back to the hotel in time
to take her to lunch, but, as he walked toward the entrance, he saw
two men pushing her into a car. He recognized his two cousins.
Running for the car, he missed them by inches. Hailing a taxi in
front of the hotel, he followed them to the warehouse district near
the pier. The cab pulled up behind the car, and he saw them up
ahead dragging her away. The third man in the car sped away.

“Go get the police and get them back here
fast. They are going to kill her if I don’t stop them,” Alexandre
yelled to the cabbie as he slammed the taxi door and ran after
them.

“Aye, I’ll get them, Sir” the cabbie hollered
to Alexandre who was already turning the corner after the two men
and the girl.

Alexandre heard the taxi speed away behind
him, and he just kept running. He had to catch them. If anything
happened to her…

Finally, he lunged and brought the three of
them down, including Blair. As he struggled with the two men, Blair
got to her feet. She started beating Hugh with her handbag.
Alexandre finally got in a good blow at Aiden. Then he struck Hugh
so hard he heard the man’s nose break and felt the concussion up
his good arm. He managed to get Blair out of Aiden’s grip while
Hugh was still picking himself up. Alexandre recognized that he was
at a disadvantage with his right arm still not back at full
strength. He grabbed Blair’s hand and they ran.

Alexandre held her hand so tightly she felt
pain up to her elbow, but she knew she had to hang on. He was
desperately trying to get them to safety. He heard her heavy
breathing and realized she wouldn’t be able to run much further. He
had to get her to safety soon. “Just a little further, Blair.”

They ran into the warehouse at the end of the
street, trying to find a hiding place. Once inside, they realized
too late that there was nowhere to go. The huge gaping warehouse
was all but empty. Spinning around, they saw the two brothers come
running in the door and then close it behind them.

“I think it’s time our little Lady McDonnough
gets lost for good, don’t you, Brother?” Aiden said to Hugh.

“Aye, Bruddah, I do,” Hugh said, holding his
handkerchief to staunch the blood spilling from his broken
nose.

“Blair, quick! Get behind me,” Alexandre
called to her, but before she could move Aiden grabbed Alexandre by
the shirt and tried to spin him around. But the heavy hammer Hugh
had just picked up from the floor swung down in an arch hitting
Alexandre’s right shoulder. Alexandre’s world started to go white
as the hammer traveled on to slam into the side of Aiden’s
head.

As Alexandre fought the pain and nausea that
slammed into him with the hammer’s blow, he managed to keep from
passing out. All his practice with the claymore and his swords was
going to come in handy, he thought. The pain shot through him as he
grabbed the hammer with his bad arm and hung on for dear life, as
he knocked out Hugh with a solid slam to the solar plexus and a
solid uppercut to his chin. In the process, the hammer’s handle had
struck Blair in the head.

As he slumped to the floor, he knew he had
stopped the attack. He saw Hugh unconscious and Aiden lying next to
him—dead, on the floor, his skull broken. Quietly, as everything
went black, he joined them.

Alexandre awoke to find Blair too had lost
consciousness. Kneeling down beside her, he begged her to be
alright. He could not bear to see her harmed.

The police and the ambulance arrived at about
the same time. Alexandre had heard the sirens and, struggling to
his feet, he managed to open the warehouse door so they could find
them. Then he promptly fell to his knees in pain.

His cousins were removed from the scene—Hugh
was carted off to jail; Aiden to the morgue.

Blair was gathered up gently onto a
stretcher, and Alexandre, who had told the police what had
happened, was allowed to ride in the ambulance with her. The steely
look he gave the doctor told the man he had best not try to stop
him.

Later that evening he was still with her when
she opened her eyes. “Blair, can you hear me?”

“Oui, Chéri. Where am I?” she asked so
quietly that his heart clutched in panic.

“You are in the hospital, Blair.” He dared to
ask, “Are you alright? Are you in any pain?”

“My head hurts and my mouth is dry. Is there
any water?” she asked weakly.

“Yes, here let me help you,” he said, as he
gently lifted her forward to drink. He held the glass in his aching
arm and refused to give in to the pain it cost him.

“What…what happened?”

“My damned cousins tried to split your skull
with a very big hammer. Fortunately, your head only got the handle.
My arm got the peen…just before Aiden’s skull caught the brunt of
it,” he explained.

As she focused on him, she lurched forward,
grabbing her head when the pain made her head swim. “My God, Alex,
your arm again? Are you alright?”

Finding the humor in a bad situation, Alex
laughed, “Yes, I do seem to have a target on this arm, don’t I? The
blow wasn’t really solid,” he tried to reassure her, “but the
doctor does seem to be getting a great deal of pleasure out of
making me wear this damned sling again. Do you think you will be
well soon enough to tend to me again?” He smiled at her, watching
for her reaction.

“If you will get my aspirin, I will tend to
your arm,” she smiled back.

“That sounds good to me,” he smiled at her.
“Blair, did you see the driver of the car? He got away.”

She rubbed her aching head, and then the
memory shot back to her, “Yes. I did see him. I knew him! Oh, Alex,
it was Mssr. Taog from Angus’s office!”

It made sense. No matter where she went, they
were right there behind her. Taog had been reporting to them as she
contacted Angus—but why? “Cheri, I have to leave for an hour or so,
but I’ll come back as soon as I can,” he said, as he raised her
hand and kissed the palm of her hand. She was so pale and obviously
in pain. He saw her close her eyes and drift off immediately.
Another few hours of rest would do her good, and Alex had things to
tend to.

Outside the hospital, he hailed a cabbie and
during the drive he tried to get a grip on what had happened. What
was Taog’s link to Aiden and Hugh? When they arrived at the police
station, he jumped out of the taxi, jarring his arm against the
door and receiving a sharp reminder of his injuries. Gritting his
teeth and waiting for the pain to settle—it wasn’t going to go
away, he knew—he strode into the building. Passersby were only glad
the man with the clenched jaw who looked fit to kill was not headed
for them!

From his jacket pocket he pulled out the card
the police inspector had left in his hospital room. He slammed it
down on the front desk. “Is this man here?” he growled at the poor
policeman manning the desk.

Looking down at the card, the policeman
responded. “Yes, Sir. He’s in his office. And you are?”

“Tell him Lord McDonnough is here, and I want
to see him
now
!” Besides the pain in his arm, he was a man
on a grim mission and his mood was as black as his hair.

“Yes, Sir. Just a moment. Please, Lord
McDonnough, have a seat. It won’t be long, I assure you.” He’d
heard the story of the arrest the day before and was amazed the man
was in any condition to be storming into their office so soon. As
he quickly picked up the telephone to let the inspector know that
Lord McDonnough was waiting for him, he took a deep breath and
thanked God the man wasn’t here to see
him
. From the looks
of the man, he was fit to kill.

Within just moments of the desk sergeant’s
call, Inspector Innis came through the
doorway and immediately strode toward Alexandre. "Lord McDonnough,
it’s good to see you up and about. Should you have left the
hospital so soon?” He offered his hand in greeting, but Alexandre
was in no mood for formalities. He wanted answers and he wanted
them now.

Finally getting a grip on his anger,
Alexandre’s manners kicked in by the time they reached the
inspector’s tiny office. Seated across from the man whose upper lip
was starting to sweat, Alexandre took a deep breath to further calm
himself. “My apologies for my poor manners, Inspector. The last few
days have, I fear, undermined all my dear mother has ever taught
me.”

Relaxing a little, the inspector responded,
“Lord McDonnough, you have been through a bad couple of days and
are undoubtedly still in a great deal of pain. You owe no
apologies, I assure you. Now, how may I help you?”

“My
cousins
,” he snarled, “may have
had their own devious reasons for their recent behavior, but
Mademoiselle Delamare has identified to me the driver of the car
that took her to the warehouse district. It was a Mssr. Taog—an
employee of Mademoiselle Delamare’s attorney, Angus Ferguson.”