The Bride of Devil's Acre (30 page)

Jacqueline didn’t hear him.

“He’s dead, Jac. Let him go.” Devil pried his wife’s stiff fingers from Carver’s shoulders, easing the man out of her arms and laying him out on the floor. Turning his back on the dead man, Devil roughly pulled his wife into his arms.
 

“Devil.” Jacqueline sobbed her husband’s name, burying her face in his chest. They were both covered in blood and surrounded by death.

“It’s OK,” Devil cooed, wrapping his arms around her and resting his cheek on the top of her head. “It’s over.”

“He’s dead.” Jacqueline closed her eyes.

“Yes,” Devil confirmed, though there had been no question in Jac’s voice.

“I killed him.”

“You saved us,” he said, and when he hadn’t been able to. As a man, he should have felt shame, but as a husband all he felt was pride.
 

“I want to go home,” Jacqueline whispered, clinging to the back of her husband’s shirt. “Take me home, Devil.”

Devil nodded. Jacqueline had started to shiver, her body trembling in his arms. Slowly, he managed to get them both on their feet. Wrapping one arm around his wife’s shoulders, he tucked her against his side, holding her close while he looked for his coat.

Finding it, Devil helped Jacqueline get her arms in the sleeves, wrapping the too-big coat around her and escorting her outside. It took them a while, moving slowly and making a few wrong turns. They’d both been brought in unconscious, and neither knew the way out. Finally, they stumbled upon the exit, opening the door and spilling out into the crisp, clean night air.

“Devil!”

Devil lifted his head in time to see Finn rushing toward him, Moose right on his heels. “Where in the bloody hell have you been?”

“We got here as soon as we could.” Finn ducked under Devil’s arm, helping to hold the man on his feet.

“Sorry, boss. I had trouble finding him,” Moose said. He’d left Devil outside Lord Edwards’ townhouse, hurrying to Purgatory expecting to find Finn fucking Annie. Only he wasn’t there, and neither was Annie. It took him some time to track down Lady Jade only to learn that Finn, wanting to keep the pretty whore safe, had taken Annie to his house.
 

“Take her,” Devil said, easing Jacqueline into Moose’s arms.

“No!” Jacqueline clung to Devil, ignoring the hands that gently tried to pull her away.

“It’s OK,” Devil assured her. His head was pounding, and the cut across his chest was on fire. He could barely feel his legs, and he knew it was only a matter of time before he lost it altogether. “I’m not going—”

“Devil!” Jacqueline tried to catch her husband as he fell.

Devil heard his wife’s cry from far away. His head rolled back, and the night sky filled his vision.
Jac was safe
, he thought, staring at the star-studded sky overhead.
That’s all that matters.

The stars were the last thing he saw.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“Devil!”

“It’s OK, Lady J. He just fainted.”

I don’t faint.

“He’s bleeding.” His wife’s voice was shaky with fear. For him? Or were those the remnants of her time with Carver?

“Aye, he is, but I suspect it’s the blow to the head that has him off his feet.”

Devil felt himself being lifted.

“Let’s get him home.”

“I can’t…”

Devil could all but see his wife shaking her head. Can’t say that he blamed her, not one bit. She’d killed a man because of him, because he brought her into his life and failed to protect her.

Devil let the darkness take him.

Devil opened his eyes as the last of the dream dissipated.
 

Not a dream.

Devil lay on his bed. The mattress was soft beneath him and the ceiling the same one he’d fallen asleep under for the past several years. Daylight filled the room. Turning his head, Devil watched the drapes stir in the breeze brought by an open window and mused that the dust motes danced on the air for him.
 

Mrs. Barrett wouldn’t be happy to hear there was dust in her house.

“Kind of you to join us.”

Devil rolled his head across the pillow. Finn sat sprawled in a chair next to the bed. The Irishman was disheveled. His hair was mussed, and he looked like he’d slept in his clothes, more than once. “How long was I out?”

“Four days.” Finn roused himself, pouring Devil a glass of water and helping him to drink. “The doctor figured it for a concussion and told us to let you sleep.”

“Doctor?” Devil lifted his head to drink. There was a dull throb at the base of his skull, but it was a far cry from the splitting pain he’d been expecting.

“Aye, Lady J sent over the physician.” Finn nodded toward Devil’s chest. “He’s the one who stitched you up.”

Devil glanced down at himself. The bedsheet had fallen to his hips revealing a stark-white bandage. Wrapped from armpit to waist, he looked like a half-wrapped mummy. “How bad is it?”

Finn shrugged and sat back in his chair. “Think of it this way: the ladies always like scars. They think it gives a man a dangerous air.”

Devil frowned. He was a married man; he didn’t need to worry about the ladies. Not unless—“Where’s my wife?”

Finn’s lips thinned as he shook his head.

Devil looked away, looked back toward the window. After a minute of silence, he said, “It’s for the best. You were right. I never should have married her. Hell, I never should have taken her in the first place.”

God, but that hurt to say. Devil resisted the urge to rub at the pain starting in his chest. This one had nothing to do with his wound.
 

He was going to let her go, he realized. Eddington had told him of the annulment. At the time, Devil had hoped to argue against it and convince his wife to return to him. But now, now he would see that she was well provided for. Maybe he would set her up in a house of her own and ask Andrew to help with the annulment. It was the least he could do—that and stay as far away from her as possible.

“Aye, well, I hope you don’t plan on lounging around in bed all day,” Finn said. He didn’t feel the need to say
I told you so
. “While you’ve been getting your beauty rest, I’ve had to deal with Lady Jade and the club.”

“Everything all right?” Devil asked, grateful for the distraction from his thoughts.

“As well as can be expected,” Finn said. “She’s a real piece of work.”

Devil smiled knowingly. “It’s one thing to deal with her as a customer and another to be her boss.”

“I prefer not to deal with her at all.” Lady Jade hadn’t liked a single decision Finn made on behalf of their boss. Of course, Finn making decisions in general was laughable.

Devil tossed back the covers. He was naked from the waist down as well.
 

“For the love of God, man!” Finn said, throwing an arm up to cover his eyes. “Put some trousers on that white arse of yours before you blind me!”

Devil laughed and took his time fetching his clothes. The stitches pulled under his bandage as he pulled his trousers up over his hips. He’d take a look later and see just how bad the damage was. “Let Jade and the others know I’ll be by this evening. I’ve got some personal business to see to first.”

Finn nodded but didn’t say anything. A few minutes later, he left Devil still getting dressed. The bossman was moving carefully, and there were new shadows in his eyes. But his face had settled into its usual hard lines.

The Devil was back.

“Lady Jacqueline.” Emme bent over her sleeping mistress, nudging her shoulder gently. Lady Jacqueline had fallen asleep by her father’s bed, her head resting on arms folded on top of the mattress. “My lady, you have a visitor.”

Jacqueline’s eyes lifted slowly, and the events of the past few days came rushing back. “Papa?”

Emme shook her head.
 

Jacqueline looked from her maid to her father’s still figure. Lord John lay silent and unmoving, his normally large frame seeming small and inconsequential under the thick blankets. “You said I have a visitor?”

“Yes, my lady.” Emme stepped back as Jacqueline got to her feet. “Mr. Radcliffe is here to see you.”

“Devil,” Jacqueline whispered. Her heart skipped a beat. She hadn’t seen him since leaving him at the slaughterhouse. Torn between two men, she’d returned home to check on her father. She’d seen the gunshot wound and knew there was every chance her father was dead. Still, she needed to see for herself, and Finn had assured her that Devil would be all right.

Jacqueline glanced uncertainly at her father.

“Go, my lady,” Emme encouraged gently. “I’ll stay with Lord John until you return.”

Jacqueline nodded and went to freshen up.
 

Downstairs, Devil stood waiting in the study. The room had been scrubbed clean, the bloody carpet rolled up and undoubtedly destroyed so that no sign of the violence that had visited this room remained.
 

Staring out the window, his back to the room, Devil didn’t hear her come in.

“Devil.” Her husband stood with hands clasped behind his back. He wore a charcoal gray suit, the color only a few shades lighter than his black hair.

Devil turned and felt something settle in his chest. Finn had assured him his wife had escaped any serious injury and returned to her father relatively unharmed. But it wasn’t until he was able to see for himself that he truly believed she was all right.
 

She was beautiful. The emerald dress she wore set off her hazel eyes and colored them a deeper shade of green. Her hair, those thick mahogany locks he’d loved running his fingers through, was piled high on her head, not a loose tendril in sight. The only thing out of place was the purple bruise marring her stubborn chin. It was fading, the edges already yellow with age, but it still served as a reminder as to why he was here.

Jacqueline folded her fingers in front of her as they continued to stare at each other from across the room. “How are you?” she asked finally.

“I’m well,” Devil said. “I understand from Finn that I have you to thank for the skillful physician.”

Jacqueline waved the matter aside. “It was the least I could do.” After he’d finished seeing to her father, Jacqueline had sent the doctor to tend to Devil. He had followed up on her husband twice, both times reporting back to Jacqueline.
 

“Your father?” Finn had been unable to answer any of Devil’s questions, leaving him wondering about the fate of his wife’s father.

“He’ll live,” she said. The same physician she had sent to see Devil had assured her that morning that her father was no longer unconscious. Instead, Lord John appeared to have slipped into a healing sleep. “It had been uncertain there for a while.”

“I’m glad.” Devil squared his shoulders and told himself to get on with matters. “I understand from Eddington that you will be seeking an annulment.”

Jacqueline blinked. “You spoke to Marcus?”

“The man came to see me—before…” Before Carver had kidnapped his wife.
 

“I see.” Marcus had been by to visit several times. He had been furious with Jacqueline for not sending for him sooner and insisted on sitting with her and her father. She thought, perhaps, it was as much for his comfort as hers.
 

He never mentioned speaking with her husband.

“I want you to know that I will do nothing to hinder the process. In fact, I shall speak with Canon Andrew and enlist his aid in the matter.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Jacqueline said.

Devil frowned. Was that a hint of displeasure he heard in his wife’s voice? Doubtful. Most likely that was his own wishful thinking. “Before I do, I wanted you to have this.”

Jacqueline accepted the packet of paper. “What’s this?”

“The deed to a small house. I already had it transferred into your name.” Devil stared down at his wife’s bent head, watching as she unfolded the packet and scanned the documents.
 

“There’s an account here as well,” Jacqueline said, and something in her settled.
 

“I want you to be able to take care of yourself,” Devil said. Perhaps it was selfish of him, but he didn’t want her marrying Gates for lack of options. “If you decide to marry Gates, the house and the account will remain your separate property, there in case you ever need them.”

Jacqueline was quiet for a moment. Eventually, she folded up the packet and handed it back to Devil. “I can’t accept this.”

“Of course you can. If it’s Gates you’re worried about, simply don’t tell him.”

Jacqueline smiled. She’d spent the past few days worrying about her father and wondering about her husband. As the hours passed, their time in the abattoir took on a dreamlike quality—more of a nightmare, actually—until she couldn’t be sure if the emotions she had seen in Devil’s face had been real or not.
 

But a man didn’t worry about a woman’s future unless he cared.

“I can’t take this,” Jacqueline said, stepping closer, “because I’m not getting an annulment.” There was still some distance between them, but she could feel the heat from her husband. “You’re stuck with me.”

Devil stared hard into his wife’s face, searching her features. Her head was tipped back, and she watched him with a soft smile playing about her lips. “You don’t want an annulment?”

“No,” Jacqueline said, taking another step closer. This one brought them nearly toe to toe. She could smell him now, the musky scent of his skin seeping into the air to envelop her.

“And you’re not marrying Gates?”

“I don’t love him,” Jacqueline said simply. Henry had been by two days ago to apologize, to assure her that he would serve her better as her husband than he had as her fiancé. Jacqueline could forgive him his fear. Carver was—had been—a very scary man.
 

But something Henry once told her finally made sense. It was time to follow her heart.
 

“I love you,” Jacqueline declared quietly.

Devil froze, his lungs devoid of air. Then, on a
whoosh
, he burst into motion, wrapping his arms around his wife and crushing her to him.