Chapter 35

It was always going to be necessary, Arthur thought, for this to be a team effort. He would never have been able to bring down Lady Reeves by himself. That was why he had engaged Taylor’s help in the first place though it had been difficult to admit that he needed to allow someone else to be a part of his plan. He had been right to include Taylor because he would never have been able to face this moment without his friend’s help all along the way, and he wouldn’t have had a hope of bringing Lady Reeves down.

She hadn’t been easy to find. It was clear, this time, that she hadn’t wished to be found. Arthur was taking that as a good sign because that had been the biggest problem of all the last time he had encountered her. Today, it seemed, she didn’t want to be caught. Even now, she was fleeing him.

Arthur wondered whether she had noticed that he wasn’t the only one chasing her carriage, that there was a second figure behind him. How aware was she of the fact that he wasn’t going about any of this alone?

He couldn’t afford to spend too much time thinking about that, though, because the most important thing was to keep up the chase. He rode harder, following the carriage as it accelerated, hoping that his plan would be successful. If this didn’t work, if she evaded him today, he didn’t know what his next move would be. He only knew that this situation needed to be resolved as quickly as possible—he couldn’t bear to spend any more time worrying about the things she might do to his family if given the chance. And, for the moment, that included Isabella’s father as well as her sister. If Lady Reeves had him in mind as her next prey, it meant danger for all of them, and that was something Arthur couldn’t sit back and allow. He needed to make sure that everyone was safe.

With that in mind, he pushed his horse to run faster.

The carriage accelerated in response. He knew that Lady Reeves was, at the very least, aware of his presence. The question now was whether she was aware of the second rider coming along behind him. If she was, this was going to be over before it began. She was too clever to fall into an ambush if she could see all sides of what was coming for her.

The carriage turned to the left, and Arthur felt a rush of satisfaction—that had been a serious mistake. It had to slow down to turn, and he didn’t have to give up nearly as much speed since he was on horseback. He took the turn easily and found that the carriage was much closer now.

Still, there was no way to force her to stop. His hand went to the gun strapped to his hip, but he didn’t want to start shooting. He needed to drive her into the trap he had set for her. The constables were waiting ahead, and a deviation down this side road wouldn’t prevent him from getting to where he was trying to go.

Maybe the gun would frighten her enough to get her to make another bad decision, though. He pulled it out and fired once into the air.

Whether she was frightened by the sound or not he never knew, but it was clear that the horses were. They reared back and tried to stop which set the carriage off balance and sent it toppling over onto its side.

Arthur hadn’t meant for that to happen. His heart caught in his throat. He didn’t want to kill her. He had been trying to drive her into the arms of the constables. Perhaps he had been too aggressive in the chase. He rode up alongside the carriage, thinking to offer help.

The door swung open. With the carriage on its side, the door was functionally on the top of the carriage instead of on the side, so it looked like Lady Reeves was emerging through a trap door. She seemed unhurt, though, as she climbed up, and Arthur stood at a distance with one hand on his gun. She was a known killer, after all. He didn’t know what she might be able to do to hurt him right now, but he also wasn’t willing to take his chances with her.

She looked at him with blazing eyes. “You again! Didn’t you learn your lesson the last time we met? I thought that, if nothing else, you might be more clever than most of the men I have to deal with, but I can see now that I was wrong. You’re exactly like the rest of them.”

“Lady Reeves, may I help you out of that thing?”

She scoffed at him and began to climb out on her own, even though it was undignified. But then, he supposed the two of them were well beyond worrying about dignity. She struggled to her feet, and the carriage driver—who also seemed to be unhurt—came around to stand beside her.

Arthur aimed his gun at the man. “You and I have no quarrel,” he said quietly. “I will allow you to leave. The constables have been made aware of this situation—I told them I would be driving Lady Reeves in this direction. You’ll find them a mile up the road that way. You can go and speak to them if you’d like—send them back to us. Or, if you would prefer it, you can go on your way, the way you came. I won’t try to stop you. But if you choose to stay here and stand against me—well, then you and I do have a quarrel, and you’ll be my enemy. It’s entirely your decision.”

“Don’t you dare go anywhere, Jeremy,” Lady Reeves snapped, and Arthur heard the first sign of uneasiness in her voice. It was good to hear that something could make her nervous. It meant that she wasn’t as in control of the situation as she liked to pretend.

“Think it through, Jeremy,” he said. “This doesn’t have to be your mess. How loyal are you to her? How much do you want to lay on the line? Is it worth your life?”

“If you stay,” she pressed him, “we outnumber him. Don’t you see that that’s the reason he wants you to run? He wants to eliminate our advantage. He wants you to be afraid, but he knows it’s two against one right now.”

But Jeremy was shaking his head. “That isn’t true, Lady Reeves,” he said. “There was a second horsemen. He kept well back, but the Duke has an ally. Someone else is out there.” He looked at Arthur. “You’re going to win either way, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Arthur said quietly, hoping that it was true. Believing that it was. “But I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’ll go to the constables.” He turned. “They’ll sort this out—whichever of you is in the wrong.”

“That seems more than fair,” Arthur agreed. “Thank you, Jeremy.”

Jeremy turned and walked away, leaving Arthur and Lady Reeves on their own.

Lady Reeves looked shaken, but she recovered quickly. “A second horseman,” she observed. “So, you brought your friend along with you, just as you did the last time we met. What was his name again?” She shook her head. “Not that it matters. You only put him at risk by bringing him.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Arthur said. “I don’t even think that you believe that. A moment ago, you were so concerned about who outnumbered who. Now, you know that I have numbers, and you know that puts you at a disadvantage.”

“And what will happen when you run away again?” she taunted him.

Arthur raised his eyebrows. “What makes you think I’m going anywhere?” he asked. “After going to all this trouble to track you down and get you on your own, would I really leave?”

“You left last time,” she pointed out. “And it didn’t even take that much to get you to go, did it? Just a hint that your beloved duchess might be in trouble, and you were off and running. Really, I thought you would have learned the lesson from that event.”

“What lesson was I supposed to learn, exactly?”

“You were supposed to learn to prioritize your wife,” Lady Reeves said. “That’s the lesson no man ever seems to learn. Certainly, my husband never learned it while he was alive.”

“Did you murder your own husband as well?”

“Where do you think I learned to use poison so deftly?” She shook her head. “But you never learn. You’re like every other man. You let things distract you from what you should be paying attention to. Oh, you’ll run home again, but you’ll be too late. You were almost too late last time. Don’t you think I have people watching your house? Someone will come for her again. You’ll rush back to stop them, but one of these times, you’re going to be too late. You’re going to lose her, just as you lost your parents, because you kept chasing after me. This is the thing men will never understand. If they could learn to care for their wives and stop worrying so much about the rest of the world, they would be much happier. You won’t realize what you’ve lost until it’s gone.”

“I don’t think I need to worry about losing anything today,” Arthur said.

“Aren’t you listening? I just told you that I have people outside your house. They will attack her now that you’re out of the way unless you hurry back. I knew there was a chance you might come for me again, so I made this arrangement. I knew I would never be safe unless I could hang a sword over your head. You needed some sort of reason to leave me alone—something I could use to bait you away from me. And now, you have it. Run home. Save your wife.”

“I told you,” Arthur said. “I’m going nowhere.”

Behind him, he heard the clopping of hooves as the second horse approached.

“Afraid to leave your friend alone with me?” Lady Reeves asked. “I escaped him last time—perhaps you’re worried I’ll do that again? He’s not very observant, though.”

“I would be more worried about my own powers of observation, Lady Reeves if I were you,” Arthur said quietly.

“And just what is that supposed to mean?” she sneered.

Arthur didn’t look over his shoulder—it felt unwise to remove his gaze from Lady Reeves, but he did raise his voice. “Why don’t you take your hood off?” he suggested.

In his peripheral vision, he could see movement as the figure behind him did just that.

Lady Reeves’ jaw dropped, and Arthur felt a deep sense of satisfaction, knowing what she was looking at.

It was clear that she had expected to see Taylor—and, indeed, that had been Arthur’s hope. That even if she realized he had someone with him, she wouldn’t realize who it was. Surely there was no way she would guess.

She hadn’t guessed.

She had thought she could lure him away by making threats to Isabella, the way she had before.

It had never occurred to her that Isabella might be at his side.