Chapter Thirty-Seven

H art raced down the dock. His focus fully on getting to Lucy before Griffen killed her. She crumpled to the deck. He was still too fucking far away. His lungs burned. Seaton’s heavy footfalls came from next to him as they ran toward the schooner. When they reached the boat, he could see her lying on the deck, her arms up in front of her as though she was trying to protect herself from the next blow. Hart lost his mind. He lowered his shoulders, and with a primal yell, he launched himself up the gangplank and tackled Griffen. They flew through the air and landed against the gunwale. Griffen’s head made a loud crack as it struck the thick wooden railing.

They both tumbled down to the floor in a heap.

Hart got off the unconscious earl and scrambled over to Lucy. “How badly are you hurt?” He gently cupped her face.

Her eyes looked glassy, but she flung her arms around his neck with a cry.

“Oh, Hart!” Her voice cracked on a sob.

He gathered her close. “I’m so glad you are alive. Did they hurt you? Tell me where, and I will take a piece of flesh from them for each bruise.”

Seaton ran past them. Hart raised his gaze from Lucy to see why. A tall, shadowed figure emerged from a hatch on the deck and raced over to the port side railing, launching himself over. Seaton did the same. Jumping over the railing and landing with a thump onto the next boat over. Seaton chased the other man across the deck and onto the next boat until Hart could no longer see them.

Getting onto his feet, Hart reached down to scoop Lucy from the deck floor. She snuggled into his shoulder and sighed. “You’re making a habit of rescuing me.”

“You’re making a habit of getting into dangerous situations.”

“I didn’t want to go with him. He choked me unconscious.”

Hart growled low as he carried her down the dock to where Thomas Kent waited with the carriage. He was going to kill Perrin with his bare hands. When they reached the carriage, the relief etched across the coachman’s face was evident.

“Take her.” He handed Lucy over to the coachman. “I have to take care of Griffen.”

“No! Don’t go back onto that boat,” Lucy said.

He ran his fingers down her cheek. “I’ll be right back.” He turned and started back to the boat. His rage was at full throttle. The man who killed his family would pay. He was going to tear him apart limb from limb.

“Alex!” Lucy’s voice cried out.

Hearing his given name pierced through his anger. He swung around. No one had called him Alex in years. Only his father and brother had ever used his given name. Christ, he missed being Alex. Back when his biggest decision had been to choose his entertainments for the night or which brandy to consume. That Alex had simply enjoyed life to the fullest. He hadn’t been afraid of anything.

Lucy raced to him and grabbed hold of the lapels of his jacket. “Listen to me. Killing Griffen will not change the past. You succeeded. You found the culprit. And he will be punished.”

Her words hardly registered. All he wanted was for his name to spill from her lips again. “Say my name.”

“Alex.” Her lips curved up into a smile. Lucy placed a hand on his heart. “Tomorrow, we will go to the magistrate and tell him everything we know. Even if they do not hang him, it will ruin him. But tonight, I want you to come home with me. I want you to climb into our bed and make love to me. I need you to hold me in your arms all night long.”

Hart slid his arms around his wife. Dipping his head to bury his face in her hair, he sucked in her unique scent that had come to mean, more than any brick-and-mortar house, home to him.

He let out a shaky exhale. “But he took you from me. He harmed you. I just want to make sure he can never threaten you again.”

“Unlike him, you are not a murderer,” she said. “He won’t be able to hurt us anymore. You told me on our wedding day that I should always tell you what I need from you.”

Hart raised his head to look down at her.

Lucy’s hand cupped his scarred cheek. Her thumb brushed over one of the long scars as she snared his gaze. “I need you to look forward to our future together. Come, love, let us leave these ghosts behind.”

“I hate it when you’re right.”

Lucy laughed, and the sound swept over him like a balm to his battered soul. He grasped her chin between his thumb and fingers. Those gorgeous eyes sparkled with humor. His feelings for her caught him like a vise around the throat. He couldn’t breathe. “Lucy—”

A great boom echoed through the night as a large ball of orange flames exploded through the deck of Griffen’s schooner. Flaming debris hurled through the air. Hart curled his body around Lucy. Christ, why were things always blowing up around me? His last thought before the world went black.