Captive Of Sin Part 39

He was alive. He was alive. They would come out of this yet.

His skin was chilled, and his tattered s.h.i.+rt was clammy from last night's downpour. He stood rigidly in her hold, his muscles taut. For one horrified moment, she wondered if his affliction had returned.

Then she realized he wasn't sick, he was angry. He vibrated with incandescent fury.

"How dare you put yourself in danger?" he growled, resisting her clinging hands.

"I've got a knife," she whispered, looking up at him.

At last he glanced at her. His jaw worked as he fought to master his temper. She read his anxiety for her, his rage. But more, she saw the mirror of her own longing in his black eyes.

"Oh, h.e.l.l, Charis," he muttered, his mouth turning down with annoyance. He bent his head and kissed her, briefly but hard. She knew it was meant as punishment, but she felt the blazing love underlying the rebuke. "Now get out," he said softly but firmly.

"Not yet." She fumbled in her pocket for the small blade she'd taken from a display of arms at Penrhyn. It probably hadn't been used since Black Jack's day, but she'd tested its edge, and it was sharp.

She cast a quick glance across at Felix and took advantage of his focus on Akash to slide behind Gideon. Watching her stepbrother out of the corner of her eye, she sawed at the binding around Gideon's wrists. It was dark where she stood, but still light enough for her to see the broken skin under the coa.r.s.e rope. Her anger at her stepbrothers. .h.i.tched higher.

"She's not going anywhere." Felix sidled in Gideon's direction, keeping his pistol aimed at Akash. "She's my surety I'll get out of here."

"There's a dozen guns outside, more if the militia have arrived," Akash said dismissively. Charis wondered if he guessed what she was up to and kept Felix occupied deliberately. Biting her lips, she worked more furiously at the rope. "Even if you do kill us, you won't get far."

Felix gave a scornful grunt, his eyes darting around the mine as if he sought an escape route. "Oh, yes, I will. n.o.body will risk hurting her."

"What about Lord Burkett? Do you intend to abandon him to his fate?" Contempt sizzled in Gideon's words.

Felix shrugged without s.h.i.+fting his gaze from Akash. "He can take his chances. He'll get to plead his case in the b.l.o.o.d.y House of Lords, whereas I'll be treated like a common criminal."

"You are a common criminal," Akash said coolly.

Felix took a menacing step toward Akash. "Shut your mouth, you black b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

"Give it up, Farrell," Gideon said steadily. "If you come quietly, I'll see what I can do about a lighter sentence. Transportation at least leaves you your life."

Felix flinched in horror. "To that filthy hole, Botany Bay? I'd rather be dead." He was considerably closer to Charis and Gideon than he had been. She applied the knife with renewed energy and prayed the shadows hid what she did.

"Keep this up, and you will be," Akash said grimly.

"You speak as though my defeat is a foregone conclusion."

"It is." Gideon bunched the muscles of his arms, jerked his wrists hard, and snapped the last threads of his bindings.

"Not when I've got Charis." Felix lunged, but Gideon moved faster than a striking cobra and grabbed him before he laid hands on her.

"Little s.l.u.t untied you, did she?" Felix grunted, fighting to get purchase on the larger man.

For a sickening moment, the two men teetered, casting a dance of grotesque shadows onto the mine's walls. Then they fell and struck the ground with a thud that Charis felt in her bones. There was a sharp rattle as pebbles shot across the floor in all directions.

"d.a.m.n you, Trevithick!" Felix grunted, then finished on a loud exhalation as Gideon landed a hard punch to his stomach. The sickening sound made Charis flinch back.

She couldn't tear her eyes from the struggle. The fight was cruel, frantic. Over and over, they rolled in a clumsy, murderous battle. She desperately tried to see who gained the advantage, but darkness and constant movement made it impossible to tell.

A storm of punches and groans punctuated the ungainly violence. Charis's belly cramped with dread, and she backed on unsteady legs to press against the cold rock.

Felix fought dirty, and he was strong and wiry, for all his fas.h.i.+onable languor. Gideon was bigger, but he'd been bound and beaten. Heaven knew what injuries the brothers had inflicted on him during the night.

A pistol shot rang out, resounding as the noise ricocheted off the rock.

"Gideon!" Charis screamed, lurching forward. Her heart slammed against her ribs. Her eyes went blind.

Akash caught her around the waist and stopped her flinging herself on top of the combatants. "Charis, it's all right."

She hardly heard him through the clanging in her ears. If Gideon was dead, she didn't want to live. Without him, there was nothing in the world she wanted.

Akash spoke more sharply. "Charis, they're alive."

At last she heard and understood. She realized how tightly he gripped her against his chest. Her fingers dug into his arms with bruising force.

The bullet must have gone wild.

Her sight cleared, and her terrified gaze focused on Felix and Gideon. She realized both men still moved, still struggled to best the other. Her aching heart started beating again. She sucked rancid air into starved lungs.

Dear heaven, thank you, thank you, thank you.

She trembled convulsively in Akash's grip. The tall body looming behind her bristled with silent tension. His support was welcome. She wasn't sure her legs would hold her. Her mouth was dry as cotton, and her heart pounded like a mallet wielded by a madman.

She stifled her urge to call encouragement to Gideon. He needed all his concentration to defeat Felix. The now-useless gun b.u.mped across the floor as a wildly kicking leg sent it sliding. Gideon rolled over and kicked it more purposefully, propelling it out of reach.

She straightened, ashamed of her weakness. Akash must have realized she'd regained control of herself. He released her and edged around the fight to pick up the gun.

The men on the ground grunted and gasped and wrestled for dominance. They writhed across the rough floor. Felix flung out one leg and sent a tin kettle rattling against the rocks. The sharp metallic clatter made Charis jump. She raised one shaking hand to her mouth to hold back a scream.

The bone handle of the little knife she clutched in her other hand was slippery with sweat. If only she saw a chance to intervene. But all she could do was stand in agonized suspense on the conflict's edge.

Felix rolled on top of Gideon and clawed at his throat. For an endless moment, time hung suspended. Then Gideon twisted with what seemed impossible strength and dislodged his attacker.

The battle continued. Charis's hand dropped from her face to twine with painful tightness in her skirts. More thumps. More hoa.r.s.e grunts and gasps. With a shuddering groan, Gideon jerked onto his knees, straddling Felix and gripping his neck.

"Die, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Felix forced out. He flung Gideon away to land with a sharp crack of bone on rock. Charis bit back another cry. Every muscle tensed to excruciating pain as she waited for Felix to surge up and land the decisive blow. But instead he lay winded and unmoving a few feet away.

"For G.o.d's sake, help Gideon," she begged Akash in a strained whisper as he returned to her side.

"He's better on his own," Akash said softly.

It seemed hours before Gideon stirred even though she knew it must only be a fraction of a second. As he sat up, he shook his head to clear his vision. He staggered upright at the same time as Felix found his feet.

Exhaustion and pain took their toll. Both men panted in jagged gasps as they circled one another, their fists upraised. Felix's left eye swelled, and his mouth was broken and b.l.o.o.d.y. Charis noticed that her stepbrother's gait was uneven, and he favored his left leg.

She drew another shuddering breath and stared at Gideon. He looked dirty and disheveled and bruised but otherwise blessedly whole, and his eyes were bright and alert. They focused on Felix with a glint of triumph. There had been some s.h.i.+ft in the battle, and it had been in Gideon's favor.

"Give it up, Farrell. There's nowhere to go." He sounded calm, confident, like the man who had saved her life. He flexed his gloved hands and rolled his shoulders.

"I'll get out of this, Trevithick." Felix stumbled on the rough ground but didn't fall. "d.a.m.n well see if I don't."

Charis watched as he staggered farther into the tunnel. His eyes remained fixed on Gideon, who took a step after him.

"You won't escape that way, man. Didn't you explore your hideaway? The mine peters out in the hillside."

"Felix, he grew up here," Charis called, desperate to bring this ghastly scene to an end. "He knows every inch of the estate. You're trapped."

"Shut up, you little b.i.t.c.h." Felix sounded savage, furious, as he backed away on faltering feet. His voice resonated oddly as the tunnel narrowed. "We'll see who's trapped."

"Be careful. There's a mineshaft behind you." Gideon set out after him, his booted heels thudding sharply on the hard dirt floor. Charis broke away from Akash and followed, gripping her knife. She still didn't trust her stepbrother even though she could tell he had reached the end of his strength.

"Resorting to childish tricks now, Trevithick?" Felix's grating laugh sent a s.h.i.+ver down her spine. He retreated more quickly from the light.

"Take a look if you don't believe me." Gideon's voice roughened with urgency. "For G.o.d's sake, man, listen to me! Look behind!"

"And take my eyes off you? You must think I'm a d.a.m.ned half-wit."

"Farrell..."

Felix kept up his odd crablike shuffle, then suddenly tottered. His arms windmilled as he fought for balance. It was tragically clear Gideon's warning was sincere. Charis's stomach lurched with horror.

Gideon leaped forward. But even fast as he was, he was too late and too far away.

With a high-pitched scream of fury, Felix lost his footing and tumbled over the edge.

Twenty-four.

There was a sickening, distant thud, then silence descended like an ax.

Shocked, unable to credit what had happened, Gideon stood on the edge of the shaft. He couldn't see anything in the darkness. It went down too far.

"Farrell?" he called. During his childhood, a miner had fallen down the shaft and died. It was one of the reasons the workings were abandoned.

He called again, recognizing the act as futile.

He'd despised Felix, wanted to make him pay in blood and suffering for hurting Charis. But all the same, this was a sorry end for anyone, even the most despicable cur.

Dizziness struck from nowhere, and he swayed. He ached from the beating and the fight. Through the buzzing in his ears, he heard Charis's husky cry as she launched herself after him.

Still reeling, he staggered to face her and caught her up against him, hiding the black chasm behind him from her sight. His shaking arms lashed around her slender softness with a desperation he only now let himself acknowledge.

She's here. She's unharmed. Thank You, G.o.d and all Your angels.

The still, cold watches of the night had tortured him with the devastating possibility that he'd never see her again. A prospect more agonizing than Hubert's punches or Felix's childish taunts. So much worse than his persistent fear that his demons would emerge from the dank darkness to claim him. His raw anguish made a mockery of his plans to send her away, even when he knew it was for her own good.

"Oh, my love, my love," he whispered, and buried his face in her thick, silky hair. He drew in a shuddering breath full of her scent. She smelled warm and alive. Clutching his back as if she never meant to let him go, she quivered in his arms.

For a long, glorious moment, he held her and luxuriated in the knowledge that they'd come through, that they were alive and together. Giddy relief swamped his rage that she put herself in danger. He should have known she'd never leave his rescue to others. Not his brave Charis.

"You're safe," she choked out against his skin. "You're safe and you're...you're well. Oh, Gideon, I was so afraid." She finished on a broken sob and pressed her hot face into his bare chest, above his furiously pounding heart.

He forced himself to relax his bruising grip. The reality slowly dawned on his dazed mind that the threat had pa.s.sed. He drew far enough away to see her. Even in the dim light from the tunnel mouth, the strain she'd been under was apparent in the muddy brown of her eyes and the dark marks underneath them. But her face was aglow with relief and happiness. And love.

"My darling..." Words failed as love surged up as unstoppable as high tide into Penrhyn Cove. "Are you crying for Felix?"

"No." Then more strongly. "No! What happened to him is horrible. But I'm crying because...because we're free at last."

He smiled down at her, then winced when the expression tested his torn lip. "Happy tears?"

She gave a jerky nod. "Happy tears." Regret shadowed her eyes as carefully she touched the graze on his mouth. "They hurt you. I'm so sorry."

"It's nothing." Truly, it was nothing. In return for the joy of having her in his arms, he'd undergo a thousand beatings. He pressed her shaking hand against his cheek. With every minute, he breathed more easily. The danger was over. He could hardly believe it.

He heard footsteps approach and looked up to see Akash striding down the tunnel with a flaming torch. At his side, Tulliver carried the lantern from the brothers' camp. The extra lights were welcome although Gideon doubted they were strong enough to reveal the base of the shaft. The ominous silence behind him confirmed his immediate guess that Felix had perished in the fall.

"You heard what happened?" Gideon asked.

"Yes. Is there any chance he survived?" Akash raised the torch in Gideon's direction, clearly checking to see if he was all right.

"I doubt it. But we need to get him out. Tulliver, can you muster some men to climb down? I a.s.sume someone brought rope. If not, the Farrells had some." His arms tightened around Charis. He'd come so close to losing her, he wasn't ready to relinquish her yet, especially when she still trembled with reaction.

"Aye, guvnor." Tulliver cast Gideon and Charis a cryptic glance, then headed back outside.

Gideon stared over Charis's ruffled head to where Akash waited. Overwhelming grat.i.tude flooded him. How could he thank this man for all he'd done? Through the years of danger in India, the rescue from Rangapindhi, and the care and loyalty since. Words were inadequate recompense, but they were all he had.

"Thank you, my friend," he said gruffly. He wanted to say so much, but he settled for, "Once again you've saved me."

"You're welcome. Life would be considerably less interesting without you." Smiling faintly, Akash inclined his dark head in acknowledgment. "The true gallantry was Lady Charis's. It was she who rode through the deluge to bring us word of what had happened."

Gideon smiled down at her. He didn't need Akash to point out how exceptional his darling was. What a wife he'd found for himself. Strong enough to defy the world for him. "I knew she wouldn't fail. I knew she'd rout her stepbrothers."

"You didn't say that at the time." Her voice was choked.

"I didn't have to."

Looking pensive, she glanced toward the ominously quiet mineshaft. "I'm not hypocritical enough to say I'm sorry."

"Yet..."