“But what did you hope to gain by forcing Isobel into marriage to DeLisle? Why try to get her to sign the betrothal document? It didn’t have any impact on the house or fortune,” Peter reasoned, struggling to understand Rupert’s logic.
Rupert’s laugh was almost wild as he sneered at his nephew. “He paid me for her! He actually paid me to take the little bitch to wife,” Rupert declared contemptuously, shooting a filthy glare at his partner in crime for his stupidity. He turned back to his audience almost proudly. “I needed the money to keep my debtors at bay while I got her to sign the transfer papers for the house and land. DeLisle was going to give me half of her worth once they were married, it was part of my payment for her.”
DeLisle began to swear fluidly at Rupert’s duplicity declaring, “We had planned for me to persuade her to sign over Gosport Hall, and control of her funds, once we were married. If she wasn’t with child in six months, she would go the way of the other useless bitches I married.” He glared at the man whom he had considered a comrade in arms. “You got greedy Rupert; greedy and stupid.”
Rupert scoffed at DeLisle. “You are calling me stupid? You’re
the one tied up like a chicken facing the gallows.” His mirth was high and unnatural. He mocked the flurry of insults DeLisle threw at him while he was dragged out of the room once more by Edward and Peter.
“I’m not greedy,” Rupert argued. “I just want what should rightly be mine.”
“No wonder you were cast out of the family,” Isobel snapped, turning her head sideways to stare contemptuously at the sweaty face of her uncle. “You are evil through and through.”
“Isobel,” Dominic’s voice held a tone of warning that was impossible to miss.
“Don’t think I won’t cut you girlie. You have cost me dear, and I demand retribution.” Rupert’s voice was snide; his eyes lit with a mix of greed and malice.
Isobel wondered briefly if he was sane. Could a madman be so calculating? She wasn’t certain, but she did know his logic wasn’t born out of reality.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
BANG!
“What the hell?” Rupert swore and jumped. Everyone within the room jolted with surprise at the sound of gunfire coming from outside.
Rupert, momentarily distracted by the noise, eased his hold upon Isobel enough to give Sebastian the opportunity he needed. Grabbing Isobel tightly around the waist, he literally threw her over the back of the chaise lounge. She landed with a solid thump on the floor, with Sebastian beside her, still clutching Rupert’s knife in a shaky hand.
Ignoring Sebastian’s attempts to hold her back, Isobel pushed herself to her feet and peered over the back of the chaise.
Rupert’s face was purpled with rage. Without a weapon, or Isobel, his rage broke free and he launched himself at Dominic with a snarl of fury. The fists he threw at Dominic did little damage, even when they did hit. The volley of insults and epithets Rupert spat out were accompanied by the brutal sounds of flesh meeting flesh as Dominic’s punches landed home.
“Easy, Dominic,” Peter warned after several brief moments, when Dominic showed no signs of letting up. He eyed the bloodied face of his uncle with disdain, and wondered briefly if he could just leave Dominic to pound the odious creature into the ground. “We need to leave him alive for the gallows.”
Isobel watched as Dominic silenced Rupert’s volley of epithets with a well placed fist. Rupert’s eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped onto the ground without a murmur.
“Thank heavens for that,” Sebastian grumbled, placing Rupert’s knife carefully out of reach. “I didn’t think the stupid man would ever shut up.”
No sooner had he hit the floor than Isobel launched herself across the room at her husband, clinging to the solid warmth of his chest with trembling hands.
“Are you alright?” Dominic demanded, tipping Isobel’s head upwards to study the torn flesh below her chin.
“It’s nothing,” she said, quick to reassure him. “It is just a small cut.”
Carefully she studied his face for injury, but could only find a small graze to the side of Dominic’s chin.
Seconds later Edward burst into the room, covered in what appeared to be splatters of blood. With a quick, assessing glance at the room before him, he shook his head briefly at Dominic. “I’m sorry Dominic, he got the better of me.”
Dominic cursed and easing Isobel to one side as he ran a worried gaze over his brother.
“Are you alright? Did he harm you?”
Edward shook his head, and cursed fluidly. “He began to struggle and shot himself with my gun,” he reported with an apologetic glance at Isobel. “It appears the prospect of the gallows was too much for him.”
“It can’t be helped. As long as you are alright, all is well,” Dominic muttered feeling no remorse for DeLisle’s death. He turned a rueful eye on the still unconscious body of Rupert lying at his feet. “Let’s get him restrained, and off to jail before he does something stupid to evade justice too.”
No sooner were the words out than Isobel watched in horror as Rupert sat bolt upright. The menacing snarl was back on his bloodied face. He snatched a small pistol out of his boot and pointed it straight at her.
Isobel’s heart sank to her knees, and she found herself staring down the wrong end of his pistol.