Mad Jack (Sherbrooke Brides 4)

“Then I waited while she packed and got her young daughter and son ready to leave. I took them both to my house.

“They remained there for three days. That third day I met Ryder Sherbrooke. He was arguing with an older man in White’s. The old codger was saying that all the irritating trash in the streets should be eliminated once and for all, all of them sent to the Colonies or to Botany Bay. He was referring to children who were forced to beg or steal to keep from starving. Ryder never raised his voice, just said that it was adults who brought these poor children into the world and then abandoned them. What were the children supposed to do? Leave all good people alone, the old codger was saying over and over. I managed to introduce myself to Ryder when he stepped away, leaving the old man muttering into his brandy snifter. Oddly enough, within ten minutes of meeting him, I was telling him of the lady at my house and what had happened.

“Within two days he knew all about my past. It was Ryder who helped me figure out how to protect her—”

“Who was she, Gray?”

“Lady Cecily Granthsom.”

Jack just shook her head.

He said only, “You will doubtless meet her soon, Jack. I believe she and her children are currently in Scotland visiting her husband’s family. She will be charmed with you.”

“What did you do with the husband?”

“Ryder and I went to see him. He was enraged that his wife had escaped with her lover, so he screamed at us. He would kill the bitch, he yelled, and that damned lover of hers. He didn’t recognize me as the young man who’d beaten him into the floor.

“That was when Ryder and I explained the situation to him.” Gray smiled, seeing the past, Jack realized, seeing a triumph that had remained with him.

“Lord Granthsom was beyond fury when I told him that I’d been the one to hit him, that I was hiding his wife and children, until I had some believable assurance that he would never strike her again, or the children. He kept screaming that it was none of my affair, that she was a slut and an adulteress and she deserved whatever he did to her.

“That was when he attacked me.” Gray rubbed his hands together. “I thrashed him again. I remember the butler came to the door, saw what I was doing, just nodded, and left. Everyone always knows when there is violence in a household. There is no hiding it. No keeping it secret. After he was bleeding and on the floor, I asked him what he thought I should do with him.

“Granthsom wasn’t stupid. He claimed he wouldn’t hurt his wife again. I didn’t believe him. He signed a paper swearing he’d never touch her again, or her children. He swore he wouldn’t retaliate in any way. Ryder and I left. Two days later, Cecily returned to her home. I accompanied her. Lord Granthsom seemed calm, accepting. Cecily seemed convinced. I left.

“Three days later the man I’d hired to keep watch over them came to my house to tell me that he was

beating her, and it was bad. I took my gun and went there. The servants were all white as death, listening to her screams, yet unwilling to do anything. What could they do? They were nothing compared to him.

“I shot him in the leg. He kept hitting her. I shot him in the other leg.”

“What happened?” Jack looked at the piece of toast she’d been holding an inch from her mouth for the entire time Gray had been speaking. She dropped it onto her plate and leaned forward. “What, Gray? What happened?”

“Lord Granthsom is in a wheelchair. It’s been nearly six years now. He is dependent upon the servants and his wife for his very existence. One of the bullets caused enough damage so that he’ll never walk again.”

“My God, what an exquisite punishment,” she said, jumping to her feet and throwing herself into his arms. He moaned from the wound in his shoulder, then clasped her close, bringing her onto his lap. “Yes, it worked out well. Cecily is her own woman now, in complete control of all his estates because she controls him. He is not a happy man and that pleases me inordinately and Cecily as well. You will meet her daughter, Joan, and her son, William, when they return from Scotland in the middle of the summer. Cecily is beloved by his family for her kindness, her selflessness, her caring for the fallen earl. They believe that he fell from a horse. Because of his pride, he hasn’t ever contradicted her.”

“The husband is an earl? A peer of the realm? An earl was beating his wife?”

“Yes. There are no class boundaries, Jack. It’s true that poverty tends to drain the spirit, and thus many men lose all hope and take their hopelessness out on their wives and children. Also, some men are simply animals, no rhyme or reason for it.”

“And you save the women?”

“I try. Since Cecily, there have been ten women. It’s Cecily who has helped me over the years assist them in dealing with their various situations. Every one is different. I have spent hours scratching my head, trying to figure out the best way to save a woman. Two women I’ve saved were exactly like my mother. They cursed me for interfering. I’ve simply not involved myself with them after I discovered that.”

“This man who wanted to kill you? Who is he?”

“He is the Honorable Clyde Barrister, a little weasel who would doubtless be in excellent company with your stepfather, Sir Henry.

“I’ve gotten several threatening letters from him. I wrote him after the first letter and told him that if he didn’t swallow his threats and leave me alone, I would beat him and throw him in a ditch. I guess he didn’t believe me because another letter from him arrived at the same time as the urgent request from Lord Burleigh to see me. After seeing Lord Burleigh, you can understand how simple it was for me to forget about it.

“Clyde must have panicked after sending me the letter and decided the only thing to do to save his hide was to hire an assassin to kill me.”

“What will you do?”

Gray gave her a kiss in the tip of her nose, nuzzled her neck, then kissed her mouth. “What I’m going to do is pay the gentleman a long-overdue visit.”

“Do you believe he is beating his wife again?”