Oh, no.She’d seen her cousin as he crept up behind the baron. John couldn’t grab her attention with her back to him.
“Brand!” she exclaimed. “Help!”
“You betrayed me.” Shock reflected on the baron’s face. “I said to come alone.” John’s father whipped around, taking Caroline with him. He took aim and fired.
Bang!
“No!” The ball released as John launched into motion, but the harm had already been done. By the time he’d reached his father’s location, Brand had fallen to the ground not ten feet away. “Bloody hell,” he muttered. Save his wife or save his best friend? The critical moment was upon him. In the flash of an instant, he decided. For the moment, Caroline was unharmed, and his father wouldn’t leave without the coin, but Brand needed him more.
And there would be hell to pay once he saw to the captain’s care.
He ran to where his best friend had gone down while Caroline struggled in the baron’s hold. “Brand?” John kneeled at the man’s side and gingerly performed a perfunctory examination. When Brand groaned, he uttered a quick prayer, for that meant he was alive. His glove came away stained with dark blood. “Where did he get you?”
“Left shoulder.” Brand gasped when John yanked at his clothing in an effort to bare the wound. Blood soaked his fine lawn shirt.
“Damn.” John removed his gloves. Then he relieved Brand of his cravat. “First glance says it went clean through in the fleshy part but press this to the wound until I can properly have it examined.” He folded the length of cloth and held it to the wound.
“Go.” Brand shoved at him with his free hand. “Go rescue Caroline. Oh, and beat the stuffing out of your father while you’re at it. The man has some gall to shoot me.”
“Right.” Though the gravity of the situation wasn’t lost on him, John grinned. “I’m ending this tonight.” He sprang to his feet. “You’ll be all right?”
“Yes, damn it, now go!”
But a cacophony of sound and anguish met his ears before he could start off. “What the deuce?” He glanced toward Caroline’s location and then his jaw dropped. His wife currently berated his father, beating him about the head and chest with her tied fists.
“You shot my cousin!” Thump, thwack! “No reason for it! You are such a grumpy, sourpuss, you want others to add you be because!”
“I’ll be damned.” This time, he couldn’t make sense of her statement, but it didn’t matter. John looked at Brand, who’d struggled into a sitting position. “Caroline is the epitome of a storm’s fury, and my father has just been caught in the middle of it.”
Brand snorted then bit back a groan. “I’d say he deserves every bit of it.”
“Agreed.” John shrugged out of the evening jacket. No sense in ruining a perfectly good piece, for he would land his father a facer—or four.
“John is trying to help you, but you snarl and hold him away.” Thump! Thud! “You hurt me too, and ever do that no gentleman would.” Thwack! “John is a hero. He makes me happy. Why can you not leave him alone?” Thump, thump, thud!
“Enough, you crazy bitch! Since I don’t have my money, you have to go.” Before John could approach, his father picked Caroline up bodily and then hurled her over the stone railing.
Her raw scream of terror sliced through the silence of the night.
“Damn it to hell and back.” He bolted toward his sire with a slight red tinge sliding over his vision. His father had dumped the single most precious person in John’s life into the water as if she was nothing more than rubbish. The urge to vomit made itself known. Caroline had only had perhaps two swimming lessons, and her hands were tied besides. That water must be at least seventeen feet, perhaps a bit over from the recent rain, and the current was decent. “Attempted murder now, Father? It would seem your list of crimes is growing.” He grabbed hold of the baron’s cravat and shoved him into the railing as he loomed over him. For the first time since he’d known his father, fear had gathered in the depths of his eyes. Movement off to the side indicated Brand slowly coming their way. “If she dies, there is nowhere on this earth you can hide.” He let him go. “Stay here. We are not done, but I’m quite certain Captain Storme will keep watch. But to be fair, you’ve riled him up, so you might have a bit of a rough go.”
Then he scrambled over the wall and dropped into the river below.
Instantly, the cool water closed over his head. After propelling himself to the surface, he wiped the water from his eyes and cast about for his wife. “Caroline!” His voice echoed oddly off the underside of the bridge. “Caroline, where are you?”
A series of splashes reached his ears, somewhere off to his left in the darkness. Then, a weak, “Help!” sent his heart aching anew. “John? I’m sinki—”
Oh, God.