She looked around her, scrambling for an idea. She thought about just yelling that she’d found the letters, but that would bring Wentworth to her, making her easily captured and used as a hostage. That would put Geoffrey at a disadvantage, because no matter how angry he was with her, she knew him to be too honorable to just let her be killed. He would try to negotiate for her life, thus endangering his own.
Her eyes lit upon Geoffrey’s paint supplies. Oils, rags, brushes…
Turpentine—highly flammable, with possible explosive tendencies. That might work. She reached into her pocket, her hand closing around the decorative tinderbox with her experimental accelerant inside. If she could get it lit and drop it inside the container of turpentine, she should have time to move to a safe distance. But even if she couldn’t, it wouldn’t matter as long as Geoffrey got away.
The door burst open with a loud crash that sent Liliana a foot into the air. Geoffrey must have kicked the door in, aiming for the element of surprise.
Wentworth shrieked like an old woman but quickly swiped his gun from the desk and pointed it at Geoffrey.
Liliana’s world stopped moving.
Geoffrey kept his eyes on his uncle’s face and tried not to focus on the pistol aimed right at him. His own pistol was cocked and tucked in the waistband of his breeches, behind his back where his uncle wouldn’t notice it. He raised his hands slowly. He had to make no sudden movements, had to keep Joss focused solely on him so that Liliana could make it to the door.
As much as he wanted to look upon her, to ensure himself she was fine, he kept his gaze trained on Joss. Geoffrey’s chest eased a bit as he glimpsed Liliana inching toward the entrance.
“Are you planning to kill me, Uncle, as you did my father?”
Uncle Joss flinched, but the gun did not. “I hadn’t planned to,” he finally answered. “I’ve lived with the guilt of your father’s death for years, although things were good for me when your brother was earl. It was easy to divert money when I needed it from beneath his unwatchful eye. But you aren’t the fool Henry was. I had hoped to blackmail you long enough to cover my gambling losses—and then I was going to quit. I swear it. But then she showed up.” Joss bobbed his head in Liliana’s direction, but to Geoffrey’s relief, he didn’t turn to see her inching away. “I recognized her surname, of course, so I knew why she must have come. I figured if I could follow her, figure out where she was searching and get to the corselet first, I could break it up and sell the jewels. I could have paid my debts with no need to involve you, but without it, I may have to kill you after all. Then I will be earl and I can pay what I owe.”
Liliana stopped moving toward the door and bent down. Why didn’t the foolish woman run? Damn it. If she would just get clear, he could finish this. He needed to keep his uncle talking until she got the hell out of the way.
“Who would loan you so much money you fear for your life?” Geoffrey asked.
“Percenters, a nasty lot of them,” Joss answered.
What in the blazes was Liliana doing? Geoffrey couldn’t tell, as she was simply a blur in his peripheral vision. He daren’t take his eyes off Joss, but he wanted to shout with frustration. She was crouched too close to Uncle Joss, only two arms’ lengths away.
“Let me pay your debt,” Geoffrey offered, straining for a soothing tone. “Let me get you help for your problem.” Though it galled him to say the next, he said it anyway. “You’re my family.”
Joss’ gaze wavered, and it seemed as though he wanted to accept. But then his face hardened. “As if you would help me now that you know I killed your father.”
It seemed his uncle wasn’t a fool, after all.
“Of course, I’ll have to kill Miss Claremont, too,” Joss said. He took a quick step back and snatched Liliana up to him, turning the gun on her.
Geoffrey stopped breathing. It took everything in him not to reach for his own weapon. But he’d never be able to kill Joss before the man pulled the trigger, and he couldn’t risk Liliana. He dropped to his knees. “Please, Uncle, don’t harm her.”
Liliana forced herself to hold perfectly still, even though every nerve in her body screamed to get as far away as possible from the explosive she’d just lit. Four…five…six…She had no idea how long it would take for the turpentine to ignite, but as contained as it was, when mixed with the ingredients in her tinderbox, she expected at least a flash explosion sometime soo—
The force of the blast knocked Liliana to her stomach. Pain exploded in her head as it came in contact with the floor, and heat licked up her legs, but she paid it no heed, rising to her hands and knees and looking frantically for Wentworth. Screams rent the air behind her, and she whipped around.
Flames ate their way up Wentworth’s breeches. He’d dropped to his knees but hadn’t lost control of his weapon, which he now aimed at Geoffrey. Liliana turned her head to where Geoffrey was still on his knees. Why hadn’t he run, blast it? He reached behind his back, pulling his own weapon, but from the corner of her eye, Liliana saw the flex of Wentworth’s hand as he pulled his trigger.
“Geoffrey,” she screamed, fear and painful heat overwhelming her.
Two reports filled the room, one slightly before the other. She didn’t get a chance to see anything more before she was tackled by a blur and she was being rolled, patted, smothered, and rolled some more before being dragged across the floor.
When she stopped moving, she became aware of a vicious stinging pain encompassing her lower legs. She also realized she was being cradled in Geoffrey’s arms. He’s alive. Her heart soared and tears burned the backs of her eyes. She breathed in, craving his scent of man and mint, but all she could smell was smoke and chemical fumes and something she was distinctly afraid was burned flesh. The pain in her legs grew so much that she didn’t think she could bear it, and her head throbbed mercilessly.
“Your uncle?” she croaked.
“Dead.” Geoffrey’s voice was hoarse.
“How? His weapon was aimed before yours was completely pulled.”
Geoffrey hugged her to him, and Liliana moaned against the shift in position. He immediately stilled and pulled back, brushing her hair tenderly from her face as he looked down at her.
“A spoonful of sugar in my powder,” he said. “A trick a brilliant chemist once taught me.”
“You fool,” she said, meaning to tell him that under improper conditions, that trick could have backfired, but before she could get the words out, everything went dark.
Chapter Twenty-nine
L
iliana struggled to open her eyes. A sharp sting in her legs and a deep throbbing in her head stole her breath, and her eyelids clamped tight as if her body refused to surface from painless sleep.
Why do I hurt so badly?
She gasped, memories flooding in. The explosion. Wentworth firing his pistol at Geoffrey. Geoffrey cradling her in his arms, stroking her tenderly, almost as if he loved her…
She jerked to a sitting position, her orbital muscles finally accepting her consciousness and allowing her eyes to open, but she couldn’t contain a cry as her legs shifted in the bed.