“Yes,” she said, smiling softly down at him. “In truth, I seem to be in much better condition than you are.”
“O’Rourke?” he asked, trying to see beyond her.
“He is unconscious for the moment. You saved me from him, Basil,” Fanny added in a tender tone.
“I hardly saved you,” he retorted. “O’Rourke darkened my daylights.”
“You most certainly did save me. You fought him and stopped him from taking me.”
Basil gritted his jaw, obviously furious at himself for his failure to conquer O’Rourke. But when he started to rise, the effort made him groan once more and raise a hand to his bloody temple as if his head ached.
“Lie still,” Fanny urged, cradling his head gently in her lap.
Lily’s heart went out to poor Basil, his face bloodied and bruised, his pride injured. Hoping to distract him, she took the opportunity to ask Fanny what had happened. “Tait feared that O’Rourke had abducted you.”
“He did,” Fanny said, her lips compressing into a tight line. “He caught me off guard and forced me to accompany him here.”
“Did he hurt you?” Lily demanded, her anger rising all over again.
“Nothing beyond a bruise or two on my arms,” Fanny replied. “And I don’t believe Mick meant me harm. He claimed he wanted to show me the beautiful house he had built for me…” She gestured around the room, indicating the luxurious decor. “This was to be my gilded cage. Mick intended to keep me here until I agreed to wed him. He already had a special license and had bribed a vicar to perform the ceremony.”
“You cannot wed that bastard!” Basil exclaimed in outrage.
“Trust me, I won’t,” Fanny assured him with feeling, lightly stroking his forehead as she gazed down tenderly at him.
Looking dazed by her regard, the wounded Basil reached up and cupped his hand around her nape and drew her mouth down to his for a long, unexpected kiss.
Fanny froze for an instant, then returned the pressure with surprising urgency, causing Basil to wince in pain from his split lip.
When she hurriedly drew back, she seemed unaccustomedly flustered.
“Forgive me,” Basil muttered, his face turning red. “I should not have done that.”
Lily, diverted by the tender moment, was surprised when Heath reached down and took the rapier from her. But O’Rourke was regaining consciousness, it seemed.
Climbing to her feet, she followed Heath over to the prone man.
Heath went down on one knee but kept the rapier point between them as he prodded O’Rourke’s shoulder to wake him. After an interval, O’Rourke slowly opened his eyes and pushed himself up on one elbow.
Shaking his head groggily, he squinted up at Heath, but then he spied Lily and shot her a look of intense dislike. “I knew that she-devil would be the death of me.”
Heath’s grim smile held no amusement. “She very well could have been. And you were foolish not to heed my warning.”
“Oh, I heeded it, milord. I just considered it worth the risk of dying if I could have Fanny.”
The twist of his lips was bitter as he glanced across the room at Fanny, who still held Basil’s head in her lap. “I thought I could make her see reason. That she would come to love me once we were wed.” O’Rourke gazed longingly at Fanny for another moment before finally looking away, his expression one of anguish. “But I can see I was mistaken.”
Heath kept his gaze focused on O’Rourke. “I advised you of the consequences if you laid a finger on her again, remember?”
Grimacing, O’Rourke met his gaze and nodded reluctantly. “Aye, you did. So what will you do with me now?”
“Deliver you to the authorities. You will be fortunate if you don’t hang, but perhaps you will only wind up in Newgate Prison.”
Handing the rapier to Lily, He
ath hauled O’Rourke to his feet and proceeded to bind the man’s hands with his own cravat. O’Rourke offered no resistance, though. All the fight had gone out of him.
When Heath finished, he turned to Lily and said in a low voice, “You should take the hack and see Fanny and Eddowes home.”