James declaration rang with certainty and valor. But God help her, she heard more. Anyone listening would know immediately that he loved her.
Her heart slammed against her ribs. Upstairs when he’d declared his love, she’d believed him—up to a point. Now when they both faced such danger, she couldn’t mistake that love invested every word he spoke to her.
She’d been such a blind fool. How could she hesitate to become his wife? How could she weigh worldly considerations against their chance to live as one, to have children, to grow old together?
Nell desperately wanted to believe James when he vowed to save her, but at this moment, she couldn’t imagine that they’d both escape. Dear Lord above, she didn’t want to die. Most of all she didn’t want to die without telling James that she loved him.
She sucked in a deep breath and leveled her shoulders. A preternatural calm descended. She shut Greengrass’s loathsome presence from her mind. She shut everything out, except the endless universe of love she heard in James’s voice.
“I love you, James,” she said, surprised at how firmly the words emerged. “No matter what happens, I will always love you.”
“Eleanor?” He sounded shocked.
“Believe it, my love,” she said.
“I love you too.” Such simple words, but each heartfelt syllable reinforced her courage.
“How touching,” Greengrass said sarcastically.
Nell was immune to his jeers. Her heart felt clean, and finally her brain started to function. There must be some way she could help James and give them both a chance to seize the bright future that until now had seemed out of reach.
She’d wanted a weapon. What a ninny she was. God had given her two good hands, hadn’t he? And Greengrass currently held only one of her arms, leaving the other free to do some damage and hopefully create a diversion.
Without taking time to count consequences, she stretched up and back to dig her fingers into Greengrass’s eye.
“Bloody hell!” He lurched and his hand clenched painfully on her arm. Gritting her teeth against surging revulsion, she clawed deeper.
Fleetingly, the pistol slipped away from her head. Knowing it might be the last thing she ever did, Nell collapsed as a dead weight against his legs, screaming for help.
“You little bitch!” Like the sound of doom, she heard the click of the safety lock just above her, far too close to her ear. Automatically she curled up as small as she could.
Through James’s despairing “Eleanor!” the pistol blasted. The world turned black.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Sick with horror, Leath watched Nell slump to the ground. Without making a conscious decision, he jammed his pistol behind Greengrass’s ear and pulled the trigger. The hulking brute grunted, staggered forward past Eleanor’s body, and fell with a thud.
His enemy was dead. Apart from the cessation of immediate danger, Leath couldn’t give a damn. He flung the pistol into the darkness and fell to his knees beside Eleanor.
“My darling…” he choked out, hauling her into his arms. Her proud, astounding declaration of love echoed in his heart.
Her head flopped back, tilting her pale, perfect face to the moon. When they’d first met, he’d thought of flawless white marble. Now that memory turned his blood to ice.
Desperate for any sign of life, his shaking hand brushed untidy tendrils of hair back from her bloody forehead. Her eyes remained closed, thick lashes shadowing her cheekbones.
“Don’t die. Don’t die,” he whispered, clutching her to his chest as if his warmth could revive her. His hands were sticky with her blood. His gut knotted in denial. Why in blazes had she done that crazed thing? Why had she risked her life?
Except that he knew. She’d trusted him to use the moment. How ironic that so often he’d begged her to trust him, and right now, he wished to the depths of hell that she hadn’t.
“Eleanor, darling, for God’s sake, don’t leave me.” He plastered her to his body, rocking back and forth. “Don’t ever leave me. How can I go on without you?”
The agony of losing her shuddered through him. How could fate give him this magnificent creature, then snatch her away? By God, he wouldn’t let her die. He’d defy heaven and hell to keep her.
He bent his head to feel her breath on his skin. He didn’t trust his hearing. His ears still rang from the gunshot. Or perhaps he was deaf to everything except his pounding need to know she was alive.
“What the devil’s all this?”
“Greengrass shot her.” He didn’t look up at Sedgemoor’s arrival. “I think she’s dead.”