“Do it yourself. I’ve done all the dirty work for you for months! I won’t hang for you now.”
“Just wait!” Sir Gareth’s breath came in harsh pants as he glared wildly around the room. “None of this is necessarily true. This girl is practised at inventing stories.”
“It is true, though, isn’t it?” From the other end of the table, Miss Thomas shook her head slowly. “Everything you ever told me was a lie. I should have known better than to believe my father would have trusted me to you for so long. The two of you never exchanged a single letter as far back as I can remember. You never cared for him or for my welfare – only for the money I could bring you.”
“Your father should have left everything to me in the first place!” he snarled. “I was the eldest son in our family. I was the one who was meant to have everything! But our parents left me nowhere near enough to support the life of a gentleman, while jumped-up commoners like Aubrey were given everything and your father sailed to India and made a bloody fortune. When I found out he’d left it all to a girl not even born to a British mother ...!”
There was a long, echoing silence in the room. Miss Thomas raised her chin. “Perhaps you are correct, Uncle,” she said. “Despite everything my father hoped for, the truth is, I may never be a proper British lady. But my name is Amina ... and this house and everything in it belong to me.”
“Damnation ...!” Sir Gareth’s fist crashed onto the table, sending every dish and cup rattling. “I won’t stand for any more of this. Curse it, Montrose, help me gather up the dragons that we still have. We can at least—”
“There’s a carriage coming down the drive,” Montrose reported from his place at the window. “It may be the magistrate.”
“Or it might not! Devil take you, are you really going to flee like a coward now just because a pair of women, a weedy scholar, and a dragon so cowardly, it trembles every time I—”
“Sir Gareth!” An unfamiliar voice shouted his name. An instant later, a footman fell into the room, panting for breath. “Forgive ... the intrusion, sir, but ... I had to run ... to find you.” His wild-eyed gaze slipped around the room, resting for one wide-eyed instant upon the dragon in Rose’s arms and then upon Miss Thomas, who gave him a reassuring nod. “It’s all the talk – excise officers are coming this way. They’ll be here any minute now! With rifles! Sir ...!”
“Enough!” Sir Gareth roared. Wild-eyed, he backed away from the table, eyeing everyone in the room like a potential threat. “This isn’t over,” he snapped as his gaze landed on Rose. “I’ll still ruin your cousin. When I spread the word—”
“Oh, did I forget to mention?” Blinking innocently, Rose smiled at him. “Just today, Serena was betrothed to a gentleman who knows the full truth – and you know, once a lady is respectably married, no old rumours can have much effect on anyone ... especially when they’re spread by a known felon whom no one would ever believe, anyway. Would you care to see it for yourself? Griff, darling, would you please show us what happened with Serena just before we came here?”
Silver specks gathered in the air once again. This time, the whole room witnessed a man with unfashionably long, blond hair dropping to one knee before Serena, whose mouth had opened wide in wonder.
“Miss Parry, you have my full heart and soul, regardless of any incidents in the past. Will you make me the happiest man in the world and become my wife?”
“Oh, yes. Yes!” Serena flung herself forwards ...
And the vision broke as Sir Gareth lunged through it with a growl of rage. “At least I can still sell this dragon ...!”
Rose let her instinctive jolt of pure panic flood her body. Now! she thought fiercely along an impossible connection ...
And Rhiannon appeared at her feet just in time for Rose to drop to the floor and pass Griff to her.
Both dragons were gone an instant later, leaving Sir Gareth stumbling, empty-handed and flushed with rage.
“The hell—?”
“Griff wasn’t too cowardly to do his part to ruin you,” Rose told him with fierce pride, “and you won’t be profiting off any dragons, now or ever again. Once the news of your crimes spread throughout society—”
“You can’t—”
A different voice spoke over him with withering disdain. “Oh, I think you’ll find that my husband and I have an extensive circle of correspondence, don’t we, Humphrey, dear?” Aunt Parry spoke from the doorway, where she was flanked by her husband and all three of her daughters.
Shockingly, Beth had insisted on accompanying the others to face their family’s enemy together ... and a wave of ferocious pride swept through Rose at the sight of her anxious younger cousin visibly trembling with nerves and yet standing, arms crossed and chin raised, beside her sisters.
“By the time we’ve finished spreading the news,” Aunt Parry continued, “you won’t dare show your face in all of Britain. Why, you’re not only ruined yourself, you’re a wanted criminal now, on more than one count! In fact, I think it might be quite a sensible notion to simply flee the country before you can be arrested. Don’t you agree, Sir Gareth, with that neighbourly advice?”
Aunt Parry’s smile was steely.
Georgie’s legs were firmly planted and ready for battle, with no skirts to slow her down in her movements.
Serena glared at Sir Gareth with the full and passionate force of her new hatred.
Uncle Parry nodded firmly.
“Enough of this!” Montrose unlatched the closest tall window and shoved it open. “You can stay to face the excisemen and the magistrates. Much joy may they bring you!”
He tumbled out, head first, the thud sounding even within the room.
