Ignoring the throbbing in his head, he grabbed Sean by the neck and slammed his head down onto the hard-wooden floor under the straw. Sean struggled to free himself, but James slammed his head down again and again until Sean didn’t move.
Then James backed out of the coach, pausing to steady himself with his back to the conveyance. Fighting Patrick would be harder, and James summoned all his strength then lurched into the back room of the shop the men had been using. As soon as he was inside, he heard Phil’s voice. “Get off me!”
The cloud of pain dissipated, and James’s focus narrowed. The door to the cellar was open, and a faint light illuminated the stairs. Clutching the thin railing, James started down. He immediately spotted two figures on the ground, one beside the other. The light reflected off Phil’s honey-blond hair, spilling out of her coiffure and onto the dirty ground. She looked up at him as he raced to her side. “I’ll fight you too, if I have to!” she said.
“Jaysus, Phil.” James shook his head. “Ye know I had no part in this.”
She seemed to crumple, and James caught her. She pushed him away then gave in to his touch.
“Are ye hurt? What did he do? I’ll kill him, I will.”
“I think I might have already killed him,” she said weakly. He wanted to hold her tighter. He’d never seen her looking or sounding so frail. Instead, he turned his attention to Patrick, who lay on his face with what appeared to be a knife sticking out of his back. But when James finally released Phil and moved closer, he saw it was a piece of wood.
“I stabbed him with it,” she said, wrapping her arms about her body. “Twice. I had to.” Her voice broke, and James gathered her in his arms again. She didn’t fight him this time. He pulled her to her feet, both of them unsteady, and moved her toward the stairs.
“Shh, lass. Of course, ye did. Ye had no choice. Sit here now. Give me a minute.” He lowered her to the steps, and her head fell in her hands and she began to weep. James would take her in his arms again in a moment, but first he took the lantern and moved closer to Patrick. With one foot, he nudged his former friend. Patrick grunted and one arm flailed back, trying to reach the wood in his back.
He moved back. “He’s still alive, lass. Come upstairs with me before he regains his strength.”
She stared at him. “I don’t understand any of this. Why are you helping me now?”
“I’ll explain everything. Upstairs.” He helped her to her feet and together they climbed the steps. At the top, James closed the door and locked it. Then he led Phil to a chair. “Sit here a minute while I go tie up the other one. I don’t want them running before I call the constables.”
He went out, returned to the carriage, and took the rope Sean had intended to use to tie him. After securing Sean, James started back in, had to pause a moment to wait until the dizziness faded, then went to his knees before Phil. “Christ Jaysus, me lady. I never meant for this to happen. Are ye hurt? Did he touch you?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m fine. He slapped me, but I’ll be fine.”
James drew in a sharp breath. “I could kill him for that. I would too, if he wasn’t already going to the hangman. Can I leave ye for a few minutes to look for a constable?”
She grabbed his hand tight. “No! If you fetch the constable, you’ll be implicated too.”
It was true enough. “Isn’t that what ye want?”
She gave him a hard look then closed her eyes. “No. God help me. I still care for you.” She whispered the last. “The constable will lock you up.”
“Sure and well I deserve it too. I should have reported those two long ago. I was a fool to think I could protect ye from them. Ye were right to think I betrayed ye. I was part of their plan at the start.” He told her about life before Dublin with his parents and siblings, how their family had lost everything and been forced to move to the slums of Dublin. Then he explained how he’d met Patrick and Sean. He told her the plan they’d made. “But then after I met ye, after I started working at Southmeade, I knew I couldn’t do it. For months now I’ve been trying to think how to keep ye safe.”
“That’s why you kept telling me you would keep me safe.”
“Ye may not believe me, but that’s all I care about. I never lied to ye when I said I loved ye. I do. And I deserve what’s coming to me, lass. It’s my own selfishness that’s responsible for this. If I hadn’t wanted to stay close to ye—”
“I wanted you close too.” She grabbed his hand. “I would have told you not to leave me, not to report them. I couldn’t have borne it if you had been forced to go.”
He pulled his hand free from hers. “Now ye know the truth, and I hope ye realize yer better without the likes of me. I’ll fetch a constable, take ye home, then go to the magistrate and confess my part.”
“No!”
He stared at her. “It’s better I go to them. The truth will out, and they’ll search every nook and cranny in the land to find me.”
“Then we’ll run away.”
James shook his head. “What are ye saying, lass? It’s over. There is no more we.”
She flinched back as though struck. “You don’t love me anymore?”
“Of course, I still love ye, but—” Then a thought struck him. “Do ye still love me?”
She nodded. “Nothing can change how I feel for you. In fact, I love you more. You saved me.”
He laughed. “Ye saved yerself. But love doesn’t change anything. I’m part of this, and I’ll be tried and convicted.”
Suddenly, her shoulders squared, and her chin lifted. “We’ll see about that.”
James did not know how she managed it. He fetched a constable, but when it came time to relay the story of what happened, Phil made James seem like a hero. The way she told it, he had saved her. James knew once Patrick and Sean were questioned, the truth would out, but if he could have a little more time with Phil before he was torn from her forever, he would take it.
Finally, Sean and Patrick were led away, and James and the magistrate, who had been called in, escorted Phil home. The duchess was half out of her mind with worry, though she had obviously calmed herself when she’d received word her daughter had been found and was unhurt.
Still, as soon as Phil and James walked into the foyer of Mayne House, she cried out and rushed to embrace her daughter. Phil hugged her back, and James looked down, trying to give mother and daughter a moment of privacy.
The magistrate cleared his throat. “I’d like to have a word with you, Your Grace, if I may. Some details of Lady Philomena’s account are a bit unclear, which is perfectly understandable. Perhaps we could speak in private.”
Phil disengaged herself from her mother and faced the magistrate. “I’m afraid you’ll have to return tomorrow. My family has been through an ordeal, and we cannot possibly be expected to answer questions today.”
“But my lady—”
“We will speak with you tomorrow. Banks?” The ever-present butler stepped forward. “Please see the magistrate out. Let him know when he may call tomorrow.”
The speechless magistrate followed the butler, and Phil turned back to her mother. “Mama, I think we had better talk.” She glanced at James. “In private.” She indicated a chair, one that a visitor to Mayne House might use. “Will you sit there and wait for us, please?”