Marcus forced himself to hold Thomson's gaze, even as he wanted nothing more than to rush to Rain's side and take her in his arms. But when he'd seen the pistol in the other man's hand, he'd known he had to tread carefully to keep her safe. Seeing her wince in pain as Thomson pulled her close nearly broke him. The man would pay for anything he did to her. Tenfold.

"Why did you do it?" he asked, trying to keep Thomson's attention even as he could hear Hemsworth and Osborne coming closer.

The other man had noticed too. "Stay back," he snarled. "You don't want me to put a bullet in this pretty head, do you?"

Marcus held a hand up and the sound of feet moving on the gravel path stopped.

A smirk appeared on Thomson's face. "I didn't think so."

"Why would you betray your country?" Marcus asked again. "You served in the War Office for years."

"I saw an opportunity, and I took it." Thomson lifted one shoulder in a shrug, and with a sneer, he added, "Maybe if I had been born with a silver spoon in my mouth like some others, I would not have felt the need to."

"What of Mr Brown?" Osborne asked from behind Marcus. "Was he in on it?"

"Brown was a deviant." Thomson spat on the ground. "I found out about that place he used to visit. What type of people went there. And I used the information to make him help me get that list. Then he got cold feet and ruined the whole thing!"

"He changed his mind."

"Yes. He was the one with the list and was meant to meet the Frenchman to give it to him. I gave Fontaine the address of the inn he stayed at, but when they got there, he refused to give it to them. They killed him for it and then came to me for it. But I don't have it and with Brown gone, I have no access to those files."

"So the list is gone." With his wife in this man's grip, Marcus wasn't as relieved as he would have been, but it was something.

"Yes. He must have burned it. Told me he would, but I didn't think he'd have the balls. He ruined my life by doing that." Thomson made a face, then chuckled darkly. "Although, I suppose I should thank you. With Fontaine now behind bars, he will no longer come for me."

"There is one thing I don't understand," Marcus said, trying to take a step closer, but Thomson immediately secured his hand holding the pistol, and Marcus froze. Flexing his hands in frustration, he threw a quick look at Rain. She stood silently, listening to the conversation, making no move to antagonise her captor. The best approach, for sure.

"What's that?" Thomson prompted when Marcus hesitated.

"Why did you attack my wife?" he asked, his voice tight. "I assume you are the one who blackmailed our maid and attacked her outside the Leigthon's?"

It baffled him. There was no clear connection between the two. Thomson didn't move in the same social circles as they did, so they could hardly have offended him. Having worked with Marcus in the past, Thomson would not have been surprised to find his name on that list and want to seek revenge for something he had been involved in. It made no sense.

A shrill laugh that sent cold fear through Marcus escaped from the other man. "So you figured it out," he said, his tone mocking. "Yes. I was the one. The possibility of the list being public gave me the perfect excuse to do something I have wanted to do my whole life."

Marcus frowned. "Pardon? We haven't known each other that long."

"Not in person, no." Something about the frenetic energy around Thomson seemed off, and Marcus didn't like it. It was as if he had thrown off any guise of civility, of politeness, and was only now showing his true self. "But I've known about you for as long as I can remember. The rightful heir."

The contempt at those last few words hung heavily between them. A terrible understanding hit Marcus.

Thomson grinned mockingly. "Yes. Exactly what you're thinking."

"You're one of my father's bastards," he said coldly. His father had been a drunk and a philanderer. There had never been any recognised bastards, but Marcus had always suspected that there might be some. He had never trusted his father to be careful about these things, considering how he had mismanaged everything else in his life.

"The first," Thomson said. "I was born first. Before you. All of this"—he waved his pistol around, making Marcus's heart stutter as it swept close to Rain's temple—"All of this could have been mine! If only the former duke had married my mother and not yours."

Marcus wanted to charge him, wanted him away from Rain, but it was too dangerous when he had the pistol aimed at her. The distance between them was too great and there was no chance of Marcus reaching them before the other man could pull the trigger.

Pulling Rain closer still, Thomson buried his nose in the hair at her temple, next to the barrel of his pistol. "She, too, could have been mine," he muttered, and Marcus wanted to wring his neck for daring to touch her. Rain's nose wrinkled in disgust, but she still didn't move. Risked nothing. For that, Marcus was forever grateful. He could not allow anything to happen to her. Not now. Not ever.

"But our father didn't marry your mother. He married mine." It was dangerous to antagonise the other man, but he had noticed Hemsworth and Osborne inching ever so slowly closer and wanted to keep his attention.

"Mine wasn't good enough," Thomson spat. "Good enough to bed, but not good enough to wed. She was from a respectable family, my mum. When they found out she was with child, they threw her out. The old duke did nothing to help her and left her on her own to take care of me. So much for the supposed superiority of our peers. Right garbage you are, the lot of you."

"Where my father is concerned, I can only agree," Marcus said, earning a raised eyebrow from Thomson. "He was not a good man. I am sorry that happened to your mother, but I'm not sure what you are hoping to accomplish here."

"You have everything that should have been mine. I want to take it all from you." Thomson's grip on Rain tightened. "Starting with your beautiful wife. And you will be next."

Dread filled his guts, but Marcus forged on, hoping to distract the other man enough that he wouldn't notice that Osborne was now on the grassy bit and able to move more quietly. "You do realise that even if you kill me. Even if you kill Dash... You will never be the next duke. As a bastard, you can never inherit. The estate will go to one of my cousins."

"I know," Thomson snarled. "But I will be content making sure you don't have it. Every time I've had to work with you, I've had to suppress my hatred. Bow to your rank. Pretend I care that you're a duke. You're worthless like our father and I spit on the lot of you. I know I can never have what is rightfully mine as the firstborn, but I can damned well make sure you don't have it either, you arrogant sack of shit!"

As his voice raised a notch with every sentence, Thomson's hand holding the pistol wavered, but it still pointed at Rain. "I want you to suffer. You can watch your wife die before your eyes, as I watched my mother wither before mine from working herself to the bone to support us. All because the Duke of Winterbourne couldn't take his bloody responsibility as any honourable man would!"

"I am not my father," Marcus growled. "He was a poor excuse for a parent and a despicable human being. I would never do what he did. If you want to punish me, then punish me. Leave Rain out of this. She's done nothing to you."

With a salacious smile, Thomson stroked Rain's temple with the pistol's muzzle, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. His eyes met Marcus's and there was a glint in them that made Marcus's blood run cold.

"Do you think she'd have married me if I were the duke?" he asked. "I imagine that title makes all the ladies swoon at your sight. Nothing else would do it. I've spent enough time with you to know you have the personality of a rock. Miserable son of a bitch."

Rain tilted her head to stare her captor in the face. "I would never have married you," she said icily. "You could be the King of England, and I'd never have touched you."

Thomson's eyes widened, and he lifted the pistol to strike her. Without thinking, Marcus stepped closer, instinctively wanting to protect her. Before he could move further, Rain swung around in Thomson's grip and kneed him in the groin, taking advantage of the pistol not being pointed straight at her for a moment. As the man doubled over with a groan, she dashed away while Marcus, Osborne and Hemsworth all lunged for the hand holding the pistol.

A shot went off a moment before the pistol fell to the ground.

Silence fell over the garden as they all froze, staring at each other. Trying to decide who had been shot.

"Marcus!" Rain's shrill scream roused him from the shock and he looked down to see blood seeping through the fabric of his dark grey breeches on the thigh. Well, hell.

"It should have been your bloody head," Thomson snapped where he stood held between Osborne and Hemsworth.

Marcus would have punched him then. Desperately wanted to for what he had put Rain through, but before he could, his wife swooped in and levelled a right hook that snapped the other man's head back and quite possibly broke his nose.

She cursed under her breath as she waved her hand in the air from the pain of punching someone. "You are a terrible man," she snapped at Thomson. "We all have our burdens to bear from things that happened in our past. Yes, yours might be worse than many, but that does not give you the right to behave abominably to everyone around you. No matter what you might say or what you might think, Marcus is a good man."

Love washed over him as he watched his wife cuss someone out on his behalf. She was magnificent in every way. He took the steps separating them and took the hand she was still absent-mindedly waving in his hands. The touch finally made her stop glaring at Thomson, and she turned around to face him. He brought her hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss on her knuckles.

"Does it hurt?" he asked.

She shook her head, then nodded. "A little," she admitted. Her eyes widened. "Oh! Your leg!"

Pulling her hand back, she bent down to inspect his leg, her hands running lightly along his thigh. Even with the slight pain, he had to suck in a breath as her touch instantly sparked something within him. She looked up at him through dark eyelashes. "Does it hurt a lot? We need to call the doctor."

"It's not too bad," he muttered. "It only grazed the outside of my thigh. I doubt we even need the doctor."

He took her hands and pulled her back up before she could embarrass him in front of the other men. Meeting her eyes, he smiled. "I will be fine," he promised.

"You better be." She threw an accusatory glare over her shoulder towards Thomson. "No thanks to you."

Hemsworth was watching them, the corner of his mouth curling. "We will take Thomson back to London," he said. "The War Office can deal with him now."

"Indeed." Osborne nodded. "I am certain my superiors would love to have a chat with him about that list and what he brought Brown into."

As they led him away, Thomson spat on the ground again, his eyebrows furrowed in anger as he stared at Marcus. "Have a nice life," he sneered. "Remember, she's only with you because you're a damn duke."

"I hope you rot in hell," Marcus growled, then added sarcastically, "Brother."

Thomson's eyes widened, and he said nothing further as the two men dragged him off. Which was just as well. Marcus didn't want to think about him for another moment. The danger was finally over. Rain was safe and there was no risk of Marcus's status as a former War Office employee coming to light.

A light touch on his arm brought his attention back to his wife. "Let's get you inside," she said softly. "You should probably sit down and we need to bind that wound."

He nodded, suddenly tongue-tied in the avalanche of emotions he wanted to confess, but didn't quite know how to start. Having seen a pistol pointed at her had been one of the worst things he'd ever experienced, and now that it was over, he suddenly felt weak, as if all his strength had left him. Like a meek beast, he allowed her to lead him inside and to the bedroom she used. He should probably propose that they share the master bedroom from now on.

Still oddly numb, he watched her unbuckle his breeches and pull them down to his knees before she pushed him down on a chair so she could examine him properly. Using a bowl of water and cloth set out for her evening routine, she cleaned the blood off his leg, and as he had suspected, it was barely a flesh wound. Probably didn't even need to be stitched. It had even stopped bleeding by the time they made it to her room. She still used some clean cotton dressings to bandage his thigh.

"There," she said as she finished and looked up at him with a smile.

He loved that smile. He loved her. He opened his mouth to tell her, but nothing came out. The image of Thomson stroking her temple with the pistol flashed before his eyes and he drew a deep breath. At the time, he had been so focused on what had been going on, he'd not been able to process entirely how dangerous it had been. As they sat in her room—safe and sound—all the possibilities of what could have gone wrong paraded through his mind, each worse than the other.

Rain's brows knotted, and she touched his chin with tender fingers. "Marcus? Are you all right?"

"I... You..." He swallowed. Reaching out, he grabbed her and pulled her into his lap, where he held her close and buried his face in the crook of her neck. Inhaling, the comforting scent of violets filled his lungs and helped pull him back from the rampaging thoughts.

Her arms circled his shoulders and her fingers buried in the hair at the back of his head. A soft kiss against his temple made him finally raise his head to meet her gaze. A soft smile played on her lips.

"My apologies," he mumbled. "I... Seeing him threaten you... It terrified me. I'm so grateful he didn't... That you didn't—"

He took a deep breath as the words stalled. Needing the closeness, his lips found hers and he kissed her with all the pent-up emotions he struggled to put into words. Desperation spurred him on as he deepened the kiss, his hands holding her close, not wanting to let go. He never wanted to let go.

When she pulled back slightly, he groaned and tried to pull her mouth back down for another kiss, but she resisted. "What of your leg?" she asked, her voice breathless.

"It's fine. I don't care about the pain. I just want to feel you."

She let out a gasp as he shifted her so her legs straddled him. He needed this. He needed her. Needed to feel her close. With him. Always.

Dipping his head to the bare expanse of her chest above the neckline of her dress, he dragged his lips across her soft skin. "Never leave me," he mumbled against her.

"I already said I won't," she reminded him gently, her tone amused.

He buried his fingers in her hair and pulled her in for another kiss. Pausing, he waited, their faces so close their noses almost touched. The warmth in her gaze banished the shadows of his past and gave way to the possibility of a better future. He loved her. Nothing else mattered.

"Rain..." He swallowed and his hand in her hair flexed. "I... I..."

When he hesitated, she cupped his cheek and smiled. "You don't need to say it, Marcus. I know how much damage your father did to you... How hard it is for you to express certain things."

His brow knotted. "I don't want my father to ruin my future the way he did my childhood." Lifting his hands, he cupped her face and met her gaze. "I love you, Rain. I think I have loved you since the moment I first met you and heard you laugh. Your presence makes my life infinitely better, and I never want to be without you again."

Her eyes watered. "Oh, Marcus." She sniffed. "I love you too. Every stubborn, aggravating inch of you."

"There are quite a lot of those," he said with a grin.

She giggled. "Quite."

Leaning down, he captured her lips in a passionate kiss. He couldn't remember ever having been this happy. This content. He loved his wife, and his wife loved him. Whatever mistakes they had made in the past, whatever darkness had left a stain on his soul, it was all dispelled by the brilliance of Rain's smile. Of their love. And he could not wait to continue their life together. Forever.

~ THE END ~

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Don't forget the Epilogue ;)