Dominic (36 page)

Eventually beco
m
ing impatient
w
ith t
h
e
s
ituation, Thornton threw his hand down on
t
he table. “
L
et us have done with the cards,” he slurred. “
W
hat say you we bring an end to this and use the dice to settle the
m
att
er
?
All on the l
a
st t
h
r
o
w?
All to the
vict
or
?”

“A
m
ore
than
excellent
idea,”
agreed
Vale.
“Let
us have the issue settled, but s
e
nd for fresh dice, I don’t trust any that you should have in your keeping.”

A
pair
of
fresh
dice
was
brought
from below,
both checking
their
validity
before agre
e
ing
to
the
fi
nal
throw. “Call a
m
ain,” com
m
anded Vale.

“Seven,” responded Thornton, shaking the dice in their box
before
casting
them onto
the
table
where
they
settled into five and
ace.

“Cinque-ace,
” announced his lordship taking up the
box and replacing the dice in its interior before he too shook
them vigorously
and
cast
them
once
m
o
r
e
on
to
the table.
“Quatre-trois.
I b
e
lieve
that
brings
about
a conclu
s
i
on to the e
v
ening’s acti
v
ities,” he
s
t
ated col
d
ly, turning to face Thornton.

“Devil take you, Vale,” snarled Thornton, throwing hi
m
self into his chair.

“He undoubtedly will,” responded his lordship harshly, “but at least now I have secured your sister and brother. I place now before you a paper w
h
ich you will sign, it relinquishes
your guardianship.” He replaced the paper as Thornton would have pushed it away. “Do not be so foolhardy
as
to
refuse
to
sign;
I
am not
so far
i
n
t
o
my
cups as to render
m
e unable to issue you a beating. Sign!”

Sullenly, Thornton called for quill and ink from
the landlord, and the two waited in
s
ilen
c
e
for
its
a
rri
v
al, neither wishing to converse with the other. It took so
m
e while for the required ite
m
s to be found and Vale was i
m
patient to be away so that when t
h
ey eventually arri
v
ed, he
waited
o
nly
f
or
t
h
e
signing
of
the
docu
m
ent
and
then
,
pocketing it
,
turned on his
heel
.

Thornton
watched
his going beneath lowered brows, until as his lordship pulled wide the door, he snatched up one of the
e
m
pty bottles from the
table
and
lunged
forward,
bringing
it
viciously down across the back of Vale’s head, sending him sprawling i
n
to the cor
r
i
d
or. As his lordship
f
ell
h
eavily to the
floor
the
pistol
spilled
from
his
pocket
but
was
taken up
immediately
by
a
s
m
all
fury
who
had
been
sitting
in the
shadows
waiting
f
or
him
f
or
what
see
m
ed
an
et
e
rnity. Thornton fell back in amaze
m
ent as with pist
o
l before her Sophie
pressed
him back
into
the
roo
m
,
an
unbelievable hatred on
he
r face.

For
a
m
o
ment
he
did
not recognize
his
assailant
and wiped his sleeve across his
m
i
sted eyes. “How
i
n God’s na
m
e did you get here
?
” he cried as recognition ca
m
e.

Ignoring
his
question
Sophie
ca
m
e
forward
to
stand
only
a
short
distance
from
him
.
“
If
you
have
killed
Do
m
inic
I
will
k
ill
y
o
u,”
she
cri
e
d,
her
v
o
ice
brea
k
ing with e
m
otion.

“Kill
m
e
?
—with that
p
opgun
?
” he sneered, and then wheedled,
“Co
m
e
now,
Sophie,
give
it
to
m
e
and
let’s have
done
with
this
nonsense.
You
do
not
wish
to
kill your brother.”

“I
do!
I
certainly
do!
At
this
m
o
m
ent
it
is
the
thing
I
most
wish to do.”

“Have done with this stupidity, you don’t even know how to fire a gun.”

“That
is
w
here
you
are
quite
m
i
staken,
Raymond.
I
know very well.”

Disbelieving, he advanced slowly toward her, hand outst
r
etc
h
e
d
. “Give it to
m
e
,” he commanded,
“
before you do any harm.”

“I warn you,
co
m
e any closer and I
w
ill fire.”

Thornton eyed her uncertainly but the drink
m
ade him reckless
and
he
lunged
forward
and
in
that
instant
the pistol spoke, the noise of its report going unnoticed in the cla
m
or that issued from
below.

Vale
raised
hi
m
self
on
his
elbow just in ti
m
e to s
e
e Thornton slu
m
p to the floor clutching his shoulder and swearing profusely, before finally losing consciousness.

Still
dazed
from the
blo
w
,
he
found
it
difficult
to co
m
prehend the scene until Sophie, tears
s
t
reaming down her
cheeks,
ca
m
e
quickly
to
h
i
s side
and
placing
her
arm about his waist, assisted him
to rise.

“By all the saints, you spitf
i
re,” he said gently, as holding
her
to
him he
rested
t
h
e
pistol
from her
grasp
and sa
f
ely
poc
k
eted
it.
Ret
a
ining
h
e
r
within
the
c
i
r
cle
of
his
ar
m
,
he
led
her
from
the
room
and
closed
the
door securely behind the
m
.

“I have shot my brother,” she cried.

“Aye, so you have, Jack, but not
m
o
rtally,”
he
assured. “
Unfortunately he will live, but unless I am much
m
i
staken he will bear witness of your wrath for t
h
e re
s
t
of his
days.
Now
I
m
ust
have
you
away
from here,
‘tis
no fitting
place
for you and
then
you can
tell
m
e
how you ca
m
e here, how you knew where to find us.”

As
she
rai
s
ed
fearful
eyes
to
his
face
he
br
us
hed
her hair
from her
brow.
“Have
no
fear,
m
y
little
one,
he survives yet. Let us go before he regains consciousness.”

Chapter
Eleven

“I
m
ust
get
you
back
to
Blake
House
im
m
ediately,” said
Vale,
hastily
p
ushing
S
ophie
into
a
shabby conveyance
and ordering the driver to the better
part of town. “The servants will be stirring shortly and it would not do that you should be found out.”