Hearts Beguiled (42 page)

"I will give you whatever you want, anything. Only let my son go."

"Anything?"

"Yes, yes. Anything."

Louvois turned and looked full into Max's face. "Then you will give me his life."

"No!" Gabrielle cried. "You can't—"

"Not me, you. You will shoot him dead yourself, with that pistol. Before I count to five. If you don't, the boy dies by my knife. It's your choice, Gabrielle. Your man's life, or your son's. You, my dear, will do the killing, and then I will let you live with it." He laughed again. "That will be my revenge, and I will own you then, Gabrielle. Oh, yes."

Silent tears poured down Gabrielle's face. Slowly she shook her head back and forth. "No, no, no . . ."

"One."

"Do it," Max said softly and to her alone.

"Two."

She turned to him, her love, her life, and her face twisted with anguish. "I can't ..."

Do it, my love. I am not afraid of death, he told her silently, with his eyes, with his heart. I would die for you with no regrets. "Do it. For our son."

"Three."

She raised the pistol and pointed it at his chest. It wavered a moment and was still.

"Four."

"I love you, Max."

"I know, ma mie. "

"Fi—"

She pulled the trigger. The sound of the shot echoed through the trees, and Louvois screamed.

For Dominique had bit down on the web of Louvois's hand, so hard his tiny teeth pierced the skin and flesh clear to the bone. Reflexively Louvois dropped the knife and flung the boy away from him, and Max launched himself through the air.

He hit the ground on a roll, scooping up the knife and coming up on his feet, smacking Louvois in the chest and sending him crashing against the side of the carriage. For a moment nothing happened, and then the heavy lids fell over Max's eyes and his lips tightened into a smile.

Slowly, silently, he slid the knife between Louvois's ribs, hurrying it deep in the thin chest. He held it there, twisting until the blood gushed from the lawyer's mouth and his eyes stared unseeing at the gray sky overhead.

Max stepped back, letting Louvois's body fall to the ground. He walked away, without looking back, over to where Gabrielle knelt on the ground, hugging her son tightly to her chest. He knelt beside them, gathering them both into his arms.

"Papa," Dominique said, squirming out of their embrace. "Maman shot you again."

"No, I didn't," Gabrielle said, sitting back on her heels, laughing and crying at the same time. "I missed."

Max smiled, shaking his head. "Gabrielle ... did you mean to miss?"

"Of course!"

He laughed and turned so that she could see the tear in the arm of his coat, and the slowly seeping stain of blood. "If you're going to continue firing weapons when I'm in the vicinity, ma mie, then I really must teach you how to take proper aim."

"Oh, mon Dieu ..." She fell against him, burying her head in his chest. He hugged her tightly, as if he would never let her go.

They held each other for a long time, and then she raised her head and looked over his shoulder at the heavy black berlin and the body of the man lying beside it, and she shivered.

"Don't be frightened, Maman," Dominique said, wrapping his arms around her waist. "That bad man is dead. Papa gutted him."

Max shifted his shoulders, wanting to shield her from Louvois, even in death. "It's all over," he said.

Turning back within his warm, strong embrace, she laid her palm against his lean cheek, and her lower lip trembled softly. "Oh, my sweet love . . . it's only the beginning."

Maximilien de Saint-Just looked down at her beloved face, and lost his heart, his soul, all over again, to a pair of violet eyes that beckoned, promised, fulfilled. I know everything about you, those eyes said. Everything. But I want you still ...

And I will love you always.