Chloe knew the moment she and Gabriel arrived that all was not right with her household.
There was no butler there to open the door.
Chloe lifted her gaze up at the townhouse she wanted to forever call home with Leo. The heavy cloud coverage briefly parted, the moon’s white glow painting eerie shadows upon the structure.
She tried the handle, and it turned easily.
Holding a hand up, a frown affixed to his lips, Gabriel entered ahead of her.
As she joined him in the foyer, the unease in her belly grew. Henry sidled up to her, and she found a reassurance in his nearness. Silence surrounded them. Thick and deafening, the kind that rang in one’s ears and buzzed loudly when all the house slept.
The mastiff’s ears stood up, and he pointed his nose in the direction of Leo’s office.
Danger.
She knew it, the same way she’d known her father’s approach was near and that a beating was imminent. Heart pounding hard in her rib cage, Chloe patted her leg once and rushed forward. Henry matched her movements, neither passing nor falling back.
“Chloe,” her brother whispered.
Glaring him into silence, Chloe continued on with Henry following in perfect step. The carpet muted the heavy fall of his paws and the click of his nails. Carefully dodging the floorboards she’d come to know were loose and staying close to the wall, Chloe didn’t stop until she reached Leo’s office.
Again, nothing but quiet greeted her.
And then she heard voices, low and muffled, by the door.
Her husband’s was one.
Relief brought her eyes briefly closed. He is all right.
That relief was short-lived, dying at the smattering of words that reached through the panel and doused her in terror.
“I’m going to kill you gladly—”
“No,” Gabriel rasped as Chloe reached for the handle and tossed it open. He grabbed her arm but she wrenched free.
It was harder to say who was more surprised, the unfamiliar mustached gentleman gaping at her… or her husband.
“Rowley?” her brother asked incredulously from behind her. He slipped into the room and moved slowly toward Chloe.
“Oh, bloody hell. This is unfortunate,” the stranger muttered, pointing a pistol at Chloe’s chest. Henry growled, baring his teeth. She immediately moved in front of the dog, blocking him from the gun.
Gabriel cursed and moved to put himself between Chloe and that gleaming weapon. “Not another step, Waverly. Your being here is deuced inconvenient. But it is certainly easier to explain that the angry brother did away with you, Tennyson, after you killed his sister.”
Her stomach dropped. She wrenched her gaze away from those merciless eyes and looked to her husband.
Agony contorted his features. “I am so sorry,” he whispered.
“I want to be with you.” Chloe touched quivering fingers to her pounding heart. “I love you.”
Lord Rowley cocked his pistol, still pointing it at Chloe. The sight of the gleaming weapon fixed on her stole stability from her legs. She damned the way they shook under her. She closed her eyes. “Touching,” the gentleman drawled. “But I’ve really had quite—”
“No,” Leo thundered, drowning out the remainder of that death sentence.
Life spun in a whir of noise and confusion as the sharp report of a gun pounded in her ears. Chloe’s entire body recoiled, and she braced for the rush of pain… that did not come. Henry’s furious barking thundered around the office, and her skirts fluttered as he raced out from around her.
Her eyes shot open.
Lord Rowley’s mouth formed a small moue, and he touched the hole ripped in his shirt, before promptly falling over.
The prone gentleman on the floor, his spectacles eschew, lay with his arm outstretched and the unfired gun pointed at the man.
Henry snarled and barked at him.
A moment later, the stranger’s eyes slid closed.
With a scream, Chloe raced over to Leo.
He met her in the middle of the room. Catching her in his arms, Leo pulled her to him. “Why did you return?” he wept into the crown of her hair. All the while, he searched his hands over her body for a wound he didn’t find. “Why?” he pleaded.
Chloe clung to him, gripping him for all she was worth. “My place is with you, Leo,” she managed to cry between her tears. She drew back slightly and looked to her silent, staring, and unharmed brother a moment. And then she returned all her focus to Leo. “And I am not letting you send me away.” She gave his lapels a tug. “Is that clear?”
A shaky smile curved his lips. He cupped her cheek. “That is clear.” Lowering his head, he claimed her mouth in a kiss that promised forever.