Free Silent Revenge by Laura Landon Page A

sure he can help you.”
    Jessica shook her head. “I’m afraid even His Grace’s powerful connections cannot save me. Here,” she said, seeing the disbelief on their faces. She reached into her reticule and handed Collingsworth the paper Ira had given her—the same paper the Earl of Northcote had crumpled and thrown to the floor. “This is what I will be worth on my twenty-fifth birthday. My father left all of this to me.”
    Collingsworth smoothed the sheet, then scanned the figures, halting at the bottom of the page. “Bloody hell,” he whispered.
    He lifted his gaze from the paper to her face, then back again. The look in his eyes was an open book. There was no misunderstanding his thoughts. He knew the danger she faced as well as she did.
    She sat back, pale and exhausted. “My birthday is Friday.”
    The duke stood. “Oh, Jessica…” The frown on his forehead deepened as he looked back at the figure at the bottom of the page.
    “There’s nothing anyone can do,” Jessica said, trying to calm the fears screaming deep inside her. “Colin will never give up until he has control of the money. He intends to put me in an asylum. Ira found out he’s already started the proceedings.”
    Melinda’s grip tightened on her fingers, and Jessica turned her head, unable to look at either of them. “I must leave,” she repeated. “It’s the only way. Even you cannot guarantee that the courts will not grant my stepbrother control over me. He is family, after all, the obvious choice to control Father’s wealth.”
    No one spoke. Finally, the Duke of Collingsworth touched her arm again.
    “Perhaps there is another way,” His Grace said. “Perhaps if you were to marry—”
    Jessica emitted a small, choked laugh. “No. I have already exhausted that possibility.” She saw the question in their eyes, but could not admit to them that even a man who was desperate for a dowry and about to lose all had refused her.
    Melinda squeezed Jessica’s fingers as she often did to indicate she needed Jessica to look at her.
    “But—” she started, then stopped.
    Her rounded mouth opened in surprise, and Collingsworth rose to his feet. He assumed a warrior’s stance as he faced the door, as if he thought he might need to protect them.
    Melinda’s expression of concern deepened. Whatever disturbed them was cause for alarm. Times like this made her hate her deafness even more.
    “What is it?” Jessica clutched Mel’s hands. “Has something happened?”
    Jessica’s heart pounded in her throat. Something was wrong, she could see it on both of their faces. Feel the danger surround her.
    “Someone is here,” Melinda said as her husband took one step toward the door.
    The Earl of Northcote burst through the doorway with a very flustered doorman on his heels. Jessica couldn’t catch all the servant’s words, but she knew he was apologizing profusely for allowing the uninvited guest to invade their portals.
    “What the hell have you done, Collingsworth?” Northcote bellowed as he entered the room. He came to an abrupt halt when he spied Jessica.
    She couldn’t breathe. Her heart slammed against her ribs and then raced with the speed of a runaway horse and carriage.
    The hooded scowl on his face deepened, and his piercing glare shot angry daggers meant to do harm.
    From his look, Jessica could tell he’d spent as restless a night as she. In fact, she wasn’t quite sure it had not been worse. His disheveled appearance made him look more like a pirate on the open seas than a member of London’s elite. From the scorching look in his bloodshot eyes, Jessica was thankful there wasn’t a sword hanging at his side. She did not doubt he was angry enough to use it. Nor did she question on whom.
    The two-day growth on his face and the errant lock of dark hair that curled on his forehead gave him a foreboding look. His white lawn shirt gaped open at the neck, showing that same triangle of golden-brown skin that had drawn her