Free The Rogue's Surrender (The Nelson's Tea Series Book 3) by Katherine Bone Page A

husband made sure Delgado got his just rewards when they delivered my ransom.” He chuckled, remembering Adele had gone so far as to capture a navy frigate and imprison Henry to do it. “There is nothing left to avenge.”
    Suspicion lined her face. “And yet, you stole my brother’s ship.”
    “ My ship.”
    “Very well. I concede. But why would you attempt something so foolhardy?”
    “Foolhardy.” Where was she going with this? Couldn’t she do something else with that insulting tongue of hers? “You know I wasn’t in San Sebastian to smuggle goods back to England. My arrest and the murder of Delgado’s mistress were not accidental, I assure you.”
    Tears welled in her eyes. “ Dios mio! ” She chewed her lower lip. “Poor, Esmeralda. When I think of what happened to her—”
    “Yes.” His mouth twisted cruelly, tugging at the unforgiving skin on his face, a permanent reminder that Delgado had slit Esmeralda Vega’s throat before his very eyes. That “merciful” act had only come after he’d given her several unjustifiable wounds in other critical places.
    Will I ever stop reliving that moment? Stop hearing Esmeralda’s screams? Stop hating myself for being unable to save her life?
    Garrick cleared his throat and motioned for Mercy to sit in a chair near his desk. Once she was seated, he moved as far away from her as he could get, placing his hands behind his back.
    “Your father and I made an agreement.”
    “What agreement?” Her eyes widened. “When did this happen?”
    He loosened his shoulders to release some of the tension coiling through him.
    “ Don Vasquez has always been a great benefit to my family, as of course, you know. You are privy to your father’s business dealings, are you not?”
    “I am.”
    “Ah! Then you should know his aid will only become more crucial as we escape the bay. Lives — your life and that of your brother’s — depend on it. In fact, he guaranteed you’d be on board the Priory when I came to retrieve her.”
    “ Papá sent you?” She touched her lips, suddenly overcome with emotion. “Then that must mean—”
    “Yes.”
    Understanding swept over her face. “But… the vicar.”
    Garrick’s interest sparked at the mere mention of Reverend Albert Holt, the traitor who’d nearly succeeded in murdering Simon.
    “I was supposed to meet him at Castillo Urdiales .” She rose suddenly and rushed to the windows. “This cannot be happening. If I am late...”
    Garrick couldn’t stop the mocking laughter exploding from his chest.
    “What do you find so amusing?”
    “I am laughing at fate and the ironies of life, señorita .”
    “I fail to understand, señor . I have been dealing with Mr. Holt for nigh onto four years.”
    Holt.
    Bile rose in his throat. Some betrayals left undetectable scars. Her allegiance to Holt was admirable, almost pathetic. Holt had wanted Mercy dead badly enough to hire assassins to kill her in order to save his own hide. Garrick inhaled a deep sigh. Thankfully, the vicar was no longer a hindrance to Nelson’s Tea or to this ill-advised woman who’d blatantly put her life in a traitor’s hands.
    There was no way to break the news gently. “Holt planned to kill you.”
    Her shock was palpable. “Kill me?”
    “He is a traitor. Or he was.”
    “Was a traitor? I fail to understand. Mr. Holt has taken vows to serve—”
    “Himself.” What didn’t she understand was the devil in vicar’s robes was a gambler recruited by greedy men. “He sold you out.”
    Mercy placed a trembling hand over her heart. She wrapped her arms about her and then paced.
    “If what you say is true then my arrival at St. Mary’s would have been—”
    “—the last thing you ever did.” The words had barely come out of his mouth when she stared at him blankly, staggered, then swayed.
    Garrick bolted forward, catching Mercy just as she collapsed in his arms. He lifted her and held her close to his chest for a few powerless, indecisive