Never Less Than A Lady | Herophine

Chapter Thirty Five

Josephine

Ears ringing from the blast, Josephine went flying through the air as Hero caught her in a rolling dive that carried them to the far side of the path, away from the explosion. Debris rained down around them, but she was safe under her husband's shielding body. Except for his blood, which was pouring onto her face. She gasped, "H-Hero?"

In the sudden silence that followed the explosion, Aiden gave a wordless scream. She heard his feet pounding back along the path toward them as she dragged herself out from under her husband's still body.

Hero rolled limply onto his back, eyes closed and blood pouring from a long, jagged laceration on the left side of his head. Blood was so much more shocking against brown hair than dark, she thought dizzily. But he wouldn't bleed like that if he were dead.

Reminding herself that head wounds bled like the very devil, Josephine dug a folded handkerchief from her reticule. Then, hands shaking, she yanked the scarf off her bonnet and used it as a bandage to secure the handkerchief pad over the bleeding wound. As Aiden dropped to his knees beside her, she applied pressure on the pad over the wound, hoping to stop the bleeding.

"Lady Josephine, what happened?" Aiden gasped, his voice frantic. "Is Major Tiffin dead?"

Hero's eyes flickered open. "I'm well...enough. Not dying."

"But you will be." Grinning with satisfaction, Arthur emerged from the woods, a double-barreled shotgun in his hands. "You're quick, Tififn. If you hadn't grabbed your bitch wife and jumped away from the explosion, you'd already be food for buzzards. Now you get to see death coming."

As he spoke, a similarly armed subordinate stepped from the woods at the left, his face like granite. Josephine recognized the burly man as Arthur's most frightening associate when they'd kidnapped her.

Looking at Arthur's mad, hating eyes, she wondered how she could ever have believed he would be satisfied with anything less than her death. Shaking and dizzy, she stumbled to her feet, knowing there was only a faint chance she could save Hero and Aiden, but she must try. "Shoot me and be done with it, Arthur. But leave my husband and the boy alone. They've done you no harm."

"Wrong." Arthur's eyes were hard as agate. "Your precious major killed one of my men and has caused endless irritation. You'd be long since dead if not for him." He gestured at Hero with his shotgun. "And if I leave him alive, he'll come after me."

"You're absolutely right," Hero said in a harsh whisper. Sprawled on his back and stained with blood, he already looked more dead than alive, but his gaze was icy as he watched Arthur. "But you don't want to kill the boy."

"Is he your bastard, Tiffin?" Crockett's eyes flicked to Aiden, who glared back with feral intensity. "I'll enjoy wiping out your bloodline. O' course, maybe you've scattered other bastards around."

He transferred his gaze to Josephine. "You'll die last, your precious ladyship, since you're helpless. I look forward to your screaming as you watch your men die."

"Aiden isn't my bastard, Arthur," Hero said with a twisted smile. "He's Xander's. Would you kill Xander's only child?"

Arthur jerked in shock. "Xander left a son? He never told me!" His voracious gaze latched onto Aiden's face. "My God," he breathed. "You're telling me the truth. Was your mother that blowsy barmaid? Come here, boy. You I'll keep. I'll raise you like my own."

"No!" Aiden spat at Arthur, his eyes bright with tears.

"Do what he says, Aiden." Hero heaved himself up into a sitting position. Taking Aiden's hand, he said quietly, "If you want to be a soldier, you must learn to cut your losses. Arthur and his man are armed and we aren't, so Josephine and I don't have a chance. But we'll die happier if we know you're safe. Do you understand what I'm saying? So go to Arthur. He'll be better to you than Jeb Gault was."