Page 71 of This Laird of Mine

Agatha laughed. “You first, and this time I won’t give you a chance to harm me.” She pulled Eloise back with her to the banquet table and forced the young girl to pick up a goblet that waited there. Together they moved back toward Jules and Claire. “I’ve prepared a drink especially for you, Jules, dearest.”

To the young girl she said, “Go ahead, give him the goblet.”

Still softly sobbing, Eloise did as commanded.

“You cannot force him to drink that,” Claire said hoarsely.

“Oh yes, I can.” In one swift movement, Agatha shoved Eloise forward into David’s legs, while gripping Claire by the hair and holding the knife to her neck. The sharp blade pressed against Claire’s flesh, causing a trickle of red to appear against her porcelain skin.

Despite the pain she must be feeling, Claire inhaled sharply and said, “Don’t do it, Jules. Do not give her that kind of power over you.”

“What’s in the goblet?” Jules asked.

“My special blend of poison—cyanide made from apricot kernels, mixed with belladonna berries, and, just to make sure it’s quite lethal, a touch of wolfsbane.”

“Who else have you killed with your poison, Agatha?” Jules asked, his voice tight.

Agatha considered Jules, then smiled. “Why not confess? After today I will vanish to a place where no one will find me, so yes, I killed your brother by poisoning his whiskey. I killed your solicitor as well, but with my horse and carriage.” Her eyes narrowed menacingly.

Jules held his shock and his pain in check as he pressed her for more answers. “There is something else I must know.”

She frowned. “You expect me to reveal all my secrets?”

“This one, yes. If I am to go to my grave, then I need to know—was you who paid for my release from gaol?”

She smiled a terrible smile. “Yes, if you must know. I grew weary of waiting for you to die. If no one else would kill you for me, then I would have to do it myself.” Her gaze narrowed on him. “I’d say things worked out much better this way. Now, take a drink and my revenge will be complete.”

He had his answers; now he must do as she demanded. Jules lifted the goblet to his lips.

“Don’t do it,” Claire pleaded, her gaze clinging to Jules’s. “Please, I beg you. Do not let her do this to you.”

“I must drink it, Claire. That’s the only way you will ever be safe.” He smiled into her eyes, forced every sentiment he’d ever felt for her into that last gaze. “I love you.”

“No,” she whispered.

He lifted the goblet and drank.

“Jules!”

His face contorted with agony and the goblet fell from his fingers, crashing to the floor a heartbeat before he did.

Claire screamed. She wasn’t certain exactly what happened next, but she felt Agatha’s arm go slack. The knife slipped from her throat. Claire lunged toward Jules. “He’s dead. You killed him.”

Tears ran down Claire’s cheeks as she lifted Jules’s head and placed it in her lap. Her shoulders shook with silent sobs until David touched her shoulder.

Through her tears, she turned to see David holding Eloise to his chest. “It’s all right, Claire. Eloise is safe. And you might want to see this for yourself,” he said, pointing behind her.

Claire twisted around to see Agatha and her henchman struggling against their own bonds. Two servants held the henchman while a man she recognized as Arthur Cabot held on to Agatha.

“What?” she breathed. “But you are a debt collector!”

“A cover,” he said. “I have been following Agatha and her many lackeys for some time. But I needed your help to get a confession out of her,” Arthur said with a self-satisfied grin. “Today, I got what I needed to put her away for good.”

“But Jules . . .” She looked down at the lifeless body in her arms. “He’s—”

“Alive.” Jules’s voice was strong, vibrant. He opened his eyes and smiled. The most breathtaking, beautiful smile Claire had ever seen.

Her heart burst to overflowing. “You’re not dead!” She brushed the moisture from her cheeks.