He offered a bitter smile. “How can anything go harder than hanging? No, I’m afraid you will have to kill me, my lord. I would sooner die from a bullet than be executed for treason.”

Brynn gasped, but her brother nodded toward Lucian’s weapon. “Go ahead and fire. I don’t intend to let you arrest me.”

She stepped forward, the lamp she carried sending shadows jumping around the cavern. “No, Lucian, you can’t. I tell you, Grayson didn’t mean to commit treason. He didn’t know what he was doing. He was only trying to pay his debts, to protect his family. Please… Gray, tell him…”

“Brynn, I want you to leave,” Lucian ordered.

“No, I can’t let you shoot him-”

“Brynn,” Grayson said gently, “being shot is a far better way to die. It would spare you the shame of my hanging, as well as keep you safe. If I’m dead, Caliban and his ilk will no longer be a threat to you and Theo.”

Lucian hesitated, feeling a grudging respect for the man he should hold only in contempt. Grayson was prepared to die, that was certain. The shame in his eyes, the misery, the quiet resignation all shouted his resolve.

That hopeless look was all too familiar, Lucian reflected with a grimace. He’d seen that same despair on the face of his friend Giles. The friend he had killed.

Flinching, Lucian steeled himself against the anguishing memory, yet for an instant he was in another time-confronting Giles for his treason, being forced to end his life. For months afterward, Lucian remembered, he’d cursed the unfairness of it. Caliban was to blame for ruining countless men, men who were basically good and honorable. The bastard had ruined Sir Grayson the same way-with threats and extortion-Lucian had no doubt.

His gaze fell to the pistol in his hand. Could he repeat the past? Could he instigate Sir Grayson’s death? It would be tantamount to murder to try to apprehend the man just now, for like Giles, Grayson wouldn’t allow himself to be taken alive.

Brynn must have had the same thought, for she moved between them, tears sparkling in her eyes.

“You can’t kill him, Lucian. Please… please, I beg you…”

“Brynn, stay out of this,” her brother commanded.

She bit back a sob, a despairing sound that tore at Lucian’s heart. Hardening his resolve, he returned his gaze to Grayson. “Where do you have the gold secreted?”

Grayson nodded toward the back of the cave. “Beneath a shallow pool of water. You should take it. There’s no longer any point in my trying to keep possession of it.”

“I presume you’re waiting for your French contact to arrive?”

“Yes. A man named Jack. He was to meet me before the tide fell too low. He should have been here by now.”

“Perhaps he’s having difficulty eluding my patrols,” Lucian remarked. “I have men posted at various intervals along the coast.”

“I suspect he would have seen your patrols, but Jack is quite resourceful. He would have contrived a diversion so he could slip in to fetch the gold.” Grayson looked pointedly at the pistol. “You had best get on with it, so you can take Brynn away from here. Jack has threatened more than once to kill her. Every moment you delay only endangers her.”

Lucian felt a muscle flex in his jaw. “You’re suggesting I shoot you in cold blood?”

“If you would rather not, I can perform the task myself-that is, if you would trust me with a weapon. I give you my word of honor I will see to it.” His mouth twisted in a bitter smile. “My word once meant something. Before this, I was an honorable man.”

Grayson was deadly serious, Lucian knew; he meant to take his own life.

“Or perhaps,” Grayson added, “all you need do is wait. Jack will be more than eager to put a period to my existence when I can’t deliver the gold. You could leave me a weapon. I promise you I would attempt to take him with me.”

“You would be willing to turn on your cohort?”

“More than willing. Jack isn’t my cohort. He’s the bastard who threatened to kill my family…” Grayson’s features contorted in a grimace. “Why do you think I gave in to their demands? Nothing else could have induced me to commit treason. But I doubt you could understand such weakness, Wycliff. You have never cared for anyone as much as your honor. You would have been stronger, had you found yourself in my place.”

Would I have been stronger? Lucian wondered to himself. I would have fought back, certainly. I would have mobilized all the private resources at my disposal, all the government forces at my command. But Grayson had few resources and fewer government contacts. And still there would have been a risk to Brynn…

Lucian shook his head, knowing he was lying to himself. He would have sacrificed his honor for Brynn’s sake. He would have done anything to save her.

Was he really so much better than her brother?

Just then Brynn took another step toward Lucian. She didn’t utter a sound, but the plea in her green eyes was wrenchingly eloquent. She might hate him if he killed her brother.

“Your sister is right,” Lucian said slowly, thinking hard. “There may be another way. For her sake, I might consider making you an offer.”

“An offer?”

Lucian glanced at Brynn. She had pressed a hand to her mouth, as if not daring to hope. “I want Caliban, Sir Grayson. But I would need your help in exposing him.”

The hope that had flared in Grayson’s eyes was quickly extinguished. “I would be more than happy to help, but I’m afraid I would be of no use to you. I’ve never seen Caliban.”

“But you’ve seen his confederates. You know his methods.”

“That won’t solve my dilemma-the threat to my family. I would rather die than see my sister or my brothers harmed. You can’t protect them from Caliban, my lord. At least if I’m dead, my family will be safe.”

“Your death could be arranged…” Lucian replied, his mind working furiously.

“No!” Brynn exclaimed in horror.

Lucian turned his attention to her, prepared to offer an explanation, but he caught the faint scrape of boot soles on rock. His glance flew at once to the far end of the cavern.

A figure moved out of the shadows into the open- a man dressed in black, holding two pistols cocked and aimed. One was directed at Grayson, the other at Brynn.

“You severely disappoint me, Sir Grayson,” the newcomer declared with the barest trace of a French accent. “I thought we had a bargain.”

Grayson’s features took on a sneer. “Jack. I have no compunction about reneging on a bargain with the likes of you.”

“Jacques, please. Jack is so… English.” The Frenchman turned to Lucian. “Lord Wycliff.” The softly spoken name held a wealth of satisfaction.

“Do I know you?” Lucian remarked, cursing himself for his inexcusable negligence in allowing the Frenchman to slip in undetected.

“No, but I know you.” The cold, black eyes moved over him. “Lord Caliban has recently put a large price on your head. You have proved to be too painful a thorn in his side.”

“Obviously not painful enough.” Lucian flashed a cynical smile. “So your spineless employer is in the business of assassination as well as treason?”

“Lord Caliban is hardly spineless.”

“Yet he sends his lackeys to do his vile work.”

“I intend to kill you and collect the reward, if that is what you mean. And claim the gold as well.” Jack waved one of his pistols at Brynn. “Is this your lovely lady?”

Mentally Lucian voiced a violent oath, his mind searching frantically as he tried to conceal his desperation. He wouldn’t survive this encounter, he suspected, but he could perhaps bargain for Brynn’s safety.

He was clearly at a disadvantage, though. He and Jack had their pistols trained on each other, but Brynn stood closer to the Frenchman, partially in the way. If he moved too quickly, Lucian knew, he risked her being shot. And Jack was growing impatient.

“You will oblige me by putting down your weapon,” the Frenchman ordered.

Keeping his features a cool mask, Lucian shook his head. “And relinquish my only asset? No, monsieur, I prefer the current odds. With your two pistols to my one, you cannot hit all three of us.”

“But I can certainly shoot Lady Wycliff. She will be the first, and then I will take great pleasure in dispatching you.”

“Let her go, and I will consider disarming.”

Lucian stepped forward slowly, making himself a bigger target, but the Frenchman barked out a sharp command. “That is far enough!”

Halting, Lucian balanced on the balls of his feet, preparing to spring and pull Brynn behind him.

“I told you to put down your pistol,” Jack repeated.

“Let my wife go free, and I will.”

Jack’s mouth curled in a sneer. “Do you think me a fool?”

Lucian started to reply when, from the corner of his eye, he saw Grayson stooping, evidently intent on picking up his discarded weapon.

Smoothly, with scarcely a blink, Jack shifted his focus and fired one pistol directly at Grayson, who abruptly clutched his side in pain. The explosion reverberated with a hollow ring all around the cave, mingling with Brynn’s scream of horror as Grayson crumpled to the ground. Lucian’s heart jolted in his chest.

Everything afterward seemed to move with infinite slowness… The Frenchman swerved his aim back to Lucian and got off a second shot just as Brynn lunged at the traitor.

Lucian’s heart ceased beating entirely as she leapt into the path of the bullet, shielding him with her own body while throwing her lamp at the Frenchman with all her might. The lamp shattered in midair a scarce instant before she pitched face-forward on the ground, whether from tripping or being shot, Lucian couldn’t tell.