The Final Storm

25. Down into the Depths

As an Ambrose, Adaira was very clear about one truth: actions speak louder than words.

This man loved her.

Loved her with all his heart.

And...I love him, too, she realised, a tear appearing at the corner of one eye. Love him just as much. I'm never going to let go.

That was when she heard the cracking of knuckles.

Err...except maybe right now, before my brother breaks my soon-to-be husband's skull and punches him through the nearest wall.

As if by some reluctant, silent agreement, the two lovers pulled apart and remained like that for a moment, gazing into each other's eyes, unwilling to let go. Finally, Captain Carter looked around and spotted his soon-to-be brother-in-law.

"Oh. You're still here?"

Adaira saw a muscle in her brother's cheek twitch. The glare he sent the two of them was as close to homicidal as it could get without a conviction for multiple murders.

"What," he demanded in a voice so icy it could freeze a polar bear, "is this?"

"Um...this?" Clearing her throat, Adaira quickly straightened. "This is James. You know, that James?" She put on a bright smile. "We're planning to marry!"

"That is not what I meant! I want to know why you are cavorting with a man in a closet!"

"That's not true!" Defiantly, Adaira raised her chin. "It's not a closet. This is a secret store room!"

Once again, Adaira noticed a muscle in her brother's cheek twitch. Then he moved. Grabbing hold of Captain Carter's hand that still rested on Adaira's waist, he wrenched it away, dragged the poor man out of the closet and hurled him head-first into an empty barrel in the corner.

Thud!

"Well," came the slightly muffled voice of the captain from the barrel, "that is certainly an innovative handshake."

"Now listen here, Rick!" Hands on hips, Adaira advanced on her brother. "You can't just—"

"Silence."

Instantly, her mouth clamped shut.

Blast! Why did I do that?

Probably his fault for being her big brother. Darn old habits that die hard!

"Now, you listen." Stepping towards her, her brother pinned her in place with a stare that made her feel like a five-year-old. "What on earth were you thinking? A young, inexperienced woman, in such a compromising situation with an unprincipled piece of scum—"

"Thank you very much for the compliment," came a familiar voice from the nearby barrel.

"—completely unacceptable! Do you have any idea what kind of danger you were in? Men are vile, greedy beasts! I should know, I am one! Did he touch you? Did he do anything you didn't want him to?"

"Um...." Adaira felt her face flush. Dang it!

"That means," Lilly helpfully translated her facial expression, "that yes, he touched her, but not in a way she didn't want him to."

Adaira decided that, after they got back to Britain, she would find a dirty horse trough at the first opportunity. As a kind sister-in-law, she should help Lilly take a relaxing bath, shouldn't she?

"Indeed?" After glancing at his wife, her brother turned his gaze back towards her. It was growing colder by the second. "Young lady...I think we need to have a talk."