Heart of Honor (30 page)

I
t was time for Leif to leave. On the morrow, he would sail from England, back to his island home. Krista’s heart felt frozen inside her chest.

Though she had risen early, she hadn’t seen Leif that morning. At first she had been terrified that he had decided to slip away without saying goodbye. But her father assured her he had only gone down to his ship to see to last minute preparations for departure, and that he meant to return.

It was a workday. Krista needed to keep busy, distract her mind and heart from painful thoughts of Leif. She was working behind her desk when he appeared in the doorway, striding into
Heart to Heart
just after luncheon, tall and blond and incredibly handsome. Her heart lifted at the sight of him.

She rose as he walked toward her, reached out and caught both of her hands.

“I could not stop thinking of you,” he said. His eyes, that brilliant shade of blue, were filled with such sadness a lump rose in her throat.

“I am so very glad you came.”

“I know you have work to do. I thought…I wondered if mayhap…If perhaps there is something I could do to help.” For an instant he had slipped into Norse, which happened only rarely, and she realized he was hurting as badly as she. She wanted to lead him off somewhere so that they could be alone, take him to a place where she could lie in his arms one last time.

But she would soon be married. It wouldn’t be fair to any of them.

She managed a smile. “I imagine I could find something for you to do.”

Leif smiled in return. He wanted to be with her this final day and she wanted more than anything to be with him.

She put him to work sorting and carrying stacks of freshly printed magazines, a job that came easily for a man of his strength. They worked together all day, their eyes constantly seeking and finding each other, speaking the words neither of them dared to say.

She was tired by the end of the day and yet she didn’t want to leave, didn’t want these last few precious hours to end.

One by one, the staff departed, until only Coralee remained.

“I may as well go home, too,” Corrie said, and Krista could read the sympathy in her friend’s green eyes. Corrie turned to Leif. “I am sorry things worked out the way they did, Leif. I will say a prayer for your safe journey home.”

“Thank you,” he said, with a faint inclination of his head.

Corrie left and the building was empty except for the two of them. Krista lingered, desperate for this last bit of time with him.

“There is a book Father needs from upstairs,” she said before he could announce it was time for them to leave. “It is on the desk in his study. I’ll just go up and get it.”

“I will go,” he said. “What is the name of the book?”

“
The Saga of Grettir the Strong,
I believe he said.”

Leif nodded. His gaze held hers for several long moments before he turned and headed up the stairs. He had just disappeared from sight when she heard glass breaking in the door at the rear of the office, then footsteps on the wooden floor in the back room.

A chill went down her spine.
Dear God!
She started to shout for Leif, but the cocking of a pistol, pointed in her direction, froze her where she stood.

“I’d keep my mouth shut if I were you.” The intruder hadn’t bothered donning a mask. Dressed completely in black, Porter Burton looked even more threatening than he had the night she had confronted him at the Stoddards’ ball. She prayed Leif would hear them talking and realize the danger.

“What are you doing here?” she said loudly. “Get out immediately!”

His lips twisted into the ruthless half smile she remembered from their encounter on the terrace. “Did you really think my old man was going to frighten me into doing his bidding?
I
run Consolidated Mining, not my spineless, social-climbing father. Lawrence Burton is nothing but a puppet, a front man. There was a time he was in charge, but the fact is, things have changed. I’m the one running the company now. Without me, Consolidated Mining is nothing, and no one knows it better than he does.”

Krista steeled herself against those cold dark eyes. “If you don’t leave immediately, I’m going to summon the police. I’ll press charges against you—and it won’t just be my friend’s word against yours, it will be my word, as well.”

“Is that so?” He turned slightly, called out over his shoulder, “Reynolds, Higgins, get in here!”

Two men stepped out of the back room. Krista remembered Corrie’s somewhat sketchy description of the other man who had accosted her carriage on her way home from work—a lean man with a scar on his chin. She saw him now as he walked into the room. Leif hadn’t yet returned downstairs, and she prayed that meant he had heard her arguing with Burton, and realized there was trouble.

“Hop to it, boys,” Burton ordered his henchmen. “Let’s get this done and get out of here.”

Krista’s eyes widened as the two men picked up cans of lamp oil they had carried into the room, and began to spill the liquid around the perimeter.

“Stop this at once!”

“I didn’t think you would be here, but I’m glad you are. It saves me a whole lot of trouble.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

Burton smiled, and she fought to control a shiver.

“Terrible about the fire at
Heart to Heart,
” he said with a sad shake of his head. “Too bad the owner got caught in the blaze.”

“You’re insane!”

“Not in the least. I’m a businessman, Miss Hart. Your articles are stirring up trouble with my employees and that is costing me money.”

Krista didn’t know if he was crazy or just ruthless and greedy. Whatever the truth, he meant for her to die, and she wasn’t about to let that happen. Turning, she bolted across the room, but Porter Burton caught her before she could reach the door. He dragged her back toward the rear of the printing room, past the big Stanhope press, and slammed her down in the wooden chair next to Coralee’s desk.

“Reynolds—get some of that twine they use to tie the bundles,” Burton called to the man with the scar and the narrow-set eyes of a predator.

Reynolds disappeared into the back room. Long seconds passed, but the man didn’t reappear.

“See what’s keeping him,” Burton commanded the second man, and he, too, disappeared through the door.

Krista held her breath, praying Leif had gone down the back stairs to lie in wait for the men. But if he had, he might be in danger. A faint, muffled noise drifted into the printing room, then all fell silent again.

The clock ticking on the wall sounded like a bass drum. Krista’s heart pounded nearly as loudly, her nerves strung taut as she perched on the edge of the chair, waiting for a chance to escape.

Burton’s hard eyes swung away from the rear of the building and bored into her. Krista gasped as he jerked her out of the chair and his thick arm tightened around her neck. The cold metal of the pistol barrel pressed against the side of her head.

“I take it your
friend
is here with you,” he said, clearly remembering how Leif had appeared out of the darkness to protect her the night of the ball. “You may as well come out!” he shouted. “If you don’t, I’m going to pull the trigger and your lady friend is going to be very dead.”

“Leif, don’t do it!” she cried.

“Shut up!” Burton tightened his hold around her neck until she was gasping for breath and clawing at his arm in an effort to free herself. Her assailant eased his hold, but only a little.

“It’s your choice, my friend.” He cocked the pistol, and Krista’s heart thundered. She bit back a sob as Leif stepped out of the back room, making himself an easy target for Porter Burton.

“Raise your hands,” Burton commanded, and Leif slowly lifted his arms. “Get over here with your woman.”

But Leif was already moving, his mouth set in a grim, determined line. Krista recognized that expression. It was the same one he had worn the night he had fought Burton’s henchmen, severing one of the men’s fingers with his sword. The expression he had worn on Draugr when the berserkers attacked.

Leif had been in a killing rage that night.

For an instant, she felt sorry for Porter Burton.

“Stop right where you are,” her captor commanded.

Leif stopped, but his hard eyes remained on Burton’s face. “Let her go. Before I have to kill you.”

The man laughed, a deep, grating sound. “I hate to point this out, but I’m the one holding the pistol.”

“Let her go,” Leif repeated, and the words, so quietly spoken, had a deadly ring that seemed to make even a ruthless man like Porter Burton wary.

“What did you do to my men?”

“I didn’t kill them. But I am going to kill you if you do not let her go.”

Burton took a step backward, hauling Krista with him. A wastebasket sat at the edge of the typesetter’s desk, and one of his legs clipped it as he moved past. He stumbled, and Krista saw her chance. Kicking backward with all her strength, she shoved his gun arm upward, pushing the pistol away from her head. At the same instant, Leif swept in like a Valhalla wind, pulling out the knife he carried in his boot so quickly she almost didn’t catch the motion.

Burton fired his pistol at the same instant Leif’s knife buried itself in her captor’s heart.

Krista screamed as the man fell backward away from her and crumpled in a heap on the floor. A pool of blood spread across his chest and his eyes stared sightlessly upward. She was trembling, swaying unsteadily on her feet when she saw Leif striding toward her. He hauled her into his arms, cupped the back of her head and pressed her cheek into his shoulder. Krista clung to him, shaking all over, her eyes filled with tears.

Leif’s hold tightened. “He will trouble you no more. It is over,
honning.
Now you will be safe.”

She swallowed. Sliding her arms around his neck, she simply held on to him. For long moments, they just stood there. Finally, the tremors running through her body began to ease.

Krista took a steadying breath and drew a little away. “What…what about the other two men?”

“They are…resting. Your carriage is parked at the end of the street. I will tie the men up and send the coachman to bring the police.”

She went back into his arms for a last brief hug, then let him go. Porter Burton was dead. There would be questions—lots of them. The Burtons were a powerful, wealthy family. But the lamp oil spread around the office and Burton’s attack on her tonight would make what had happened perfectly clear. And with three men against one, Leif’s actions would be deemed self-defense, which meant he would be exonerated completely.

It was over at last.

Krista’s heart sank.

At last Leif could go home.

It was late when they got back to the town house. A constable had arrived at the office with a half-dozen policemen. They had spent a good deal of time asking questions, as she had known they would. The authorities had to be certain, beyond doubt, of the truth of what had happened at
Heart to Heart.

Krista had sent a message to her father so that he would not worry, but though it was well after midnight when they arrived, he and Thor were waiting when she and Leif walked in.

Her father hurried toward her and Krista went into his arms.

“My dear girl. I am so very sorry. Your grandfather and I had been so certain…” He held her out to look at her. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

“I’m all right, Father.” She clamped down on a shiver and tried not to think of Porter Burton and how close she had come to dying. “Leif was there and…and…It is over, Father. It was Porter Burton all along.”

The professor ran a hand through his graying hair and released a weary breath. “And now he is dead. The wages of sin, I suppose.”

Leif’s brother came forward just then, big and dark, and even in civilized clothing clearly a man to be feared.

“And you, Brother?” Thor asked in Norse, his handsome face lined with worry.

“I am well,” Leif said. “And my friends’ enemies are vanquished.”

“The police cleared Leif of any possible charges,” Krista told them, “since it was obviously self-defense.” She went on to briefly explain that it was Porter Burton who actually ran Consolidated Mining. She told them what he had planned to do that night, and how they had stopped him and his two hired henchmen.

“You were both very brave,” the professor said, squeezing Krista’s hand. He looked over at Leif. “So much has happened. Perhaps you will wish to postpone your journey for a day or two, give yourself a chance to recover from all of this.”

Leif just shook his head. “Now that Krista is safe, it is time for me to leave.” He spoke to Thor. “Are you certain, Brother, that you wish to stay in England?”

“You were right, Leif. There is much to learn in this new world. The professor has been teaching me and soon we will leave for Heart-land, where he has offered to teach me much more.”

Leif gave a faint nod. “Then so be it. Mayhap one day our paths will cross again.”