Gunvald shook his head. “I never loved you.” He nodded at Celine, “And I never loved her.”
“You didn’t?” Pithadora gasped. “But everybody loves her.”
Gunvald shook his head. “They admire her. For what she does, for how she does it. For her kindness to her colleagues. For her dedication to those she loves.” He looked pointedly at Edward, and gripped the bow tighter. “She does not pity anyone.”
Pithadora groaned in his arms as the arrow, stopped dead in its flight by Gunvald’s strong hands, had used the bow’s strong backwards momentum to propel itself into Pithadora’s body that had been glued to the bow.
Pithadora rolled her eyes to Celine. “You won’t catch my bastard of a brother.” She laughed, a trickle of blood bubbling from the side of her mouth. “Or find yours and the fortune.”
Celine stood, and crossed to where Gunvald held Pithadora. “Gunvald. Please take your hands away. Edward, come, please help me tend her before she worsens.”
“Too late,” Pithadora cackled, the blood bubbling through her gasps of laughter. She looked at Celine, and then at Edward and blinked. “A curse on you all—”
With one last gasping sigh her rigid body fell, limp across Gunvald’s arms. The large Swede shivered visibly and dropped the body to the floor. “Thank god.”
“Thank you.” Celine said it quietly.
But Gunvald still heard her. He nodded his head. “I meant it. We all mean it. Silver and Roland are back at the carriage waiting for you. We need your instructions.”
CHAPTER 40
Edward pulled Celine to her feet, before twitching his coat around her torn clothes. They left Pithadora’s body in the woods and walked silently back out to the roadside where Gunvald had said the Melinno coach would be. Edward flicked quick glances at Gunvald as they walked. But the man would not look at him. Nor would he look at Celine. He stared straight ahead towards the road.
Suddenly Celine put out a hand. “Wait!”
Edward stopped.
“There are more carriages out there, and horsemen.”
Gunvald swore long and low. “We told no one where we were. We had no time to warn anybody.”
“I’ll go first.” Edward jerked a glance at Gunvald who gave him a considering glance before nodding.
“You will be the quietest. Yes.”
Edward drew in a breath. When would this ever end? Slipping down into the ferns he crawled silently along the ground towards the rutted track.
First he passed the coach where the occupants made no effort to silence their conversation.
“I really hope they come out of the forest in one piece.”
“I can’t believe Pithadora’s perfidy. Fifteen years I’ve known her and not an inkling until a week ago.”
“That Mr. Fiske knew immediately.” Silver’s recognizable voice was glum. “You could see it in the way he talked to her.”
Edward crawled on through the brush. The voices from the coach were not those of people that were worried about being held against their will.
Roland’s unmistakable long legs came up next. He leaned on the opposite side of the coach talking quietly to a taller man.
Roland’s tones were more confident than Edward had ever heard. “I sent you all the information I could, but I couldn’t work out who was working for whom. It seems that none of them knew that Pithadora was using them for her own ends.”
“I didn’t know either. I trusted the Melinno Society, but some things they did were just a little off.”
Edward jerked as Celine gasped behind him. She stood from the bracken, leaves decorating her hair.
“Roland Mayhew! Henry Anglethorpe? You were spying on me all the time!” She marched around the side of the coach. Edward ran after her. Dear god—
“Thank you.” Celine’s voice was quiet but strong as she came to a standstill.
The door to the coach opened. A cane dropped out, and then the bent frame of Lord Granwich labored down the ladder to the ground.
“It is thank you from me too,” he said in a gravelly voice.
Edward stared at the older man, and then back at Celine. There were the eyebrows that he had missed, the nose and the lips. Celine may have had Lydia’s hair, but her familiar face was a reflection of Lord Granwich’s.
“I—err—” Roland stuttered, looking from Celine to Lord Anglethorpe to Lord Granwich. But Celine and Lord Granwich only had eyes for each other.
Edward turned back to face the wild woods. He could disappear back into them again. Return to the castle, and try and put the remaining fire out. Run away.
Or turn back.
Slowly he swiveled on his heel and marched forward out of the undergrowth. His feet put themselves one in front of each other with no thought. Tentatively he touched Celine on the shoulder, feeling Lord Granwich’s assessing eyes on him, cold and hard. She turned to him and smiled. A smile warmer than the red dresses that she wore, more innocent than the Garden of Eden. He slipped an arm around her waist and drew her body towards him. She came, unresisting, nestling into his side.
Edward looked up at Lord Granwich. “May I present Celine, my lord. Celine, your daughter, and the woman that will become Lady Rochester. My wife.”
Lord Granwich’s stare hardened.
“Edward,” Celine’s voice trembled.
The older man clicked forward with his cane, leaning heavily against it. He stared into Edward’s eyes, blinked and then nodded. “Lord Rochester. Welcome home.”
Edward drew in a shuddering breath. Drawing his arm away from Celine’s comforting curves he nodded at Lord Granwich. “Celine—”
“I know, Edward.” She stepped forward and kissed Lord Granwich on the cheek. “That is from Lydia.” She stepped to the right and kissed the frozen lord on the other cheek. “That is from me.”
Lord Granwich’s cane clicked to the floor as he stepped forward and pulled Celine to him, throwing his arms around her, and resting his head on her long hair. “I have a daughter,” he whispered. His eyes glinted in the weak sunlight with tears.
“You have a son too, probably,” Edward said after a moment. “Pithadora said he escaped after Lord Colthaven’s thugs nearly killed him.”
Lord Granwich stepped back, his hand still holding Celine’s hard. “Lord Colthaven did all of this?”
Celine nodded. “He killed Lydia. He sent men after Major Coxon-Williams in Bisbal to kill him.”
“But why? The man loved Lydia to distraction. It’s why he hated me.”
“He knew the children weren’t his. And Lydia hid her fortune which was meant to save his land.”
Henry shook his head. “Lord Colthaven still managed to hold onto his land and his title, so where did he get the money from?”
Edward shook his head. “The Melinno Society. He financed it. He’s been selling the secrets they gathered abroad through Lady Guthrie for years. Despite his riches, it seems he needs Celine and the Major to find Lydia’s fortune. They were all part of it, Lady Guthrie, Edgar Stanton, the Morenos. Only Mr. Khaffar, the most savage of all, was working for the memory of Lydia.”
Celine drew in a shuddering breath. “Lord Anglethorpe, Henry. I have something to tell you.” She looked imploringly at Edward. He stepped forward, an inward rejoicing in his heart. She was looking to him, despite everything she knew about him. Despite her attachment to Henry. But it seemed that that attachment no longer held so much sway over her. She allowed herself to be taken in his arms. Bending her curves to his body he kissed her fiercely, savagely, deepening the kiss briefly before stepping back. She continued to hold on to his body and turned, back towards Henry. “Your father died because of me.”
Henry exploded. “You knew all along.”
Edward shook his head. “Listen to her, Henry, like you have always listened to her. Remember your instincts.”
Henry fell back a step, and gazed at him with wide eyes.
Celine took a
n audible breath. “Pithadora told us, in the forest. Coutts sent your father a bequest, an amethyst ring and a note.”
“My mother wore an amethyst ring for years. I nearly gave it to Agatha before I married her.”
Celine nodded. “It was my mother’s. The note was also from my mother, asking your father to check on me. When he visited the Melinno Society he recognized me, not just from Lydia’s features, but from Lord Granwich too. And so Pithadora had him killed.”
“And the note is the one the Viper had, the one that Lord Colthaven wanted to get back?” Henry’s hands formed great fists by his side. “When I find that man I am going to make his life hell.”
Celine shivered. “It shouldn’t be too hard to find Lord Colthaven. We threw him out of the carriage by the driveway. He would have had quite a fall.”
Lord Granwich stared at her and then Henry who shook his head. “We looked everywhere, Celine. There was nobody on that driveway or in the fields either side apart from you.
Celine gasped. “But he can’t have got away.”
Edward clenched his fists. “Thick snow would have broken his fall. He had time to make it across the fields. Possibly.” He shook his head. “Khaffar told us. Lord Colthaven armed his men against him. They will have picked him up and escaped with him.”
Lord Granwich turned his watery eyes to them all and drew Celine close to him. “I want to find my son, Hyder. I don’t care about the fortune, I’m greedy. I want my son to be here with me.” He glanced over at Edward and beckoned. “I want my daughter, son-in-law and son together. A family at last.”
Celine gasped. “Hyder’s here, here in England.” She laughed as they all stared at her. “Angelique, the madam of the Pink Canary Club told me, she met him at the Nag’s Head in London. She even said he looked like me. She stole the message he must have been going to send from Bisbal, but instead kept. No wonder Fairleigh was in Brambridge, they must have come back together!”
Edward put his arms around Celine and smiled. He didn’t care that they had lost Lord Colthaven. Suddenly he screwed his eyes closed and let out a cry of anguish.
Celine glanced worriedly at him. “What is wrong?”
He shook his head. “I will never escape my madness. I sent my mother to stay at the Pink Canary Club with Franklin. What was I thinking?”
Celine cocked a look up at him that made the blood run hot through his veins. “Of romance and…other things?”
Edward let the spirit of the forest flood through him as he gathered her in his arms. “Of love and tenderness,” he whispered in her ear as he feathered light kisses across her cheek before alighting finally on her mouth. “And of new beginnings.”
EPILOGUE
Lord Freddie Lassiter gazed at the front door of the Pink Canary Club and scratched his head. His home from home, and for the first time, they weren’t letting him in. Apparently a couple had taken his room. A Dowager Lady Rochester and her lover Franklin. They hadn’t moved for weeks.
A slow smile crossed his face as he turned and looked out on the street. It seemed he hadn’t been wrong when he’d advised Edward Fiske that he was insane. It looked like it did run in the family.
The smile drained away as he felt in his pocket for his hip flask and touched instead a piece of paper that was making his life figuratively hell. He cursed the fact now that he’d called Edward Fiske insane. The man had passed the note to him on the quiet. Said he’d thought it would help him find himself.
Freddie pulled the note out and patted his pocket once more for his hip flask. Catching its bulky edge on the tips of his fingers he drew it out and took a long draught of the fiery rum within. Bisbal. That’s where he had drunk too much rum and where his hair had turned white. Where his friend Major Hyder Coxon-Williams had been sent out by Granwich to survey the land and was killed. Killed because Freddie had been too out of his mind to do the job himself.
And yet it seemed that his life hadn’t ended there. Hyder was here, in England. And not once had he searched Freddie out.
Freddie’s fingers touched on the note again. He didn’t need to read it, he knew its contents by heart.
Dear Lord Anglethorpe,
We always played in our youth, you, Granwich, Rochester and I. Played into our adolescence until I was caught by Colthaven and was hamstrung by my parents into Colthaven’s web. My only delight before my marriage was my last moments with Granwich. You knew how much I loved him. And terrible as it may be, Anglethorpe, my child will be his.
It is the only thing that keeps me going. That whilst Colthaven may try and use my body, no progeny will he have from me. Nor will he have my fortune.
Anglethorpe, please check on my child. If I can, I will send him or her to the Melinno Society, to someone I know there. I beg of you. Do this for me. I believe that Colthaven means to harm me. I’ve told him you see. I’ve told him the child isn’t his. And I’ve told him I’m hiding the money and only the child will be the clue as to where it is.
I remember well the house parties in Brambridge, the joy of your wife and me. The painting parties, where you made my portrait that I gave to Granwich. Give him my best, dear friend. I couldn’t bear to contact him. Colthaven watches my every move.
Through the warmth of our friendship, my ring of friends, and a loyalty that serves to the hilt, I know that my secret will be protected until my child is ready to find it.
Yours affectionately,
Lydia
Freddie read the note again and then pushed it back in his pocket. Lydia hadn’t realized she was having two children. And in the end, one child had stayed behind in Lord Colthaven’s household, seemingly happy despite Colthaven’s murderous attempt in Bisbal to bring him down in the end.
What had changed Colthaven’s mind? Which child held the key to the treasure? Celine or Hyder?
He sighed and swigged at his hip flask again and wondered what Edward was up to. Why the bloody hell hadn’t he, Edward, instead of Freddie, been saddled with this caper given that he had just married Hyder’s delectable but very dangerous sister?
Freddie was far too busy with hiding from the very determined Miss Fanthorpe and her steel magnate father to have time to do anything at all.
**
Edward smiled at Celine as their coach rolled to a halt in front of the small white cottage. The hulking figure of Robert waited for them. He held a bunch of winter flowers in his hand, tied with a strip of ribbon. As Celine stepped down from the carriage he held them out to her.
“Lady Rochester, welcome.”
Celine shook her head and going up on tiptoes kissed him on his rough bearded cheek. “I’m not really Lady Rochester, Robert, we both know that. It’s just a name. Call me Celine.”
“Celine.” The gentle giant wiped an eye and glanced behind her. “My lord.”
“Robert. You know that I feel the same way. And as Celine and I both know, both Rochester and Fiske have an equal place in my life. I’ve been Edward to you since a boy.”
“Edwar—”
“This is all bloody nice and sentimental isn’t it?” The rough voice from atop the waiting carriage interrupted Robert. “Celine, Edward a nice white cottage.”
Celine stepped forward. “Gunvald—”
Gunvald shook his head. “No, Celine. This is not how it ends. Not for me, nor for Silver—”
“Or Roland or Bella and, ahem, Alasdair!” a voice shouted from the back of the coach.
Celine sighed. She had thought it would be romantic to come here, to the white cottage, the first place where Edward and she had shared a bed, where Edward seemed to be most at home. Not to mention the fact that the castle was still uninhabitable. But she hadn’t counted on the fact that her—their—entourage would follow them.
Gunvald glowered at her with his customary curt expression from the top of the carriage. “Now that Pithadora is gone and Lord Colthaven has cut all ties with the Melinno Society we are finished. Who is going to want
a Swedish coachman that can climb rooves?”
The voices came from seemingly everywhere.
“Or a handyman that can fix axles?”
“Or a seamstress that sows wicked dresses?”
“Or a strange woman that cleans guns?”
Edward stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Or a lost lord that reads ledgers like a penny dreadful who lost his last client to an unfortunate arrow?”
Celine choked back a sob that was part laugh, part cry. “You look to me to tell you?”
Edward nodded.
Celine took in a shuddering breath as Edward drew her in. “I own the church in East London don’t I?”
Edward smiled. “Yes, dear heart.”
“And the vicarage?”
Edward nodded again. “And five coaches with trapdoors, one hundred and twenty-nine guns, sixty knives, twenty-two ladders and one marked deck of cards. Oh and one ruined castle and a burnt forest.”
“And what are we really good at?”
Gunvald shouted across the road, “Not watching the watchers, Celine. I don’t want to do that anymore.”
Celine gazed at his tall form intently and then back at Edward. “We could always watch with the watchers.”
“And should this be our first case?” Edward drew out the large key that Coutts had given him on his first visit to the very surprised bank as Lord Rochester. It was the bequest from his father they had mentioned. The key’s handle was shaped in the form of an elephant.
Celine shook her head. “Even though that belonged to my mother, Lord Colthaven will be watching every move we make. Freddie has the note.” She sighed. “Much good it will do him in finding my brother. Or whatever Lydia hid.” She nodded to Edward, and touched his arm. “Send Freddie the key. We will have to help him from afar. And in the meantime take on our own business.” She cocked her head on her side. “After all, as Lord Rochester you can’t continue to be an accountant any more…in public.”
Maddening Minx Page 29