by Laura Landon
“Is it raining outside, Jenny?”
No, Papa. It’s not raining.”
“Good. Your mother’s out in the garden and I don’t want her to get soaked.”
Jack heard the small cry Jenna tried to muffle.
“Don’t worry, Papa,” she finally managed to say. “Mama won’t get wet.”
Jack knew how painful this was for Jenna. He wanted to go to her and hold her in his arms, but he couldn’t. Not yet.
As quickly as Kingston’s mind had shifted to his dead wife, it shifted away and Jack became the object of his interest.
“You’ve come to marry my daughter like you promised, have you?”
“Yes, Kingston. I presume you have no objection.”
An open smile brightened the baron’s face. “Of course I have no objection. It’s what we agreed upon.”
Baron Kingston cheered measurably. He suddenly seemed as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
“Yes. It’s what we agreed upon,” Jack assured him.
“Good for you, boy. I told your father this would be a perfect match. He wasn’t sure until I brought my Jenny into the room and introduced her.”
Kingston looked at his daughter and brushed his hand over her hair. “He fell in love with you the instant he met you. Do you remember, Jenny? You talked to Devlin for such a long time. Do you remember?”
“Yes, Papa,” she said, taking his hand and holding it. “Lord Devlin and I sat in the window seat overlooking the garden.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you and Father make the betrothal agreement?” Jack asked.
He’d always been curious why his father had signed his name to such an important agreement when as far as he knew, Baron Kingston and he weren’t even friends, let alone business associates.
He turned his attention to Baron Kingston, expecting him to boast about his connection to the Earl of Devlin and the coup he’d made by betrothing his daughter to an earl’s son. Instead, Baron Kingston sat in mute silence.
“Do you remember how the agreement between you and my father came to be?”
Kingston shook his head. “I can’t tell you that. I’m not supposed to tell anyone.”
Kingston seemed more agitated. The reason behind the betrothal was obviously something that was supposed to remain secret.
“But that was a long time ago. My father’s been dead for several years so I’m sure he won’t mind.”
“But I promised. I—”
“That’s all right, Father,” Jenna said, placing her arm around her father’s shoulder. “It’s not necessary that you tell your secret.”
Jack saw Kingston physically relax.
“Thank you, Jenny. I’d tell you if I could, but if anyone found out Rafferty had killed him, he could have hanged.”
Jack felt the floor shift beneath his feet. His father had killed someone?
Jack’s eyes lifted, then locked with Jenna’s. She knew from the gesture he gave her that he needed more information from her father. She leaned closer to her father and held his hands.
“You can tell me, Father. I’ll keep your secret. Who was killed?”
Kingston fidgeted with some imaginary fuzz on the blanket over his legs and didn’t answer at first. “I don’t know, Jenny. I promised—”
“I know you did, Papa. And you’ve always kept your word. So don’t say the name out loud. Just whisper it to me, then no one will know.”
Kingston hesitated, then nodded. “I guess I could do that.”
He leaned forward and whispered something in Jenna’s ear.
Jack knew from the surprised look on her face that the name her father revealed was totally unexpected. She had the good sense, though, not to react, nor to repeat the name out loud, even though Jack wanted to shake the name from him.
“How did it happen?”
“Can I tell you that?” Kingston asked as if he weren’t sure what he could or couldn’t do.
“Oh, yes,” Jenna said, patting his arm in a consoling manner. “You didn’t promise that, did you?”
“No. I guess that’s not a secret. I only said I wouldn’t tell the authorities who’d killed him.”
“Then you can tell me what happened. The authorities will never know.”
Jenna’s father didn’t answer for several minutes. He was like a little child trying to make a decision between two toys with which he wanted to play. He was an adult with a child’s mind. Jack knew something tragic had happened to him. A stroke, perhaps, or a serious head injury.
No wonder Jenna had to keep him hidden. Lady Kingston would have no trouble at all proving her husband insane and locking him away.
Kingston looked at Jenna first, then turned his gaze to Jack. “You have to promise you won’t tell,” he demanded of them both.
“I promise,” he and Jenna answered in unison.
“I don’t think Rafferty did it on purpose,” he prefaced, as if that would appease Jack’s father if he ever found out Kingston had talked about an event that no one had mentioned for more than fifteen years. He must have had a long friendship with Jack’s father, perhaps going back to their school days, because he called him Rafferty. He must have known him long before Jack’s father assumed the Devlin title, and the youthful name Rafferty is the one that came more easily to his aging mind.
“He was just so angry,” Kingston continued.
“Do you know why?” Jenna asked.
“Oh, yes. I was there. He’d been cheated. At least he thought he had. And I believe it was true.”
“How?” Jenna asked, but Kingston had lost his concentration again and repeatedly turned his head to watch the rear door of the cottage.
“How, Papa? How had Devlin been cheated?”
“I don’t know,” he answered in an angry voice. “Check on your Mother, Jenny. She needs to come in now. It’s going to rain. Bundy says it is.”
“Bundy?” Jenny asked, glancing at Jack with a confused expression on her face. “Are you talking about your valet? That Bundy?”
“Of course I’m talking about my valet. How many other Bundys do you know?”
“None, Papa.”
“I didn’t think so. Now, tell your mother it’s time to come in. I don’t want her catching her death.”
“I’ll go,” Mr. Chisolm said from the other side of the room. “Lady Kingston might need help.”
“Good man, Chisolm.”
Chisolm walked out of the cottage and closed the door behind him.
“See that he gets something extra in his Christmas bundle, Jenny.”
“I will Papa. Now tell me how the Earl of Devlin had been cheated.”
“Oh, it was a nasty affair. He entered into a business deal with—”
Kingston stopped. “I can’t say the name, Jenny. You know I can’t.”
“I know, Papa. You gave your word you wouldn’t. Just tell me what happened.”
Kingston nodded, then shot his gaze to the door. “Where is that man?” he said, showing severe signs of a rising temper. “He’s never here when I need him.”
“I’m right here, Baron Kingston. I found Lady Kingston and she asked me to bring you these.” Chisolm walked across the room and handed Jenna’s father a bunch of freshly-picked flowers.
Kingston smiled a wide smile and took the flowers. “Ah, my sweet Alexa,” he said, crushing the flowers to his chest.
“Lady Kingston said she’d see you later, my lord. She wanted to go to her room to rest.”
“Very well,” Kingston said, his satisfied smile bright enough to light the room. “Now, where were we? Oh, yes. You asked how Rafferty had been cheated. It was a business deal. But he’d been a fool to enter into such an arrangement. Everyone knew—”
“Everyone knew what, Papa?”
“Well...that you couldn’t trust that family. We all warned him.”
“What happened?”
“We’d spent the night at our club and Rafferty and the other man argued. Rafferty left
first and I detained the other man because I knew there’d be trouble if the two of them left at the same time. When the other man and I left, though, Rafferty hadn’t gone on like I’d hoped he would. He was waiting for us in an alley near the stable. If the man would have ignored Rafferty nothing would have happened, but he enjoyed egging Rafferty on. He kept bragging how he was glad he’d taken Rafferty’s money. There was a fight and Rafferty hit the man hard. It knocked him down.”
The Baron’s tone escalated as he became more excited, drawn into his own tale.
“I didn’t think anything was wrong at first. The man just groaned like he’d had the air knocked out of him. Rafferty hollered for him to get up, but he didn’t. That’s when I thought something might be wrong and went over to see why he wasn’t getting up.”
“Was he dead?” Jack asked.
“Not yet, but it didn’t take long. The man had fallen on a pitchfork someone had stowed poorly in an open manger.”
“What did you do then?”
“Devlin begged me to help him so I sent him home. When the authorities came I told them some footpads attacked us and we fought them off as best we could but they came at us with a pitchfork and killed the man.”
“And they believed you?”
“Yes. I’d torn my clothes so it looked like they’d come after me, too.”
“So to repay you for keeping him from hanging, my father agreed to let his son marry your daughter.”
Kingston dropped his head back on the cushion of the chair and closed his eyes. “The lad didn’t have a choice if he didn’t want to hang.”
Jack’s heart took a painful leap. “The lad?”
“Yes,” Kingston said in a weak voice. “Devlin. That is, Rafferty. That is the lad. Devlin’s son.”
The horrid outcome of the story explained so much, and a new grief washed over Jack.
“The lad’s name?”
“Sheridan Rafferty, Viscount Aramand.” A fleeting comprehension appeared and then was gone from Kingston’s eyes. “He was Devlin’s oldest son and would be the next earl. You should know that.”
Jack tried, but couldn’t answer. This was what Shad had meant when he said it was a pact made in blood. Shad had been the one who’d killed another man. This was the reason Jack’s father had been so insistent on Shad marrying Baron Kingston’s daughter. Making Shad agree to the marriage was the only time Shad had been forced to take responsibility for what he’d done. And with the guilt Shad carried from that awful night, he could never have felt worthy of Jenna’s hand.
It was guilt that had ruined him. Too great a sense of honor rather than too little as everyone assumed.
“You know why I did it, don’t you, Jenny?”
Jack looked over to where Jenna knelt before her father’s chair. Kingston was more agitated with every word. Discussing something about which he was supposed to keep silent clearly upset him.
“Yes, Papa,” she said, patting his hands in an effort to calm him.
“I had to. I didn’t have the money to provide you with a dowry. It was the only way.”
“It’s all right, Papa. Everything turned out for the best.”
“I wanted you to be as happy as your mama and I were. I wanted to make sure you were always taken care of.”
“I will be. Devlin will take care of me.”
Baron Kingston leaned his head back on the cushion and smiled. “Your mama will like him when she meets him. I’m sure she will.”
At the mention of his wife, Kingston sat up and looked around the room. “Where is your mother?” he asked. “She said she’d only be a little while. It’s been hours already.”
“I’m not sure...” Jenna said looking at Mrs. Chisolm for help in answering her father. “I think—”
“Lady Kingston is taking a nap, my lord. She said she’d be down later for dinner, and that she wanted you to rest, too. After dinner she’d like to go for a stroll through the garden, if that’s agreeable with you.”
“Of course,” Kingston said with a look of contentment on his face. Then he turned to Jenna. “I have to sleep now. Your mother wants to take a walk later and I must be sure to rest.”
“Of course, Papa. Good bye.”
Jenna kissed her father’s cheek, then stepped away from the chair with tears in her eyes.
Jack crossed the floor and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him. He saw how difficult this was for her. Losing his father had been difficult too, but in time the pain had lessened. Jenna had lost her father months ago, but her time of healing hadn’t begun yet.
Baron Kingston looked around the room, ignoring his daughter as if she weren’t there. “Help me to my bed, Bundy.”
“Right away, my lord.”
Mr. Chisolm helped Jenna’s father to his feet, then led him to a small room in the back.
“I’m sorry, Miss,” Mrs. Chisolm said, her voice filled with sympathy. “He gets this way at times.”
“Will he be all right?” Jenna asked, her eyes swimming with tears.
“Oh, yes. He’ll be fine. He’ll wake up in an hour or two and not remember he thought his wife was here.”
Jenna stared at the closed bedroom door as if she wanted to go in to see her father one more time before they left. Jack couldn’t let her. It wouldn’t be good for her father, nor would it be good for her.
“Come, Jenna. It’s time we returned to the house.”
Jack heard her sharp breath and watched as she gathered a reserve of inner strength.
“Thank you, Mrs. Chisolm,” she said, taking the older woman’s hand.
“There’s no need to thank us. Watching over Baron Kingston is a pleasure. It gives my Henry something useful to do and repays Baron Kingston for all he’s done for us.”
A sad smile crossed Jenna’s face and she walked to the door. Before Jack followed, he reached in his jacket pocket and handed Mrs. Chisolm several coins.
“Oh, my lor—”
Jack gestured for Mrs. Chisolm to keep silent, then crossed the room to where Jenna waited to leave. He opened the door, then placed his hand beneath Jenna’s elbow to lead her from the cottage.
Before they made it through the door, she stopped and turned back.
“He’s getting weaker, isn’t he?”
Mrs. Chisolm hesitated a moment before answering Jenna’s question. “Yes, Miss. The baron’s anxious to join your mama.”
Jack heard Jenna’s pain-filled gasp as the reality of Mrs. Chisolm’s words registered. He gathered her closer and led her from the cottage. When they reached the cloud-darkened dooryard, he rushed her from the clearing to the small grove of trees where he’d left their horse.
“Oh, Jack,” she cried when they’d reached the covering of trees.
“I know, sweetheart,” he said, gathering her to him and cradling her in his arms.
When her tears stopped and she calmed, he led her to the horse and helped her up.
They rode in silence through the dense woodland, back to where Maggie and Benton waited for them. They exchanged their horse for the carriage and followed the lane back toward Kingston Manor.
They were nearly there before Jack broke the silence.
“I need to know the name of the man my brother killed, Jenna.”
He wasn’t sure what startled her more, the intrusion of his voice on the silence, or his demand and the repercussions answering it would cause. Whatever it was, the fear in her eyes told him he wasn’t going to like her answer.
“Who was it?” he repeated, sensing her hesitation.
The look in her eyes when she opened her mouth caused an unease to churn inside of him. The name she spoke intensified his fears.
“Fullmont.”
THE DEVIL’S GIFT by Laura Landon
Chapter 20
Jack stayed in the shadows as he made his way to the stable to meet with Benton. The last several days had been taut with apprehension, constant arguing, and the repetition of comments insinuating t
he dangers that lurked in unknown places if Jack insisted on marrying Jenna.
Jack, of course, affirmed his conviction to adhere to the agreement between his father and Jenna’s. This brought about a new wave of anger and warnings.
The betrothal ball was only three days away, and he knew if either Lady Kingston or her brother were going to make good on their threats, they’d have to do it soon. Once the guests began to arrive, their opportunities to get rid of him would decrease by half.
Jack didn’t mind admitting he was becoming more nervous by the minute. Several things were happening at Kingston Manor that he couldn’t explain. A half dozen new footmen had arrived to help with the preparations. Jack intended to discover who had sent them, since Lady Kingston had vowed she wouldn’t lift a finger to help.
Jack stopped in the shadows to make sure he hadn’t been followed. When he was certain he was alone, he stepped into the stable and barred the door behind him.
“It’s about time you arrived,” Benton said from one of the shadowy stalls. “I nearly got a good night’s sleep waiting for you.”
Jack stepped into the stall and sat on a wooden box propped in the corner. “I had trouble avoiding all the new help someone hired for the ball.”
“Quite an unusual gathering of staff,” Benton said, from the corner of the stall where the straw had been piled to form a make-shift bed. “Wonder where Lady Kingston found them?”
“I doubt she had anything to do with their hiring.”
There was a long silence before Benton urged Jack to continue. “Go on. I’ve been waiting for you to fill me in on what you found out since you returned from seeing Baron Kingston.”
Jack focused his gaze on Benton but all that greeted him was a knowing smile. They’d not spoken of the reason for switching a carriage for a horse in the middle of the woods. But then, they didn’t have to. It would have taken a far more clever ruse than that to keep Benton in the dark.
“How is the baron?” Benton repeated.
“Not well.”
“I was afraid of that. The attack he had when he found out your brother had been killed left him terribly weak.”
“What kind of attack was it?”