by Laura Landon
“I’ll be fine,” Jenna said. “I’ve been hurt worse. This was just a scratch.”
Jack didn’t argue further.
It was late when they reached Kensington Manor, and as expected, Benton met them at the front door. “We have guests,” he said, removing Jenna’s cloak, then taking Jack’s overcoat and hat.
“Anyone we should know about?” Jack asked, casting a glance at the morning room. One of the voices he heard was a male’s low, commanding voice. The other was a female’s and higher pitched. Both sounded strained as if the brief time they’d spent as guests at Kingston Manor had not been pleasant.
“Yes, it’s—”
“Jenevieve!” a voice said from the far side of the foyer.
Jack turned to see who was addressing his betrothed, mostly to make a judgment as to whether or not Jenna was in danger. Fortunately, he knew the woman posed no threat the moment he recognized her. But if she recognized him, that could be another matter entirely. She could unwittingly unmask their entire charade.
“Aunt Chloe!” Jenna met the woman mid-foyer with a gigantic hug and blocked her aunt’s view of the foyer where Jack stood. The man who’d accompanied the lady turned to greet them.
Jack stood ramrod straight as the man locked his gaze with Jack and walked toward him.
“Captain Rafferty.”
“Colonel Maxwell.”
“Do you know each other?” Brackston asked. He and his sister both stood to the side of the foyer, Brackston wearing a confused frown, Jenna’s stepmother wearing an angry scowl. There was enough commotion that there was no telling what had upset them—company arriving early, or seeing Jenna and Jack arrive home unharmed.
“Captain Rafferty served under me in the war.”
“Captain Rafferty?” Brackston shifted his stance as if he were a cat ready to pounce on a mouse. “We were led to believe this man is the Earl of Devlin.”
“He is,” the colonel said staring at Brackston so there was no room for misunderstanding. “Since Devlin had not assumed his title when he served with me, the earl naturally used his family name.”
“Of course,” Brackston stuttered. “I didn’t mean to imply...”
“Naturally, you didn’t,” Colonel Maxwell said. “You were simply protecting Lady Rutherford’s niece. Very good of you.”
Brackston stuttered a reply, but Jack wasn’t interested in the man’s excuses. He was more concerned about Jenna’s color. She’d realized at the same time he had the risk posed by Lady Rutherford, and her cheerful glow had fled.
It wasn’t too difficult to interpret what had just happened. Lady Rutherford stared at him with clear recognition, her lips parted in a small gasp. “Hawkins?”
Her startled whisper was drowned out by the noise of the Colonel’s dogs being rounded up by the kennel keeper. It gave Jenna the moment she needed. With some inane comment about wishing to celebrate their reunion with a quick glass of her Aunt Chloe’s favorite sherry, Jenna spun Lady Rutherford on her heel and moved her toward the morning room.
Jack clapped Brackston on the back to cover for Jenna’s awkward exit.
“Thank you for entertaining Jenevieve’s guests,” he said to Lady Kingston and her brother. “If you don’t mind, however, I’m sure my betrothed would like to welcome her aunt in private. We’ll return to the morning room.” Jack began to turn, then added, “No need to wait up.”
The dismissal was met with rank disapproval.
Lady Kingston glared at him for a chilling moment before she answered. “Of course. Brackston and I were about to retire. Make yourselves comfortable.”
“Thank you, Lady Kingston,” Jack responded, ignoring the daggers she threw him with her glare.
Jack ushered the colonel to the morning room and closed the door behind them. When he lifted his gaze, he looked into the most intimidating glare he’d ever seen. Lady Rutherford stood in the center of the room, haughty eyes assessing him. Clearly, Jenna had hastily explained his true identity, and Aunt Chloe was about to upbraid him for deceiving her.
“Your niece has been shot,” he explained when he’d recovered his wits.
“Shot!” Lady Rutherford cried, rushing to Jenna’s side. “Who shot her? And why!”
“I can’t answer that,” Jack said. “We didn’t see the gunman.”
“I’m not injured badly. It’s just a scratch, Aunt Chloe.”
Lady Rutherford grabbed her niece’s hand and rubbed it. Then, with a look that matched the determined glare she’d worn a few seconds earlier, she turned her gaze to Colonel Maxwell. “George, I want to know who shot at my niece. I want them arrested.”
Colonel Maxwell didn’t answer, but gave Lady Rutherford a sharp nod.
“Captain,” he said in a voice that jolted Jack back to a time he’d tried desperately to forget. “We need to speak in private.”
THE DEVIL’S GIFT by Laura Landon
Chapter 22
They stepped together into the small adjacent study, and Jack closed the door before turning to the colonel. The colonel’s appearance here was strangely suspicious. Suspicious enough that his former commanding officer had a lot to answer for.
“What role do you play in all of this?”
Colonel Maxwell walked to the sideboard and poured himself a drink. “Whiskey, Devlin? That’s what you preferred in the army. Or has your title changed you?”
“Whiskey it is, sir.”
Jack took the glass the colonel offered him then walked to the hearth on the opposite side of the room. A fire still flickered in the grate, and Jack placed another log into the burning embers and watched the flames spring to life.
“How are you and Lady Rutherford connected?”
Colonel Maxwell took his glass and sat in the large armchair in front of the fireplace. He propped his feet on the ottoman and lifted the glass to his lips. “I prefer to keep my connection to Lady Rutherford out of the conversation since it is a private matter,” he said when he lowered his glass, “and get to what you really want to know.”
“And that would be?” Jack asked.
“What role I play in this, and what is so important at Kingston Estate that some of Her Majesty’s closest advisors are making the happenings here their utmost concern. What do you think is going on, Devlin?”
Jack turned his back to the fire and studied the serious expression on Maxwell’s face. Just how much did the colonel know? And how much wasn’t he going to reveal until he found out exactly what Jack knew?
Jack lifted his elbow to the mantel above the fireplace and rested his foot on the hearth. “Is Benton working for you?”
Colonel Maxwell smiled. “Benton and I have, upon occasion, worked together on certain matters.”
“And this is one of those occasions?”
Maxwell hesitated for a moment before he continued. “The Londonaire will dock tomorrow. I have men watching the docks who will follow the shipment when it arrives to see where it is taken.”
“I’m positive that Lady Kingston is somehow connected to what’s going on,” Jack interjected, “but I’m sure neither she nor her brother is the driving force behind the smuggling ring.”
“Do you have any idea who might be?”
Jack shook his head.
“What if I told you smuggled jade is only part of what is anticipated to be aboard the Londonaire?”
Jack set his glass down on the mantel and turned toward Maxwell. “I should have realized long before now that someone with Benton’s experience and background wouldn’t have been sent to this part of the English countryside merely because Her Majesty was concerned with losing a little revenue.”
“The revenue Her Majesty would lose with the smuggling is more than just a little, but there are other more pressing problems that are a concern to everyone.”
“Those concerns would be?”
Jack didn’t expect Colonel Maxwell to rush to explain what he meant, but when an answer wasn’t forthcoming, Jack took a more direct approach.
“Which agency do you represent?” he asked, already anticipating the answer.
“At the moment I’m working for the Ministry of Defense.”
“Bloody hell,” Jack whispered.
“An understatement, if the documents we’ve intercepted mean what our agents think they do.”
Jack took his glass and sat in the armchair next to where Maxwell sat. “What information do these documents contain?”
“At present, probably nothing that would do irreparable damage to Her Majesty’s government, but the group we’re watching is quite new. They have just begun to get organized.”
“What exactly is it they’re trying to do?”
“Let’s just say that there is a small faction that doesn’t support our system of governing. And, as you are aware, there are several countries in Europe which are struggling for stability.”
Jack could name several countries that hadn’t recovered from the war in the Crimea. Even England hadn’t recovered financially, and the war had been over for three years.
“At present, all we know is that parcels of land in northern and central England previously owned by members of the nobility are being acquired by foreign entities.”
“How are they able to do that? Most of the estates are entailed.”
“Enough aren’t that it has enabled unknown investors to buy the land surrounding the entailed estates, thereby isolating them. If the current trend continues, landowners living in vast areas of England will find themselves unable to transport grain or livestock to a market anywhere further than their local village.”
“Which will kill England’s economy, and force goods to be sold at exorbitant prices.”
“It will also make it necessary for England to import goods that her rural population previously provided, but now can’t because they are unable to get to market.”
“In other words,” Jack said, realizing the magnitude of what this meant, “England will be at the mercy of foreign entities for everything we need.”
Colonel Maxwell threw the remaining liquor to the back of his throat and stood. “That’s why Benton was sent here. There’s a connection between Kingston Estate and what is happening all over England.”
Jack stood, then stared at his former commander for several long seconds. The connection certainly wasn’t Jenna or her father. Nor could he believe Lady Kingston or her brother were capable of masterminding such a scheme. As to anyone else...
“Do you have any leads to go on?”
“Very few. There have been several events that have implicated the Duke of Fullmont, with whom Brackston is involved. At least as far as the smuggling is concerned. As for the other,” he said, shaking his head, “there hasn’t been a clue that links anyone to what we suspect.”
“Then what makes you so sure someone connected to Baron Kingston is involved?”
“Because Kingston is the only estate that has been referred to by name in the documents we confiscated.”
Jack paced the floor from one side of the room to the other. A thought slammed into his head and he stopped with a jolt. “I’ve never asked,” he said, locking his hands behind his back, “is Kingston Manor entailed?”
He dreaded the answer Maxwell was going to give him.
“No. And neither is Kingsbury Glenn.”
Jack felt the air leave his body. “Kingsbury Glenn?”
“I take it you didn’t know about Baron Kingston’s other estate,” Maxwell said, placing his empty glass on the side table.
“No one’s mentioned it. Even Jenna hasn’t.” Jack hadn’t a clue why she wouldn’t have spoken of it. They’d had conversations about the estate several times. “Is it possible that Jenna doesn’t know about Kingsbury Glenn?”
“Quite. Baron Kingston has done an excellent job of keeping Kingsbury hidden in a confusion of paperwork. My guess would be to keep his wife from bankrupting that estate, too.”
“Where is Kingsbury located?”
“It’s to the north of Kingston. It’s a narrow parcel that borders estates which are owned by the Duke of Marlboro, the Marquess of Plainsview, and the Duke of Cambridge.”
Jack stopped. His gaze locked with the arched look on Colonel Maxwell’s face. The colonel had just named three of the most influential and prosperous men in England. The affect their failure would have on England’s economy was indescribable.
“I see you comprehend the enormity of the situation, Lord Devlin.”
“Bloody sodding hell.”
It was the only way Jack could describe the enormity, as Maxwell phrased it, of the impending disaster.
Jack preferred to refer to it as a travesty.
“This is why we have to discover the men who are in control of this plan. Why we must find out how vulnerable Kingsbury Glenn is and take immediate steps to protect it.”
Colonel Maxwell walked to the door, indicating that it was time to rejoin the ladies. “Our only hope is that Kingston has left both estates to his daughter in an iron-clad agreement,” he said when he reached the door, “and that you stay alive long enough to marry her so that your name will protect them.”
Which means that it’s more important than ever that no one discover the baron’s whereabouts.
Jack held the door while Maxwell exited, then led the way back to where Jenna and Lady Rutherford were being served tea and something light to eat. Jack felt an intense unease after his conversation with the colonel, along with an all-too-familiar eagerness to see Jenna and make sure she was all right.
“There you are, George,” Lady Rutherford greeted when they entered the room. “What have you and Devlin discovered?” Jenna’s aunt gave Jack a look that hinted of a smile, and he felt he might be on the verge of forgiveness in her eyes.
“Nothing yet, my dear. Everything’s just as I explained earlier.”
“I noticed that you seem to have omitted some very important facts from your explanation for attending the wedding with me,” Lady Rutherford said in a voice that to Jack didn’t seem all that forgiving. “And played down the seriousness of the situation involving my niece,” she continued.
Jack smiled. The scolding he had expected to receive seemed directed at the colonel instead. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Jack would have bet every pound he had that there wasn’t a person on the face of the earth who had the ability to intimidate Colonel Maxwell. There wasn’t an officer that dared to try. But Jenna’s aunt was doing just that. The lack of color on the distinguished colonel’s face was proof that she’d achieved her goal.
“Only because I didn’t want you to worry, my dear. I know how protective you can be.”
The expression on Lady Rutherford’s face didn’t soften, and Jack knew he had to step in. “It’s my fault that Jenna was shot. She wasn’t the intended victim. I was.”
Lady Rutherford turned her ire on Jack.
“You intentionally put my niece in danger?”
“Not intentionally. I didn’t realize we’d been followed, or that someone was close enough to fire at us.”
“Well, I—”
“It’s no one’s fault, Aunt Chloe,” Jenna said, patting her aunt’s arm in a reassuring manner. “It was my idea to visit Reverend Drisup. Thankfully, Lord Devlin wouldn’t allow me to travel alone, and he was quite heroic when trouble erupted.”
Only then did Lady Rutherford’s expression soften. “How do we proceed from here, George? My guess would be that Lord Devlin is still in danger. Perhaps even more so now that the wedding is the morning after next.”
The colonel smiled and patted Lady Rutherford’s hand. “The army lost a brilliant officer when you were born a woman, Chloe.”
“Of course they did,” she agreed, “but that’s a moot point. We have far more important matters with which to deal. What should be our next move?”
Colonel Maxwell got to his feet and held out his hand for Lady Rutherford to take. “I think our first move should be to retire for the night. You’ve had a long day traveling and rest
is probably what Miss Kingston needs right now.”
“But that won’t help us find out who—”
The colonel stopped Lady Rutherford’s words with an arch of his eyebrows. “Bid your niece a good night and let’s find our rooms. The wedding guests will begin arriving tomorrow and you’ll be thankful you got the sleep you did.”
“I suppose,” she said, leaning over to kiss Jenna on the cheek. “Sleep well, my dear. And you, Devlin,” she said, then walked out of the room on the colonel’s arm.
Benton was waiting to escort the Colonel and Lady Rutherford to their rooms. When he closed the door behind them, Jenna leaned back against the sofa and smiled.
“What?” Jack asked, watching her smile disappear.
“I was just thinking.”
Jack sat down beside Jenna and wrapped her in his arms. “About what?”
“The colonel and Aunt Chloe make a very striking couple, don’t you think?”
Jack rested his cheek against the top of Jenna’s head. “I do. But why do I have a feeling there’s more to your statement?”
“Because there is. I think it’s time the colonel made an honest woman of my aunt.”
“You mean you think he should marry her?”
“Of course. They’re obviously very...close. It’s time they married.”
Jack couldn’t help but smile. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re quite old fashioned?”
“That’s not being old fashioned. That’s simply doing what’s right.”
“I remember a time when—”
“Our situation is not the same, Jack. I knew you intended to marry me.”
Jack looked into the warmth of her eyes and he wanted her more than ever.
The wedding couldn’t come soon enough.
. . .
Throughout the next day, the guests arrived at Kingston Manor. One by one they were shown to rooms made ready by the girls Reverend and Mrs. Drisup had sent. So far everything had proceeded without a problem. Even Jenna’s stepmother was in something of a good mood.