by Shana Galen
"Who?" Josie asked. "To Lord Nicholas?"
"Oh, Lord, what will Aunt Imogen say?" Catie asked.
Maddie sobered then, thinking about the conversation that afternoon with Ashley's mother. She'd sent a note to Imogen Brittany as soon as she'd arrived home, and this morning, after Jack retired with his man of affairs, Ashley's mother had called.
Understandably, her aunt was distraught over her daughter's absence. And when Maddie informed her of Ashley's marriage, the poor woman had gone pale. Almost as pale as Maddie's own mother, who called an hour later. Maddie had been forced to sit through a long lecture and then promise never to elope again. She was certain Ashley would have to do the same when her mother saw her.
If her mother saw her.
Maddie sighed and began filling her cousins in on the details of the elopement.
At the end of the story, Josie was laughing, but Catie's expression was strained. "The anvil priest really married the wrong couples?"
"Yes, and that was the last I saw of Ashley and Lord Nicholas."
"Oh, Ashley can take care of herself," Josie said confidently.
"I know, but I worry. Lord Blackthorne has hired investigators to locate them. We should have word of their whereabouts any day."
"I simply cannot fathom this," Catie said. "Don't misunderstand, I think the elopement worked out well for you, you obviously love Lord Blackthorne."
"Love Lord Blackthorne!" Maddie took a step back. "What are you talking about? I can barely stand the man."
Josie snorted. "That's a sure sign you love him. I want to kill Stephen almost daily. I'll probably do it one of these days."
Catie rolled her eyes.
"I saw that," Josie protested. "And don't pretend that Lord Valentine is perfect. Just last week you were railing because he hadn't moved from his desk and that stack of work for two days."
"Well, at least neither of your husbands tries to control you," Maddie said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Lord Blackthorne told me this morning that I'm only allowed to be actively involved with one charity." She held up a single finger to illustrate. "One."
Her cousins exchanged looks. "Actually, Maddie," Catie said carefully, "that's not such a bad idea."
"You really were trying to do too much," Josie said.
"Oh I was, was I? And what have you two done? Is that a new gown, Josie? Are those new diamond earrings, Catie? What about all the orphans who could have used that money?"
"You're right," Catie said. "We probably should try to help more."
"We should." Josie was trying hard to look contrite, but Maddie wasn't fooled. Her cousins were always attempting to escape from aiding with charitable endeavors. Josie said it was dull, and Catie could be shy with new people.
"I'm glad to hear you say that," Maddie said.
Catie narrowed her eyes at Maddie. "Why?"
"Because I've finally decided on my charity."
"What's that?" Josie stepped back and craned her neck, peering through the French doors. "I think Lord Westman needs me."
"Well, then he'll have to get in line behind His Royal Highness's Society for Invalid Veterans of Overseas Conflicts."
"Maddie, is that even a real organization?" Catie asked.
Maddie nodded. "Their founder sent me a heartbreaking note a week ago, and my mother brought it with the rest of my mail today. They need help with their annual fund-raiser and auction. I agreed to chair the event, and I need two co-chairs. You two have just been appointed."
* * * * *
While the prince laughed at one of his own jokes, Jack slipped behind an earl and a baron. Finally free, he glanced about for his wife. Every moment he was away from her, his chest grew tighter and his shoulders felt like they were being drawn together by a large fishhook.
He arrowed straight for the last place he'd seen Maddie, shooting a menacing look at anyone who stepped in his way.
"Damn," he swore when he reached the spot where he'd seen her standing and it was empty. The prince's ball was turning into a bloody inconvenient crush. He would never find her in the throng of bodies.
"Looking for someone?" The high-pitched voice came from behind him.
Whipping around, Jack found himself eye-to-eye with the Duke of Bleven.
"I know I am." The handsome man smiled, though no warmth penetrated his cold eyes.
Automatically, Jack allowed a mask of indifference to settle over his features. "If you're asking about my brother, I last saw him in Scotland several days ago. He could be anywhere by now."
"Ah, yes, Lord Nicholas," Bleven said, stroking the cleft in his chin. "I suppose I will have to deal with him later. But, of course, you know the person I was speaking of is your lovely wife. She and I have some unfinished business."
Jack clenched his jaw and forced himself to speak quietly. "If you have any business with my wife, you can take that up with me. I'll be more than happy to oblige you."
"Oh, but that wouldn't be any fun," Bleven said. His face twisted into an expression of exaggerated solicitousness. "I'd much rather spend my time with the lovely Madeleine."
Jack couldn't stop his rage from boiling over. He grabbed Bleven by the collar and hauled him up against the wall. The crowd surrounding them took a united step back, and Jack heard the hissing speculation.
"Blackthorne has Bleven by the neck."
"The duke will kill him."
"My money's on Blackthorne."
Bleven's eyes bulged out and his cheeks were red with indignation. Jack's face was inches from Bleven's, his voice little more than a whisper. "If you so much as touch her, you sadistic bastard, I'll kill you."
"Like you killed those men who had their fun with your mother?" Bleven's hoarse voice carried past Jack. There was a gasp from the crowd behind them, which made Bleven smile. He lowered his voice, speaking only to Jack. "They were my men, Blackthorne. Like you, I stood in the shadows and watched. I'd waited a long time for my revenge. I plotted and planned, and in the end it was sweet. So sweet."
Jack felt the bile rise in his throat, and his fist itched to smash into Bleven's face. "I'm going to kill you for what you did," he spat.
"Oh, promises, promises. Now allow me to make you one. You and your brother have insulted me for the last time, and you will pay. And I know just the currency—that pretty new marchioness."
Jack slammed the duke back hard against the wall again. "Goddamn it, Bleven. Stay away from my wife."
Bleven sneered. "Keep looking over your shoulder, Blackthorne, if it makes you feel better. But when I come for her, you won't be able to stop me.
"Step outside with me," Jack said between clenched teeth. "I'll stop you."
"How? Are you going to cry again, little coward boy?"
Jack knew what Bleven was doing, knew the other man was trying to goad him into making a scene or—worse—make him so angry that he forgot what was truly important: Maddie.
Exercising all of his willpower, Jack unclenched his fists from around Bleven's collar and lowered the duke to the floor. "I will protect what's mine," he hissed. "I'll come for you, Bleven. Don't ever doubt that."
He stepped back and swung toward the crowd, scanning it for Maddie. Instead, he felt a hundred eyes on him.
"That's it, then!" A tall, dark-haired man stepped out from the sea of faces. "Nothing to see here. I think I heard his Royal Highness announce dinner was being served in the Circular Room. Right through there."
The crowd reluctantly began to disperse, and the man, who looked somewhat familiar, held his hand out to Jack. "Quint Childers, the Earl of Valentine."
Jack took his hand absently, still looking for Maddie. He had to find her. "John Martingale, Marquess—"
"I know who you are, my lord. And I suppose I have the advantage because I also know where your wife is."
Jack gripped Valentine's hand hard. "Where is she? Is she safe?"
"She's fine. She's with her cousins on the balcony."
Jack nodded, starting in tha
t direction. "And how do you know this?"
"I'm married to Lady Madeleine's cousin—excuse me, she's Lady Blackthorne's cousin now. I'm married to Catherine, Lady Valentine."
"I see."
"You don't have to rush. Lord Westman is keeping an eye on them."
"Westman?" Jack gave Valentine a skeptical look.
"He's married to your wife's other cousin, Josephine. When Castleigh told us you'd rubbed Bleven the wrong way, we decided we'd better keep an eye on all the girls. You never know when or how the Black Duke will attack."
They'd reached the French doors, and through the glass Jack could see Maddie laughing with the two women from before. He felt the pinch in his shoulders lessen and the constriction around his chest give way. He turned back to Valentine. "It sounds like you've dealt with Bleven before."
"Only in Parliament. But I've heard what he's capable of."
Jack reached for the French doors, but Valentine's hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"Blackthorne, just in case you need it spelled out, we love Maddie, too. You don't have to protect her alone."
Jack nodded his assent, but he knew, in the end, saving her would fall to him.
And this time he wouldn't fail.
Chapter Twenty
"Jack," Maddie said, smiling. "I have to get out of bed. My cousins will be here soon."
"What is this aversion to beds?" Jack asked, rolling her over, settling his weight comfortably on top of her.
She sighed, finding him even more difficult to resist than usual. Outside the bedclothes, the air was so cold, and inside, Jack was so wonderfully hot. She could have stayed wrapped around him all day ... if her cousins weren't due any moment.
"I don't have an aversion to beds," she said. "After all the time I've spent recently in carriages and on the ground, I rather appreciate beds."
"And I'd like to appreciate you in one," Jack said, smiling his wicked smile. His dark eyes were filled with desire for her, and it made her own blood heat. "Do you know that I've never had you in a bed?"
Maddie blinked. She hadn't realized. She and Jack had made love so many times now. How could they have never done so in a bed? What kind of wanton woman was she?
She smiled. Very wanton. Jack had always made her feel wild and uninhibited, and she loved that sense of freedom. If only he would stop trying to control her outside the bedroom.
She kissed his nose. "I promise to rectify the situation soon, but right now isn't the time. Catie and Josie will be here shortly." She pushed against Jack, but he didn't release his hold. Instead, he bent to her ear and whispered a very sinful alternative to her charity meeting.
Maddie blushed all the way to her toes, and if pressed, she would have admitted that she was very tempted by the suggestion. But she couldn't justify neglecting her work today. After all, today's meeting would not wait. And she had so much to do.
She just hoped she could concentrate. Jack and his creative diversions had a way of invading her thoughts at the most inopportune moments.
"Jack," she said regretfully, moving away from him. "I must go. We're starting plans for the fundraiser for His Royal Highness's Society for Invalid Veterans of Overseas Conflicts today."
Maddie rose from the bed, and Jack propped his head on a stack of pillows, watching her. "The Society for Invalid Overseas— What is this cause?"
"Why don't you come to our meeting and find out?"
He frowned. "I have a bear enclosure to design. The beast managed to break out of the last one."
She pulled on her dressing robe and brushed her hair back. "Is that what you do, locked in the library all day? I cannot imagine a bear enclosure takes that much thought. What are you really plotting?"
His face darkened for a moment, as though he were thinking of that very thing, and Maddie shivered. His grim expression worried her. She'd seen that expression on his face several times in the past two days, but each time she'd asked him about it, he'd said it was nothing.
She'd heard rumors about an altercation between Jack and Bleven at the prince's ball, but when she asked Jack, he told her not to worry, he wasn't going to allow anything to happen to her.
Apparently, he wasn't going to allow her to know anything either. Since their conversation about his mother, he'd been even more closed than usual. Maddie wanted to find a way to reach him, to assuage his guilt over his mother's death, but she didn't know how.
"Well," she said, walking to him now and kissing his forehead. "You're welcome to join us if you want."
Two hours later she prayed Jack wouldn't take her up on her offer. She could just imagine his reaction if he happened to glimpse the chaos reigning in the drawing room.
But it wasn't her fault! In fact, the more she thought about it, the chaos was his fault. If Jack wouldn't let her go to the needy, she had to bring them to her. It was that simple.
Though, had she the choice, she might have brought fewer.
When she told Laura Millingham, the society president, that she'd like to meet some of the invalid veterans of overseas conflicts, she hadn't expected Miss Millingham to respond quite so enthusiastically.
At present there were eight invalid veterans crowding in the drawing room. Even Maddie had to admit they were a motley bunch. A few resembled pirates more than decorated officers. Perhaps it was Captain Roberts's peg leg or First Lieutenant Finch's eye patch and gold hoop earrings, but something about the men made her pray that Jack stay ensconced in his library.
She had hoped to solicit the men's opinion on the decorations and food to be served at the fund-raiser, but the conversation had rapidly degenerated into a heated argument as to who had suffered more in the Colonial Wars.
"Ha! You think having a finger shot off is bad?" a Colonel Shivers shouted at a Lieutenant Beebe. "Try having your toes frozen off. Lost three of them. See here."
Maddie rubbed her temple as the bearded colonel removed his boot and wiggled the mutilated toes at the room as a whole. Poor Miss Milling-ham was white as a ghost.
The colonel swung the foot in Maddie's cousins' direction, and Catie shrunk back to avoid having the limb smack her in the face. "Oh, very, ah ... nice." She set her tea on the table and pushed it away.
Josie, seated beside her, craned her neck to get a better look. "Whoever the surgeon was, he did a good job sewing it up."
"What surgeon?" Colonel Shivers said. "By that time the Colonials had so overrun us, it were every man for himself. Why, I remember one time a friend of mine had the green rot on his—"
"Sir!" Maddie stood abruptly, jostling her own teacup and spilling the liquid. "I know all of us are fascinated by your campaigns under Cornwallis, but perhaps you could save a few stories for later. We wouldn't want you to have to repeat yourself."
The colonel chuckled. "Oh, no chance of that. I have a thousand stories, but of course some aren't suitable for ladies."
Maddie could only imagine what those might involve.
"In the meantime, we need to discuss"—she consulted her notes—"the refreshments."
Catie nodded at her eagerly. "Good idea. I have the list of possibilities we compiled right here."
Maddie took it and perused the selections. Be-hind her, the drawing room door opened, and Maddie stifled a frustrated groan. She finally had everyone's attention, and now the staff needed her. She'd told them she didn't wish to be disturbed. The servant—whoever it was—would simply have to wait.
"One moment," she said over her shoulder, not bothering to see which member of her staff had intruded. "I'll be with you shortly."
She turned back to her audience and noticed they were all sitting quite a bit straighter. Despite his peg leg, Captain Roberts had even risen from his chair. Maddie sighed. It must be Ridgeley behind her. He was the only intimidating member of the staff.
"Captain Roberts, do not worry about Ridgeley. Please sit and make yourself comfortable."
The captain opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Maddie shrugged. If he wa
nted to stand on one leg, she wouldn't argue. At least everyone had stopped quarreling. The room was silent.
She cleared her throat and was surprised when several veterans jumped.
"I was thinking that we might keep the refreshments simple—" she began.
"Maddie?" Josie interrupted. "You might—"
Maddie gave Josie a sharp look. "Just a moment, Lady Westman, let me finish."
"But—"
"We could serve tea, chocolate, and coffee."
The room as a whole gasped, and several other men rose, backing away from her.
Maddie raised her hands. "Very well. No coffee, then. What if we had punch instead?"
Several veterans began scrambling over one another, trying to get behind the chairs and couches farther away from her. Maddie, desperate, held up a hand. "Fine! No punch. We could have—"
Behind her she heard a distinctive grunting sound and turned on her heel to find Blackjack pushing his nose into her dress.
Maddie smiled. "Oh, this is what you were afraid of. I thought it was the coffee."
Without thinking, she reached down and patted the bear's wet nose, and the room erupted into pandemonium. Soldiers were rushing to get away from her and Blackjack, but all their canes and crutches had hooked together and Lieutenant Beebe fell over Colonel Shivers, knocking a lamp down in the process. Captain Roberts hopped on his peg leg, and another man, who did not seem to be an invalid and who Maddie speculated had joined the society only for the tea and biscuits, made loud gasping noises.
Meanwhile Miss Millingham, the society's fearless leader, was cowering in a corner, and Josie and Catie were laughing and shaking their heads. Maddie frowned at them.
"You needn't be afraid," she shouted, trying to calm everyone. "He probably escaped his enclosure again."
"Oh, I'm not afraid, ma'am," Lieutenant Beebe told her. "I just remembered an appointment."
Blackjack grunted.