Regency Romance: The Earl’s Unexpected Journey Of Love (The Fairbanks Series - Love & Hearts) (Historical Romance Fiction)

by Jessie Bennett

  “Read the beginning passage, my lady. What does it say? Does it say what he was doing here?”

  Juliette began to read the passage.

  April 3, 1787. I have arrived on an island. I am unsure where I am. I have explored, but there does not appear to be anyone about. I struggle to keep my wits. My boat has sunk. I will not be able to leave this island for some time without rescue. Who will rescue me? No one knows my location.I have salvaged all I could from the wreckage. I will continue to explore. I built a hut as shelter.

  Juliette stopped reading. She looked up at Joshua. “This is amazing. I wonder if he still lives.”

  “What is the last passage?” Joshua asked. “I am certain that if the good sir was still alive, he would have already been back to claim his property.”

  Juliette nodded. “You are right. He must be deceased.” She flipped to the last passage. “He did not last very long. This last passage says he caught a disease or became ill in some way. He speaks of death being around the corner. I wonder what happened to him?”

  “Being in an unfamiliar atmosphere must have done him in. He succumbed to the environment.”

  Juliette’s eyes widened. “Do you think that will happen to us?”

  “No. We will be rescued. I am certain of it.”

  “How can you be certain?”

  Joshua looked closely at the woman. He did not want to make her frightened. He wanted her to know that he would die before he would allow anything to happen to her. “I am certain we shall survive. Our fire signal will attract ships in the area. One will send a boat to see what the trouble is. I am certain of it. We did not reach our destination as planned. Notice will be sent out and ships will be on the alert.”

  Juliette had distracted herself from her thoughts, flipping through the pages of the book. “Look at this, my lord!” she exclaimed suddenly. “Sir Fenwick made drawings.” She held the book out to him, her eyes wide. “It is the natives! Look!”

  Joshua took the book from her and was shocked to see that it was exactly what Juliette had said. There were drawings of men covered in wolf’s skin, several with the heads hollowed out and used as hats, giving them the impression of a fearfully large wild dog, its jaws open and ready to bite.

  “My lord, I think Charlie's story is based around these drawings,” Juliette said, glancing to where the man was lying on the couch, one hand covering the wound on his chest. He slept on, oblivious.

  Joshua also glanced at the man before looking back at her face in the flickering light. “I am in agreement. I have a theory. Now that we have discovered this book, I feel that my theory is correct. He provoked the attack because he was afraid. He thought a wolf was going to attack him. He may have thrown sticks or rocks to make the whatever it was go away and instead the wolf-man attacked him.”

  “That is why Charlie was not killed. Whoever it was was not trying to kill him. He was only watching.”

  “I saw one of them out there too!” Joshua said, suddenly feeling excited. “He did not attack me. I was waiting for him to approach, but I did not throw sticks or rocks or try to provoke him in any way.”

  “He only stared back at you?”

  “Yes, until you and Uncle came calling for me. Then he ran away. I put my hand on my machete, but I did not draw it. I feel as though…we have invaded someone else’s home, through no fault of our own. How can I create a problem when the circumstances were out of my control? I am not trying to take over the island. In fact, I want to go home. I do not seek to start a war with those who already claim this as their home.”

  “I understand. I feel the same way.”

  “We must do something about this.”

  “Look at this drawing.” Juliette stopped him from turning the pages and pointed with her index finger. “They appear to be doing a dance around a lit fire. Look there. That is not a native looking face. It looks like a white man. Do you suppose it is a self-portrait of some kind?”

  “It could very well be. He wanted to keep track of what happened on this island for when he returned home. So that he could tell the story properly.”

  Joshua took a few more minutes to look at the drawing and to read a few more passages. “He was not afraid of the natives. They did not bother him. In fact, it says here that he woke up on occasion to find food outside his hut, wrapped in large leaves, and buckets of water.”

  “They were kind to him.” Juliette frowned. “This does not bode very well for us though, my lord. If Charlie was hostile to them, they might think we are all hostile.”

  “Except that the man in wolf’s skin who was watching me did not attack. I did not get a sense of danger from him. He just seemed to want to watch me.”

  “Perhaps he wanted to see if you would react the way Charlie did.”

  “He was giving us a second chance. A chance to redeem ourselves.”

  “I am glad you did not draw your machete.”

  “As am I.”

  They were both silent a while, absorbing this new knowledge which changed everything.

  “What shall we do now? Do you want to wake the others and discuss this with them?”

  Joshua shook his head. “No, my dear. Let them sleep. We will tell them this in the morning. And we will go find these people if we can. We must find a way to explain. Do you remember when we were on the boat and Uncle Cain said that there is always a way to communicate even if we do not speak the same language?”

  “Yes, I remember.”

  Joshua nodded this time. “We will find a way.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  THE NATIVE TRIBE

  THE NATIVE TRIBE

  The next morning, after a breakfast of tea and ship's biscuits, Cain, Joshua, Juliette, and Betts set out to return to the beach and reset the fire signal. Joshua was sure it had burned out through the night.

  “It will do us no good unless we keep at it,” he said. The others agreed with him.

  Juliette and Betts both wore the trousers they had brought with them. It was the last pair Juliette had that was clean. From that point on, she would be wearing dirty clothes. She hated the feel of dirty clothes against her skin, but did not complain. She was grateful none of the men had pointed out that she was wearing men’s attire. They had all contrived to ignore the matter, which was the best response for which she could hope.

  As soon as they came a clearing where the trees let out into a grassy area before the sand, all four travelers halted abruptly, staring at the scene before them.

  A boat had landed. It was pulled up onto the shore, close to where they had come to shore all those days before. In the distance, they could see a large sailing ship, a British flag flying from the mast.

  “I cannot believe this!” Juliette squeaked. She was rooted to the spot, her heart thudding in her chest.

  The ship was there, but there were no crew about. There were only footprints on the shore to show that they had left the ship.

  “We must follow their tracks,” Cain said.

  “Why did they not take the trail we made and find us in the cabin?” Joshua asked curiously. “We will not find them once they are in the trees.”

  “If they arrived in the darkness, they might not have seen our trail. They would have had to make their own. We will find them. Come on!” Cain said, excited.

  “Why do we not take our boat and go out to the ship instead?” Betts asked. The other three looked at her.

  “That is no bad idea,” Juliette said quietly.

  “I would agree, but for one thing: We must find these men,” Joshua said. “They are in search of us but may find the native tribe. We cannot allow that. They might harm them.”

  “But we are the trespassers!” Betts said. “Why would they do that?”

  “It is human nature to defend oneself in the presence of danger, miss,” Cain replied. “Even if the danger is not real. And in this case, it is real.”

  “No,” Joshua shook his head. “It is not real.” He explained what he and Juliette h
ad discovered the night before. Cain’s face registered shock.

  “They are not hostile? Why did they attack Charlie?” Betts asked.

  “We have a feeling Charlie may have instigated the problem. He was frightened, to be sure, and thought that a vicious animal was going to attack him. We feel he might have been trying to scare the beast away by throwing rocks or sticks.”

  Betts nodded. “I can see how that could cause a problem.”

  “The book gave us the indication that these are a peaceful people. I feel they wear the wolf’s skin to protect themselves from the animals that are still here, the other beasts of the forest. We might Regardless, we must find those men before they harm the natives out of sheer self-preservation.”

  “Let us go, then,” Juliette said hurriedly.

  They hastened along the beach, following the footprints. Before long, they came to an opening in the woods, similar to the one Charlie and James had made. The four of them set off down it, jogging on light feet. They did not want to make too much noise.

  Before they had gone much further, they heard the sounds that only men make. Voices, footsteps, the clinking of swords and boot buckles. It was clearly a large party of men, well-equipped and able.

  “I do not think they have found the tribe yet,” Juliette murmured, coming up next to Joshua. “How will we approach them?”

  Joshua looked down at her. “My lady, we are British. They will know us.”

  Juliette’s cheeks flushed. “I just do not want to be shot by an over-anxious soldier,” she explained.

  “It would be quite something if the army came to find us, my lady,” Cain said with a grin.

  Juliette scrunched her nose at the man. “The ship that was passing may have been one of the royal naval ships. If they spotted our fire, they would have surely stopped to investigate.”

  Cain nodded. “You are correct, Lady Juliette. I apologize.”

  Juliette smiled at him and said nothing more.

  They approached the sounds of men. Juliette noticed when Joshua and Cain slowed down their pace. They were clearly concerned about over-anxious soldiers as well. She contained her amusement.

  They walked into the clearing with caution, and observed a makeshift camp. Clearly the men had stopped in the heat to rest and decide what to do. The stranded travelers all stopped on the edge of the clearing, before Betts could bear it no longer. She broke away from the others, running into the camp.

  “Hello!” she called out. “Hello!”

  Joshua, Cain, and Juliette were close behind her. Juliette’s heart was pounding in her chest. She was surprised by how nervous she felt when confronted with her own people.

  The men from the ship all stood, turning to stare at Betts. They took in the rest of the group with wide eyes, their hands resting briefly on their sheathed swords before lifting up in greeting.

  “You must have built that fire out there,” one of the men said. “I am Gerald Ponfry. These are my men, Dugan Smith, Andrew Hall, Bryan Crane, Louis Carr and Daniel Trent. And you are?” He directed the question to Cain.

  “Cain Allan Hershey, duke of Ascott. This is my nephew, Joshua Allan Hershey, Earl of Swansea. May I introduce Lady Juliette Ellingham and her maid, Betts?”

  The men bowed to the ladies and shook hands with the men. There were six in the group from the ship.

  “I am so glad you saw the fire signal!” Joshua said after greeting the last man. “We feared it would never be seen.”

  “You never did,” Juliette spoke up. “You knew someone would come.”

  “It has not been long enough for any trauma to occur,” Joshua joked. “I truly thought we would have at least one tragedy before they came.”

  Chuckles rose up in the group. Juliette couldn’t help but laugh, thinking that Charlie’s misfortune would have been considered a tragedy if it had happened to one of them. And if these men had not arrived, he might well have died of his wounds. It was a sobering thought, and the smile died on her lips.

  “There are natives on this island, aren’t there?” Dugan, another one of the soldiers, turned his head toward the woods, scanning the dense trees like he was expecting something to jump out.

  “There seem to be,” Cain confirmed. But we have only encountered one, maybe two of them. I think it would be best if we got off the island as soon as possible.” Cain took a step toward the man who had spoken. “We are of the opinion that they are not happy about having visitors.”

  “Have they attacked anyone?” Dugan looked from him to the others, one at a time, as if scanning them for injury.

  “We have reason to believe they know we are here,” Cain answered guardedly.

  “Very well, your grace. Come with us back to the boat. May I say it is a miracle that you have been found?” the man said politely.

  “Come with us,” Joshua spoke up. “We found a small hut in a clearing about one hundred yards from here.” He pointed. “There are others from our ship, waiting there for us to return.”

  “Oh?” Andrew’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “A hut? How is that possible? I have never heard of anyone landing here. For that matter, what happened to your ship?”

  “Our destination was Africa,” Joshua said. “We were on a missionary trip with food and supplies for the people at our station there. It is a shame that so much has been lost at sea.” He frowned wretchedly.

  “We shall have another voyage, Joshua,” Juliette said quietly. She could tell by the looks on the faces of the soldiers that they were not expecting her venture anywhere again, much less to venture an opinion in a group of soldiers.

  “Yes, we certainly will, Miss Juliette.” Joshua said firmly. He looked flushed, and it occurred to Juliette that she had just voiced an assumption that they would be together in the future. She flushed as well, and they grinned shyly at each other.

  The moment broke when the officer, Andrew, spoke again.

  “May I ask what misfortune led to your being marooned here alone? And how many of your party remain?”

  Joshua looked back at Andrew and Gerald. “There are eight in total. There was a mishap in the galley and a fire engulfed the middle of the ship, during a storm.”

  Gerald shook his head. “A true shame. The name of the ship?”

  “The Masticon.”

  “Is that the ship of Captain Bramley?” Andrew asked. He frowned.

  “Yes, sir,” Joshua responded.

  “He was a good friend of mine, my lord. I will miss him. I knew many on his crew, as well. Was it a total loss?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Andrew shook his head. His eyes were damp, although no tears fell.

  “I have traveled with him on many occasions,” Cain said as the group began to move in the direction of the hut, Joshua and Juliette in the lead. As they walked, they could hear the men talking in low voices in the background.

  A few feet from where they had begun, Joshua noticed that Juliette was moving closer to him. Her eyes were fixed on a spot in the woods to her right. He narrowed his eyes to focus on the woods, trying to see what she was looking at. What he saw made chills rise up on his arms and the back of his neck. In the denseness of the forest, creatures were moving about. It was the native tribe, covered in their wolf skins , watching every move they made.

  They were well hidden. When they stopped, they were impossible to see. They crept along, staying at a distance, their movements fluid and truly animal-like. Joshua could understand why Charlie had been so frightened by them. If he had no prior knowledge of what he saw, he might have felt the same way. He glanced over his shoulder to see if the soldiers were watching but they were talking, their eyes on Cain or the ground in front of them.

  He was grateful that the men were distracted by his uncle. If they had seen the tribal men moving around them, they might have taken up their arms in the basic need for self-preservation.

  “Milady?” Betts’s voice was frightened. Joshua looked back to see her just behind her mistress, looking a
s though she were about to burst into tears. Juliette turned slightly and shook her head at Betts.

  “Sh,” she whispered. “I know you have seen them too. They are not going to hurt you. They mean you no harm. We just need to get off this island. This is their home. Not ours. We need to return home.”

  “But, Lady…”

  “Hush,” Juliette said once again, reaching behind her and grasping the woman’s hand. “All will be well. Come along. Say nothing. It will be well.”

  The group moved quietly through the woods, reaching the hut after ten minutes walk. James and Charlie were both standing on the front porch, peering out through the trees. When they saw the group and spotted the soldiers following behind them, their faces lit up with delight.

  James let out a cry of relief. Joshua gave Juliette a look. Both of them turned their heads to look back at the crouching natives, who had stopped behind them and were still watching.

  “There are so many of them,” Juliette murmured. “I…I don’t know what to think. I do not think they are going to attack us though. We should take our things and make ready to leave. Do you think we should take the book? The journal? Or leave it here?”

  “Let’s take it. We will make a tribute to Sir Fenwick. We will mark off this island on the maps and speak to the Prince about it.”

  “What if these people need our help like those in Africa and other places Father goes?”

  Joshua shook his head. “Just because these people do not live like we do does not mean we have the right to impose our way of living upon them.”

  Juliette nodded. “I understand, but what if they need medical help? What if they…”

  “They have survived on their own without our interference for a very long time now. They do not need it now.” Joshua's voice was firm. He had clearly had a change of heart.

  “But…”

  Joshua stopped and pulled her slightly to the side, letting the group pass and ignoring the looks they were giving him and Juliette. He leaned down so that he could talk to her in a low voice without being heard by the others. “My lady, we cannot interfere here. Yes, they live primitive lives by our eyes. But that does not mean we need to take them from their home, or try to make their home like ours. They are happy. We must let them do what they do and be who they are.”