"Oh, no, I'd prefer to stay." Julia tried not to panic. "I'm quite fine. I'm not tired at all."
The music burst into a lively country dance, and Julia could barely hear herself speak. "Really, sir."
They reached the rear curtained wall and Simeon glanced around to see if anyone was watching them. All the guests had turned to observe the first dancers lining up in the center of the gallery.
Julia tried to prevent Simeon from drawing her beyond the curtain, but her own strength was no match for his. She opened her mouth to cry out, to cause a scene, anything to keep Simeon from dragging her away, but he was too quick. Everything was happening too quickly. Almost as if he'd planned it.
Simeon clamped his hand down on her mouth, spun her around, and shoved her against the stone wall. It was still wet with fresh mortar, and she could smell the wet stone.
"You really didn't think you were going to get away with what you did, did you?"
Her head banged against the stone and stars of light and pain burst in her head. Her hand fell to her breasts, where Griffin's ring hung beneath her undergarments.
"You didn't truthfully think I would allow you to give away what was mine?" He grasped her by the shoulder and slammed her against the wall again, his hand still on her mouth. "And get away with it?" He punctuated his last words by throwing her against the wall. Her hand that held the ring jerked, and the ribbon snapped.
Julia groaned as pain shot down her spine and she felt the jeweled ring fall through her clothing. She tried to struggle. She didn't want to lose Griffin's ring. But she was so weak from no food or water all day that she could barely stand. Stars exploded in her head again and the ring was lost.
Julia's thoughts came in dull pulses. She couldn't believe this was happening. Not with so many witnesses so close. Surely he didn't think he could kill her with so many people so near, did he?
"You didn't think I would let you cuckold me and live to laugh at me, did you? Did you?"
Her head hit hard against the wall, and her teeth slammed together again and again.
He lowered his hand from her mouth. She tried to scream, but she couldn't. Her head throbbed with blinding pain. Her mouth wouldn't move. Her voice wouldn't rise from her throat.
He's really killing me, she thought, her mind drifting with an amazing calmness. Lizzy . . . Griffin . . .
"I keep what is mine," Simeon continued to rant.
Julia thought it strangely ironic that she could still hear the music. How many souls could say they died to such a lively tune?
"And you are mine." Simeon drew close to whisper in her ear. "Always were, always will be."
Slam. Again. Again.
"Mine. Mine to keep. A great treasure. Mine forever."
Julia felt her head slam against the stone, only this time the pain was dull. Simeon's voice grew soft. She heard one last shrill violin note, the laughter of the guests. Then there was nothing, nothing but blackness.
"Lady Elizabeth, you must not struggle."
Lizzy lay on her side on a narrow cot, in a small room somewhere within the servants' quarters of Bassett Hall. Mr. Gordy had led her through the darkness down so many winding halls that she wasn't sure where they were in the house. He had tied a handkerchief around her head and across her mouth so that she couldn't speak. Her hands were tied behind her with another piece of fabric.
Gordy sat stiffly beside her on the bed. A single tallow candle illuminated the cold, drab room. There was no furniture but the rope bed, and the walls were bare, save for a few cracks in the plaster wall. The only evidence that the room was occupied by someone was Mr. Gordy's clean, starched shirts and cravats that hung on pegs protruding from the wall.
"Please," Mr. Gordy whispered. He touched her hip to comfort her, then pulled his hand away as if he was afraid of her. "I did not want to do this. But it was the only way. If anyone heard you, surely the earl would have been told." He stared at her with his gray eyes. "And then we would both be dead."
"Let me go," Lizzy tried to say against the dry handkerchief in her mouth. But the words didn't make any sense in her ear. It was just a jumble.
Lizzy was so afraid. She was afraid of Mr. Gordy. She didn't understand why he was doing this to her. She was afraid for Julia. Where was Julia?
"Please," Lizzy said. "This hurts."
Gordy stared at her as if he didn't know what to do next. They had been in the room a long time. Lizzy wasn't a good judge of time, but she knew it had to be more than two hours. "Please," she begged.
He clasped his hand. "If I take the gag off, will you speak softly?"
She nodded.
"Lizzy, I mean what I say. He will not hesitate to slit our throats and toss our bodies down the well."
Lizzy felt sick to her stomach. Why did the earl want to kill her? Because she loved Amos, or because Baron Archer had made a baby in Julia? She didn't know. But if the earl was this angry with her, how angry was he with Julia? He had sent that food to make Julia sick, maybe even die like the kitty. What if he tried to make her die again? Lizzy's lower lip trembled, and she had to concentrate hard not to cry. Julia needed her.
Lizzy looked up at Mr. Gordy. If she was going to get away from him, she was going to have to do whatever he wanted her to, or at least pretend she would. "I'll be quiet," she mumbled against the handkerchief. "Please?"
After staring at her for a moment, Mr. Gordy stood up and carefully sat her up. He stooped in front of her. "Promise? To save us both?"
She nodded.
Mr. Gordy removed the handkerchief, and Lizzy took a deep breath.
"Are you all right, Lady Elizabeth?" He stared at her so strangely. Like she was someone very important. "If there was any other way I could have gotten you here, I would have. I didn't want your nursemaid to hear you. If she had, I would have had to kill her. That's why I left the door unlocked. If I'd had to take you from the room, I would have had to kill her, and I knew that would make you cry." He took her hand gently in his. "I don't want to see you cry."
Lizzy tried to slow her breathing so that she didn't get light-headed. She was so afraid, but she knew she couldn't let him know how afraid she was. "I won't scream," she said softly. Her voice sounded strange . . . wavy.
"I won't hurt you," Gordy repeated. "I would never hurt you. I did it all for you. I betrayed the master to protect you."
Lizzy didn't know what he was talking about. "Where is my sister?"
He glanced away. "I'm sorry. I couldn't save her." He clasped her hand again. "But I can save you from the earl. I've coin. I can take you anywhere you want to go." He took her hand in his cold one. "I can make you happy if you'll allow me."
Lizzy didn't understand. What made Gordy think she would go anywhere with him? What did he mean he couldn't save Julia? She watched him as he rose from the floor.
"I think it would be better if we went now," Mr. Gordy said. "The master will be looking for me soon. When he discovers I didn't kill you and the old maid, he'll be enraged." He pulled a lumpy canvas sack from beneath the rope bed. "If he tried to harm you, I would have to kill him. The earl has been good to me. I don't want to have to kill him." His gaze met hers. "Are you ready, my love?"
Lizzy stood because she didn't know what else to do. She had to get away from Mr. Gordy. She had to save Julia from the earl.
"Come." Gordy held out his hand to her.
She hesitated, trying hard to think. What would Julia do if Mr. Gordy was trying to steal her? Julia was smart. Lizzy just had to think like Julia. "Could . . . could you untie my hands."
He hesitated.
"Please. It hurts." She tried to talk in a soft voice she knew some men liked.
"You won't try to run?"
She turned her back to him so that he could release her hands. "Of course not." She told him what he wanted to hear. "You're saving me. Why would I run?"
"That's right, Lady Elizabeth. I'm saving you. I just want to protect you. Care for you. Love you," he whispered.
Gordy took her hand and led her out of the room and into a dark corridor. Here the walls smelled dirty and musty. Lizzy didn't know where she was, so she couldn't tell where he was taking her as they went through doors and down more dark, narrow hallways.
Finally they stepped through a door out into the night air. Lizzy shivered.
Gordy immediately slipped out of his black coat and laid it over her shoulders. "There are cloaks for us in the barn, where we'll get the horses. It's not a pleasant night to ride, I'm afraid, but it is the quickest way I know to get out of London."
Lizzy stared at the barn looming in front of them. She couldn't leave Bassett Hall while Julia was still inside. What was she going to do? Then a thought came to her.
Lizzy halted on the stone path to the barn. "Oh, dear," she said sweetly, as if she were trying to wheedle something out of Drusilla. "I fear I can't ride without stopping at the necessary first." She lowered her lashes like some women did when talking about such things.
"The necessary?" Mr. Gordy seemed startled, as if he didn't realize women needed to use it.
Lizzy nodded. "I can't possibly ride. It's right through the hedgerow there." She pointed. "I won't be but a moment."
Mr. Gordy glanced in that direction. "You won't try to run?"
"I promise." She smiled and squeezed his hand before she let go of it. "I'll be right back. Wait for me here."
Chapter Twenty-seven
Griffin rode behind the king's soldiers up the stone drive that led to the rear of Bassett Hall. Another regiment of soldiers had been sent to enter by the front. There were coaches everywhere, lined up along Aldersgate Street. Every window on the first story of the great stone house glimmered elegantly in candlelight. Footmen and coachmen gathered at the coaches and stared as the king's soldiers rode by.
Griffin had to find Julia. He had to get her out of Simeon's—the traitor's—clutches. He only prayed he wasn't too late. On the long ride back to London he had tried innumerable ways to convince himself she was unharmed. Surely St. Martin would not have thought his wife's infidelity was punishable by death, even if he thought Griffin's was. And even if he believed her crime so heinous, he'd not have tried to kill her tonight, not with the house full of guests. Not with so many witnesses. Not on his birthday.
It had been difficult for Griffin to leave Lena's body on the road at the site of the ambush. But he had to remind himself that she was dead, and that his duty now was to the king, to Julia, and to the baby she carried. Lena's last words before she died in his arms had been to wish him and Julia happiness.
Griffin had left Jabar behind with Lena's men to carry her body back to her castle. Jabar had wanted to tend to his master's wounded arm, but there was no time. It was only a graze. It hurt like hell, but it would heal. Griffin had ridden back to London, straight to Whitehall. Within moments of securing an audience with the king, troops were dispatched to Bassett Hall. Griffin needed Simeon taken alive to gain what information he could from him before he lost his head in the Tower, but they were not to risk allowing him to escape. The king's orders were to take the earl alive, dead, or maimed, depending upon Simeon's degree of cooperation.
As Griffin rode up the stone drive, he tried not to think about all the mistakes he had made in the last six months. Why hadn't he suspected Simeon sooner? How could Simeon have been leading the plot to dethrone the king beneath his nose, and Griffin not see it? How could he have so misjudged the Earl of St. Martin? How could he have left his Julia wrapped in the man's talons? Had his damned honorable sense of duty cost her her life, cost him the only romantic love he would ever know?
"Help! Help!" came an oddly familiar voice from a hedgerow. "Help me, please."
Startled, Griffin, riding at the rear of the regiment, reined in his horse. A woman ran up a small embankment toward them, her petticoats flapping in the wind.
"Help me!" she cried.
Griffin squinted in the darkness. The soldiers had ridden ahead and were dismounting to surround the house. In moments it would be secure. Simeon would not escape.
"Lizzy?" Griffin called in amazement.
Just as she crested the embankment, a man appeared, chasing her.
"Lady Elizabeth! Lady Elizabeth," the man hollered, sounding as if he were in tears. "Please don't. Please don't run. You promised."
Lizzy caught sight of Griffin as he swung out of the saddle, taking a pistol with him. "Help me!"
"Lizzy!"
"Lord Archer!" She threw out her arms. "Help me! He's trying to take me away."
"Lady Elizabeth," the man sobbed. "Don't do this. Don't abandon me. I can't live without you."
Griffin opened his arms and caught Lizzy. Her face was tear-streaked and her hair was tangled, but she appeared unharmed.
"Lizzy, what is it? What's happened? Where's Julia?"
"Set her free," the man shouted. "Set her free or else—"
Griffin saw Mr. Gordy draw a pistol from the canvas bag he carried. "Where's Julia?"
Lizzy clung to Griffin, making it difficult for him to raise his weapon. Gordy was still charging them. If Griffin had to shoot, he'd have a hell of a time taking aim with an hysterical woman in his arms.
"I don't know," she cried, shaking her head wildly. "Mr. Gordy said he couldn't save her from the earl."
"Let her go!" Mr. Gordy halted twenty paces from them. He lifted an old wheel lock pistol. "Let her go, or I'll shoot."
Lizzy covered her ears with her hands. "I don't want to go with him. I want Amos. I want my sister!"
"Put down the weapon, Mr. Gordy," Griffin said. He still wasn't certain what was going on, though he suspected Gordy was trying to kidnap Lizzy without Simeon's knowledge. "You wouldn't want her hit in the cross fire."
Two soldiers with muskets emerged from the darkness. "Lay down your weapon," one of them ordered Gordy.
The pistol shook in the secretary's hands. "She's mine. All these months I protected her. I watched her. I kept her safe," he sobbed. "She's mine and I want her now." His voice cracked with gut-wrenching emotion. "I love her."
Lizzy spun around in Griffin's arm to face her kidnapper. "If you love me," she screamed angrily, "tell me where my sister is."
Tears ran down the secretary's handsome face. "I don't know. I couldn't save her. Only you. Only you, Lady Elizabeth."
"Put down the weapon in the name of the king," the soldier ordered again. "Or we shoot."
Gordy's gaze drifted in the direction of the soldiers. "I saved her. Why doesn't she want me? Why doesn't she love me?"
The soldiers advanced toward Mr. Gordy. "Your pistol. Lay it aside, and you'll not be harmed."
Mr. Gordy took one last look at Lizzy and then pulled the trigger of his pistol, firing on the closest soldier. The king's man went down. The second soldier fired on Gordy.
Lizzy screamed and covered her ears again. Griffin pulled her against his body to shield her from the sight.
The lead ball hit Gordy in the chest and threw him backward onto the ground. Griffin somehow knew Gordy had fired on the soldier because he wanted to die.
Griffin led Lizzy away from the dead men. "Come, Lizzy. Hold on for me." He hugged her. "You have to tell me what happened. You have to help me find Julia."
Led by Griffin and Lizzy, the soldiers reached the gallery and were lining up the guests for questioning. The bright room was a noisy chaos. Lizzy had related to him what she knew. There were still more questions than answers. But Griffin knew that the last time Lizzy had seen her sister, Julia was still alive and here in the house.
Griffin immediately found the captain in charge. The entire house was being searched. So far, no one had found St. Martin or Julia, but the earl had been seen not a minute before the soldiers arrived.
Out of the crowd of ladies and gentlemen Drusilla appeared, dressed
in a flannel, striped sleeping gown and cap.
"My baby." She took Lizzy into her arms. "My baby."
Griffin turned away from the captain, who had begun shouting orders again. "Drusilla, have you seen Julia? Do you know where she is?"
Fat tears rolled down the ugly, old woman's face. "I woke up and Lady Lizzy was gone. The earl, he took Lady Julia away hours ago. Took her to the ball, he did. Made her wear her wedding gown."
Her wedding gown? Griffin rubbed his temples, trying to think. His wounded arm ached like hell. Her wedding gown? That was odd, even for Simeon. What were his intentions? At least Griffin knew he had to still be here. Bassett Hall was surrounded by soldiers. No one could escape.
Griffin squeezed Lizzy's hand. "You stay with Drusilla."
She nodded, her face streaked with tears. "Please find my sister. I want my sister."
"I'll find her," Griffin vowed as he rushed to the front hall and instinctively climbed the grand staircase, dodging soldiers who seemed everywhere at once, their boots soiling the earl's freshly scrubbed floors. At the top of the first landing, Griffin raced for Julia's apartments. He flung open the door and rushed in, nearly tripping over a tray of food and a bundle of dirty linens.
"Julia!" The sitting room was lit by several candles. No Julia. "Julia," he called again and again as he hurried through the adjoining rooms. He even checked the back staircase. She wasn't there.
"I've found him," someone called from the hallway. "Get Captain Leander. The earl has been found!"
Griffin charged through the door down the hall. At the landing, he came upon two soldiers dragging Simeon by his green and white silk doublet.
"Unhand me," the earl ordered. "Take your filthy hands off me. I'll have you strung up for this!"
"Simeon!"
The earl glanced around and his lip turned up in a sneer. "Cousin, what a surprise. I thought you . . . indisposed."
Griffin yanked Simeon from the soldiers' grasp, surprising himself. Until this moment he had been able to remain a soldier and use his head. Even with Lena dying in his arms, he'd been able to keep a certain emotional distance that allowed him to function. To do his job. He had lost that distance. "Where is she?" he demanded, tightening his fingers on the earl's windpipe. "Where is Julia?"
In Love with the King's Spy (Hidden Identity) Page 28