“Good morning,” she began, smiling, and headed for the sideboard, though the thought of eating anything at all made her stomach roil. As Grimm held her chair for her, she nodded her thanks and sat opposite her mother, with the rey at the head of the table. “Grimm, please give us some privacy,” she continued.
“Of course, Your Highness.” The butler snapped his fingers. He and the two hovering footmen in the room vacated, closing the doors behind them, and in a moment she and her parents were alone.
“What’s this?” her father asked. “Charles will be here within the hour. We have a very important appearance to make this morning.”
“I’m aware of that.” Josefina sat for a moment, gathering herself. “Father, I have some concerns about this next step we’re taking. I think we need to discuss them.”
He lifted a light eyebrow. “We discussed this already.”
“Yes, but where are you sending these settlers?”
“Are you jesting?”
“I’m quite serious. I would like to hear exactly what your plans are.”
He set down his fork with a clatter. “I will not be interrogated by you. This project has been our sole concern for the past two years. Why are you questioning it now?”
“Because I think you left out some details,” she returned. “I thought this was about loan money. And perhaps marrying me off to a peer. Nothing more.”
“That was the original idea.”
“Then why alter our plans?”
“Did you have any idea that we would be handed one hundred and fifty thousand pounds within a fortnight of our arrival in London?”
“No. Our reception here has been astounding.”
“Yes, it has been. We’ve been presented with the opportunity to double that. Perhaps triple it. We’ll never have to worry about money again. We can live like royalty.” He laughed. “What am I saying? We are royalty.”
“I have no difficulty with that,” she returned. “As of this moment, we’re only hurting the banks. They’ll have to refund that bond money to the investors or face riots. The citizens won’t lose anything but hopefully some of their naivete.”
“And?”
“And that changes once you begin selling land. These people are buying a dream, Father. A hope for the future. What are they going to find when they get to Costa Habichuela?”
“Paradise.”
She drew a breath. “That’s what we’ve told everyone else. What’s the truth?”
The rey frowned. “It is not your place to question me, Josefina. You will play your part with a smile. Because if you don’t, we’ll all swing for this. Do you understand that?”
Josefina swallowed. “I understand.” It was the closest he’d ever come to admitting anything, even about the loan money. The secret of their success, he always said, was to treat what they did as real, even among themselves. “Just tell me if there will be trouble when the ships and settlers arrive at Costa Habichuela.”
“I imagine there will be.” Stephen Embry leaned forward, grabbing her hand. “But we shall be gone from England by then. And Josefina, this is the last time we will speak of this.” He released her again.
Oh, dear. She’d been right. Melbourne had been right. And once he heard about the land sales—if she’d been uneasy about it, she couldn’t imagine how he might react. Or rather, she could imagine it. “There’s one more thing,” she said quietly, misery rising in her heart.
“Make it quick. We can’t afford to make the household staff suspicious.”
“I know. It’s just that…” God, she didn’t want to say it. “Melbourne has been asking some very pointed questions about the conditions in Costa Habichuela. I don’t think he believes the prospectus. In fact, I know he doesn’t. He knows we took the information from other reports.”
Slowly her father pushed to his feet. “Did you tell him anything?”
“No! Of course not. But I don’t know what he’ll do when he learns that you’re—we’re—encouraging people to sail off and settle there.”
The rey strode to the sideboard and back. “Damnation,” he muttered, chewing on his moustache as he paced. “I should never have suggested his involvement. I was thinking of the benefit of having the Griffin name attached to ours, not that the self-righteous fool would delve into our affairs. This is my fault.”
Melbourne was a great many things, but she would never consider him a fool. “We should cancel our engagement with him at Vauxhall.”
“That won’t do any good. As you said, once he hears about the land sales he’s bound to do something. No, we’ll meet him as intended. I’ll take care of matters.”
The way he said it sounded ominous. “How?”
“Don’t worry yourself over it.” He snapped his fingers several times. “Just avoid him until tonight.”
“I’m going to luncheon with his sisters and his daughter.”
“Would he confide in them?”
Would he? He seemed so private, even to those he knew well. “I don’t think so.”
“Then go to luncheon.” He crossed around the table again to kiss his wife. “I’ll meet you both in the foyer in forty minutes. I need to talk to Captain Milton. Vauxhall is a very crowded place, after all. Anyone can get in if they have the entrance fee. And a man like Melbourne has enemies. A number of them, I’m sure.”
As he left the room, Josefina looked at her mother. Nagging horror touched her as she considered her father’s words. “He wouldn’t,” she whispered.
“He’s angry,” Maria Embry soothed. “He’ll find a way through this. Your father is a very clever man. And I know he’s grateful that you told him of Lord Melbourne’s concerns.”
“Yes, but this isn’t about tricking someone into paying plantation rental to us or buying livestock that doesn’t exist, Mama. This—”
Grimm and the footmen returned to the breakfast room, and Queen Maria resumed her breakfast. Josefina tried to, but what little appetite she’d had was now gone completely.
She’d done her duty to her family, and told them about a very likely and serious threat. Her father had said he would deal with it. Therefore, everything was back where it belonged, proceeding exactly according to the plan the rey had begun mapping out two years earlier—except for the settlement of Costa Habichuela.
Why, then, did she feel sick with dread? If something happened now to Sebastian, it would be her fault. They had no agreement between them, and she’d certainly never promised him anything, but this felt like a betrayal. Not just of him, but of her heart.
“Thank you for seeing me, Admiral,” Sebastian said, offering his hand to the uniformed man standing behind the large mahogany desk.
Admiral Mattingly had a warm, hard grip, and a reputation much the same. “It’s a pleasure, Your Grace,” he rasped, “though an unexpected one, to be sure. What may I do for you?”
At the admiral’s gesture, Sebastian took a seat, declining the offer of a cigar. “I have an odd request,” he began, wondering what the rest of his family would think if they learned that he’d left London and Parliament for the second time in three days, this time for Dover. “I’m looking for anyone who might have sailed along the eastern coast of Central America. I’ve been offered some timber at a very good price, but I would like an outside opinion of the quality before I agree to anything.”
“Most of our fleet’s either in the Mediterranean or along the western coast of Spain at the moment.”
“Yes, I know my odds aren’t very favorable, but I wanted to try.”
“All the way from London on horseback for a question about timber quality?”
Sebastian nodded.
“It must be a great quantity of timber.” The admiral regarded him for a moment, then pulled a piece of paper from a drawer and scrawled something on it. “Lieutenant Calder!”
The young man who’d shown Sebastian in to the admiral pushed open the door, stepped into the room, and clicked his heels together. “Yes, sir!”
“Take this down to the Endeavor and deliver it to Captain Jerrod.”
“Yes, sir!” The lieutenant took the note, saluted, and vanished again.
“He’s a good lad, very efficient,” the admiral said, indicating the door, “but can’t set foot on a deck without casting up his accounts. Have some tea, Your Grace. We should have a reply in twenty minutes or so.”
“Thank you, Admiral.”
“Jerrod sails tomorrow. He may not be able to help, but it’s a shame to see you come all this way for nothing. England needs its timber.”
Sebastian smiled. Admiral Mattingly knew he frequently carried out directives for Prinny. This one might be a bit self-serving, but depending on whether he could find someone who knew the Mosquito Coast area and whether they could corroborate John Rice-Able’s stories or not, the result could have a national impact.
In just under twenty minutes Lieutenant Calder rapped on the door and entered the office again. “Admiral, Captain Jerrod sends his regrets that he cannot assist you personally, but he has put one of his lieutenants at your disposal.”
“Well, send him in, Calder.”
“Yes, sir!” Calder left again. A moment later a tall, handsome young man with black hair and merry green eyes entered the office. “Lieutenant Bradshaw Carroway at your service, Admiral,” he said, saluting.
“Carroway, this is His Grace, the Duke of Melbourne. Assist him in any way you can.”
Sebastian stood. “Might we take a walk?”
The lieutenant inclined his head. “After you, Your Grace.”
They left the office and headed along the harbor battery. “I apologize for taking you from your duties, Lieutenant. Admiral Mattingly says that your ship leaves tomorrow.”
The young man nodded. He had to be several years younger than Zachary, barely out of his teens. “You got me out of counting sacks of oranges, Your Grace. I am extremely grateful.” With a grin, he gave Sebastian a sideways glance. “You don’t remember me, do you?”
“Should I?”
“We met two years ago, very briefly. My older brother brought me along to a soiree you attended.”
“Who is your brother?”
“Tristan Carroway, Viscount Dare.”
It was Sebastian’s turn to smile. “Of course. I should have remembered.”
“I danced with your sister, Lady Eleanor. Your brother Charlemagne practically demanded my entire family history before he’d let me on the dance floor.” Carroway chuckled again. “But what may I do for you today, Your Grace? Captain Jerrod said someone had a query about South America.”
“Central America, actually. The Mosquito Coast. Are you familiar with it?”
“I was on the Triumph last year. We chased an American frigate up and down that coast for two months before we got word of a cessation of hostilities.”
Last year. Sebastian took a slow breath, covering his abrupt excitement. “Have you heard of a King Qental there?”
“Yes. Shifty fellow. Sold us the services of two guides to see us safely along the coast, and they nearly had us stranded on a sandbar two days later.”
“Is the area habitable?”
“In certain places. The higher the ground the more likely it is to last from one rainy season to the next. But there’s not a great deal of high ground along the coast.”
“Do you know of a place called Black Diamond Bay?”
Carroway considered for a moment. “No.”
“How about a small settlement called San Saturus?”
“No. There were a few mining and trapping encampments, and I suppose one of them could have been called that, but I don’t recall it.”
“Are you familiar with an Englishman named Stephen Embry?”
“Embry. Tall fellow, big blonde moustache?”
Good God. “Yes, that’s him. How do you know him?”
“As a favor to the governor of Belize we ferried a group of Englishmen from there to Jamaica. Mostly soldiers hiring out to the Spanish rebels. Or leaving their service, rather, since they were headed for Jamaica.”
“Why do you remember Embry?”
“He was calling himself a colonel in the Army Nationale, some sort of personal friend of Bolivar. From listening to him, he was leading the rebellion himself. All of his men wore some very sharp-looking black uniforms with green crosses on the breast. I remember thinking they must have been hotter than Hades wearing black wool in the jungle. Of course every one of them looked spotless—but on the Mosquito Coast they wouldn’t have seen much action against the Spanish regulars, anyway.”
“Lieutenant, would you be willing to swear to all of this in a court of law?”
Carroway frowned. “They’re just my observations.”
“They’re good enough.”
“I would be happy to, then, but—”
“But you’re sailing tomorrow. Damn.”
“I’ll write out a statement, if you think that will help you.”
“It would help immensely. Thank you.”
“Anything to keep me from counting potatoes. They were next on the inventory list.”
It was exactly the information he wanted, and needed, but Sebastian couldn’t help wishing for a single heartbeat that Bradshaw Carroway had been a guest of the rey of Costa Habichuela and had stayed in a splendid bedchamber in the rey’s royal palace in San Saturus. “One last question. Do you know of a country in that region called Costa Habichuela?”
“The Bean Coast? No. If we’d known of any such place, we would have stopped there to resupply instead of having to sail all the way back to Belize.”
They turned back toward the admiral’s office. “Thank you, Lieutenant Carroway.”
“Please, call me Shaw. I might have married your sister if your brother hadn’t threatened to spread my innards in the garden for fertilizer if I asked her to dance with me again.”
Sebastian chuckled, grateful for even a minute’s distraction.
They returned to Admiral Mattingly’s office, and the lieutenant wrote out a statement of his recollections concerning the Mosquito Coast, Colonel Stephen Embry, and the nonexistent San Saturus and Costa Habichuela. With the paper secured in his coat pocket, Sebastian thanked Carroway, the admiral, and His Majesty’s Navy. Then he retrieved Merlin and headed back to London. He had a party to attend at Vauxhall, and some answers to wring out of a pretty young lady who was apparently not at all what she claimed to be.
Chapter 14
The hordes that surrounded the small building, hastily labeled Costa Habichuela Land Office, actually cheered as Josefina and her parents disembarked from their coach. And she’d thought the crowd at the bank had been large.
“Magnificent, isn’t it?” the rey said, waving. “Hello, friends, and welcome!”
“How did so many people know about this?” Josefina asked in a hushed voice as she took her father’s arm. “You only told me yesterday.”
“I arranged for the newspapers to place ads beginning yesterday morning,” he returned, falling in behind Captain Milton as the soldier led the way to the closed office doors. “Ah, there you are, Mr. Halloway, Mr. Orrin. Let’s open these doors, shall we?” The rey faced the crowd. “Thank you all for your support and your enthusiasm. I want to be the first to welcome you as new citizens of Costa Habichuela!”
The crowd roared. So many people, the majority of them from the lower classes—clerks and farmers, rag and bone men, servants, street sweepers, miners, and bakers. They wanted new lives in paradise, and would spend every penny they owned to purchase one. It was an odd, miserable feeling to see their happy, hopeful faces and to know in a month or so every one of them would hate the idea of Costa Habichuela and everyone who represented it. They would hate her. And she would deserve it.
“Smile,” her mother whispered, taking the arm her father had released.
“How can I?” she returned.
“Because we have no alternative, chica.”
The Duke of Harek swept up to them. “J
oin the rey, Your Majesty,” he said to her mother, smiling. “I’ll keep our princess from being carried aloft on the grateful shoulders of the people.”
“That’s a bit melodramatic, don’t you think?” Josefina commented, accepting a rose from a young girl.
“Nonsense. They worship you. I worship you.”
She eyed him, wishing he were Melbourne. “Do you now?”
“I do. I’ve spoken with His Majesty, in fact. And though nothing’s been formalized, I want you to know that I intend to ask for your hand.” Light green eyes assessed her. “You’re not surprised.”
“Should I be?”
His smile deepened. “I suppose not. My only concern actually, is whether you might decline in hopes of receiving a similar offer from Melbourne.”
Her heart wobbled. “Melbourne? I can barely tolerate the man.”
“You don’t have to pretend, Your Highness. His wealth and power are unmatched. But we all know he won’t marry when he’d be expected to leave England, even if he did ever decide to remarry at all.”
“You’re quite the Melbourne scholar,” she said, trying to keep her voice from tightening. Of course by now she knew what Sebastian would and wouldn’t do, but that didn’t mean she wanted to hear it said aloud. How could her father have miscalculated so?
“In some ways I am,” Harek returned in a lower voice. “For instance, I know you’ve shared a bed.”
The blood fled her face. “What? Why—”
“I don’t mind. Truly. Raising a child with Griffin blood, especially if it has enough of his looks to make its parentage apparent, could be very beneficial to us. Income-wise, I mean. So continue as you will.”
For a moment her mind refused to accept what she’d just heard. “I—I have no idea what you’re talking about, sir, and even if I did, I would not—”
“I’m not some monster, Your Highness. I did not say what I did to offend or threaten you. You are pleasing to me, and I think we will be a good match. Many marriages are made merely for political or monetary gain. That may be the case here as well, but at least we like one another. And as long as we’re in London, yes, please continue to encourage Melbourne. I see no downside to any such arrangement.”
Sins of a Duke Page 17