THREE HEROES

by Jo Beverley

  A man in the blue and white Excise uniform rose up, waving a musket at them.

  More shouting.

  The children broke ranks to run down the slope to peer into the chapel. The women rushed after, calling for order. Susan almost rose to scream for them to go back. They were in danger!

  The trooper yelled louder.

  “Someone’s going to be killed,” she said to Con. “We have to do something.”

  “Nick and Hawk will take care of them. Gifford’s coming. In fact, it’s time for you to be away from here, love.”

  “Then I’m going down to be closer to the children.”

  “Very well. Pursue your wanton maid.”

  She rose, but hesitated. “Will you be safe?”

  “Just obey orders, lad.”

  She rolled her eyes at him, but then she heard hoof-beats approaching. Unable to resist, she pulled him to her for a rapid kiss, then hurried over the rocks.

  Once clear of Con, she yelled in as deep a voice as she could. “Betsy, you damn whore. Get back here!”

  De Vere looked behind, screeched, and hurtled toward the trooper. “Save me, sir! Save me!”

  Con laughed and turned to look out at the sea as if he were merely admiring the view. When Gifford drew his horse to a rough halt beside him he turned. “Lieutenant! A pleasant day after the recent cool weather, is it not?”

  “Damn your eyes, I’ll see you in court for this, earl or no earl!”

  “For what?”

  “For signaling to smugglers, sir!”

  “In broad daylight?”

  Gifford looked down on the scene below, rose in his stirrups and screamed, “Shoot them, damn you. Shoot!”

  Con launched himself and dragged him off his horse, knocking him half unconscious in the process. “Shoot women and children, sir?”

  Gifford lay there, deep red with fury. “I’ll see you hang.”

  “And I’ll see you posted to Jamaica unless you do exactly as I instruct.” He had the man pinned with a knee in the belly and a hand in his stock.

  “I had smugglers trapped in that ruin, damn you!”

  Con tightened his grip in the neckband. “If so, they’re likely gone by now. Nothing to be done about that. But I take strong objection to your attempt to harm innocent bystanders. I also, of course, take violent objection”—he increased the pressure of his knee—“to your attempting to blackmail a lady into your bed. Don’t say it,” he interrupted, tightening the stock to the choking point when Gifford opened his mouth.

  Gifford’s red face began to purple.

  “Miss Kerslake is a lady for whom I have the highest regard, Gifford, and if I hear of anyone suggesting anything to her discredit, anything at all, I will be forced to take action. Both as an earl and as a man. Are we reaching a point of understanding?”

  Con took a gutteral noise as agreement and let him have more breath.

  Gifford used it to curse at him. “You’re hand in glove with the smugglers, are you? Just like the old earl.”

  “No.” Con felt some sympathy for Gifford’s attempt to do his job, if not for other things. “Gifford, there’s little point in catching another Captain Drake, man. There’ll be another, and another.”

  “It is my duty to catch smugglers, my lord, and you are a damned traitor for opposing me.”

  Con sighed. “Opposing you? I’m merely preventing a madman from firing on a group of children.”

  “You admitted—”

  “What? I’m the Earl of Wyvern, man. I cannot possibly be a smuggler.” Con rose, pulling Gifford to his feet. “Have sense.”

  Once free, Gifford grabbed for the pistol in a holster on his saddle.

  “Ah,” Con said to Hawk, who had climbed the rocks to this side. He’d seen him coming. “A witness.”

  He turned to face Gifford’s pistol. “Shooting a peer of the realm in cold blood is looked upon very poorly, you know.”

  “What’s going on here, Lieutenant?” Despite civilian clothes, Hawk’s tone rang with military authority. “A trooper down there threatened my friend and I, then some children, then a young lady seeking his help. Are you his commanding officer, sir?”

  Gifford’s pistol drooped. “We are engaged in capturing some dangerous smugglers, sir.”

  “I’m Wyvern,” Con said amiably to his friend, “and this is the local riding officer, Lieutenant Gifford.”

  Hawk bowed. “Major Hawkinville, my lord.” To Gifford, he snapped a command. “Go and take charge of your men, Lieutenant.”

  Gifford stood to attention. “Am I to assume you are taking command here, Major?”

  “Not at all, Lieutenant. I assume now your head is cool you see the way to go on.”

  Gifford glared at him in frustration, then thrust his pistol back in its holster. He stalked to the high point to look across the rocky slip at the chapel.

  Con followed. Children were playing in and out of the church, watched over by Nicholas, while four women, Race, and Susan surrounded the bewildered boatmen. An earthenware bottle was passing around. Doubtless scrumpy cider, adding considerably to the men’s bewilderment.

  David Kerslake was sitting on the ground in a red-stained shirt, Amelia attending to him with bandages.

  “By gad,” Con said, “your demented trooper has shot my estate manager!”

  “He’s a damn smuggler.”

  “Kerslake?”

  “Son of Melchisedeck Clyst, as you well know.”

  “I’m a relative of the late mad Earl of Wyvern, Gifford. Are you saying that makes me inevitably insane?” While Gifford attempted to come up with a retort, Con added, “Do you have any evidence against him?”

  “I interrupted men bringing tea up from that cove, my lord, and Kerslake and some others held us up while it was carried away.”

  “Are you sure?” Con asked. “I told Kerslake to check this area to see if it would be practical to rebuild the road here.”

  “Then why did he hide in that ruin?”

  “Zeus, if someone was shooting at me, I’d hide in whatever cover was available. I’m sure you’ve done the same many a time.”

  “But ...” Gifford looked at Con, tears of fury in his eyes.

  “You are not entirely wrong, Gifford,” Con said softly, “though you lost my sympathy by your dishonorable behavior toward a woman who had shown you nothing but kindness. But be assured that you will have the complete enmity of the Earl of Wyvern if you disturb his people here.”

  “It is my job to disturb smugglers, my lord, and in these parts everyone is a damn smuggler! And Kerslake is that blackguard, Captain Drake!”

  “Choose your targets, Gifford. Choose your targets. Captain Drake—whoever he may be—and the Dragon’s Horde have the support and cooperation of everyone in these parts. It’s been that way for generations. The Blackstock Gang to the west and Tom Merriwether’s Boys to the east, however, are universally feared. They’ve both been known to flog men to death for crossing them, and rape women who get in their way. They flog and rape for amusement as well. One or the other murdered your predecessor, not the Dragon’s Horde.”

  Gifford’s lip curled. “Know that for a fact, do you?”

  “I know their ways. Go after the other gangs and you’ll get support. We learned in the Peninsula that a war can be won or lost on the goodwill of the local people.”

  Gifford whirled and marched over to his grazing horse. “I’ll do you an ill turn if I can!” he declared as he mounted.

  “Unwise to say something like that before witnesses,” Hawk pointed out. “You’d better hope that Lord Wyvern doesn’t suffer any kind of accident, hadn’t you?”

  Almost steaming, Gifford wrenched his horse’s head around cruelly and spurred off.

  Con pulled a face. “I feel somewhat sorry for him, but there’s no place for personal vendettas in this.”

  They watched as Gifford raced inland until he could cross the slip, then hurtled down to berate his men and drag them away from temptation. H
e stopped his horse to look into the chapel, obviously hoping to find some contraband there, then glared around the area.

  “Doesn’t give up easily, does he?” Hawk said. “Shame, really. In wartime he’d probably be a hero.”

  Con noted that the two extra “women” had now slipped away, leaving the innocent intruders and David Kerslake. There also seemed to be a great deal of cider-fueled merriment.

  “Let’s go down and sort out our company.”

  When they arrived where Race and Susan were laughing together, he said, “Have you two made up?”

  With a wicked smile, Race pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “My love! Forgive me.”

  In return, Susan bent Race backward for what seemed to be a ravishing kiss. When she straightened him, she said, “Only if you promise to behave.”

  “Sweetheart,” Race fluttered, “I’m yours in all things.”

  Con felt a spurt of irrational jealousy. He knew neither of them was serious, but what if Susan did find another man to love? He had no right to mind, but it cut like a knife.

  The thought of Lady Anne and him had to hurt her as grievously.

  “How’s David?” he asked deliberately, to turn her mind to other things.

  She sobered and came over to him. “Not too bad. A ball in the shoulder, but not deep. What’s Gifford going to do now?”

  “Absolutely nothing, if he has any sense.” He told her what had happened.

  Her smile was brilliant. “Wickedly clever! As you say, now he’ll have to be careful about any moves he makes around here. I do wish David would accept the idea of being the earl, though.”

  “Let’s go and put it to him. This might have made it more attractive.”

  Nicholas and Hawk had gathered the children. Nicholas seemed to have confiscated the cider from the women as well. Con went over to where Amelia was finishing bandaging David Kerslake.

  “Damn fool. Broad daylight?”

  The younger man looked up, unabashed. “Creative thinking. Gifford’s been all over this area with extra troops at night. I tried to bring the tea in here last night, but a navy ship came close. So I had it dropped as floaters. You know what that means?”

  “Weighted so it rides just under the water with a marker on top. Seaweed or something like that.”

  “Right. We waited until Gifford was away from here, then brought ‘round a couple of boats to haul them in and bring them to shore. Gifford and his men have been up all night the last few nights. They should have been fast asleep!”

  “How did you get shot?”

  “A boatman called for me to halt. I hoped he was bluffing.”

  “David!” Susan exclaimed. “You’re lucky you’re not dead.”

  “Lucky he was trying to kill me, you mean,” Kerslake said with a grin. “The chance of Saul Cogley actually hitting his target is remote.”

  Con shook his head. “Have you had time to think about the earldom? It would make this sort of thing a great deal easier, I assure you.”

  Kerslake winced as Amelia tightened the bandage. She looked cross, too.

  “It’s not a burden a man of twenty-four wants,” he said, pulling a face. “Since I would be living here, I’d have to host a plaguey number of events and take part in county affairs. Then there’s London and Parliament, for heaven’s sake.”

  “The price of leadership,” Con said without sympathy.

  “Damn you.”

  “And you didn’t even mention the fact that you’ll instantly become a prize trophy in the marriage hunt.”

  “Didn’t you say you wanted me to accept it?” But Kerslake sighed. “I don’t really have any choice, do I, if I’m going to do the best for my people here.”

  Con noted that “my people” with a slight smile. Yes, willing or not, David Kerslake would be good for this area.

  “Help me up, will you?” Kerslake asked, and Con supported him. “I wrenched my knee as well, which was another reason I couldn’t make a break for it. Very well, damn you,” he added as soon as he was standing. “I’ll try to prize the earldom from your clutching fingers. As you said, Susan, Mel will be cock-a-hoop over it if it works.”

  Susan came to hug him and for a moment Con could steal a hug, too.

  Then he pulled apart.

  This truly was the end. He could leave Crag Wyvern immediately. Perhaps even ride over to stay at Nicholas’s place today.

  Never have reason to return.

  So be it.

  After one last shared look with Susan, he turned his mind to the logistics of getting Kerslake back to Church Wyvern. Carry him over the rocks, or use one of Nicholas’s and Hawk’s horses and go the long way around?

  He chose the latter course, and helped Kerslake into the saddle. Hawk prepared to mount to go with him, but then Race spoke up, in the arch, feminine manner that went with his disguise.

  “My dear sirs, I do hope I can depend upon you for protection.”

  “What?” Con asked, sharing a look with Nicholas and Hawk.

  “I have a little sin to confess,” Race said, digging flirtatiously in his plump bosom.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Con suppressed an urge toward minor violence. “Race, this is no time for idiocy.”

  “Well really, my lord! That is rather a case of the pot calling the kettle dirty. Here.” He pulled out a rolled-up paper and offered it, limp-wristed.

  It was a letter of some sort. Con took it impatiently, but then his heart stopped. It beat again, it thundered, as he broke the seal and scanned it. It was! It was the letter he’d written to Lady Anne a lifetime ago.

  Three days ago.

  “Devil take you!” He glared at Race, not sure whether to throttle him or kiss him. “What right have you to hold back my letters?”

  “The right of a friend,” Race said in a normal manner. “I didn’t read it, but Diego and I decided it couldn’t be urgent and might be unwise. Send it now if you want.”

  Con looked again at his fateful words, thinking for a moment of Lady Anne. He was certain there was no grand passion there, but he must have raised hopes. He was truly fond of her. Not fond enough, however, to sacrifice everything now he had a second chance.

  He looked at Susan who was staring at him as if afraid to believe. “I mentioned writing to a lady....”

  The last trace of color left her cheeks. “Con?”

  Eyes on her, he ripped the letter into tiny shreds and let the breeze tumble them across the headland and into the endless sea.

  “By a miracle,” he said, “I have hope of winning you for my wife, Susan, for my friend, my helpmeet all my days.”

  Susan had so firmly sealed off hope that now she could not quite believe. “Con ... ?” she asked again, reaching tentatively toward him.

  He met her and took her hand, strong, firm, real. She wasn’t dreaming.

  “I’m not committed, Susan. I’m free....” Then his eyes twinkled. “Oh dear, you’ve changed your mind. Race’s luscious figure has—”

  She threw herself into his arms to be swept up, to be swung around and around in the clean air and sunshine.

  Then they kissed.

  With scarcely a thought to their audience, they kissed as never before, because this time, after so long, it promised true eternity.

  It was hard to stop kissing, to unseal their bodies for even a moment, but they slowly parted, smiling, blushing under the interested eyes of friends, family, and neighbors.

  “‘Don’t tell me you were sacrificing yourself for the honor of the Rogues, Con,” Delaney said.

  “It wouldn’t have been a dire sacrifice.” He turned to look at Susan, a look that made her breath catch and her toes curl. “Then.”

  She sensed his honorable concern and drew him close. “If Lady Anne is as good a person as you say, love, she’ll find her true mate. Someone who loves her as we love.”

  Numbness, then delirium were turning into urgent purpose. “When can we marry?” she demanded.

  His
expression showed the same needs. “It is for you to name the day.”

  “Today?”

  He laughed unsteadily. “I don’t think even an earl can quite manage that.” He brushed his lips close to her ear. “And though I desire you here and now, beloved, I want to celebrate our love with May blossoms, and ribbons, and grain thrown in promise of a bountiful future....”

  She turned her head to meet his lips in a kiss. “A normal wedding?” How had he known before she knew how much she wanted that? “How long will it take?”

  “I have no idea. If we set Hawk to organizing it, it can doubtless be done in brisk military efficiency.”

  She laughed and turned to look at the major, but found that their audience was courteously moving away, leaving them blessedly alone.

  Miraculously they had forever, but these first moments were a jewellike treasure.

  Hands linked, they wandered to look down on Irish Cove, then sat together there in one another’s arms, in silent wonder.

  “I still can’t quite believe it,” she said at last, turning to him, unable to resist raising a hand to touch his face, to trace the beloved lines of his face. “I longed for a miniature of you once, you know.” She told him about the one his brother had brought to Kerslake Manor.

  He trapped her hand and kissed the palm, slowly, lids lowered. “I had no picture of you. I tried to tell myself that I didn’t want one, but it was a lie.”

  “Con, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  “Hush,” he whispered against her skin. “Hush, love. Right or wrong it’s all in the past, and who can say if it will not be better now, from this beginning? What did those children know of life, of temptation, of faltering steps and brave recoveries?”

  He looked at her, smiling. No, more than smiling, adoring. Her tears began to flow.

  “I know women have this damnable habit of crying when they’re happy,” he said, “but please don’t, love. Listen to my words. You, as you are, with all your past, both good and bad, are perfect to me now. That is the Susan I love beyond words to express it.”

  She did her best to swallow the tears. “I can’t imagine better words.” She took his hand and kissed it. “I have always loved you, but I adore the man you are now, tested and true. I feel drunk with it, as if I could leap off this cliff and fly!”