The Black Madonna (Roundheads & Cavaliers Book 1)

by Stella Riley

  ‘Oh do let’s go and watch!’ exclaimed Amy. ‘There are so few processions these days this will be quite a big one.’

  ‘Big – but rather unpleasant,’ objected Kate.

  ‘I don’t care. I want to go and I will.’

  Kate hesitated and then, because Major Winter was saying nothing at all, allowed herself to be overborne. If she turned on her heel and went back into the house, she couldn’t be sure he would not go with her. So she irritably resigned herself to watching four thousand poor wretches being turned into a side-show and set about selecting a suitable excuse for when the major asked her to go to bed with him.

  The streets were thronged with people all out to enjoy the spectacle but, in his New Model red, Cyrus Winter had no difficulty at all in commanding an advantageous viewpoint for his ladies. Kate thanked him sourly and wondered if Eden had a coat like that – and whether, if he had, he’d been home to show it to Mother.

  The procession was headed with the bright silks of fifty captured standards and Kate listened glacially while Major Winter identified them for her.

  ‘You don’t think,’ she said abruptly, ‘that your presence here today is in rather poor taste?’

  ‘Not at all,’ came the amused reply. ‘Half of these will turn their coats fast enough if it gets them out of prison. I simply made my choice a little sooner.’

  Kate stared stonily at the columns of men passing in front of her. Somewhat surprisingly, most of them – though tired and travel-worn - were far from being the poor wretches of her imagination. And then, just as she was concluding that the parade wasn’t going to be quite as harrowing as she’d feared, a familiar face hove into view.

  Without stopping to think, Kate hurled herself forward.

  ‘Francis!’

  Behind the dirt and fatigue of the worst fight he’d ever known, followed by a long and gruelling march, Francis Langley managed something approaching a smile.

  ‘Kate? My God! What are you doing here?’

  ‘Visiting Amy.’ She clutched his sleeve to keep pace with the column. ‘Where are they taking you?’

  ‘Tothill Fields. Not that it matters. I’m unlikely to walk away whistling this time.’

  ‘They’ll ask you to re-enlist.’

  ‘And you think I’d do it?’ The blue eyes grew suddenly hard. ‘Never in this life.’ He paused and gave her a swift hug. ‘Go back to Amy, Kate. And give my love to Eden. Tell him I’m sorry about Celia. He deserved better.’

  Because there was little alternative, Kate pressed his hand and then stood back, watching him march away. Moments later, Cyrus Winter materialised at her elbow and she said distantly, ‘It was Francis. Francis Langley.’

  ‘Ah. The fair Celia’s brother.’

  ‘And Lady Wroxton’s only son.’

  His brows rose.

  ‘You’re not about to demand another mercy mission, are you?’ And, when she said nothing, ‘I see that you are. But not, if you are wise, on behalf of the once-delectable Lady Mary. No. If you wish to ask a second favour of me, I’m very much afraid that it must be for yourself.’

  Damningly and too late, Kate recognised her pose of appearing helpless and ignorant was swiftly getting out of hand but that she dared not jeopardise it before Luciano returned. Over the pain in her chest, she said, ‘And if I do?’

  ‘Why then, dear heart, you must be willing to pay the price,’ he smiled. ‘Unless you’re more attached to this mysterious husband of yours than you’d have me believe?’

  ~ * * ~ * * ~

  SEVEN

  On the following afternoon, Luciano walked into his parlour to find Toby, Giacomo and Gino all talking at once whilst apparently arming themselves to the teeth.

  ‘What the devil’s going on?’ he demanded. And in the silence that followed, ‘Well?’

  Toby finished buckling on a sword.

  ‘The man who killed your father and mine is Cyrus Winter. In an hour’s time, Kate is meeting him so he’ll get Selim out of prison. So we’re all --’

  ‘She’s doing what?’ Luciano’s voice cracked like a pistol shot.

  ‘You heard,’ snapped Toby. ‘And I haven’t got time to argue. The three of us are going to make sure nothing untoward happens. And now, if you don’t mind, we ought to be off.’

  Luciano’s hand closed like a vice round his arm.

  ‘But I do mind. You say the man I’ve been looking for is Winter. Are you sure?’

  ‘Well, he’s wearing your bloody emerald. How much more proof do you need?’

  Luciano was extremely pale and his breathing had become rather erratic but his fingers maintained their grip.

  ‘Does he know you recognised it?’

  ‘No. If he knew that, Kate would have more to worry about than just staying out of his bed.’ And then, wincing, ‘Are you trying to break my damned arm?’

  ‘No – though it’s what you deserve.’ Releasing him, Luciano turned back towards the door. ‘Go to the rendezvous, by all means – but Kate won’t be there.’

  ‘Think you can stop her, do you?’ called Toby.

  ‘If I can’t,’ came the swiftly diminishing reply, ‘don’t be here when I get back.’

  * * *

  Luciano met Kate less than a hundred yards from Amy’s door and, without giving her time either to speak or even get over the shock of seeing him, said flatly, ‘Forget it, Caterina. You’re not going.’

  His eyes held an expression she’d never seen before and his mouth was set like a trap.

  Kate recovered her breath as best she could and said, ‘I have to. He’s leaving London tomorrow and has promised to get Selim out before he goes if I – if I --’

  ‘If you what?’ Taking her arm in a too-firm clasp, Luciano marched her out of Fleet Street and on up Ludgate Hill. ‘Lie with him?’

  ‘No! It wouldn’t have come to that. We had it all planned.’

  ‘Ah yes. Tobias to the rescue. Let’s not think too deeply about how that would have worked out. And you honestly thought he’d have Selim released, did you?’ Every cadence in the beautiful voice indicated temper, barely held in check. ‘Either you’re completely deranged or you haven’t understood anything I’ve said – and have conveniently forgotten your promise.’

  ‘I didn’t forget it. But I had the chance to convince him that none of us knew anything, so I took it. And if letting him think he could seduce me means that he hasn’t killed anybody recently, it was worth it.’ She drew a short, ragged breath. ‘I had to do something about Selim. But I wouldn’t have slept with him. You know I wouldn’t. Not even if he’d sworn to help Francis as --’

  The dark eyes instantly impaled her.

  ‘Langley? What the hell’s he got to do with it?’ And then, before she could open her mouth, ‘No. Don’t say any more. I think I’d better hear the rest when I can explode in private.’

  ‘It would have been all right. Toby and the others would have --’

  And that was when Luciano lost the last frail threads of his self-control.

  Hauling her into the shadows of a doorway and taking her shoulders in a bruising grip, he said furiously, ‘They’d have died. Tobias has a sword he doesn’t know how to use - Giacomo and Gino, pistols they’ve never fired. And Winter wouldn’t have been alone. He’d have had a couple of his hired cut-throats standing by. So Tobias and Giacomo and Gino would have wound up dead. And as for you not lying with him – do you really think he’d have asked permission? Or that he’d listen when you said no? Of course he wouldn’t. Hell – he’d have enjoyed making you plead. Then he’d have fucked you with about as much consideration as he’d show any trollop on the street-corner. And afterwards? Afterwards, he could have taken you anywhere – somewhere I might never have found you – or have left you watching Tobias bleed to death. And you can stand there and tell me it would have been all right? Christ!’

  Kate flinched at the ugly words and stared back at him, her throat closing painfully. She said haltingly, ‘We hadn’t – I had
n’t looked at it like that.’

  ‘Then you should have. This wasn’t just stupid, Caterina. It was bloody insane. If I’d got back even an hour later …’ He stopped, fighting to breathe normally and regain his composure. Then, crushing her in a hard, rough embrace while his voice still throbbed with temper, ‘If you won’t have a care for your own safety, you might spare a thought how I’ll feel if something happens to you.’

  Unable to free her arms from his grip and with her mouth crushed against his shoulder, she said, ‘I’m sorry. Truly.’

  ‘And that’s supposed to make it all right?’ He swore under his breath and released her. ‘Let’s go. Tobias and the others will want to know they’ve escaped retribution.’

  * * *

  Back in Cheapside, Toby and Giacomo were anxiously waiting. Both questioned Kate with their eyes but remained wisely silent. Luciano, on the other hand, had no such inhibitions.

  ‘Sit down,’ he invited grimly. ‘Now we’re all assembled, I’d like the whole story from the beginning. Caterina?’

  Carefully and concisely, she told him everything. All the lies she had fed Cyrus Winter and the reasons behind them; his new allegiance to the Parliament and apparent desire to seduce her; Selim’s arrest on a patently false charge – even her brief meeting with Francis. She tried to make it sound sensible and safe but her heart sank as she watched Luciano’s face becoming more and more shuttered. In the end, hoping it would help, she handed over a folded piece of paper, saying, ‘If the ring isn’t proof enough, you’d better take a look at this.’

  He examined it. It stated only the time and place for that afternoon’s meeting with Kate but it was written in the same ornate hand he’d seen twice before and signed with a single, convoluted initial.

  And finally, of course, it all made sense. Cyrus Winter – who’d been in Oxford when Ferrars blew his brains out and in Bristol when Webb became the subject of a damaging scandal; Cyrus Winter – to whom two apparently random events had not been random at all – but sufficient to arouse his suspicions of Luciano’s real identity and order the ransacking of his house.

  Very slowly, Luciano’s gaze rose to encompass his wife. He said, ‘So now we know. In a little while, I’ll probably start to appreciate the fact. But as yet, the only thing I can think of is the unforgivable risk you ran throughout all of this – and that the rest of you let her.’ The forbidding gaze skimmed Toby, Giacomo and Gino and then, rising, he picked up his hat. ‘And now I suppose I’d better go and do something about Selim – after which we’ll need to put our heads together and come up with a plan. Preferably, a sensible one – and, if it’s not too much trouble – over a meal.’

  Upon which sarcastic note, he was gone.

  * * *

  By the time he returned nearly four hours later, Kate had assisted Aysha to prepare a hearty supper. Then Luciano and Selim strolled in and she was edified by the sight of the Turkish girl throwing herself on Selim’s neck while Luciano looked on with a faint smile.

  ‘Heavens!’ Kate wiped her floury hands on her apron and absorbed the fact that, though his eyes were still shadowed, he didn’t look furious any more. ‘How on earth did you do it?’

  ‘The usual way. I’ve become an expert in knowing which palms to grease. Ought I to mention that you’ve got a smut on your nose?’ He removed it with the tip of one finger. ‘That’s better. Ah yes … and you can stop worrying about Mr Langley.’

  Faintly flushed and sternly repressing a desire to fling herself on him in the manner of Aysha, she said feebly, ‘Francis? You surely didn’t manage to free him as well?’

  ‘No. But both the French and Spanish residents have been given permission to do some recruiting amongst the Cavaliers who won’t join the New Model – and the Frenchman is a friend of mine. If Francis will agree to fight under the fleur-de-lys, Sabran will offer him a captaincy. If he’s got any sense, he’ll take it.’

  Kate gave up trying to be circumspect and flung her arms about his neck.

  ‘And about time too,’ grumbled Luciano. ‘I’d have thought a three-month separation was enough to provoke some sort of welcome – without having to perform the labours of Hercules as well.’

  Supper – due to the twin reliefs of having Luciano and Selim safely back in the fold and knowing that Cyrus Winter would be leaving London on the following morning – was a pleasanter meal than might have been expected. Then, when it was over and Aysha had disappeared to the kitchen, Luciano leaned his elbows on the board and, looking round at Kate, Toby, Selim and Giacomo, said, ‘And now to business. Thanks to Tobias, we are finally aware that our quarry is Cyrus Winter – and Kate has told us that, for the next few weeks at least, he can be found with the army. This, I need not tell you, is the miracle I’d given up hoping for.’

  ‘You’ll follow him?’ asked Toby.

  ‘In due course, yes. First, however, I think there is something else we might find it profitable to consider.’ He paused and then said, ‘You tell me that Winter has gone over to the Parliament. I’m not sure I believe it.’

  Kate’s brows rose.

  ‘Why not? It’s all of a piece with everything else we know of him. Why shouldn’t you believe it?’

  ‘For a whole battery of reasons,’ replied Luciano calmly. ‘Can you see a man with Cyrus Winter’s wealth and reputation slotting happily in amongst the Covenanters, the Puritans and Cromwell’s sectarian friends? I can’t. And then we come to the other things we know about him. This is a man of quite incredibly tortuous mind. Think of the way he chose to get rid of my father. All right – I’ll allow that we don’t yet know why he needed to be rid of him. But if you want someone dead, the simplest means is a knife on a dark night – not a complicated scenario involving four other people. And what has he been doing recently with regard to me? He knows he intends to kill me – but, instead of doing it, he indulges himself by trying to make my life a misery first. This,’ said Luciano, meeting Kate’s eyes, ‘isn’t a man who doesn’t anything straightforwardly. And my opinion, for what it’s worth, is that he’s either spying for the King or playing a double game. The only question is – which?’

  There was a long silence. Then Selim said, ‘If this is so, we have him.’

  ‘Wait a minute,’ frowned Toby. ‘That’s pretty big assumption to make on sheer guesswork. And without any evidence, who’s going to believe you?’

  ‘No one,’ said Luciano. ‘But then – after the doubts Winter has been so busy placing about me in so many quarters – no one would believe me anyway.’

  ‘So what use can we make of it?’ asked Kate. ‘Even if you’re right, it’s no good unless we can tell somebody.’

  ‘Quite. Which is why we aren’t going to tell somebody; we’re going to tell everybody.’ Luciano leaned back, smiling and allowed his eyes to travel to Toby. ‘I think it’s time you and Geoffrey went back into the cartoon business. A series of six, let us say; some for distribution in Royalist districts which indicate disloyalty to the King and others to be circulated here in London and throughout the ranks of the New Model, suggesting the opposite.’ He smile grew. ‘Let’s put Mr Winter in the pillory and see how he likes it. And then, when we’ve damaged both his reputation and his influence … then it will be time for the final move. Check and mate in one.’

  * * *

  Later, when they were finally alone, Kate watched Luciano making the last in a series of seemingly endless lists and, realising that he had still neither kissed her nor shown any sign of wanting to, said cautiously, ‘If you’d rather I went back to Fleet Street, I ought to leave now.’

  He laid down his pen and turned to look at her.

  ‘Is that what you want?’

  ‘No. But --’

  ‘Then it’s fortunate I sent Gino to tell Amy that you’ll be staying here tonight because Tobias is unwell.’

  ‘Oh.’ Kate’s pulse tripped at the possibilities this implied but she wished his expression was a bit more encouraging. ‘I thought … I know you we
re angry. Perhaps you still are, a little.’

  The hooded gaze remained unchanged and he took his time about replying. Finally, he said ‘I made you a promise. I don’t recall attaching any conditions.’

  ‘Perhaps you should have done.’

  ‘That would have rendered it valueless.’

  ‘As valueless as was mine to you?’ she asked bitterly.

  ‘That is of no consequence and not what I meant. Blame and recrimination have no place between us. You know this.’ Luciano held out a hand to her in invitation and, when she took it, pulled her down on to his knee. With a small, unsteady sigh, Kate coiled into him, her arms sliding around his neck. After a long moment, he said, ‘You’ll have to forgive me, Caterina. I can manage most things – but not the thought of what might have happened to you today. That was - and still is - beyond me. And the truth is that what manifested itself as temper was actually gut-wrenching terror. The kind I haven’t felt since I was twelve years old – and never want to feel again.’ He paused and his hold on her tightened. ‘I can’t lose you.’

  ‘You won’t.’ Engulfed in a wave of pure tenderness and with tears stinging her eyes, Kate said, ‘You won’t. I’m sorry. I love you so much.’

  ‘I know. And I, you.’ Tilting her chin with one long-fingered hand, he kissed her lightly and then, with the merest hint of a smile, ‘Perhaps it’s time I fulfilled that promise?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Kate simply. And then, ‘Please.’

  So he took her to his chamber. And when he had removed her clothes and discarded his own and they lay facing each other on soft, sweet-smelling sheets, he said, ‘Finally. Now at last you’re mine.’

  ‘I’ve always been yours. Did you not know it?’

  ‘I hoped. I wanted.’ He pulled her against him and captured her mouth. ‘I starved. And if only for this one moment, I’d do it all again.’