Miller let his grubby hand drop from his face. “Not entirely sure which Benedict it is. What if it’s the cousin?”
Swayle’s mouth dropped open. “The cousin? Richard? Don’t you know?”
“No. Couldn’t skulk in their stables, now, could I? They look the same over the kind of distance I was at.”
Swayle finished his tea and rattled the cup against the saucer for more. As his valet obliged, pouring from the pot, he glared at his henchman, reminding himself that he wasn’t called Killer Miller for nothing.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said at last. He opened the bedside cabinet and took out a monogrammed handkerchief. It bore the initials JB, lovingly embroidered by some dead Benedict no doubt. Swayle had taken it long ago, with many other things, when he’d lived in Javan’s house. “Leave this close to the scene. It will be enough to prove Javan Benedict’s presence there. He might just as well shoot the girl for eloping with his cousin. The important thing is she gets shot and Javan Benedict gets the blame.”
Miller pocketed the handkerchief with a smooth, speedy movement that spoke volumes for his previous career as a pickpocket.
“Well, I will shoot her,” he agreed at last. “But I ain’t killing her if I can help it.”
Swayle cast his eyes to heaven. “You have to kill her! Otherwise, she’ll inform against you!” Or, at least, claim Javan’s innocence, which didn’t suit Swayle at all.
Miller looked back at him with unexpected contempt. “You’d better pray she don’t. Because if I get collared for this, so do you.”
With that, Miller sauntered out of the room. Swayle waved his hands urgently at his valet to follow and make sure the disreputable assassin left the hotel by the back stairs.
*
Javan was surprised by a morning visit from his daughter before he had even left his bedchamber. Dressed in his old walking clothes, he was gazing out of the window, contemplating a long walk with Tiny to strengthen his injured leg, when Rosa burst in with barely a knock. She looked as if she were about to cry.
“What is it?” he asked, going to her at once.
For answer, she seized his hand and tugged him out of his chamber in the direction of the schoolroom. Happy enough to oblige—for it was time, past time, that he spoke to Caroline like an adult—he walked into the schoolroom.
Caroline was not there. However, the connecting door to her bedchamber was open, and Rosa dragged him toward it. Now at last, he pulled back.
“Rosa,” he objected. “No. Is Miss Grey ill?”
Impatiently, she pulled free of his hand and ran into the bedchamber, waving her arms around to show him that it was empty.
“She’ll be in the kitchen, eating breakfast and waiting for you,” he said. “Go and find her.”
Rosa shook her head vehemently, pointing at her eyes and then downward to show she’d already looked for her governess downstairs. Then she walked to Miss Grey’s wardrobe and opened the door. Only the peach evening gown hung there. Of the other gowns he’d seen her wear, there was no sign. However, it felt quite wrong to be in the room like this, and despite a twinge of definite unease, Javan refused to go through her possessions, or allow Rosa to do so.
He pulled her out of the room. “You mustn’t pry into her things,” he said severely. “Perhaps she’s gone for a walk. Tiny was barking earlier, so she might have taken him. Is your aunt up yet?”
Marjorie was discovered in the drawing room, staring at a sheet of paper which she held in front of her.
Slowly, she raised her eyes to Javan’s and held the paper out to him. He strode forward and twitched it from his sister’s fingers. A note from Caroline—brief, impersonal, and apologetic.
His ears began to sing. “Scotland…”
“She went with Richard,” Marjorie said with difficulty. “I saw them from my window.”
Javan gripped the letter so tightly that it began to tear. He sank onto the arm of the nearest chair. “What have I done?” he whispered.
He’d driven her away, made life impossible for her. She could have been his. He’d seen it in her eyes, gloried in it, and yet chosen to punish her for his own lack of confidence. He should have claimed her the night in the library. Instead, he’d let Richard be the gentleman. He knew instinctively she did not love Richard. So how had he let it get to this? He was destroying himself and everyone he loved all over again.
And God help me, I do love her…
Without a word, he walked out of the room and downstairs to his study. Tiny, lying in front of the fire, lifted his head hopefully, but Javan only closed the door and walked to his desk like some clumsy automaton.
I can live without her. I can live with this grief, too…
Only, why should he? Why should Rosa? Why should Caroline? She belonged to him and his family, and he would never be complete without her. But what propelled him into sudden action was the knowledge that neither would she be whole without him. A hundred tiny looks and smiles and blushes had told him that. The way she trembled at his touch and gasped at his nearness. He’d soaked them up like water to a drowning man and never realized how much he valued them. How much she had given him, how much she had risked because she couldn’t help this love any more than he could.
With an oath, he strode out of the room, yelling for Williams and his horse.
“Rosa!” he called up the staircase. “I’m going to bring her back! Stay with your aunt and be good!”
*
When Richard had gone, Marjorie sat down by the drawing-room fire with Rosa at her feet. They both gazed into the flames, each thinking, no doubt, much the same thoughts about the same people.
To Marjorie, there had always been something not quite right about Richard’s engagement to Miss Grey. Not that the girl wasn’t pretty, cultured, charming, and well-mannered in the quietly-spoken way Marjorie most admired, but it had seemed to her that any tendre Miss Grey might harbor beneath her severe and civil exterior, was for Javan. Not that she suspected the governess of inveigling him into marriage, as it was rumored she had tried with the Earl of Braithwaite.
Although that had been Marjorie’s first fear, the day Miss Grey had arrived and she had thrown the cake… She’d known if it had missed Javan it was liable to hit the governess. Marjorie cast the troubled memory aside. That had been a bad day, but she’d recovered, and observed Rosa’s growing brightness, and Javan’s. Particularly Javan’s. And she had discovered the new governess to be a kind and sensible young woman.
Somehow, Caroline Grey had got under all their skins. She was a comfortable companion, interesting to converse with, witty when she chose to be, and had enough fun in her ill-dressed person to appeal to Rosa. Marjorie was aware that theirs was an odd household full of damaged people, but Miss Grey had never appeared to judge. She accepted them all and quietly went about making things better.
Until this odd engagement to the mischievous Richard. Marjorie liked Richard, and she was aware he thought the world of Javan. Could he not see that his betrothal hurt Javan?
Marjorie sat up straighter. Of course he could see it. Richard was no fool. Was that his game? Was he trying to force Javan into action? After all, with his first, utterly disastrous marriage under his belt, Javan was understandably skittish about marriage and highly cynical of women on the so-called marriage mart. He might well need to be forced, although where on earth the rush was when Miss Grey hadn’t been here a month…
Moreover, Marjorie balked at the idea of Miss Grey bringing shame on herself, her family, and her employer’s family by eloping. One way or another, it would surely break her relationship with Rosa. Nothing about Miss Grey gave Marjorie any reason to believe her a schemer, a fortune-hunter—the Braithwaite rumors notwithstanding.
Marjorie nodded twice. “Rosa,” she said firmly. “Ring the bell. I think we need to question the servants.”
“So,” Marjorie said, ten minutes later, after she had spoken to the servants and dismissed all of them save Williams. “So, Ginn
y took a letter to Miss Grey and then Mr. Richard called for his curricle.”
“He was going to take her to Carlisle, at least, or ‘home’ if she preferred,” Williams repeated.
“And did you tell this to the colonel?” Marjorie demanded, forgetting that she wasn’t meant to use his rank.
“No, he didn’t ask, just rode off without a word.”
“So, he thinks they’ve gone to Gretna Green. And in fact, they’re going to her family somewhere else in Scotland. Or Richard will put her on the mail coach at Carlisle.”
Williams inclined his head, while Rosa looked from one of them to the other.
“Does it seem to you,” Marjorie asked, frowning, “that there is room there for lots more misunderstandings? And scandal? And in spite of all, the wrong marriage? At best, Miss Grey will need a chaperone.”
Williams, who clearly hadn’t thought of Gretna Green until Marjorie mentioned it, began to nod vigorously. He knew his master very well.
“Then we had better go, had we not?” Marjorie said.
“To Scotland?” Williams asked doubtfully.
“If we drive like the wind, will we reach Carlisle before the Edinburgh coach leaves?”
“Maybe. But it will rattle your bones.”
“Well, what else do I use the old things for? Fetch the coach and the horses, Williams! We’ll need food and a blanket.”
*
The way from Blackhaven to the Carlisle road was not great for carriage travel. Javan, riding across country, had every hope of catching up with Richard’s curricle long before it reached the city. The road wound between hills and along the coast for part of the way. Javan cut off several miles by simply riding as the crow flies, over the hills and streams and through the forest, until, galloping fast, he caught sight of the road below him. A horse and cart ambled in the opposite direction. And then, around the corner, came a curricle containing two people, a man and a woman.
With some triumph, Javan turned his horse’s head and galloped onward and downward to head them off. It was then that he noticed the fresh hoof prints again. He’d glimpsed them at various stages on the way without paying much attention, for he knew both his quarries were in Richard’s curricle, not riding on horseback. He followed the hoofprints for a little, but as he came closer to the road, they carried on around the side of the hill while he galloped on downward toward the road and Caroline.
Now that the moment was almost upon him, he realized he’d no real idea of what he would do or say. Every speech he came up with made him sound like a pompous ass, a coxcomb or a pathetic whiner, none of which could he imagine appealing to Caroline.
The trouble was, words could not adequately express his feelings or his desires, or his care for hers.
He would have to wait until he saw her. Once he saw her face, he would know whether he was saving her to be with him, or simply to prevent a disastrous elopement and the damage to her reputation. Either way, he would fight to win her and be worthy of her, and he would never give up…
A flash from the hill above caught his attention. Almost at the road now, he turned and gazed several yards up and to his right, just above the next bend. The low, wintry sun was certainly glinting on something, something so familiar to him it was like coming home. A sword. Or a rifle.
He absorbed the terrain without really trying. From the glint, a sharpshooter had a clear sight of the road below, and yet had plenty of cover. From the road, and from where Javan observed, he could remain hidden. Any vehicle would slow drastically around that bend, giving a good shot his best chance.
Only, who would do such a thing? He hadn’t heard of highwaymen in the area, though it was true he hadn’t been in much of a position to hear of any that were. That, too, was the result of his chosen isolation.
By the time he stopped the curricle now, they would all be in the direct view of any sharpshooter. Before the thought was properly formed, he’d turned his horse’s head, urging it up the hill as fast as it would go. All the time, he scanned the hills for signs of other weapons, other shooters.
By the time he threw himself off the horse, the rumble of the curricle’s wheels seemed to fill his ears. Blending speed and caution, he crept around the rocky outcrop and saw what he’d become sure he would—one man stretched out with a rifle pointing below. The distance was perfect, and the curricle was rounding the bend with slow, smooth perfection. No one had ever accused Richard of driving badly.
“Good morning,” Javan said to distract the shooter, because he wasn’t sure he had time to jump on him before he shot. He hadn’t, as it turned out. A mere instant before he landed on the shooter, the familiar crack of a rifle exploded and echoed around the hills.
The gunman heaved himself around almost in the same movement as he shot—not in time to save himself, but in time to see his attacker’s face. “You!” he exclaimed as Javan landed on his shoulder and punched him hard on the chin.
The man’s eyes rolled up, but he was clearly as tough as old boots, for he still managed to heft the rifle and swing the butt at Javan’s head. Swearing, Javan seized it in both hands, bouncing as the gunman bucked beneath him in an effort to dislodge him.
“I don’t have time for this,” Javan said between his teeth, and brought up his knee sharply between his opponent’s thighs. As the shock jerked the gunman’s body into an attempted ball, Javan snatched the rifle and swung it sharply into the gunman’s head. This time, he went out like a light.
Javan had no time for triumph. Taking the rifle with him, he began to run down the hill, whistling for his horse as he went. Now, at last, he could observe what had happened below. But if he’d hoped to see the curricle trundling on in blissful ignorance of the events on the hill above, he was doomed to disappointment.
The gunman had let off a shot, and it seemed he was good. For the horses and curricle stood still on the corner, and the female passenger lay spread out in the road.
Chapter Seventeen
The explosion had come out of nowhere. One moment, Caroline was admiring Richard’s skill in taking the corners on the appalling road, and the next, over the top of the pounding hooves and the rumbling wheels, an almighty crack sounded. At the same time, her arm jerked of its own volition, spinning her against the side of the curricle, and the horses screamed in fright.
“What the…?” came Richard’s voice, then, “Dear God, Caroline!”
Somehow, he must have got the horses under control, for a moment later, she was lying in the road, with him looming over her.
“What happened?” she asked blankly. “How did I get here? Did I fall out?”
“Sort of,” Richard said hoarsely. “It’s as well I managed to halt them first. Be brave, my dear, I’m afraid you’ve been shot. It must be highwaymen, and one of them is running toward us.”
As he spoke, he produced a pistol from the pocket of his overcoat. She could make that out although the fringes of her world were growing misty. It seemed to take a long time for his words to penetrate.
She frowned up at the sky. “I’ve been shot?” She turned her head toward the sudden, galloping pain in her arm. There was blood. “Oh dear, so I have. Am I going to die? I mustn’t! Who will care for Peter? And I must not abandon Rosa. Oh, where is he?” Sudden, weak tears filled her eyes because she would die without seeing Javan again, without telling him…
“Oh, put the pistol away, you lummock, it’s me,” said an irritable voice, surely in her imagination, for it sounded like his. Hasty footsteps sounded on the road, and his face swam before her misty eyes.
“Help her,” Richard’s voice pleaded. “I don’t know what to do.”
Caroline smiled, reaching urgently for Javan with her good arm, because even if he wasn’t real, she wanted his presence so much. But the skin of his neck was warm and firm under her hand, his deeply scarred face frowning and desperate.
“I have you, Caroline,” he whispered, his rough fingers gentle and soothing on her face. “I have you. Hold on.”
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Enchanted by the warmth of his voice, she let the happiness explode within her. She tugged him closer, gasping his name as she pressed her lips to his. “I love you,” she whispered.
She felt the aching, tender response of his lips for a bare instant. And then, his voice, “Then you’d better let me see that wound, so I can remind you of the fact for years to come.”
“Years,” she said blissfully. “Am I dreaming, Javan?”
“No, but I need somewhere cleaner and safer to get the bullet out of you.”
His hands were beneath her, swinging her up across the sky, and then she seemed to be back in the curricle with Richard. She tried to ask where Javan had gone, and then she saw him on horseback, riding beside them. The world sped up and vanished into blackness.
*
When she woke, she was between crisp sheets. She had a memory of excruciating pain that went on and on, relieved only by the sweetness of Javan’s voice. She’d trusted him to make it stop. She must have been dreaming. The fierce ache in her arm told her it hadn’t all been imagination. And behind that was some nagging worry that she had something important to do.
“Javan?” She turned her head on the pillow, searching.
A silhouette by the window stretched into the shape of a man springing to his feet. He strode toward her and she saw with wonder that it truly was Javan.
“It is you!”
“It is. How are you?”
There was something incredibly wonderful in him sitting on the edge of her bed. He touched her forehead, no doubt feeling for fever, and then moved on, stroking her hair.
“I’m well, I think,” she replied, “though my arm hurts. Was I truly shot? And how in the world did you come to be there?”
“I was trying to catch up with you, came across that fellow with a rifle. I shall never forgive myself for not stopping him in time.”
“I thought I might die,” she remembered. “And it seemed so cruel without seeing you again, and then you were there.”
He took her hand, his fingers curling around hers. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m afraid I’m a mess of a human being. I didn’t quite understand until you left how much you mean to me.”
Regency for all Seasons: A Regency Romance Collection Page 18