Surrender the Stars

by Wright, Cynthia

  Brandreth cocked his handsome blond head at her, measuring her, then smiled as he made his decision. "You're feisty for a female, m'dear, but you don't have it in you." Jauntily, he strolled toward her, then froze as Lindsay pulled back on the trigger. The pistol clicked but didn't fire. Harry's eyes narrowed. "Little witch!" he hissed.

  She stared at the pistol in horror and heard her heart pounding in her ears. Harry lunged at her, wrenched the weapon away, then angrily struck her over the head with it. Stars flashed before her eyes as she sank to the ground.

  "Shall I kill her?" he asked Chadwick.

  "Don't be a fool," the older man returned coldly. "All we need to do is to incapacitate the pair of them, then we'll be safely away before they awake."

  Although he longed to take the risk and fight back, Ryan knew that the odds were stacked too heavily against him. When Harry approached, brandishing the pistol, he recognized the contempt in Ryan's midnight-blue eyes.

  "You're a swine, Brandreth," he dared to whisper, his nostrils flaring.

  "And you are a fool, Raveneau." With that, Harry brought the butt of the pistol down over his head and Ryan crumpled to the ground.

  Although stunned, he was not unconscious. Lying limp, he prayed that they wouldn't decide to slit his throat after all. Instead, he heard Chadwick mutter, "Well, this has turned into a right mess, and we have troubles enough without risking being arrested for murder. Although, if I could be certain that no one else knew about us, I wouldn't hesitate to kill these two...."

  "What do you intend to do, then?"

  "We'll go away—immediately. I had planned to rendezvous at sea with my intermediary, a courier who will be en route to America. As much as it pains me, I suppose I must allow you to accompany me, if only to keep you from telling what you know to all of London."

  "My marriage is finished," Harry moaned. "The Raveneaus will see me dead if I stay here."

  "Quite. For myself, this sort of thing could get very messy. It might spell the end of my career in the House if a controversy erupts now. After the war's been won and I have proved a credit to our cause because of my spying, it will be different. Once your meddling in-laws leave town, I could return and plead my case without their arguments."

  "Brilliant thinking, my lord!"

  "The solution seems to lie in dropping out of sight for a time. There's a large debt I've put off collecting. The debtor himself lives not far from our destination at sea. No doubt he'd hide us until the Raveneau family returns to America."

  "There's nothing else to be done, then, is there?"

  "Nothing except elude the Raveneaus. You realize that if they capture us, they could take us back to America to stand trial as spies?" Chadwick stared down at Ryan's prone body. "Or they might save themselves the trouble and simply do away with us. I can't imagine that your father-in-law will be pleased to learn of your treachery, Brandreth."

  "Well, then, let's be off before these two awaken. I only wish we had some rope with which to tie them up!"

  "The less evidence they have against us, the better. Since Nathan Raveneau doesn't have any inkling of our plans, he'll never find us. Let's be away now."

  His voice fading into the distance, Harry replied, "Besides, Nathan's too stupid to outmaneuver us. I wouldn't be surprised if that blow to the head destroyed whatever intelligence he had to begin with."

  Listening to the sound of their footsteps die away, Ryan clenched his teeth as raw fury coursed through his body. Somehow he remained motionless on the ground, counting off the minutes, then slowly raised his head and looked around. In the distance there was only blackness; not even a shadow could be seen. Across the arbor, Lindsay had begun to moan softly. Lithely, Ryan got to his feet and crossed to her side.

  "Lindsay, can you hear me?" Cradling her head against his thigh, he looked for blood in her hair and was relieved to see that the blow Harry had dealt hadn't been as serious as he'd feared.

  "Ryan?" she murmured groggily.

  "I'm right here, sweetheart, and you're safe. Can you open your eyes?"

  Her sooty lashes fluttered once, then lifted to reveal focused gray eyes. Lindsay even managed a tremulous smile. "Are you terribly angry with me?"

  "Are you joking? I'm far too relieved—and worried—to be angry. Thank God you're all right. When I saw Harry strike you with that pistol butt, I wanted to kill him—and I may yet," Ryan told her grimly. "How do you feel, angel?"

  "My head hurts and I'm a bit dizzy, but otherwise I'm all right." She basked for a moment in his intensely concerned and loving gaze, then murmured impishly, "I'll wager that you yell at me once you're certain I'm not injured."

  "Nonsense," Ryan returned gently, kissing her brow. He stared distractedly into the darkness. "My only concern is getting you home—and then figuring out how to track down those two scoundrels. If Brandreth and Chadwick imagine that they can escape so easily, they're in for a tremendous surprise."

  * * *

  "I cannot believe that you followed me after I specifically ordered you not to!" Ryan shouted at Lindsay from across her bedroom.

  Propped against thick pillows, her burnished curls cascading over her shoulders, she smiled. "I knew that you would scold me." Pretending to examine a fingernail, she added, "Besides, I didn't follow you. I took an entirely different route and arrived before you did."

  "That's not the issue!" he raged, approaching the bed.

  "What is the issue?" Lindsay inquired sweetly.

  "The issue is that I cannot go through the rest of our lives worrying that you will be forever disobeying me—"

  "Disobeying?" she repeated in mocking tones. "Do you intend to be my master?"

  "No, of course not, but—"

  "If that is the arrangement you have in mind, Captain Coleraine, you may as well search out a different wife because I happen to believe that my intelligence and opinions are a match for any man's."

  "I am well aware of that. It's just that—"

  "I will not be bullied by you or anyone else!"

  Exasperated, yet half amused and quite captivated, Ryan clamped a dark hand over her mouth. "My darling brat, will you do me the courtesy of allowing me to speak?"

  "Mmph!" Her delicate brows flew upward.

  "Thank you very much." Keeping the hand in place, he narrowed his eyes at her, but they sparkled with humor. "I am simply concerned that you might get yourself killed by rushing off wildly into dangerous situations after I have warned you not to. I worry that I will spend the next, uh—"

  "Sheventy yearsh," Lindsay supplied in muffled tones.

  "Seventy years looking over my shoulder in fear that you are about to leap out of the shadows brandishing a pistol!" Removing his hand, Ryan bent to kiss her tenderly. "My darling, you could have been killed tonight."

  "So could you," she whispered mutinously.

  He arched a black brow, hoping to silence her. "It wasn't the place for a female, though, especially one masquerading as a boy! Those men were playing by a deadly set of rules."

  "But, Ryan—" Although her head had begun to throb, she would never have admitted it to him. "If my pistol hadn't jammed, this would have all turned out very differently. I would have wounded Harry and Lord Chadwick would have been forced to release you. It wasn't my fault that the silly thing wouldn't fire! What if I'd saved the entire situation? I'll wager you would be showering me with kisses of gratitude right now rather than scolding me!"

  "I have never doubted your intentions, Lindsay, but even if all had gone perfectly and we had captured those men due to your courage, I would still be upset with you for taking such a risk. You must promise me that you won't do anything so foolish again."

  "No."

  He reared back in surprise, staring. "Pardon me?"

  "I will not promise any such thing. I couldn't! If, at some point in the future, I believed that you were in danger and I could help, I would have to break my word. I'm sorry, Ryan, but if you have your heart set on an obedient wife, you'll have
to look elsewhere."

  Shaking his head, he closed his eyes and made a sound that mingled laughter with a sigh. "I should have known, that night on the wharf in Pettipauge, when you appeared in the thick of battle to throw buckets of water on that fire..."

  Lindsay's heart went out to him. She knew he didn't mean to be a dictatorial male, that he was only concerned for her safety, but there were simply certain matters about which she could not compromise. Still... "Ryan?"

  Warily, he opened one blue eye. "Yes, dearest brat?"

  "I will promise not to rush into anything without considering all sides of the situation—including your feelings and the possible danger."

  "That sounds ominously conditional..."

  She traced the line of his cheekbone and jaw with slim fingers. "You've known from the first day we met that I'm unmanageable. At least I haven't surprised you after it was too late."

  "You surprise me constantly, but I know what you mean." Tenderly, he bent to kiss her, his hands framing her face. "And, in all honesty. I must admit that that's half your charm. Every day with you is a challenge; I never know what to expect!"

  "I love you so very much, Ryan." Tears gleamed in her eyes.

  "And I love you." He kissed her again, tasting, then deepened the kiss as she began to respond. Ryan had shed his coat when they came home and now Lindsay's hands caressed his back and shoulders through the thin fabric of his shirt. Her tempting breasts pressed against him as he leaned nearer, but then suddenly he sat up.

  "How do you do it? You're the first woman I've ever known who could cause me to completely abandon reason!"

  "I didn't do a thing!" she cried defensively. "You kissed me!"

  "Well, I shouldn't have." Standing, he rubbed his eyes and tried not to smile. "Your parents will be home at any moment, and the last thing I need tonight is your father challenging me to a duel! In the meantime, we—I mean, I—have to figure out what to do about Brandreth and Chadwick."

  "What can we do?"

  Glancing over at her widened eyes, Ryan ignored Lindsay's reference. "Well, first of all, I shall have to talk to your father and fill him in on all of this now that I have confirmed my suspicions. Obviously, he can't go to Lord Liverpool since there is a possibility, however minute, that the prime minister was aware of this pay-off arrangement. And it will be hard to prove anything without confessions from the two perpetrators, but obviously someone must be alerted in case—"

  A chill ran down Lindsay's spine. "In case what?"

  "In case something happens to me after I go in search of Harry and Chadwick."

  "Ryan, what do you intend to do?" she cried apprehensively. "We don't even know where they've gone!"

  "I heard them say a few things after they thought I'd been knocked unconscious," he replied, pacing across the bedroom. "They're going to rendezvous with a courier at sea, near the home of someone who is indebted to Chadwick, who will hide them if necessary. I simply have to find out who this person is and then give chase."

  "Next you'll tell me that you're going to see Hester!"

  Ryan stopped to look at Lindsay over one shoulder. "Exactly."

  * * *

  "What do you want from me?" Hester asked agitatedly. She paused at the window of the library in the huge Chadwick mansion overlooking Green Park and sighed. "Really, Ryan, it is the outside of enough for you to burst in here at this hour of the night and tell me this wild tale—"

  "It's quite true, I assure you. As for bursting in, I waited for you, Hester. Where've you been? With Byron? That's the current rumor, you know."

  "My private life is none of your affair anymore, my—I mean, Ryan. You have made it quite clear that you want nothing to do with me. And, under the circumstances, I don't see why I should even consider helping you trap my own husband."

  "Perhaps because, in spite of your transgressions, you are a person of character." Quietly, he crossed the Turkish carpet and put a hand on her shoulder. "I know you, inside and out, and I've loved you. Circumstances may have forced you to compromise your basic principles on occasion, but underneath you haven't changed. You couldn't live with yourself if you allowed Francis to get away with this, Hester."

  "Francis is my husband!" she exclaimed, spinning around to face him. "I shall share, to some extent, whatever fate befalls him!"

  "That fate is inevitable, though. Don't you see? He may run away and try to hide, but the eventual outcome will be the same. And Francis has ruined himself. It's neither your fault nor mine. The blame belongs to him."

  Hester's senses swam under the compelling spell of Ryan's nearness. She wished that they could simply sweep away the last nine years and begin again... or even go back in time for one brief interlude. "Oh, Ryan," she breathed, afraid to look at him, "how could I have let you leave me? If only I had stood up to my father and Francis and—"

  For a moment, he was reminded of Lindsay, who vowed never to be bullied by anyone, and a smile warmed his heart. Then Hester's unfinished sentence sank in. "And who else?"

  Hester felt weak in the knees and leaned against him. Ryan held her for a moment, as if to bolster her courage, then guided her over to a silk-upholstered sofa. She accepted the glass of sherry he poured for her and drank it gratefully. "I really mustn't tell you. It's such a coil...."

  "That's why you must tell me. Hester, we can't undo the past, but we do have control over the present. You must trust me."

  She turned wet emerald-green eyes up to him and nearly wept at the sight of his beloved face so near—yet so unattainable. "I've made such a lot of mistakes, Ryan."

  "As have I, my lady," he said matter-of-factly. "And yet I've learned that it's never too late to begin anew. This is your chance."

  When his firm hand covered hers, Hester felt a rush of strength. "Francis conspired with your brother to see to it that you left England," Hester whispered. "You see, Francis learned that Blake was illegitimate. He shouldn't have succeeded to the title at all. By rights, you are the Marquess of Clifden. Blake's been a pretender all these years."

  Ryan's eyes widened, then narrowed, and he sank back against the sofa. "Hmm. Well, that's interesting, but what does it have to do with this current situation?"

  "Don't you care? All these years, that stunning Irish castle and its lands could have been yours. Blake's known since your father's last illness that he was not the legitimate heir, yet he kept it from you!"

  Thoughtfully, he rubbed one side of his mouth. "Well, Blake had counted on that all his life. He married and had children believing that the title would pass to him, and since I was merely the second son, I didn't bother with a family. Of course, I would have married you, Hester, particularly if I believed I had so much to offer, but I think now that our lives worked out for the best."

  "How can you say that?" Her sable hair gleamed under the soft gas-lit chandelier as she reached out to touch his face. "And how can you be so nonchalant about Blake's deception? If not for him, you would never have left Britain! You would have assumed the title of Marquess of Clifden and moved into the castle! Think of what your brother has done to your life!"

  "I am, and that's why I'm not angry. Of course, a part of me resents his deception, but I don't regret one minute of the last nine years, Hester. This may sound trite, but my new life in America made a man of me." Ryan gently pried her hand from his face and held it briefly before returning it to her lap. "Right now I'm more interested in Blake's connection to your husband and Harry."

  Sighing, she looked away. "I'm sure, given the debt that Blake owes Francis for forcing our wedding and thereby disposing of you, that my husband was referring to Blake as the person who owed him a favor."

  Ryan bit his lip, considering. "That sounds logical. Clifden Castle would be an ideal place to disappear to for a few months. But I have to be more certain before I sail to Ireland! Why would this fellow spy choose so remote a place to rendezvous?"

  "Do you know, a great deal is beginning to make sense to me now," Hester mused. "Franci
s has been going off for a fortnight or more at a time in recent years. He owns a handful of ships docked at Falmouth and, two summers ago, purchased one that sails out of Galway Bay. He's told me that his journeys have been to take care of business regarding that ship, but that explanation never sounded quite plausible. Letters arrived from time to time from Galway, and when I asked about them, he said that they were from the ship's captain—and yet I never saw them afterward in his desk. I didn't think much about it at the time, but now..."

  Ryan stood up. "He's been cautious, selling secrets to a spy who sails from Ireland. Little chance of the man turning up here to expose him, hmm?"

  She followed him to the door. "Ryan, there's something else I must tell you if you intend to go to Ireland. Blake has been very ill. He wrote me that he thinks he may be dying—and his wife has gone off to France with their children, both of whom grew up to be quite contemptible. He's all alone, and I would say that it's impossible to predict what Blake will do if Francis calls in his markers...."

  Part Five

  And Earth, Air and Light

  And the Spirit of Might

  Which drives round the stars in their fiery flight;

  And Love, Thought, and Breath,

  The powers that quell Death,

  Wherever we soar shall assemble beneath!

  -Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

  Chapter 31

  June 26-28, 1814

  "Helas!" Raveneau exclaimed, his gray eyes stormy, "why didn't you come to me with this from the first?"

  Ryan glanced across the dining-room table at Lindsay who, like her parents, wore bedclothes and a dressing gown, then shrugged. "I suppose if I truly were Nathan Raveneau, I might've done. As it was, I didn't feel I had the right to accuse a member of your family without proof."

  At that moment, Cassie appeared with a tray filled with steaming cups of tea, plus a decanter of brandy and four small snifters. Setting it down before Raveneau, she quickly made her exit. Although it was nearly three in the morning, all four opted for brandy and took a first sip in unison.