Night Storm

by Catherine Coulter

  “But I don’t have a brother or a sister,” Alec said slowly, studying the gentleman’s face for a likeness to his own. “At least I don’t think so.”

  “Alec, what’s wrong with you? Come into White’s and let’s have a brandy. I’d heard you were married. Is that true? Arielle can’t wait to meet your wife.”

  Alec nodded, handed Cairo to a waiting postboy, and accompanied the gentleman into White’s.

  He waited until they were seated in the vast oak-wainscoted reading room, a brandy in their hands. Only two very old gentlemen were present, and they appeared uninterested in the two young men. Alec said as he raised his glass, “I’m sorry, but I don’t know you. I had an accident nearly two months ago, and my memory—well, it’s gone.”

  “Are you jesting?”

  “I would give just about anything I own to be jesting. You’re not my brother, are you? Nor is your wife my sister. You said I was your boys’ uncle.”

  The look of astonishment remained, but the gentleman’s voice was smooth and calm. “My name is Burke Drummond, Earl of Ravensworth. My wife, Arielle, is a half sister of your first wife, Nesta, who died in childbed some five years ago.”

  “Nesta,” Alec said, looking thoughtfully into his brandy snifter. “I’ve seen her so many times. Just flashes, you know. In some of them she’s pregnant, smiling, so very sweet-looking, but in most she’s dead, lying there cold and silent and—” Alec broke off. “You’re married to her sister.”

  “Yes,” said Burke, “I am. For five and a half years now.”

  “And you were a military man.”

  “How did you know that?”

  Alec shrugged. “You have the look, and I—well, I just know. Were we close friends?”

  “Not really, not for many years now. You were living in America, in Boston, for several years. Then you and Nesta voyaged many places together. You came home and stayed with Arielle and me in August of 1814. Then you took Nesta to your estate in Northumberland. She died in December.” It was Burke Drummond’s turn to come to a halt. This was beyond anything he’d ever encountered. He’d met Alec more than ten years before, when he’d been an incredibly popular young man newly loosed on London society and London ladies. He and Alec had both enjoyed themselves immensely. But as the years passed, their paths had diverged.

  “Have you consulted a physician here in London?”

  Alec shook his head, then took a sip of his brandy.

  “Would you like to tell me how this happened to you?”

  “It’s a long story,” Alec began, then grinned. “No, actually, it’s very short. I was hit by a falling mast, and when I regained consciousness, I didn’t have the foggiest notion of who I was or who the naked woman lying beside me was.”

  “Your wife, I presume.”

  “Yes. Her name is Genny. I would like to meet Arielle. Perhaps seeing her would bring things back.”

  “You and your wife must come to dinner this evening. Tomorrow Arielle and I can bring the boys to your house and see Hallie. Is the child all right?”

  “You mean with her father a stranger? Unfortunately, there was no way to keep it from her. She worries more about me than she worries about herself. She’s a very precocious little girl.”

  “She always has been,” said Burke, rising. “When the boys are older, I don’t have a doubt who will be the one to lead them into mischief.” Burke paused a moment, then added matter-of-factly, “My children’s names are Dane and Jason. Dane is fast becoming a little boy, but Jason is still a baby.” He took Alec’s hand. “It will be all right.”

  “That’s what Hallie says, after she pats my hand.”

  Burke laughed.

  Nesta’s sister, Genny thought. Now she would learn more about her husband. Genny was gowned appropriately, since Alec was once again selecting what she would wear and what jewelry should adorn each gown. When he’d discovered she didn’t own any jewels, he immediately went to his solicitor, learned of his family’s vault in the Bank of England, and fetched jewels that had been in the Carrick family for more than two hundred years. He dumped the bundle in Genny’s lap as she sat trying to make sense of a roman à clef written by Caroline Lamb three years previously.

  “Goodness. What is this? A come-to-life fairy tale?” Diamonds, rubies, and emeralds shimmered through her fingers.

  “The lot looks as though it’s been sitting in that vault for years and years. Do you like any of the pieces?”

  Genny, who was frankly staring at gem after gem, could only continue to stare. She said, laughter lurking, “If I look hard enough, perhaps, just perhaps I shall see something that merits a second look.”

  Together they selected the jewelry that didn’t need to be reset. There was a magnificent ruby, set simply, hung on a gold chain. Alec picked it up, then dropped it as if it were hot. “It belonged to Nesta,” he said, staring at it.

  “It’s beautiful. How do you know?”

  “I just do. I was saving it for Hallie.”

  “Then we’ll continue to save it for Hallie,” Genny said calmly. “The ruby is the largest I believe I’ve ever seen. Do you know where you got it?”

  “I haven’t the foggiest notion.”

  “Well, in that case, how about this string of pearls? I like the pinkish cast. What do you think?”

  Alec approved. That evening they went to the Drummond town house with Genny wearing a pale pink silk gown deeply scalloped at the hem, pearls around her throat, and pearl studs in her ears. Her long gloves and slippers were the same soft, pale pink shades. She looked exquisite and Alec told her so. “And do you now like having someone help you to dress?”

  Genny giggled. “Mrs. Britt finally just told me that she would do it. She didn’t allow me to say anything.”

  “You will hire a lady’s maid. Mrs. Britt has too many responsibilities to be worrying about you as well as the house.”

  “Perhaps after we’ve settled matters at Carrick Grange.”

  He started to protest, then decided he wouldn’t at all mind being her lady’s maid at Carrick Grange.

  Genny liked the Earl and Countess of Ravensworth. They put her at ease immediately. They did not make her feel like an interloper. Genny smiled at a jest made by Arielle Drummond, a charming young lady with the most glorious red hair she’d ever seen. Thick and curling, untamed, her hair framed a piquant face that held a good deal of character and sweetness.

  Dinner was spent providing Alec with a life before two months ago. The name Knight Winthrop came into the conversation. Alec saw him so clearly that he choked on his julienne soup. “He’s got gold eyes, doesn’t he? Fox’s eyes? He’s tall and an athlete? And he’s so funny you clutch your stomach from laughing so hard?”

  “That’s Knight,” said Arielle. “Five years ago he was London’s most loudly self-proclaimed bachelor. He claimed equally loudly that he would follow his sire’s philosophy to the letter.”

  “What was his father’s philosophy?” Genny asked.

  “Not to marry until he was forty, and then to wed an eighteen-year-old girl who was malleable as a sheep and a good breeder. And after he’d bred an heir, he was to leave his son to grow up without any of his sire’s opinions or faults or failings. As philosophies go, it was no more absurd than many others.” Arielle shook her head and giggled. “Poor Knight.”

  Genny sat forward, seeing the vivid humor in Arielle’s eyes. “Do tell us what happened.”

  “Knight married. He now has seven children.” The words out of Arielle’s mouth, she burst into merry laughter. “It’s a wonderful story. He married the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life, and she already had three children—well, they weren’t really hers, but they were Knight’s cousin’s children. The cousin had been murdered. That’s all very confusing, isn’t it? Well, they married, and then Lily, Knight’s wife, birthed two sets of twins.”

  “Does this Knight still adhere to his father’s philosophy?” Genny asked.

  “Goodness, no,”
Burke said with a grin. “Dear Knight can easily make you slip into nausea in his devotion to his family.”

  “It’s true,” Arielle added. “You never see him without at least three of his children clutching his hands, his legs, his ears.”

  Burke smiled at his wife. “Knight is a very happy man.”

  “And Lily is so beautiful men simply stop and stare after her. Even when she has all seven children in tow. It’s most amusing to see Knight act the disinterested, oh-so-tolerant fellow when the poor nod-cocks gawk at his wife.”

  “Do you stare, Burke?” Alec asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Every once in a while, just to make my wife sit up and growl.”

  “Conceited oaf,” said Arielle in high good humor.

  The evening continued in an amusing vein. It wasn’t until Burke Drummond spoke of Lannie, his former sister-in-law, that Alec got another glimpse of someone in his past. He saw this Lannie very clearly in his mind. And she was chattering, her small hand on his sleeve. He forgot the wild duck on his fork. He described her perfectly.

  Genny smiled at the table at large. “He’s remembering more every day. I think when we go to Carrick Grange it will all come back to him.”

  “You’re not staying in London for a while, then?” asked Burke.

  “No,” Alec said. “There’s been trouble at the Grange. The house has been burned, I’m told, and my steward murdered.”

  “Good God.”

  “How awful,” Arielle said. “The Grange is a huge house, over two hundred years old. There were many fine furnishings there. I hope some of them have been salvaged. Perhaps seeing your childhood home will bring back your memory, Alec.”

  “I think I need another hit on my head. My wife occasionally volunteers.”

  “Do tell us how you two met,” Arielle said.

  “I can’t,” Alec said.

  Genny told them, an abbreviated edition, to be sure, with no mention of any brothel or her in trousers. Alec showed no sign of recognizing anything. It was disheartening that he would recall Burke’s former sister-in-law and not his own wife.

  “You’re increasing,” Arielle said without preamble to Genny after they’d left the gentlemen to their port and cheroots.

  “Yes, I am. I’m rarely ill anymore, but the voyage to England was something I’d just as soon forget. I wanted to murder Alec for what he’d done and at the same time cock up my toes.”

  “Yes, isn’t it true. And gentlemen just smile and pat our stomachs. Burke did.”

  “Alec much enjoys sleeping with his hands on my stomach. It makes him feel God-like, he tells me.”

  “It’s been very difficult for you, hasn’t it?”

  To Genny’s utter chagrin and surprise, Arielle’s kind words made her want to burst into tears. She swallowed and looked away.

  “I can’t begin to imagine how you feel, married to a man who doesn’t remember you, but it must be very trying. Just know this, Genny. Alec is a good man. Nesta’s death hit him very hard. He was immensely fond of her. He didn’t want Hallie, not at first, because he saw her as the instrument of Nesta’s death. When Burke and I arrived after Nesta had died, we offered to take Hallie. It was then that he realized what he was doing. He kept her with him. Her upbringing to date has been most unusual, but Alec loves her so much that I can’t believe it will matter. Now Hallie has you, and you, Genny, seem to be a very sensible woman. Do you get along well with your new stepdaughter?”

  “Very well. I think that if Hallie hadn’t liked me, her father would never have considered marriage. She doesn’t really manipulate him, it’s just that they have great empathy. Now Hallie has taken me under her wing as well.”

  “I’m relieved she isn’t jealous of you.”

  “Oh, no. She requested a little brother or sister even before we were married. Perhaps she saw me as her means to an end.”

  “More to the point, Hallie saw you as the woman to make her father happy.”

  Genny raised an eyebrow at that observation, then said in a wistful voice, “Sometimes I wish I were as beautiful as this Lily you spoke about. Is she as beautiful a woman as Alec is a man?”

  “Just about, I should say. The two of them together would bring everyone to staring silence. It’s much better for the progress of civilization that they aren’t together. But you know, Genny, Alec is remarkably oblivious of his handsomeness, just as is Lily of her incredible beauty. He is also strong-willed, obstinate as a mule, and loyal as a tick.”

  “You should also add that he has very strong notions about a woman’s role in things.”

  “What do you mean? What role?”

  “My father was a master shipbuilder. I was raised to design and build ships. I have learned that men won’t tolerate women who know the same things they do. I don’t understand it, but it’s true. If Alec hadn’t come along, I would now own a shipyard that would be bankrupt because no self-respecting gentleman would conduct business with me, a woman.”

  “Alec didn’t approve either?”

  “Good heavens, no. We had colorful disagreements, I can tell you. Then he had his accident and I folded my proverbial tent and buried all my visions deep away. He needed me, you see. He still does. There can be no one more important than Alec.”

  “I see,” Arielle said slowly, and indeed she did see. This very vulnerable young woman was much in love with Alec Carrick. Arielle suspected also that Genny was as strong-willed as her husband. And just as obstinate. “You are carrying his child as well now. You are his daughter’s stepmama. You are, in short, doing everything a woman should do as a proper wife. Is that the gist of it?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “You know, my sister, Nesta, would have killed for Alec. Never, as far as I can remember, did she ever disagree with him. He, in turn, was quite gentle with her, tolerant, amused, but always the master, always the one in charge, in control. He was the protector. I can’t recall ever hearing them argue, but then again, I wasn’t with them very much during their marriage. It is possible he became something of a domestic tyrant.” Arielle shrugged and smiled. “I shouldn’t sound so very definite about Alec’s character. But Nesta wrote me many letters during the years we were separated. She loved him to distraction and beyond. He could do no wrong in her eyes. She, in turn, would willing have lain down and let him tread on her, like a rug.”

  “That could turn a saint into a tyrant, and the good Lord knows that Alec wasn’t ever a saint. I don’t think I’ve become quite a rug”—she smiled, thinking about the previous evening and their yelling match—“but if a woman weren’t careful, it could happen.”

  “Things will turn around once Alec is himself again. But back to Nesta. Whenever I think of Nesta now, I think of how very happy she was for those five years with Alec.”

  “I don’t believe Alec ever thought to remarry.” Genny looked at Arielle, saw the interest and concern in the countess’s lovely eyes, and yielded without a whimper. She told her all about the hideous experience with a woman named Eileen Blanchard.

  “—and that’s what Eileen said. That Alec never wanted to be remarried.”

  “How very unpleasant for you. This woman sounds like a disappointed mistress—”

  “Or lover. I think money makes the difference.”

  Arielle stared at her, then broke into laughter. “I shall ask Burke. He will know for certain. Now, the stories that got back to me—as you say, Alec is a lovely man. Women much enjoy him. You, if you don’t mind me saying so, Genny, don’t seem at all as malleable as Knight’s mythical wife/sheep.”

  “No, I’m not, but as I told you, Alec doesn’t realize it. He believes I’m sweet and giving and yielding, and dammit, that’s all I’ve shown him since his wretched accident. It isn’t fair.”

  “What isn’t fair?”

  Alec was smiling at her from the drawing room doorway.

  She said without missing a beat, “That you gentlemen get to remain in isolated splendor drinking that expensive French brand
y and no doubt gossiping.”

  “When we get home, I’ll share some with you. Perhaps I can even make you tipsy. Soften you up a bit.”

  As if he ever needed to do that, she thought. All Alec had to do was simply look at her and she was soft as honey.

  An hour later, they did drink a bit of brandy, Genny seated on his lap in front of their bedchamher fireplace. His hands were lightly stroking her belly, as was his habit. “You’re still too thin,” he said.

  “Ha. I begin to think you preferred women who were plump as spring partridges.”

  “No,” he said thoughtfully, “I don’t think that’s true. Kiss me, Genny. I’ve missed making love to you.”

  “It’s just been since this morning.”

  “That long ago? You’re cruel, woman, to deny me so.”

  “I’d never deny you.” She thought of Nesta and wondered in that moment if she had thought the same thing.

  The next morning the Earl and Countess of Ravensworth brought their two small boys to see Hallie, and Genny observed her five-year-old stepdaughter play the sweet but no-nonsense mother to the little boys. When Arielle asked if Hallie could remain with her while Alec and Genny traveled to Carrick Grange, Alec immediately turned to his daughter.

  “Would you like to, Hallie? You could doubtless give your aunt pointers on raising the boys correctly.”

  Hallie gave her father a long, very assessing look; then she smiled, a beautiful smile, and Genny caught her breath, not realizing that the child hadn’t smiled very much of late. She was suddenly a little girl again. “I think I will, Papa, if it is all right with Uncle Burke and Aunt Arielle.”

  “We would love to have you with us,” Burke said.

  “All right, then,” Hallie said. She looked at Genny. “You’ll be fine without me?”

  “I will, but I’ll miss you dreadfully.”

  Late that afternoon Genny found Alec in the library, poring over papers at his desk.

  “Whatever are you doing?”

  He rubbed an abstracted hand over his jaw. “More accounts for the Night Dancer’s last voyage.”