Countess of Scandal

by Laurel McKee

  Then his tongue touched her lower lip, licking, and that joy vanished. This was an Irishman, a rebel, a man who had almost killed Will! Still not thinking clearly, not at all sure what she would do, Anna jerked herself out of his arms, falling back onto the hard floor.

  He watched her, breathing hard. For an instant, he looked as stunned as she felt.

  "Who are you really?" he whispered.

  "I..." Her hand touched the edge of something hard, a piece of wood, and in a flash she caught it up. She brought it down on the back of his head, and he tumbled heavily to the floor. His hair covered his face.

  "Oh!" She clapped her fingers to her mouth, holding back a shriek. Had she just done that? Kissed a man and then knocked him unconscious? Reeling with the suddenness of it all, the sick feeling in her stomach, she leaned over him. Was he dead?

  No, he still breathed. Thank God. She wasn't yet ready to have that sort of thing on her conscience.

  "I'm sorry," she whispered, backing away. "I had to protect them."

  She took off at a full-out run, not stopping until she dove under the cart where Eliza and Will slept She shook her sister's shoulder. "Eliza! Eliza, wake up."

  Her sister sat up immediately, nearly hitting her head on the cart's wooden slats. 4tWhat is it? Will finally fell asleep...."

  Anna sucked in a sharp breath. "We have to go! Now!"

  "Why, what happened?"

  "I went to use the necessary in the woods and..."

  "And?"

  "We're not alone here, I fear."

  Fortunately, Eliza seemed to understand at once. She gave a quick nod, bundling her loose dark hair back into her boy's cap. "Go get Mama and Caro. I'll wake Will."

  "No need," he said hoarsely. "I am quite awake now with all your female whispering, my dears. Come on, let's go. It's nearly dawn anyway."

  Chapter 26

  Are you quite sure you feel well, William?" Katherine asked for the eleventh time since they left their wooded sanctuary in such a hurry. The afternoon sun was now high overhead, blazing hot, and still she persisted.

  Eliza almost laughed. She must be exhausted, suffering the effects of their hurried, dangerous journey, to feel such an urge to giggle! But the sternness of her mother's voice, the long-suffering look on Will's face, struck her as oddly comical.

  She did not laugh, though, but merely faced forward toward the road ahead, that road that never seemed to end.

  "I assure you, Lady Killinan, I am quite well," Will said again. "Your nursing skills are most effective."

  "I still wish you would let me examine the stitches again," Katherine persisted. "We did leave in such a hurry this morning—"

  "Mama, he said he felt very well!" Anna said. She and Caroline slumped against the sides of the cart, too tired even to read or bicker.

  "And we can hardly stop now," Caroline added. "We have a long way to go before nightfall Isn't that right, Will?"

  "Quite right, Lady Caroline," said Will.

  Katherine opened her mouth, but there was no time to argue anymore. Shouts and cries suddenly erupted from the trees around them, men swarming out from their cover onto the road as if conjured by an evil magician.

  Eliza went cold, every trace of hysterical humor vanishing as their cart was surrounded. She pressed close to Will, staring around them frantically. There were only about ten of them, men and a couple of women, clad in tattered clothes with ragged green bands tied around their arms. But despite their ragtag appearance, the guns and tall pikes looked deadly enough. Were they the ones who killed the patrol on the bridge yesterday and fired at Will from the riverbank? Or perhaps they were the people Anna saw in the woods before dawn? Had they been following them the whole way, and Eliza all unknowing?

  And her gun was tucked away in her knapsack.

  One of the men, the tallest of the group, stepped forward, smiling at them menacingly. "Well, now?" he said. "What have we here?"

  Suddenly, Anna gave a bloodcurdling shriek, tumbling from the back of the cart to land in a heap on the ground, her skirts artfully tangled around her pretty legs. The man's grin faded as he stared down at her.

  "What's wrong with her?” he said, as if a lady fainting at being accosted on the road was a strange thing.

  "Must have been shocked by your handsome face," one of the women mocked.

  Katherine leaped down beside Anna, kneeling down in the dirt to gather her into her arms. "Me daughter is very ill," she said in a flawless Irish brogue, a distressed tear trickling down her cheek. Anna lay limp against her. "We're trying to find a doctor somewhere, but there's none about None that will treat a poor girl."

  The man still stared, as if caught by Anna's fragile beauty. But the others surrounded their cart, weapons at the ready.

  "What's wrong with her, then?" one of the men repeated.

  "She's ... delicate," Katherine answered, a sob in her voice. "My sons and daughters and I just want to find her help before it's too late. She needs rest more than anything."

  Anna lay perfectly still, the consummate actress. But Eliza hardly dared breathe.

  "We've been on the road for days and days," Katherine continued. "Chased everywhere by those nasty soldiers. I fear so for my poor little girl."

  The man knelt beside them, staring at Anna as if enchanted. Eliza almost laughed again, despite the terrible danger. Her sister's prettiness could enthrall even hardened rebels!

  Very carefully, he reached out to touch one of her golden curls. Anna moaned as if in pain, her eyes fluttering open. "Oh, Ma," she whispered brokenly, her accent as flawless as her mother's. "I'm so very tired...."

  "We'll help you," the man said decisively.

  "Liam!" the woman cried. "We've no time to play nursemaid. We have to meet up with the others by nightfall."

  "It's all right, Molly," he said. "They're in trouble just like us. Come on, we'll take you with us. She can rest there for the night"

  "You're so kind," Katherine said, her gaze meeting Eliza's over Anna's head. Play along, she seemed to plead.

  As if they had any choice.

  Chapter 27

  The whole world has gone mad," Eliza murmured, clutching the knapsack containing their guns on her lap.

  Will glanced at her from the corner of his eye, not taking his attention from their newfound companions. "You just discovered that?"

  "I suppose I've known it for a while," she said. It was just that their surroundings now seemed particularly dreamlike and unreal. Like a nightmare come to life.

  The rebels had taken them to a deserted manor house where, as far as Eliza could tell, they were meant to meet with another group who had not yet appeared. The only people who waited for them were two hard-faced men who seemed to look none too kindly on Eliza and her family. Now, as it passed midnight, they all waited together in the small drawing room, the only sound the snap of flames in the grate, the whispers of the rebels as they knelt by the fire.

  A little dried-out bread and a few bottles of brandy seemed to be the only provisions in the house, and the rebels made use of both. The bottles seemed to be getting steadily lower, the murmurs angrier. And as the whispers grew harsher, the atmosphere became more tense as the moments ticked onward.

  Eliza especially did not like the way the two new men, who hovered in the doorway like guards, watched them. Their eyes glittered with suspicion.

  She tugged her cap lower over her brow and stared at the floor. Will sat next to her on the settee, and she could feel the coiled tautness of his muscles. Under the folds of her long coat, he touched her hand, as if trying to reassure her, but she still feared she might scream and leap up from her seat As if she could run, as if there was anyplace to escape to. She had been lucky to hide the guns in her sack before Will left the cart in the shelter beside the house.

  Eliza glanced at Anna, who lay on a chaise near the half-open window, away from the smoke of the fire. Her eyes were closed, her hair tumbling loose from her cap, and she did look convincingly pale. B
ut her fingers were tense where they lay against her skirt Catherine hovered over her watchfully, and Caroline observed the whole scene in thoughtful silence. Perhaps she thought to write it down in her history of Ireland someday.

  If they ever got away, that was. If they could keep Will's identity secret.

  Eliza sneaked a glance at the men in the doorway again, only to find that one of them watched her very closely. His eyes were narrowed in suspicion, and she hastily looked away again.

  "What's wrong with that boy there?" he muttered to his companion, pointing at Eliza.

  "Molly says she thinks he's a mute," the other man said.

  "He hasn't said a word at all; he doesn't even seem to know what's going on around him, poor idiot."

  Eliza felt the burn of the man's stare on her skin. She tried to be like Anna, to summon up her acting skills and pretend not to notice.

  "I don't like it," he said. "The way they just brought these people into our hiding place—they could be anyone at all."

  "Oh, Bill, surely they're harmless! Just some poor refugees like everyone else. Isn't that the point of fighting? To help such people?"

  Before Eliza could eavesdrop on them any further, the man who was their rescuer suddenly knelt down by Anna's chaise, distracting her. He held out a bottle of brandy, his gaze still full of infatuation as he looked at Anna. The woman Molly glared at them from beside the fire.

  "Maybe something to drink would help revive her," he said.

  "How kind you are to my poor girl," Katherine said, sliding the bottle from his hand. She pretended to take a sip from it "Tis fine stuff."

  "No rough homemade whiskey here," he answered. "A fine girl like this shouldn't ever taste such rubbish. It's sad she's so ill."

  Katherine sighed. "It is sad. She's always been delicate, but so sweet I fear all this turmoil has only made her illness worse."

  Anna moaned softly, turning her face to the window.

  "The fire is too warm for her," Katherine said.

  "Perhaps she should lie down in one of the chambers upstairs," the man said. "'Tis cool and quiet there." He glanced toward Molly, who still glared at them. "No one will bother her there; I promise you."

  Anna's ringers tightened on her skirt Katherine covered her daughter's tense hand with her own. "What a good thought," she said quickly. "My son will carry her upstairs."

  Will took the hint, leaping up to gather Anna into his arms before the rebel could do the same. Wincing only the merest amount, he carried her past the two men in the doorway, Katherine and Caroline close behind them. Eliza followed, trying to remember to appear empty-headed. The sharp-eyed man watched their progress up the narrow staircase.

  Katherine opened the first door on the landing and found a small bedchamber. Moonlight streamed through the small window, illuminating a rumpled bed, open doors on an empty wardrobe, and a dressing table in disarray. It appeared the house's occupants left in a great hurry, but there were candles on the table.

  "Put her in here," Katherine said. "We can surely sit here and wait until all is quiet."

  "Better than having everyone stare at us like exhibits in a menagerie," Caroline muttered.

  As Will laid Anna on the bed and Katherine lit the candles, Eliza heard a sudden commotion downstairs. Keeping carefully to the shadows, she peered over the balustrade to the foyer below.

  It seemed the new people had arrived at last A group of about eight men, dressed in threadbare clothes and green armbands like the others, poured through the door. They carried several crates with them.

  The tense silence cracked at their appearance. "We thought you'd been captured!" Anna's admirer called.

  "We're too wily for that," one of the newcomers answered, putting down the crates on the dusty floor. "But when we found this stashed in the woods, we knew we couldn't leave without it"

  "What is it?" Molly asked.

  "Just this." One of the men pried off the top from a crate, revealing piles of ammunition. Eliza almost gasped, remembering how all of their shot was used up at the bridge. There were ten crates down there; surely they could spare just a bit and never miss it

  If she could just find a way to borrow it without letting them know.

  "It's beautiful," Molly said, as if the crates were full of jewels and silks.

  'There's food and blankets, too," one of the men added. "Some patrol in a hurry had to leave them behind."

  The sharp-eyed guard crossed his arms over his chest as he surveyed the stash. 'They left them behind? As easy as that?"

  "Maybe not that easy, after all," one of the other men said.

  "Eliza." Will suddenly touched her arm, making her jump in surprise. She had been too wrapped up in what happened downstairs to pay attention to her own surroundings—a big mistake. Anything at all could be lurking around every corner.

  "You should come into the bedchamber now," he muttered, "where they can't see us."

  "There is more of them now." She gestured to the foyer, where a few of the men still examined the crates. Molly had led most of them back to the drawing room, where laughter and talk now floated free.

  "All the more reason to come in here," Will said. "We'll slip away as soon as it's quiet."

  Eliza cast one more longing glance at the crates. She had to find a way to steal some of that ammunition and perhaps discover more of what those people were doing. But one look at Will's steely expression told her he would stop her from putting herself into even more danger. She nodded and followed him into the chamber. He closed the door behind them, shutting them into a quiet, stuffy, candlelit world.

  Anna sat up against the headboard of the bed, ready to slide down into a faint again if needed. "If I can't marry a duke, perhaps I could turn to the stage," she said. "I thought I did that quite well."

  "You did very well, my dear," said Katherine. "But I do hope we don't have to call on your acting skills again any time soon. I'm quite sure my nerves could not bear it"

  Eliza unlocked and pushed open the window, letting the night breeze into the warm room. The newcomers' wagon stood just below, one of the men busy unharnessing the horses. How long would it be before they could sneak away?

  "I wish we had something to eat," Caroline grumbled. "My stomach is quite empty."

  "Perhaps there is some food left in the pantry," said Eliza, turning away from the window. They shouldn't go hungry, after all, if they all needed their strength to get away. She could surely find food and snatch some ammunition while she was at it. "I'll slip down and see."

  "No, I'll go," Will said. "You should all stay here."

  "Of course not," Eliza argued. "I am much more inconspicuous than you, a mute besides. They won't even notice me."

  Before he could protest, she hurried from the bedroom, closing the door softly behind her. If he followed her now, he would only attract more attention. Once she was sure no one remained in the foyer, she tiptoed down the stairs. She turned not toward the drawing room, where voices still echoed, but to the stairs leading down to the kitchens. She would find Caroline some food, and if she happened to snag a bag of that shot while she was at it...

  She did find a few withered potatoes left in the pantry, as well as two bottles of cider that had been left behind in favor of the brandy. But as she tried to leave the dark, dusty kitchen, she was brought up short by heavy footsteps on the stairs and the sound of masculine conversation.

  Holding her breath, she ducked behind a cabinet, tucking her feet close under her.

  "You're sure, then?" someone said. She thought it was the suspicious guard, but she couldn't be sure. "Fitzgerald is dead?"

  Dead? Eliza's hand tightened on the bottle she held. Oh, but surely there were many Fitzgeralds. It was not Edward. Yet he had been wounded and captured soon before she left Dublin. Everyone had been quite certain his powerful family could secure his release, but what if they were too late?

  She pressed herself tightly against the cabinet, biting her lip to hold back her fear, listen
ing closely.

  "Very sure. We met a messenger coming from Dublin just yesterday," another man said. "After he was shot, the bastards just threw him in Kilmainham Gaol, no doctor or anything. His aunt Lady Louisa Conolly finally persuaded the Lord Lieutenant to let her see him, but it was too late.

  They buried him in the middle of the night at St Werburgh's, thinking no one would notice."

  "A sad day for our cause. He was a born leader. But we have to go forward! It's what he would want"

  There was a long silence, a rustling noise as if they rummaged in the pantry. At last they found what they sought and left the kitchen, still talking of Edward Fitzgerald and his sad sacrifice.

  Eliza drew her knees up to her forehead, closing her eyes tightly as she let the grief flow over her. Edward had been her friend, her comrade in the Irish cause. And now he was gone, senselessly murdered before he could see his beliefs made reality. What would become of his wife and children now, of everyone who depended on him?

  She remembered the night she took Will to the ceilidh, when they danced and sang "Cliffs of Doneen." How very alive the world seemed that night, so vital with wondrous possibilities!

  Now Edward was dead, and she and her family were on the run. It was up to her, to all of them, to keep that dream of Ireland alive, however they could.

  She wiped at her eyes and pulled herself to her feet If she didn't return soon, surely Will would come looking for her no matter what the danger. She hurried out of the kitchen, clutching at her provisions as she listened for any sound.

  Everyone was in the drawing room talking of Edward Fitzgerald. Two of the crates still stood in the foyer, and she took the chance to scoop up two bags of shot. Any more might be missed, but two was better than none. Hopefully it would last them until they reached Dublin.

  She hid the bags inside her coat, running up the stairs before anyone decided to leave the drawing room.