On quiet feet, a solid tree limb in hand, Ian came up behind the man. A dried twig snapped under his foot, and the man swung in his direction. Powder flashed as the pistol exploded. Wood met skull at the same instant, and the man was felled like a giant oak.
Already on the move, his own pistol braced, Jared cursed the unexpected eruption. His element of surprise was gone. Still he burst through the doorway to stop short.
“Set aside your weapon,” Robert ordered coldly, his arm wrapped tightly around Alissa’s torso while Megan’s long tresses were bound around his hand, keeping her in place. “Or your wife’s throat will suffer.”
His heart pounding erratically, Jared viewed the knife tip as it indented the fair skin of her throat. Then his gaze met Alissa’s. Wide, sky-kissed eyes stared back at him, but he saw no fear. A message passed between them, and he groaned silently. I love you, too, sweet Alissa. Then he slowly lowered his pistol.
“Don’t do it, Jared!” Alissa cried out. “He means to kill us all!” She winced as the point dug deeper into her skin.
Cold anger filled Jared as he watched the trickle of red flow down her ivory skin. “You’d best give it up, Robert. You won’t win.”
“But you will lose,” his cousin countered. “All three of them.”
Hearing Ian come up behind him, Jared set his pistol on the table. “Let them go and we’ll let you pass.”
“You really believe I’m a fool, don’t you, cousin?” Then his eyes snapped to Ian. “Ready three horses, now!”
“Do as he says,” Jared ordered, feeling Ian’s hesitation, his eyes never leaving Robert’s. Then he noticed the movement of Alissa’s hand, Megan watching it. If it would only work, he thought, reading the signs. “You can have it all, Robert,” he said, trying to distract him. “My rights to my father’s title … everything.” He caught Alissa’s eye, then nodded imperceptibly, telling her he understood. “Just let them go.”
“How can I have it all when you’re still alive? An impossibility, cousin.”
“It is not, if I sign it over to you.”
“Won’t work. I want more than the lands and the money. I wish to be the next Duke of Claremore.”
“Nothing is impossible, Robert,” he said, watching the count of Alissa’s fingers. “If Alissa, Megan, and I left Scotland, without a trace, then it might be assumed we are dead. My last will and testament can name you as benefactor. Only the Crown can grant you the rest.”
“And what promise do I have you’ll hold to your word?”
“That’s all I can give … my word. You have it now, Robert, if you let them go. Otherwise, you will lose all. There’s no other choice.”
As he considered Jared’s words, Robert’s hold slackened and Alissa felt it. Instantly, her third finger popped out. Seeing it, Megan hiked her foot, ramming it into Robert’s shin; Alissa went limp, sliding down his body, then her elbow hit his groin. Sickening pain racked Robert’s entire body; his arms dropped, and Alissa and Megan scampered to freedom. Before he could recover, he was hit by the full force of Jared’s lunging body.
The knife flew from Robert’s hand, skittering into the corner as hard, angry fists pummeled his face and body. Twice he managed to strike back, hitting Jared directly in his tender wound. Pain shot the length of his body, but Jared ignored it, his fist crashing again into Robert’s jaw. Again. And again.
Blood combined with sweat, its odor filling Alissa’s nostrils; the sound of knuckle crushing bone vibrated in her ears. She suddenly felt nauseated. “Stop, Jared! You’re killing him!”
Her cry filtered into his brain, then a hand jerked him back. “Enough, friend,” Ian said. “He’s already unconscious.”
The red haze cleared from Jared’s eyes and he saw his cousin lying upon the stone floor, his face broken, bloody. Shaking his head, the last remnants of his fury left him, and he turned to face his wife. Their gazes held for a long moment, and their thoughts seemed to transcend the space between them.
His arms opened, and without hesitation, she flew into his loving embrace. Then his lips sank, meeting hers in an achingly poignant kiss. Tearing his mouth free, he whispered, huskily, “Alissa, love, I feared I’d never see you again.”
The words seemed torn from the very depths of his soul, and she was filled with resounding joy. “Nor I you, my love.”
Then she pulled away slightly, and he turned to catch his daughter up in his arms to hold her tight. “Soon we’ll be on our way home,” he said, setting Megan on her feet; then he moved off to help Ian.
Home, Alissa thought, smiling softly. Never had a word sounded so wonderful to her. Home, she repeated again, knowing, as she gazed at her husband, she was already there.
CHAPTER
Twenty-two
Once Robert and his hired thugs were deposited with the local authorities, the foursome headed homeward. Stopping at the lane leading to Falcon’s Gate, Jared’s hand stretched toward Ian’s. “I could never have done it without you. Thank you.”
Ian smiled, his hand clasping Jared’s. “That’s what friends are for. Remember it.”
Jared returned his smile. “I’ll not forget it, Ian. Foolishly, I had allowed myself to be blinded to the truth,” he said, remembering how once Robert had regained his senses, his tongue had loosened, and he’d voluntarily recounted his treacherous acts, including his involvement in writing the love letters to Celeste, signing Ian’s name. Realizing that their estrangement had been caused by his cousin’s maliciousness, plus his own foolishness, the Marquis of Ebonwyck had made amends with the Earl of Huntsford. “Never again. You’re a true friend.” He let loose Ian’s hand. “Remember, you’re always welcome at Hawkstone … but wait a week or two before you call.” His warm gaze settled on Alissa. “I’ll be busy.”
A fiery flush instantly brightened her face; affronted, her eyes widened. “S-sir,” she sputtered, “I believe—”
Ian laughed, then cleared his throat. “I’ll leave the three of you, before I become embroiled in a family dispute. See you in a fortnight,” he called as he turned Woden and headed down the lane.
“I simply spoke the truth, madam,” Jared said, a teasing smile lighting his eyes. “As a matter of fact, we’ll both be busy … urgently so.”
Alissa turned dancing eyes upon him. Unable to stop the laughter bubbling to her throat, she let it fly. Its musical quality vibrated through Jared, and he reached for her, but she quickly turned her horse and set it into a gallop toward Hawkstone.
With Megan bouncing along on another horse, Jared kept Thor to a walk. A wicked grin crossed his face. “Love,” he said, watching his wife’s retreating form, “whether you know it or not, you’re headed exactly where I want you.”
“What, Papa?” Megan asked, her curious eyes upon him.
He smiled and winked. “Nothing, sweet.”
Hearing his son’s voice in the hallway, the Duke of Claremore bounded from his chair in the sitting room and trotted to the door.
“Eudora!” his voice boomed through the house. “They’re back!” A delighted smile lit his face and eyes as he lifted his granddaughter high. “Welcome home.”
Appearing at the top of the stairs, Eudora swept downward in a flash. “Oh, my dears, thank God you’re safe.” She threw her arms around Alissa, hugging her close. “I’d feared the worst, but I should have known the marquis would rescue you.” She turned smiling eyes to Jared. “I was told you were willing to give all you owned, so long as they were both returned safely. I assume all is settled between you?”
“Indeed, madam … save for a few minor details,” he answered, drawing Alissa closer to his side. “When we are in private—” He gasped as Alissa’s elbow hit his ribs. “I believe my wife wishes for me to remain silent on the subject.” He rubbed the tender area, his lips twitching as he viewed her indignant scowl. “I shall defer to her better judgment.”
As the two women and Megan walked toward the sitting room door, the men following, Edward chuckled. “Your mother
had a similar way of silencing me. My instep still suffers from the blows of her heel. For safety’s sake, you might wish to invest in a suit of armor.”
“Since it will be too cumbersome to discard when the mood strikes, I believe I’ll take my chances and bear her bruises.”
“I catch your meaning,” the duke said, slapping his son’s back, then they both guffawed, drawing Alissa’s petulant eye. Catching the look, Edward harrumphed and whispered, “I think we should curb our discussion, lest she attack both of us.”
“A coward, Father?”
“Never. But one woman’s wrath is enough.”
Jared looked at him askance, then smiled. “I take it Eudora was not content with your waiting.”
“Not in the least.” His father grinned. “But there were benefits, as well.”
“Used the Braxton charm, did you?”
“Naturally.”
As the group settled in the sitting room, Jared began to tell of their adventure. His father was noticeably taken aback when he learned his nephew had been the leader of the group. “I suppose we failed him,” Edward said, shaking his head. “Perhaps his father’s hatred of the Braxtons had been instilled too deep for us to turn it aside.”
“What made the man hate you so?” Alissa asked, not knowing Robert’s background.
“It began over thirty years ago, when Robert’s mother, my sister, had been betrothed to a young man of good standing, an earl’s son. The marriage had been hailed by both families and was to take place in the spring of the coming year. Unfortunately, Sybil met Miles Hamilton, a lesser son of a baron.” Edward noted Alissa’s impeaching look. “It had nothing to do with his standing in the peerage, my dear. It was his boorish manner and arrogant presumptuousness. Seeing his chance to attain power and money, he seduced my sister, got her in a family way, then challenged her fiancé to a duel, killing the young man outright. Hamilton promptly married her, thinking he’d won. But my father, livid over the scars the family had suffered because of Sybil’s scandalous behavior, quickly disinherited her and cast her from the fold. Afterward my father suffered greatly, for she died in childbirth. Raising a son by himself, Miles Hamilton took to the bottle, drowning his sorrow … but it had nothing to do with the loss of my sister. He became a social outcast, without a farthing of his own. Naturally, he placed the blame on the Braxtons.”
“And Robert?” Alissa asked.
“Robert was thirteen when his father took a drunken spill from his horse, breaking his neck. I immediately took the boy in, hoping to give him a good home. He was a sullen, peevish lad, at first spouting his hatred for the Braxtons, like his father had before him. As time passed, I thought he had overcome his anger. I suppose he never did.”
“Don’t blame yourself, Father,” Jared said, patting the man’s shoulder. “You did everything you could to help him. He remained his father’s seed.” He moved to his wife’s chair and edged a leg onto the arm. “Not everyone is as lucky as I to have a sire such as you.” He glanced at Alissa, instantly noting her troubled look. “What is it, love?”
Tear-glazed eyes stared up at him. “I—I was just thinking that perhaps it’s best I know nothing of my own father. Especially if he was anything like Robert’s.”
Just then Leona Dugan marched into the room, carrying a hefty tray of refreshments, a bandage-crowned Mr. Stanley following her. “I found the best bottle of wine ye had,” he offered, holding the dusty bottle high in his hand. “I’d say this be a time fer celebration.”
“Agreed,” Edward said, his eyes meeting Eudora’s with a knowing look. “I’ll get the glasses.”
Alissa sprang from her chair. “Oh, Thom, it’s good to see you’re on the mend. Jared said you’d not been seriously hurt, but I couldn’t wait till I saw for myself.”
“Wish I coulda been more help to ye,” he said, scuffing his toe in the carpet, shrugging.
“You did the best you could,” she offered, hoping to raise his spirits. “I couldn’t ask for a better friend and coachman.” Then she placed a kiss on his cheek.
Blushing, he grinned. “Thank ye much.”
“Don’t get any ideas, Mr. Stanley,” Jared said from where he sat, looking at his man with mock sternness. “Or you might be sporting a scar to match the other.”
“Could say the same about ye, as well,” he countered, a brow raised. “She be too good fer either of us anyway.”
“True,” Jared said, grinning. “But I hope to persuade her to stay … with me, of course.”
Feeling Mrs. Dugan’s presence at her side, Alissa turned. “Yes?”
“I-I just wanted to say how glad I am you’re back, Lady Ebonwyck. Welcome home.”
Close friends they might never be, but a look of understanding passed between the two women. Respect for each other held their regard. “Thank you, Leona.”
“When we’ve had our toast,” Jared said, “I’d like to order up baths for my wife, Megan, and myself. We’re rather weary from our journey.”
After all their glasses were raised, the wine swallowed, Mr. Stanley and Mrs. Dugan left the room with Megan at their sides. As soon as the door closed, Edward waved Alissa toward her chair and waited until she had reseated herself next to Jared. He cleared his throat. “To go back to the subject we were on before we were interrupted, Eudora and I have a story to tell that might heal some old wounds,” he said, again seating himself beside Eudora.
Jared settled more comfortably on the arm of his wife’s chair and rested his hand along its back, close to Alissa’s head. “You sound as though the two of you have unearthed some great mystery, Father.”
“Actually, we have. But, considering the way my new daughter reacted when she discovered you were of the peerage, I’m not quite certain I should broach the subject now.”
“Stop talking in riddles, Edward,” Eudora admonished, frowning at him, “and get on with it.”
“Of course, madam. But I believe you have the evidence.”
As Alissa looked to her husband, she saw his shrug. Then she noticed Eudora slip her hand into her pocket to withdraw something. Her hand opened. “My brooch!” Alissa cried, uncomprehendingly. “What’s this all about?”
“It’s about a young woman who has no knowledge of her father, but should have had a long time ago,” Eudora explained, “and I’m afraid it is partially my fault that she did not.”
“You know who my father is?”
“Was,” Edward said gently, and noted her crestfallen face. “His name was Geoffrey Chapman.”
“Chapman!” Jared exclaimed, coming to his feet. What the hell else could happen to cause them problems! “If you are about to tell me she is my first cousin—”
“Sit,” Edward commanded, waving him down. “There were other Chapmans running about besides your late mother.”
“Cousin?” Alissa inquired, just grasping Jared’s mother was a Chapman, as well. “Please explain.”
“Certainly, dear,” Eudora said, then looked at the duke. “Edward, please.”
“Yes, well, you and Jared are cousins, but a half-dozen or so times removed. Your children will suffer no abnormalities,” he stated, “if that’s what’s upset you, son.”
Jared relaxed. “Thank God for that!”
“Perhaps I should tell Alissa’s mother’s side first,” Eudora said, softly. “Rachel Ashford, as you all know, was an accomplished actress. She’d met a young man by the name of Geoffrey Chapman, who immediately fell in love with her. Since he was of the peerage”—she noted Alissa’s startled look—“he was the Earl of Benton, my dear. Fearing a match between them might lead to little else but trouble, Rachel balked at his attentions. But Geoffrey refused to give up. Eventually he was able to convince her to marry him, secretly. It was not long afterward that his family found out about it, and they pressed for an annulment. It was a bitter confrontation, Geoffrey’s father threatening to disown him because he’d married a common actress.”
Edward cleared his throat. “Sometimes we
of the peerage display exceedingly bad manners. I apologize for mine.”
“Anyway,” Eudora continued, “one day your father simply disappeared without saying good-bye. Believing he’d buckled under to his family’s pressure, she assumed he’d deserted her. By then she was with child and tried several times to find him. But the Chapmans refused her even the simplest of courtesies. She was turned away at every juncture. Never hearing from your father again, she vowed never to speak of him, and she never did. Her heart had been broken.” Eudora sighed. “Your mother swore me to secrecy. Hence I was silent, even after her death. I’m sorry, dearest.”
“You are forgiven, Eudora,” Alissa said, the tenderness she felt for the woman displaying itself in her eyes. “A promise is a promise. But what does the brooch … was it a gift from my father?”
“Indeed it was,” Edward said, going on with the story. “When your father married your mother, he gave her a gift … this brooch. Remember when I asked you about it?” He saw Alissa’s nod. “Well, I thought I’d recognized it. It wasn’t until we were waiting for your return that Eudora and I began to piece this story together.”
“How so?” his daughter-in-law asked.
“The Chapmans had a vested interest in the East India Company. The sapphire in this brooch came from Kashmir, in northern India, and was placed into this setting. It was passed to Geoffrey when his mother died. I’d only seen it a few times, but I remembered it well.”
“What happened to my father?” she asked, then felt Jared’s hand slip over hers, squeezing it tenderly.
“Your father did not desert your mother. Quite the contrary. Since he was to be disowned, for he loved your mother too much to leave her, he decided to make his own fortune. After a heated row with his father, during which all ties between father and son were broken, your father discovered a ship was leaving for India, and he quickly booked passage on it. As the family gossip would have it, he entrusted a servant with a note addressed to your mother, explaining what he was about and asking her to wait for him. Unfortunately, fate, it seems, played a beggarly trick on the two lovers. First, the note was intercepted, hence your mother’s believing she’d been deserted. Next, your father’s ship was caught in a terrible storm off the coast of India … all souls were lost.”
Masque of Enchantment Page 33