Red, Red Rose

by Marjorie Farrell

  “I see,” Elspeth replied, her heart sinking.

  “My concern is the same as it was in the fall, Miss Gordon. But not to marry you after last night would be to dishonor both you and your parents, who trusted me.”

  Elspeth thought that if hearts could break, now would be when hers would crack. He was sorry he had to ask her. Of course, part of his reluctance was his ridiculous combination of pride and shame about the circumstances of his birth. But if he had cared for her at all, surely there would have been some joy in his offer.

  “I cannot marry you under these circumstances, Lieutenant Aston,” she answered calmly, although it was difficult to keep her voice steady.

  “It is precisely because of these circumstances that you must, Miss Gordon.” His tone was that of a man used to being obeyed.

  “I am not one of your foot soldiers, to be ordered around,” Elspeth responded sharply.

  Val took a deep breath. “Of course not, Elspeth. I apologize for barking at you. But there really is no choice, so we must both resign ourselves to that.”

  She knew he was right. And after all, there was no man she would rather marry. But not like this. Not like this.

  “We will have to wait until Lisbon, where we can find a clergyman. I am sorry your parents will not be present. It won’t be the wedding you must have dreamed of,” he said regretfully.

  “I put away my girlish fantasies years ago, Lieutenant,” Elspeth replied tartly. She would be damned if she would let him see how vulnerable she was. “And Nelly will be awake soon, so you had best get yourself out of my room. Or she’ll think you have to marry me,” she added with bitter irony.

  * * * *

  After he had bowed himself out, Elspeth sat there, the covers pulled up around her. She had lied, of course. She had not let go of all her girlish dreams. Hers were different from other girls’; she had never desired a large Society wedding. She had never dreamed of marrying an earl or a duke. But she had hoped one day a man she loved would acknowledge his love for her. She had wondered, of course, what joining physically with a man would be like and had pictured it as a union of hearts and souls as well as bodies.

  “Well, lassie,” she told herself as she got out of bed and began to dress, “last night was certainly different from anything you ever dreamed.” She blushed as she recalled Val’s urgency and her own response to it. She had wanted him as much as he wanted her; she couldn’t deny that. Her body had responded to his desperate need for comfort. She could only hope he had found some.

  Chapter 28

  They made the journey to Lisbon quickly and as soon as Val got the women settled, he went out to find an English clergyman. He was directed to a Reverend Arthur, who at first protested that without a special license he could do nothing.

  “We sail in two days, Vicar. We are in the middle of a war. And it is necessary that we marry. Surely under those circumstances an exception can be made.”

  “The lady is in a delicate condition?”

  Val almost smiled. Elspeth was anything but delicate. Of course, he had hinted she might be increasing to get the man to perform the ceremony. He nodded and tried to look desperate. For all he knew, it could be the truth. That thought suddenly shook him, for he had never pictured himself becoming a father.

  They arranged a private ceremony for the next day, and after Val left, he wandered the streets, thinking what a disservice he was doing to Elspeth. She should have a wedding dress, flowers…why, he hadn’t even a ring to give her. He could at least remedy that.

  He found a street with three jewelers’ shops. The first two had nothing that appealed to him. Elspeth was not the sort of woman to wear gaudy diamonds even if he could afford them. He was about to give up hope of finding anything when the third jeweler pulled out a tray of antique rings. There, in the middle row, was a ring of matte gold set with a small, dark emerald. It was simple and elegant and Val knew he had found Elspeth’s wedding ring. He was able to bargain the jeweler down to an affordable price and he pocketed the box and returned to their apartments feeling better than he had in days.

  * * * *

  The next morning was cloudy as they set off for the small chapel. Elspeth had gone shopping too and she wore a new silk shawl over her shoulders and her hair was held back with a silver and abalone comb. Val stole glances at her as they walked. She looked lovely, he thought, but also pale and serious.

  Nelly acted as one witness and the sexton of the church another. When the vicar asked Val for the ring, Elspeth looked surprised when he pulled out a square of tissue paper and unwrapped it to reveal her ring. She offered Val a shaking hand and he slipped on the ring. It fit perfectly and she gave him a quick, delighted smile.

  Val had arranged for a wedding breakfast in their apartments and he invited the vicar and the sexton to join them. He didn’t know if he was relieved or disappointed when they refused. Nelly sat with them for a while and exclaimed over the tiny oranges served in a sugared syrup and the light egg bread that accompanied their omelettes. She left them alone, though, as soon as she’d finished.

  After she’d gone, Elspeth lifted a piece of orange to her mouth with a small silver spoon. “Nelly is right. It is a lovely breakfast, Lieutenant.”

  “I think you might call me by my name, Elspeth.”

  She fingered her ring and watched as the sunlight lit the stone. “I did not expect a ring, Val. Certainly not anything so beautiful.”

  “I thought you needed something to make the day special,” he told her with one of his rare smiles.

  “I am Mrs. Aston now,” she said wonderingly.

  “Yes. Does it feel like such an unwelcome change?”

  “In some ways,” she confessed openly.

  “At least we have honesty between us, Elspeth. I can’t blame you for not wanting to change your name to Aston. It is not a family name, but the name my mother adopted before she had me,” he told her with a bleak smile.

  “She must have been a very brave woman, your mother,” Elspeth said gently. He had never spoken of his mother before.

  “Yes, I suppose she was. It couldn’t have been easy, pretending to be a widow and raising a child on her own.”

  “When did you lose her, Val?”

  “She died when I was eight.” There was a moment’s silence and then Val got up abruptly. “Well, I must go and see to our tickets.” He left Elspeth to sit there wondering what it would have been like for an eight-year-old boy to lose his mother. She suspected it would take a long time before he revealed more.

  * * * *

  That night, Elspeth readied herself for bed carefully, slipping on a silk night rail that she had purchased the day before and brushing her hair until it shone. She settled herself against the pillows and waited.

  It was not long before Val appeared at the door. “I thought I would sleep in the sitting room tonight, Elspeth,” he said.

  “Oh?” She should have protested or questioned him, but she was so surprised and hurt that she could find no other words.

  “We will have an uncomfortable two weeks ahead of us aboard ship and you will need all the sleep you can get tonight.” He hesitated. “You haven’t had much time to get used to this marriage and I was not very thoughtful a few nights ago. I thought I would give you a little time to recover.” He stood there for a moment, as though wanting something from her, but she didn’t know what. “Well, we will need to be up early, so I bid you good night.”

  “Good night, Valentine,” she whispered as he closed the door.

  Obviously the revealing silk had no effect on him, or perhaps he had only wanted her body for comfort, she thought sadly. It was certainly not the wedding night she had hoped for. She sighed as she turned the lamp down and gave herself to sleep.

  * * * *

  Early that day, Val had resolved to give Elspeth time before he came to her again. He had treated her thoughtlessly the first time, only using her for his needs. He decided that when they made love again it would be warm and
gentle: a slow-building fire and not an instant conflagration. But it took every bit of his resolve for him not to climb into bed with her, for she looked lovely in that clinging silk and unbound hair. It took him a long time to fall asleep.

  * * * *

  When they reached London, Val booked them a suite of rooms in a small hotel on the edge of Mayfair.

  “I am sorry it is not Fenton’s, Elspeth,” he said apologetically, “but Captain Grant gave me enough only for my own lodgings.” He didn’t add that he had spent quite a bit of his back pay on her wedding ring.

  “These rooms are very satisfactory, Val,” she reassured him. “I would be happy anywhere just to be off that ship, I am ashamed to confess!”

  “I have to report to Whitehall, but will make sure they send you up a good luncheon, Elspeth. You are still looking pale.”

  “But that is better than Nile green,” she replied with a smile.

  * * * *

  Val waited at Whitehall most of the morning until the government secretary could see him.

  “I understand you have been sent by Captain Grant to further question young Devereaux?” the secretary inquired when Val was finally admitted.

  “Yes. Captain Grant wants to be sure he is telling the truth before taking action against someone who would seem a most unlikely traitor,” Val relied stiffly.

  “I am sure that the boy is telling the truth, though I hate the thought of James Lambert being guilty as much as you.”

  “Where is Devereaux?”

  “At his secretarial post.”

  “He is not under arrest?”

  “You realize, Lieutenant, had we arrested him, it would have alerted the marquess,” the minister said caustically.

  “Of course. I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “I understand you are Wimborne’s friend?”

  Val nodded.

  “He is very busy shepherding his sister through the Season. As the son of the Duke of Ravenscroft, young Devereaux is also busy with the social whirl. May I make a suggestion?”

  “Of course.”

  “I will procure you invitations for many of the same occasions they are attending. That will give you time to get acquainted with Devereaux and to lull any suspicions the marquess might have about your appearance in London.”

  “I doubt he would ever suspect me of spying upon him,” Val said bitterly.

  “Perhaps not, but we do not wish to alarm either of them. Where are you lodged?”

  “We are in the Blackstone Hotel.”

  “We? Did you bring someone with you?”

  “I escorted Major Gordon’s daughter to London.” Val blushed. “She, er, agreed to become my wife and we married in Lisbon.”

  “I see,” said the minister, raising his eyebrows. “Well, I will arrange invitations for Lieutenant and Mrs. Aston, then.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  Chapter 29

  “How was your day, Elspeth?” Val asked when he returned home and found her in the small sitting room.

  “I did nothing but eat and sleep all day,” she confessed with a smile. “I hope that by tomorrow I will have caught up and can get out for a while.”

  “You should take all the time you need….” Val started to say and then stopped.

  “But…?”

  “We will likely be receiving invitations tomorrow.”

  “I don’t know how we can. Maddy doesn’t know I have arrived. And no one even knows we are married,” she added with a faint blush.

  “The minister at Whitehall does now,” Val informed her with a rueful smile. “Evidently it is necessary for the success of my assignment that I socialize, so we will be included at a number of parties. And after you send Maddie word that you are in London, we will be invited to even more, Elspeth,” he added.

  His voice was strained and Elspeth saw he looked worried.

  “Come, sit down, Val, and tell me exactly what Captain Grant sent you to do,” she said, patting the sofa.

  “I suppose I can tell you,” he replied as he took the chair opposite her. She gave a little sigh and wondered when he would wish to be close to her again.

  “But you cannot tell anyone,” he added.

  “I am very capable of keeping a secret, Valentine, I assure you.”

  “Of course you are. I apologize. I told you that someone was passing information to Massena this winter?”

  “Yes, and that Mrs. Tallman was one of your confederates….”

  “We had three suspects: George Trowbridge, Lucas Stanton, and James Lambert.”

  “James!”

  “My own reaction,” Val said sadly. “But it was indeed James who was the contact in Portugal. He was fed information from private government meetings by a minister’s secretary who fancied himself a revolutionary.”

  “But James is no radical,” Elspeth protested. “What would be his motive?”

  “The late marquess ran through most of the estate. James has managed to clear himself of debt, but there would have been very little left over for his sister’s Season.”

  “Sell secrets to the enemy to fund Maddie’s come-out! I can’t believe it. She would have waited a year willingly.”

  “He also needs to marry, Elspeth, and what father would give his daughter to someone on the edge of bankruptcy?”

  “But I know James…. He is not the sort of man to do this,” she said, a bewildered look on her face.

  “I certainly didn’t think so. But perhaps if he felt desperate enough…. And then, even if he had wanted to get out of it, he couldn’t. Lucas Stanton made sure of that.”

  “Lucas Stanton…?”

  “Was blackmailing James. He must have found out early on. So then James needed the money for himself and to keep Stanton quiet.”

  “And you are here to arrest James?” Elspeth said quietly, the sympathy in her voice almost palpable.

  “Not immediately. I am here to question young Devereaux and make sure he is telling the truth first.”

  Elspeth’s face brightened. “Maybe he is lying? Could Lucas be paying him to lie?”

  “I would love to think so, but there is that little matter of blackmail, my dear.”

  “Did the letter Mrs. Tallman found name James?”

  “No,” Val admitted.

  “I have always disliked Lucas Stanton, from the moment I met him,” declared Elspeth.

  “So have I, and I met him years before you, Elspeth,” said Val, amused by her vehemence.

  “I forgot that you were at school with him. He was the reason you left, wasn’t he?” she said slowly, remembering. “Charlie said you beat him senseless. But you never said exactly why.”

  “He…er…degraded a young boy, Elspeth. I couldn’t stand that such brutality was accepted.”

  “Lucas Stanton is one of those men who likes other men? He was always after some woman in the camp,” replied Elspeth, a puzzled frown on her face.

  “Lucas Stanton is one of those men who uses whoever is available to him, but I don’t think he is of an unnatural disposition.”

  “He is an evil man,” Elspeth said flatly. “Whatever his disposition.”

  “I believe so.”

  “Then why could he not be the traitor? Perhaps he was blackmailing someone else.”

  “I would have liked to believe that, Elspeth.”

  “Then do. Don’t go into this convinced of James’s guilt.” Without thinking, she reached out and put her hand on his. It was the first time they had touched aside from their wedding kiss and Val could almost feel the hair on his hand and arm stir in response to her light touch. He moved his thumb caressingly along hers and wondered if she would pull away. Instead, he felt her hand relax under his touch. She was leaning toward him and, without letting go of her hand, he slipped off his chair and onto the sofa.

  “Your wedding ring looks very lovely on your hand, Mrs. Aston,” he whispered.

  “It is a beautiful ring, sir,” she answered breathlessly.

  “I
t is a beautiful hand,” Val replied as he traced its structure with one finger. “Both finely shaped and strong.”

  “I have always been strong,” sighed Elspeth.

  “Surely that is not a bad thing to be?”

  “Strength is not usually the first quality men look for in a woman,” she said lightly.

  “And what is?” he asked gently.

  “Why, you should know, being a man, sir. Beauty, of course.”

  “Perhaps that is true for the everyday man. But a soldier needs a strong woman.”

  Elspeth knew that she had no claim to beauty, but it would have been lovely had he lied, she thought wistfully. But then her heart lifted as he continued.

  “This soldier is lucky to have found a woman with such beautiful hair.” His hand smoothed back a few wisps that had freed themselves and were shining in the afternoon sun. “And hazel eyes flecked with green….” He lifted her chin and gazed into them so intently that she lowered them in confusion.

  “And freckled skin,” she added, trying to dispel the tension that was building between them.

  “Yes, a fine dusting,” he agreed as he traced her cheek.

  “So you are satisfied with your wife, sir,” she teased.

  “Oh, very much, madame,” he replied as he lowered his face to hers and brushed her lips with his.

  Her lips immediately parted, and he nibbled at her mouth with his. Elspeth gave a little moan and he pulled away. “Oh, don’t stop,” she whispered and pulled him down again.

  This time their kiss was long and deep and when it ended, Val buried his face in her neck. “I want you, Elspeth,” he whispered against her ear. “But I used you so urgently that I would not wonder if you did not want me.”

  “Oh, but I have, I do,” she answered.

  His hand caressed her breast and she shivered. “But not here on the sofa,” she said with a mischievous little smile.

  He slid his hand around her waist and kept it there, guiding her upstairs and into their bedchamber. When he had closed the door behind them, they stood there, looking at one another.