“He’s been in England for nearly a year. I suspect he’s spent most of that time in London.”
“Suspect?” Henley asked. “You mean you don’t know?”
Mercy smiled, aware it was a brittle attempt. “No. I don’t. He is apparently kicking over the traces as young men are wont to do—or so I’ve been told,” she added with a dark thought to Hart. “I wish to remind him that he has a doting family.”
Nathan studied her with approval and tenderness. “Might I be so presumptuous as to ask after him for you?”
“Oh, would you?” she asked eagerly, leaning forward. “I’d be so grateful.” She considered naming the places William frequented but recalled the Peacock’s disreputable air and even more disreputable bartender and decided against such a course. It could give Hillard a bad opinion of Will, make him renege on his offer of help.
Perhaps just having him ask among his acquaintances would net results. He might know someone who knew someone.… After all, many of the men at the Peacock’s Tail had been as fashionably dressed as those here.
“I’d be delighted,” he said. “But I feel obliged to say that if your brother is determined to remain elusive—especially a lad who is intent on establishing his independence,” he added with an indulgent smile, “—there is little hope of finding him. London is a big city.”
“Oh, I’ll find him,” Mercy said stubbornly. “However long it takes, I will find him. He’s my only sibling, you see. I must find him.”
“With such resolution I wager you’ll succeed,” Hillard answered in a soft, considering voice.
“What is it you’re wagering now, Hillard?” Acton hailed them. Mercy turned to find her host bearing down on them, his broad ruddy face wreathed in smiles. Annabelle Moreland glided at his side, a vision of loveliness in pale lilac muslin and tiny orchid-colored satin bows. “You aren’t challenging Miss Coltrane to another contest of marksmanship, are you?” Acton demanded in a bluff tone.
“Good Lord, no,” Hillard said. “I wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“Good, because I’ve just been to see the gamekeeper and I have my own suit with which to press Miss Coltrane. I had him set out some three hundred pheasants in the meadow yesterday. Today”—he rubbed his hands together—“would be splendid weather for an afternoon shoot.”
“I’m afraid I don’t hunt, Acton,” Henley said.
Acton glanced at him as though just realizing his presence. “Oh, Wrexhall. Quite all right. But for those of us who do, it shall be marvelous.” He turned to Mercy. “I was hoping you’d grace us with your skill, as well as your delightful company, Miss Coltrane.”
Mercy cast about for some way of refusing. Since provoking Hart into that contest, Acton had become her most ardent fan. It was a bit wearing having to live up to his exaggerated—and romanticized—image of her.
“The other ladies will be attending?” she asked.
He smiled. “Oh, none of the other ladies can hope to match your skill, Miss Coltrane. I’m sure they will be content to spectate from the carriages.”
Not if Annabelle were an example of such contentment, thought Mercy. The young girl was regarding her frostily. There was a definite ripple of discontent across the seemingly impenetrable pool of her serenity.
“Do you shoot, Miss Moreland?” she asked.
“No, Miss Coltrane. I am not a sportswoman,” Annabelle said.
“Course you aren’t, Miss Moreland,” Acton said. “Perhaps you and some of the other ladies can arrange a déjeuner alfresco?”
“Certainly. Would you like to start with cheese and fruit?” the girl snapped. “And what beverage? Lemonade? Hot chocolate? Perhaps you’d like me to see that the linen is properly ironed?”
Startled, Mercy looked at her.
“Ah, that won’t be necessary.” Acton’s mouth looked a trifle slack.
“And for the main course?” Annabelle continued. “Meat pies or sausages in pastry?”
Mercy could have sworn one dainty foot was tapping beneath the four tiers of laced ruffles.
“Anything,” Acton squeaked, and cleared his throat. “Whatever Cook provides.”
Wrexhall grinned. “Quite partial to sausage myself, Belle,” he said.
“I’ll arrange it immediately.” Annabelle twirled, her frothy lilac skirts billowing out as she strode away, probably off to inform her brother of the suspected insult.
“If you gentlemen would excuse me,” Mercy said, marking Annabelle’s progress through the small groups of people.
“Of course, dear Miss Coltrane,” Acton said, bowing forward at the waist. “We’ll see you later on.”
“Yes,” she murmured, waiting to see which door Annabelle exited through.
“You’ll be shooting, then?” Hillard asked as she started forward.
“Yes, I expect so.” She’d lose sight of Annabelle if she didn’t hurry. “Good morning, gentlemen.” She hastened across the room, arriving in the wide, gleaming hallway just as Annabelle was about to turn the corner.
“Miss Moreland!” Mercy called.
The girl obviously didn’t want to acknowledge her. But it would have been ridiculous to pretend she didn’t hear her. They were the only two people in the hall. She had stopped but not yet turned. Mercy could see the tension in the set of her narrow back.
Good manners won out. Annabelle turned, a small questioning lift to one golden brow. She waited until Mercy was close enough so that she didn’t need to raise her voice. Point for Annabelle, Mercy thought wryly.
“Miss Coltrane?” she asked politely. “There is something you wanted? An item added to the luncheon menu, perhaps?”
Mercy laughed and Annabelle’s lovely eyes widened.
“No, Miss Moreland. I am looking for your brother. I have a—a book he wished to borrow.”
It wasn’t a very good lie, but Annabelle’s breeding once more held on, if but by a tenuous thread. “Do you?” she said. “Well, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until later to give it to him. He’s gone.”
“Gone?” To press Annabelle for more information was unforgivably vulgar and if Annabelle had had even a year of seniority over her, Mercy was sure she would have given her the set-down she was obviously trembling to contain. Thank God for English governesses.
“Yes,” Annabelle said. “At breakfast this morning he mentioned he would be in London for the day. Business. Is there anything else you want to know?”
London, Mercy thought. He’d gone to find Will by himself. Damn him, he’s left you behind like a lame dog.
The thought cut deeply. After she’d made clear how important it was that she be the one to approach Will. After he’d held you. After you’d imagined he might have some feeling.… She refused to follow the thought further.
“No, Miss Moreland,” she said faintly.
“You’re most welcome,” said Annabelle, and, with one last superior glance, left.
“Bully!” shouted Major Sotbey as the pheasant plummeted from the sky in a flurry of feathers. “Grand sport, what?” he asked, beaming at Mercy.
“Delightful,” she returned perfunctorily.
“That’s a fine-looking firearm you have there, ma’am,” he said.
“Thank you, Major. Lovely, isn’t it? It’s a Winchester.”
“You carried your shotgun from America?” the major asked.
“No, sir. His Grace had it in his collection. He gave it to me after the, er … exhibition between Lord Perth and myself.” Hart’s face flickered across her thoughts. She forced it away. He’d left her. Even now he was in London, searching for Will while she stood here, useless and abandoned.
“Did he, now?” The retired major’s voice took on an interested tone.
Mercy fixed him with a severe gaze. “Yes, sir. As a consolation prize to the losing participant.”
“Didn’t really lose, though, did you?” the major asked. “Just left Perth the field.”
“No, sir. I forfeited because I could not repeat his shot
s.”
“Well, young lady, you’ll have a hard time convincing Acton of that.”
“Convincing me of what, Major?” Lord Acton asked, appearing beside them.
“Convincing you that Miss Coltrane here isn’t the best shot in the county.”
“Too true,” Acton declared. He beamed at Mercy. “Miss Coltrane, you haven’t fired yet. Is there something amiss? You dislike your gun?” His face fell.
“No indeed, Lord Acton. It is a very nice gun. Everything is very … well orchestrated,” she replied.
“I know what the problem is,” Acton said, snapping his fingers. “These fellows are so set on impressing you, they haven’t given you a clear shot.”
“Really, that’s not the—”
“Here, now! Gentlemen!” he called. The other members of their party stopped their slow progress through the waist-high grass that still gallantly held on to a vestige of summer’s green. “We’ll let Miss Coltrane have a go, shall we?”
“That’s not necessary,” Mercy protested, but Acton was bound and determined to showcase her expertise.
“Course it is,” he said. “Pull up, lads.”
The other men complied, shouldering their shotguns and waiting patiently for her to shoot something. Fighting back a sound of resignation, Mercy pushed the safety button on the gun and waded out into the grass. Acton wouldn’t be content until she’d downed at least one pheasant.
She looked over her shoulder to the small oak-tree-covered knoll where open carriages, festooned with bright ribbons and more brightly clad ladies, were parked. All except Annabelle, who was standing a bit away from the carriages, watching her with that impassive chill so like her brother’s.
Mercy wistfully regarded the relaxed, convivial—well, mostly convivial—group. They were sipping punch, nibbling on cakes, and droning on to each other like autumn-drunk bees while she staggered over hummocks and rodent holes as beaters drove the fields a hundred feet ahead.
She narrowed her eyes against the sun. She would have freckles tomorrow. Unless Brenna had some magical concoction that took care of those too.
Suddenly, to her right, a pheasant rooster exploded from a gorse thicket, cackling raucously as it beat its wings skyward. With a tinge of regret Mercy shouldered her shotgun. At least it was a clean end. One second flying upward, the next falling lifeless to the ground.
She pulled the trigger.
A deafening roar shattered her eardrums. Agony ripped up her hands through her arms. The world buckled beneath her.
And then it was she, not the pheasant, that fell to the ground.
Chapter 18
Hart rounded the stable and headed for the front of the house, weariness slowing his pace. He’d spent an entire day in London, choking on the fumes in countless gin houses, “private” clubs, and dens, and still he was no closer to finding William Coltrane than he’d been when he set out this morning. And no closer to ending Mercy’s quest.
The memory of her lithe young body, so supple and vulnerable, relaxing into his embrace, stirred a deep yearning in him. He bit it back. There would be nothing she wanted from him now, except possibly his head on a platter.
The thought wrung a rueful smile from him. She would be mad enough to spit because he’d left her behind. Not that he’d had any choice. Since he hadn’t been able to bring himself to frighten her into staying behind, he’d simply sneaked away. Now, as soon as she discovered that he was back, she’d doubtless treat him to a display of American vitriol. He picked up his stride. If she insisted on a scene, he wouldn’t disappoint. He even looked forward to it. Her energy, her passion, were magnetic.
He sniffed at his coat. Even after three quarters of an hour in the open air the faint odor of opium still clung to it. He started to shrug out of the battered ulster and grimaced as he felt the knife wound over his ribs protest this treatment. He looked down. Beneath the concealing coat his shirt was ruined, stained with blood. His thoughts clouded with the memory of the two men he’d left unconscious in the squalid Soho side street.
Six years and he’d not once lifted a finger in violence, and then Mercy Coltrane appeared and awoke every brute instinct he’d thought he’d destroyed. He had snapped one of those men’s wrists with no more remorse than he’d buttered his toast. And God help him, he’d do worse if the situation should call for it. If she needed it.
There was still a dangerous animal lurking beneath the surface calm, testing the bars of self-restraint, prowling along the trenches, waiting for its opportunity to be free. He closed his eyes. She was pushing him toward some fatal union of past and present, some volatile and explosive combination of impulse and act.
He entered the house, intent on avoiding conversation, to find the foyer crowded. Some sort of disturbance had upset Acton’s party. White-faced ladies cast surreptitious glances up the staircase, troubled-looking gentlemen clasped their hands behind their backs and murmured.
“… disastrous,” he heard Baron Coffey say.
“… never heard the like in me life.”
“… couldn’t believe the damn thing exploded!”
What, Hart wondered bitterly as he wove his way toward the staircase, the pastry chef’s soufflé? He’d spent a day among London’s lost and destitute. He’d no sympathy for whatever disaster had momentarily interrupted the pleasurable pursuits of Acton’s house guests.
“Poor Miss Coltrane …” Lady Carr was saying.
He halted, swinging around and scowling at her so fiercely that she stepped back. “What of Miss Coltrane?” he demanded, his pulse quickening.
“You haven’t heard?” she asked.
“No. I wouldn’t have asked otherwise,” he bit out. “What of Miss Coltrane?”
“Her shotgun … the barrel exploded when she was shooting at—”
“Where is she?”
“They’ve taken her to her room. But you can’t—”
He shouldered his way past her, barely aware of her gasp of indignation. He took the stairs two at a time, his heart hammering, his body tense, a fire of urgency setting his pace.
In the upper hall Beryl detached herself from a group of ladies and came toward him, her lean face full of sympathy. She stretched out a hand to stay him.
“I know she means something to you—” she began to say.
“Get out of my way.”
“My God, Perth, you can’t just—”
He shook her off and strode to Mercy’s door, reaching for the knob. Fear made his hand tremble.
God, don’t let her be maimed. Don’t let her be dead.
He wrenched it open.
“… so please, Lord Acton, don’t dismiss your gamekeeper,” Mercy was saying.
She was alive.
He closed his eyes, nearly slumping to his knees, fighting to regain the blessed numbing coldness, not wanting to feel these things. Not wanting to sob with relief. He forced his eyes open and looked around the room.
Hillard and Acton were perched on low ottomans beside an ornately carved four-poster in which Mercy lay, propped against a half dozen pillows. Near the bed’s foot Lady Acton sat in a wing-back chair. All three stared at him in open astonishment. But Mercy … her hands lifted toward him. It was only a fractional movement, a matter of a few inches, but it was telling.
He almost went to her then. Almost gave in to the overwhelming need to meet her unspoken entreaty. Almost.
“Hart,” she whispered.
He ignored her, swinging on Acton. “What the hell happened? They said there was an explosion.”
“Yes.” The Duke stumbled to his feet, chagrined and red faced with guilt. “The barrel of her shotgun split. Luckily, she was only thrown by the concussion. The doctor assures me she is fine—”
“Only thrown by the concussion?” Hart demanded. “Men have died from such shock, Acton.” His gaze raked the other man’s face.
“Here now, Perth—” Nathan Hillard said. Why was he here?
Hart ignored him. “Whose shotgu
n was it?”
“It was hers.” Acton burned a brighter scarlet. “That is, one I had given her.”
“Good God, man,” Hart bit out. “Doesn’t your gamekeeper check your firearms before handing them out?”
“Perth, it wasn’t his fault,” Mercy said.
“Yes, it was, Miss Coltrane,” Lady Acton said. “You are our guest and therefore our responsibility. I have been remiss in my duty. How remiss is only now”—her autocratic gaze touched Hart—“becoming apparent. I cannot tell you how very much I regret our negligence.”
Mercy stirred among the flounced and ruffled covers. “The gun was fine,” she insisted. “I checked the action myself before the hunt. It was in perfect working order.”
“But, my dear,” Hillard crooned, “surely there was some small defect that would have escaped the hobbyist’s eye but should not have been missed by the gamekeeper.”
“No,” Mercy said, a stubborn set to her mouth. “I am not a hobbyist, Mr. Hillard. I am well acquainted with firearms. I have had to be. There was nothing untoward about that gun when I returned it for loading.”
“An undetectable weakness in the metal, perhaps?” Hillard offered. “Or the shell was improperly loaded?”
“That must be it,” Mercy said with a grateful smile. “And as it was undetectable, no blame can be ascribed. So as I was saying, please do not dismiss the gamekeeper.”
“If that is your wish, dear valiant lady,” Acton said. Hart felt his lips tighten.
“It is.” She looked over at him. “I’m sorry you have returned to such a commotion, Mr. Perth. I heard you went to London. On business.” The light in her eyes took on a harsher cast.
Ah, he thought, she knows where I have spent the day and wants to question me about what I’ve discovered. She’d already dismissed her accident as inconsequential and was once more intent on pursuing news about her brother.
But even though she was satisfied with the explanation of why her gun had exploded, he was not. Acton wouldn’t own any but the finest firearms.
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