Daniel sucked in his breath and looked away. ‘I have to admit, my motives were less than pure, and there has been precious little time for love or tenderness or even affection in my life in the last years. I don’t deserve your love.’
She rose to her feet to face him. ‘I do understand … I come with two children and a tarnished reputation, and … ’
She didn’t finish. He seized her and wrapped her in his arms, silencing her with a kiss. She responded in kind, joined in a desperate passion that took his breath away. As they broke apart they leaned into each other, forehead to forehead, nose to nose, her very breath his breath. He found her hands, twining his fingers with hers.
‘Marry me, Agnes,’ he said.
Her fingers tightened on his. ‘Daniel … I … ”
‘I understand that the children are a part of you and, God willing, there will be more children.’ A thought welled inside him and he allowed it to spill over in a deep-throated laugh of pure joy. ‘I want to grow old with you by my side, surrounded by our children and our children’s children, Agnes. We can rebuild Eveleigh … ’ He stopped and straightened. ‘You haven’t given me an answer.’
‘You haven’t told me why you want to marry me, Daniel.’
He had to think about that one for a long moment. When it dawned on him, he smiled and gathered her hands in his own, pressing them to his heart. ‘I love you, Agnes Fletcher.’
‘And I very much want to marry you, Daniel Lovell.’
He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
‘As soon as this matter is settled,’ he said. ‘For now, you are dead on your feet, Agnes.’
He swept her up in his arms and carried her over to the bed, laying her between the covers.
‘Will you stay?’ she murmured.
He shook his head as he bent to kiss her. ‘Not tonight. Like you, I need my own bed and a good night’s rest.’
***
Agnes woke to a large, slobbery kiss from Henry. She rolled him over and tickled him until he begged for mercy, with Lizzie joining in until they were one giggly knot. Sarah Truscott entered the bedchamber bearing a tray with fresh bread, jam, and frumenty for the children’s breakfast. She set the tray down on the table and extricated the children from the tangle of bed linen.
‘Sir Jonathan asks that you join them,’ she said as Agnes tumbled from the bed. ‘I’ll help you dress.’
‘You’re cheerful this morning,’ Sarah went on to remark, as Agnes hummed to herself while she drew a comb through her tangled hair.
Agnes laid the comb down and looked at her reflection in the mildewed mirror provided by the inn. ‘I have good reason to be,’ she said.
Coiling Agnes’s wayward hair into a knot, Sarah smiled. ‘Many good reasons,’ she said, adding with a cheeky grin, ‘but mostly to do with an ‘andsome man with a scar on his face?’
‘Maybe,’ Agnes replied.
She all but bounced into the private parlour with a cheery ‘Good morning.’
The three men seated around the table looked up, but Agnes had eyes for only one man. Daniel’s smile warmed her as he held out his hand. She placed her hand in his and he raised it to his lips, never once looking away. His grey eyes, soft and smoky and no longer the icy grey of a winter stream, drew her in, and she leaned toward him, kissing him as if they were the only two people in the room.
Jonathan coughed. ‘I see. That is how the land lies, does it?’
‘About time,’ Kit commented. ‘We’ve been watching you two pretending indifference for weeks now. It was getting very tiresome.’
Daniel laughed, drawing Agnes down onto his knee. ‘In that case you will be relieved to know Mistress Fletcher has consented to be my wife,’ he said. ‘We’ll be married as soon as it can be arranged.’
After the acclamations of good will died down, Daniel turned to Jonathan. ‘How does one get married these days?’
‘There is a registrar in the parish,’ Jonathan said. ‘If you wish to be married at Seven Ways, I know the man. A wedding,’ he nodded approval. ‘A good excuse for some merriment, if any of us can remember how.’
Daniel glanced at Agnes. ‘Seven Ways will suit us. We have nowhere else. My own home is a ruin and I – we – couldn’t impose on Kit.’
Agnes glanced at Kit. Although he carried his right arm in an untidy sling, the night’s sleep appeared to have restored him and he had some colour back in his face.
Kit’s left eyebrow quirked. ‘Why ever not? We have a palace of a house that is only half used. But it is in Hampshire, and if you are anxious to settle the matter, and the Thorntons are willing to put up with you, then Seven Ways it will be.’
Jonathan straightened, and Agnes rose from Daniel’s knee and took the fourth chair.
‘There is still business to be concluded,’ Jonathan’s long fingers tapped the table. ‘What are we to do with the gold now we have it?’
Daniel shook his head. ‘My orders were vague. I was to send word to a man called Mordaunt in London and await further instructions.’
‘Mordaunt?’ Jonathan frowned. ‘Do I know him?’
Kit shrugged. ‘I had some dealings with him back in the uprising of ’48. He is a conspirator of the first order. I’m not surprised he is in on this.’
Jonathan’s mouth tightened. ‘Typical. I’ll send the message this morning and in the meantime I suggest we return to Seven Ways. We probably have more priest holes than Charvaley and the gold can be secured there until we hear from this Mordaunt. By the time the message has been sent and instructions received there should be ample time to organize a wedding.’
Kit stretched his good arm above his head. ‘An excellent plan, Colonel. I have a yen for your soft beds and good food. I am too old for this rackety life.’
Chapter 20
Seven Ways, Worcestershire
4 December 1659
At the Black Cross in Bromsgrove Jonathan arranged for a message to go on to Seven Ways ahead of them, so Daniel should not have been surprised at the crowd that gathered in the forecourt for the arrival of the black Elmhurst coach, with Jonathan and himself following on horseback.
As they turned the corner and the house came in view, he drew rein to consider the size of the waiting crowd. He could identify the Thornton clan, but there seemed to be another three women waiting with them.
‘Who are all these people?’ he asked Jonathan.
Kit peered out of the window of the coach.
He groaned. ‘It’s Thamsine,’ he said, ‘and she’s brought the whole household with her.’
Daniel could see them now – his mother, his sister – and a band tightened around his chest. He had been recognized. Frances, a young woman now, not the girl he had left behind, broke ranks and ran toward him. He all but threw himself out of the saddle and into the arms of his sister, burying his face in her hair to stop the tears.
‘Daniel Lovell, do you have any idea of what I have been through?’
Daniel looked up.
An older woman, her hair grey now, crossed the gravelled forecourt toward him. The years had not been kind to Margaret Lovell, but as soon as she spoke, Daniel could see that they had not mellowed her and her tongue was as sharp as ever.
Daniel broke from his sister’s embrace and covered the distance between them, sweeping her up into his arms. ‘Mother, I am so sorry.’
‘Put me down, you foolish boy,’ Margaret protested without anger. He set her on her feet and she looked up at him, her finger tracing the scar across his cheekbone. ‘I had given up hope … ’ she began and burst into tears. Frances flung her arms around both of them, also crying.
‘When you have quite finished,’ Kit’s voice broke through the circle. ‘I have someone else for you to meet.’
Daniel straightened, hoping that the tears that had been wrung from him did not show.
A tall, elegant woman, with her chestnut hair dressed in fashionable ringlets, stood beside Kit, surveying him with her head tilted to o
ne side.
‘Daniel, my beloved wife, Thamsine.’
Daniel swept into a low bow, a gesture that lost its impact as Thamsine stepped forward and gathered him into a close embrace.
‘You have no idea of how long I have waited to do that,’ she said at last, stepping back with tears in her eyes.
Kit turned to his wife.
‘Thamsine, my darling, are you going to explain what you are all doing here … ’ Kit began. ‘Don’t tell me you brought the children as well?’
‘No. They are at home.’ His wife’s lips tightened. ‘I get a few lines scrawled in a message to say you have found Daniel and the two of you are going on a secret mission?’ She tapped his injured arm, causing him to wince. ‘And look, you managed to get yourself hurt again! Don’t expect me to pat your fevered brow.’
Kit threw his head back and laughed. ‘That is the last thing I expect of you, Tham.’
In the uproar of reunion, Daniel had lost someone, and he looked around searching for Agnes among the crowd of Lovells and Thorntons.
She stood in the shadow of the coach, holding the two children by the hand, a small, lonely island in the midst of the joyful reunions. He ran across to her, sweeping Henry into his arms and taking Agnes by the hand, all but dragging her across to where his family waited.
‘Please allow me to present Mistress Agnes Fletcher,’ he said.
Agnes sank into a curtsey.
His mother’s eyes flicked from Agnes to the children. ‘And whose children are these?’
A spot of colour appeared on Agnes’s cheeks. ‘My sister’s children, Lady Elizabeth Ashby and Henry, the Earl of Elmhurst.’
‘Earl or not,’ Kate hurried across, ‘these look like two children who have had enough of being confined to a coach. Come inside, all of you. There are refreshments in the parlour.’
‘Wait!’ Daniel said and gathered Agnes in to him. ‘Before we go any further, I want you all to know that Agnes and I will be wed as soon as it can be arranged.’
He had the satisfaction of seeing his mother’s mouth open in an O of surprise, but she had the grace to close it again.
‘A wedding? Here?’ Nell Longley clapped her hands together. ‘How wonderful!’
Kate turned to her husband and held out a folded paper. ‘There is a message for you, Jonathan. It arrived this morning. The man said it was urgent.’
Jonathan took the paper and broke the seal, scanned the contents, took a deep breath, and looked up.
‘I am sorry, but wedding plans will have to wait. We are ordered to London.’
***
The two men stood in the street, looking up at the faded and chipped sign of The Ship Inn.
Kit sighed deeply. ‘I never thought I would see it again.’
Daniel glanced at his brother. In the last few days, Kit had related much of the story of the ill-fated plots of 1654 and the terrifying events that had brought Thamsine into his life. It was clear that the inhabitants of The Ship Inn held a very special place in Kit’s heart, and on arrival at the Blue Boar both men had set out on foot to the Old Bayly.
Kit pushed open the door, which creaked on its hinges. At this hour of the day there were few patrons, and a boy engaged in scrubbing one of the battered tables straightened. ‘What can I do for you, sirs –’ He broke off. ‘Cap’n! You came back. I thought you’d forgotten me.’
Daniel smiled at young Matt. ‘I promised I would, but look at you. I hardly recognize you.’
In truth, the boy seemed to have grown a foot in the few short months since Daniel had left him, and no longer had the lean, hungry look of a street urchin. He looked clean, well fed and quite presentable.
‘I’ll get Nan.’ The boy scampered into the rooms beyond the taproom, returning with not only Nan but her brother, Jem Marsh.
Nan shrieked at the sight of Kit and threw herself into his arms, a reaction that seemed so completely out of character that Daniel gave his brother a quizzical glance.
‘Kit Lovell.’ Jem Marsh, grinning broadly, pumped his hand. ‘Ye look well, and you, young Daniel. What brings you back to London?’
‘I had made the boy a promise and I came to keep it. If you still want to come with me, you can, Matt.’
Matt moved to stand between Nan and Jem. ‘If it’s all the same to you, Cap’n,’ he said, ‘I’d rather stay here. Nan and Jem need me.’
Jem placed a fatherly hand on the boy’s shoulder. ‘He’s a good lad, this one,’ he said. ‘Hard worker but willin’ to learn.’
‘I’ve been goin’ to the dame school and learnin’ to read and write,’ Matt said, and lowered his eyes. ‘And I have a name now.’
‘Matthew Marsh,’ Nan said. ‘Didn’t seem proper, the boy not belongin’ somewhere. Had him baptized and everything. Now, how’s about a drink for old times?’
Kit and Daniel rolled back to the Blue Boar several hours later to find a sober and mildly annoyed Jonathan waiting for them in the private parlour. Two other men rose from their seats and Daniel sobered immediately, recognizing one as Giles Longley.
Kit launched himself at Giles, flinging his arms around him. ‘Longley,’ he slurred. ‘We are together again. The guardians of the Crown.’
‘Quite,’ Giles remarked, disengaging himself. ‘Good to see you, Lovell … Lovells, both. May I present John Mordaunt?’
Kit straightened. ‘Ah yes, I remember you now. Spotty youth.’
Mordaunt flushed. ‘That was a long time ago.’ He looked suspiciously at Kit. ‘Aren’t you supposed to be dead?’
Kit thought for a moment. ‘Yep,’ he agreed. ‘Quite dead.’
‘Our orders are to consign the packages to Lord Mordaunt,’ Jonathan said.
‘Lord Mordaunt?’ Kit said. ‘My, you have done well.’
‘His Majesty bestowed the honour on me back in July,’ Mordaunt preened.
‘And look how well that turned out,’ Kit said drily. ‘How many men turned up for your little uprising, Mordaunt?’
Mordaunt mumbled something under his breath.
‘Thirty,’ Kit said. ‘The broadsheets had fun with that one. Very well, Mordaunt, the gold is yours. Use it wisely.’
Mordaunt scowled. ‘I am to pass it on to Jack Grenville,’ he said.
‘Good old Jack,’ Kit said. ‘Do give him … on second thoughts, don’t. I’m dead, and he may think you are receiving messages from beyond the grave.’
Mordaunt glanced at Jonathan, who shrugged. ‘Take the gold, Mordaunt,’ he said. ‘We are pleased to be rid of it.’
They waited until Mordaunt and his heavy packages, had left the room before sitting down. Daniel poured them all wine.
‘I hear congratulations are in order, Lovell,’ Giles said, raising his cup to Daniel.
Daniel thanked him. ‘Are you returning with us?’
Giles nodded. ‘Yes. Time for the exiles to return, I think, but before I do, the King promised you his favour if you retrieved the gold. What are you after?’
Daniel stared into the ruby depths of his cup and considered for a long moment. ‘I no longer need a pardon for myself,’ he said, ‘and I do not believe my lands were sequestered.’ He glanced at Kit. ‘I seek a pardon for my brother.’
Giles raised an eyebrow. ‘From which particular crime? There will be a general pardon for all those who died in service to the King, but as for the other… damn it, Lovell, you were an agent of Cromwell’s. Good men died.’
Kit, suddenly sober, sighed heavily. ‘I had my reasons.’
Giles waved a hand. ‘You can tell them to the King. Is there anything else?’
‘Yes. I am to marry Agnes Fletcher. I want both of us to be granted the custody and guardianship of the young Earl of Elmhurst and his sister until he is of age, along with his property.’
‘That can be done,’ Giles said. ‘Jonathan has appraised me of the situation there. I believe Ashby is now on the Continent and is hardly a fit person to be the child’s custodian. Is that all?’
Danie
l nodded. ‘That is enough.’
‘Good,’ Giles grinned and raised a glass. ‘To the return of the exiles.’
***
‘You can’t hide from me forever.’
Agnes looked up from the book she had been reading and jumped to her feet as Thamsine Granville swept into the room. ‘I wasn’t hiding … I … ’
Thamsine smiled. ‘It must be completely overwhelming to find yourself in the company of so many people. I quite understand. Now, let us get down to the important matter at hand. We have a wedding to plan.’ She clapped her hands. ‘Ladies?’
The door opened to admit Frances Lovell. Frances was much Agnes’s age, not as tall as Thamsine, but slender, with her brother’s dark hair and grey eyes.
She took Agnes’s hands in her own. ‘We have endured so many long, bleak years. We yearn for some fun and something to celebrate so I, for one, am delighted. Now, what are you doing for a dress?’
‘I haven’t thought … ’ Agnes began.
‘I have that in hand.’ Nell now entered the room, carrying a gown of gold satin bundled in her arms. ‘I am afraid it is my wedding gown, so somewhat out of the current fashion, but as Agnes lacks my height there is plenty of material to allow for some remodelling.’
Agnes felt the heat rushing to her cheeks as Nell set the petticoats and bodice out on the table. It was a simple cut with a soft lace at the elbows, and to Agnes’s eyes quite the most beautiful gown she had ever seen.
‘I wasn’t expecting any fuss or bother.’
‘Nonsense,’ Thamsine said. ‘We have much to celebrate. A lost brother returned, a new sister found … a King returned, or about to be returned. Stand up, Agnes, and let us try this dress on and see what needs to be done.’
‘It is too good for me … ’ Agnes began.
Thamsine laughed. ‘You should have seen what I wore to my wedding. Pretty enough but I am sure it had belonged to a courtesan of the first order. Now, up on that footstool.’
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