The befuddled man led him toward the library where Charles was engrossed in paper work, wondering why this man was acting so odd. He tapped upon the door and waited for Charles to ask, “Yes, what is it?”
He opened the door and informed him, “Lord Farrington’s here to see you, sir.”
He jumped up and hurried forward to grip Spencer’s hand and shake it. As the servant closed the door, Charles raved excitedly, “It’s good to finally have you home, Spencer. I can’t tell you how pleased and surprised Will and I were to hear about you and Alex. Have you seen her yet? I’ve never seen any girl so much in love. The way she carries on, I expected you to be ten feet tall by now,” he jested as Spencer remained silent and sullen.
“Alex doesn’t know I’m here. I thought it best you and I talk first,” he declared in a voice of deadly and chilling steel. His blue eyes carried those same metallic qualities.
“But she’s been worried sick about you, son. Let me fetch her, then we can talk later,” he offered, curiously alarmed by Spencer’s strange and chilly manner.
“First, I’d like a little information. Would you mind telling me how I came to be married to your daughter?”
Charles looked at him oddly. “Is this some joke, son?”
“I can assure you I’m deadly serious, sir. This is the first I’ve heard of such an incredible tale. Not only am I not married to your deceitful daughter, but I’ve never even met Lady Hampton. As for the child, the bastard isn’t mine,” he sneered contemptuously.
Appalled, Charles inhaled sharply and paled. “How dare you speak of your wife and son in this offensive manner! Do you forget, sir, they are also my daughter and grandson! What is the meaning of this outrage!” he shouted, his face flushed with fury and shock.
“That’s what I’d like to know! I just arrived home to be greeted with congratulations for a marriage and son I know nothing about. Whatever your sly daughter is up to, sir, I am no part of it. I have never laid eyes or a hand upon your daughter. Since she arrived home claiming to be my wife, I can assume this daring charade is all her idea. You can rest assured the law will deal severely with her devious lies!” he threatened icily.
“I don’t understand. What’s going on between you two?” he demanded, utterly bewildered by this alarming scene.
“Nothing, and nothing ever has,” Spencer added arrogantly.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, Farrington, but it won’t work,” Charles snapped, heading for his desk. He withdrew the marriage parchment and shook it in Spencer’s defiant face. “Can you deny that’s your seal and signature?” he harshly challenged his irrational son-in-law.
Spencer yanked the blue ribbon off and unrolled the crisp ivory page. He stared at it in utter disbelief. When Alexandria Hampton went after something, she certainly took pains to make it credible! How had she managed this?
“Well?” Charles demanded a reply.
Puzzled and vexed, Spencer snarled, “It’s my signature and seal all right. But how the hell she got them on this paper, I’ll never know until I ask her! I tell you in all honesty, sir; I did not marry your daughter or father her child. It will be easy to prove I was at sea on July fifteenth, as well as for weeks before and after!”
Her uncontrollable curiosity getting the better of her, Martha listened to this preposterous debate going on inside the library. She hurried to alert her beloved mistress to the storm brewing and heading her way. She raced to the garden, pale and nervous.
Alex was sitting upon the pallet beneath a shade tree, playing with her son. Martha rushed over to her side. “Trouble, milady. Lord Farrington’s here and he’s arguing violently with your father in the library. It’s terrible! He’s shouting and ranting about not being married to you. He claims he’s never even met you! Your papa’s furious. They’re quarreling something fierce. He’s calling you awful names and vowing he knows nothing of this marriage. Forgive me for repeating such crude words, but he called Josh a bastard. Perhaps I should take him upstairs until you settle this matter,” she suggested.
Alex paled. She shuddered. My God, she thought, what is he doing? If he wants the marriage dissolved, he should have come to her. How could she possibly explain his actions and words? As her thoughts flickered here and there in search of some logical meaning to the situation, her father’s voice spoke from behind her, “Martha, leave us alone for a while.”
The distraught woman instantly obeyed. “Alex, Spencer Farrington here claims you two aren’t legally married. Would you care to argue the point? He also denies he’s Joshua’s father.”
Spencer’s eyes had briefly touched upon the baby named Joshua with dark hair lying upon the pallet before his amber-haired mother. His stormy gaze shifted to Alex as she looked up while speaking.
“Spencer, I can explain ev…” She halted in alarm and disbelief, gaping at the man towering above her. Joshua Steele! Here? Claiming to be Spencer? “What are you doing here?” she demanded fearfully. For revenge? For the baby? He knew her name and home…
He stared at her as the letters upon her note flashed before his mind’s eye: “A.H.”…Alexandria Hampton? Before he could utter a single word, she swooned. Spencer instinctively dropped to his knees and caught her limp body before it could fall upon their child. Their child! His startled gaze flew to the baby wriggling upon the ground. Joshua? His softened gaze returned to Alex’s colorless face. Angelique was Alex? His lost love was claiming to be his wife? Why had she chosen Spencer Farrington to entrap? If she had accidentally discovered his identity, she certainly seemed shocked to see him.
“Would you mind telling me what’s going on!” Charles shouted, more confused than ever, as was Spencer.
“Only a terrible misunderstanding, sir,” he muttered, wondering how to explain this incredible, but pleasing, situation.
Charles squatted and pressed, “Are you two married or not?”
Spencer’s eyes touched upon the pin on Charles’s lapel: a small lion’s head with ruby eyes. Stunned, he glanced up at the distressed man and stated clearly, “A lion’s eyes grow red in winter.”
A look of caution filled the older man’s blue eyes. Observing Spencer closely, he replied, “Only when taken from the jungle.”
“Could be the English fog which irritates them,” Spencer parried. Hampton, his contact? Alex, his wife? If she hadn’t put the facts together, why had she lied about a marriage to him? Then again, the license looked valid. A crafty proxy? By whom? How?
“Or the heat of a new battle,” Charles completed the code. Disregarding the implications in their brief discourse, he asked sharply, “Did you or did you not meet Alex while she was visiting Henry Cowling in America and marry her? Henry claims he was at the wedding himself, as does President Madison. He even gave her a safe escort and letter of protection when you sent her home. If she’s never met you, how could she describe you and your affairs so accurately?”
With the mention of those facts, Spencer suspected what must have taken place and how it was carried off. “It’s a long story, sir, but Alex and I are obviously married and that is my son.”
“Then why the unforgivable act upon your arrival?”
“I need to talk with her first and settle some matters. Briefly, Alex met and fell in love with Captain Joshua Steele. She was travelling under the disguise of Angelique DuBois when I met her. We fell in love and sort of lost our heads for a time. Evidently Henry took matters into his own hands when he discovered her condition and married us by proxy. Rest assured we are very much in love, sir. As you can tell from her reaction, she learned my true identity at the same moment I learned hers. I had no idea my Angelique was Lady Hampton, nor did she have any inkling Steele was Spencer Farrington. In view of how we met, you can see why we never exchanged accurate names,” he related the facts to the astounded man beside him. “If I had known sooner, I would have married her without Henry’s assistance. Evidently Henry didn’t tell her Steele and Farrington were the same man.”
&
nbsp; It was clear to him now that the message on the petticoat which had created their misunderstanding was being passed between Henry and Charles. Spence dreaded to recall his treatment of her during their encounters. “I haven’t been ashore in months. The fighting at sea has been heavy. I was coming to see Will once more before I attempted to barrel through the British blockade. I had no idea what went on there after I left. Alex must have told Henry who the father was. Since he knew me so well, he took matters into his own hands. Thank goodness he did. If you don’t mind, sir, I’d like to explain everything to Alex in private. She’s also in for a big shock or two.” Would she despise and fear him? Would she demand a divorce?
“After which, you and I have some more talking to do.”
“In light of my conduct, I hope you don’t mind having me for a son-in-law,” he hinted to test the slightly calmed Charles’s feelings.
“Not if you truly love Alex and the baby,” he fenced.
“More than I thought possible, sir. Naturally with these new responsibilities, Steele will have to retire.”
Charles smiled. “I fully agree. Too bad. Henry says your services have been invaluable.” He patted Spencer’s shoulder and left.
Spencer tenderly caressed Alex’s cheek and lovingly ran his fingers through her silky hair. At last, his agony and search were over; she legally belonged to him, and he would never free her. He chuckled as he realized he had been the wealthy man whom she had planned to marry. How would she feel about him once the truth was out? “Alex,” he called her name, shaking her gently, wondering at Henry’s silence at their last meeting, that same fateful day. Clearly she was no spy! Would she ever forgive him for their troubled past?
She moaned and moved. Her lids fluttered and opened. In panic, she stared at him. “What are you doing here, Stephen? You’ll ruin everything! What must Papa be thinking now? Whyever did you tell him you’re Spencer Farrington and claim we aren’t married? I told you I was getting married! I did; I married Spencer that next day by proxy. Papa’s met Spencer several times, so you didn’t fool him! Why are you doing this to me?” she wailed sadly. “Why use that name?”
He grinned roguishly and murmured, “Because it’s mine. I take it our son’s name is Michael Farrington after my father?” he speculated aloud, but she failed to grasp the meaning of his words in her distress. He should have realized she was a real lady!
“No, I named him Joshua Stephen Farrington for some inexplicable reason,” she absently responded, wondering how to solve this crisis and retain her father’s love and respect. Abruptly his previous words hit home. She looked up into his smoldering sapphire eyes and asked, “What did you say? What mad revenge is this?”
He chuckled as he emphasized his next words, “My real name is Stephen…Spencer…Farrington. But you, my devious and lovely wife, may call me Spence. Now that you know the truth, surely you won’t betray your own husband to the hangman?”
Flabbergasted, she stammered, “You…mean… you really are…Spencer Farrington? The Spencer Farrington? Will’s grandson?” That book in Joshua’s cabin…“S.S.F.”!
Lusty laughter reached her ears as his virile body shook with amusement. “That certainly explains our first meeting, Alexandria Hampton Farrington. The property line between our estates goes right down the middle of our secret paradise. I was home visiting Will for a few days when I met an enchanting nymph at my secluded pond. I’m sorry I caused such a scene upon my return home, but surely you can imagine my shock and anger at finding myself married to Lady Hampton when the only woman I wanted to marry was an elusive siren named Angelique, if I ever managed to locate her again,” he teased.
Baffled, she debated, “Then why did you agree to our mock marriage? Why didn’t you tell me your name at the hotel? Was it done by proxy so I wouldn’t guess the truth? I would have married you anyway. I had no idea you were the same man.”
It was his turn to show confusion. “If you explain how we came to be married, then we can both comprehend this strange occurrence. I didn’t learn your name until today.”
Alex gradually related the facts as she knew them. She couldn’t believe her uncle’s audacity when he told her his side. “No wonder you were so upset! Why would he do such a deceitful and daring thing?”
“Because he is close friends with both Spencer and Steele. He put two and two together and solved the problem himself by marrying you to the father of your child. No doubt he intended to tell me everything, but I’ve been at sea since our last encounter. I’m sorry for all I put you through, love. If you had stayed around as promised, his trickery wouldn’t have been necessary,” he alluded.
“What do you mean?” she questioned.
“I left you to prepare a hasty marriage for us. I planned to reveal myself that night and marry you. I had decided to take you to my Virginia plantation to wait for me. It’s been hell without you.”
“What a stupid fool I was!” she berated herself.
“I really can’t blame you, love. I should have told you how much I loved you and needed you before I rushed out to get the minister. I suppose I was a little too proud and stubborn to admit how much you meant to me. I’m still a bit confused by this proxy marriage between us. I thought you told me your marriage was all arranged. When I saw Henry that same day, he didn’t mention it and he surely didn’t act angry with me. Why didn’t he tell me about you and the wedding?”
Ashamed, she lowered her head as she revealed her desperate ruse. He grinned and jested, “Found yourself ensnared in your own trap, love? I could have strangled you for deserting me again.”
“I’m sorry, Josh. I didn’t know you or trust you. I honestly didn’t know I was pregnant that day. I was afraid and…”
He placed his finger to her lips. “It’s all right now, love. Everything worked out perfectly in the end. You best work on calling me Spence now. God, how I feared I had lost you forever. All I’ve thought about is you and the baby. You’re mine, woman; accept it.”
“Should we change our son’s name?” she suddenly questioned.
He smiled and shook his head. “Joshua was my brother. He was killed in an accident when he was twelve. One of the King’s favorite archers shot him while hunting. Since my name’s really Stephen, it would seem natural to name our son after the two of us.”
“I’m sorry, Spence. I didn’t know. Do you realize that’s the first personal thing you’ve ever told me about yourself?” she stated in wonder. “I still can’t believe this; Spencer and Steele the same man?”
“We’ll have years to discover each other’s secrets,” he hinted playfully, allowing the months of anguish and anger to slip away.
A frightened look replaced her joyful one. “What’s wrong, love?” he asked, dreading to hear her reservations about him.
“I was just thinking about Captain Steele. I would die if I lost you now, Spence. Please don’t sail the Black Mist anymore.”
He smiled. “In view of my new and delightful situation, I think Steele has mysteriously retired. I missed the birth of our first child, but I don’t plan to miss the next one. I want to spend every minute with you and our son. This match is perfect and permanent.”
Her eyes softened and watered. “I love you, Spencer Farrington. I have sorely missed you. We’ll never be torn apart again, my love.” Was her dream by the pond coming true?
“If you had told me the truth after our first reunion, I’d had fought heaven and hell to keep you. After all, Henry, your father, and Captain Steele do work for the same side. I wish I had known then the message was from Henry Cowling, or at least known your name. We certainly ripped at each other, didn’t we, and all for nothing. To think I actually refused to meet you on two separate occasions!”
“You work for the same side? I don’t follow…”
“Contrary to gossip and what you thought, Captain Steele was a secret agent for President Madison himself, love. I only used the cover of a privateer and a pirate to carry out my assignments. That’s w
hy I never sank any ship or killed anyone without it being unavoidable. All I was after were the coded messages being passed between English spies and soldiers, of which I erroneously assumed you were one because of that infamous slip. Can you forgive me, love?”
“My father knows who you are?” she exclaimed in panic.
“He does now. I told him while you were sleeping peacefully a while ago.”
“Can you trust him to keep silent?” she fretted anxiously.
“Without a doubt. Once the war’s over, he’s moving to America. But all that can be discussed later. Right now, I only want to kiss my wife to make certain she’s real and mine.”
“Wife!” she shrieked as if this was the first time she comprehended that fact. “We are married!”
“That does make things easier for us. Now, you won’t have to divorce your husband to marry me. We’ve wasted a whole year, Alex.”
His mouth came down upon hers. Her arms slipped around his waist. Shutting out the whole world, they clung together and savored this heady moment. He pressed her cheek to his drumming heart and held her close. “Sweet Angel, how I’ve missed you.”
“Is it safe to come out now?” her father teased.
As if caught in some wanton predicament, she jerked away from Spence and flushed. Spence chuckled. “Aren’t you forgetting something, Mrs. Farrington?”
When she looked up into his sparkling eyes, he teased, “We are married, love. It is all right to show your husband some affection after such a long and lonely separation.”
She laughed and hugged him tightly. The baby began to cry for his next meal. Alex turned and lifted him into her arms. “Would you care to inspect your first son, my love?”
Spencer trailed his fingers over the soft flesh of his arms and face, then touched the dark hair upon his head. “He favors you, Spence. How lucky can I be? Two handsome and irresistible men to love.”
As Spencer took his hand and gazed at it in awe and pride, the baby grasped his forefinger and held it. “Does that mean he likes me or knows who I am?” he inquired, laughing.
Love Me With Fury Page 35