Jack led them down a short corridor into a large, open room. Or what would have been a large, open room had there not been ten hulking men and a dozen sea chests in it. A table sat in the center of the room, and in a chair next to it sat one of the men. It was obvious he was the leader, and sure enough, Jack led them to the spot just in front of the chair, then nodded at the man and stepped to the side.
Nick nodded as well. “Rattenbury. Sorry to disturb you this evening, but I find myself in need of your assistance.”
Rattenbury raised an eyebrow. “Indeed? In need of some French wine to help seduce your lady friend?”
The other smugglers all laughed heartily and continued laughing long enough for the blush on Susannah’s cheeks to become one of fury.
But Nick never cracked a smile. He waited patiently for the laughter to die down before speaking. “No, nothing like that. I have reason to believe that my son came here tonight. I was wondering if you have seen him, and if so, if I might have him back.”
At this, the smuggler king exchanged a long glance with another man, who stood next to a flight of stairs.
Rattenbury turned his attention back to Nick. “And if we have seen him, why should we help you? Not good business, us sending a boy back with you, and all of a sudden, there’s excise men in our folly, meddling in our business. I can’t see how it would benefit us.”
“Actually, I believe you’ll find the opposite to be true. If you bring me my son, we’ll be on our way, and no one will ever need know we were here. If my son doesn’t come with me, you can be sure my brother will use every bit of his influence to stop smuggling on the coast of Devon.”
This brought a wry grin to the smuggler’s face. “Many have tried before.”
“I do not mean that he will succeed in stopping it, but that he will succeed in making your life very difficult.”
Rattenbury lifted his shoulders in a sort of shrug and turned his eyes to Susannah. “Did you bring this one to trade then? We could use a pretty wench like her.”
Susannah was relieved to see that Nick bristled. She hardly thought it would be better to escape Hector only to become a smuggler’s wench.
“No, she’s coming with us too.” Nick was firm on the matter.
“You are full of demands tonight, Mr. Daventry.” Rattenbury’s eyes fell back onto Nick, this time narrowing, considering. Then he barked a command to one of the men and jerked his head toward Susannah. “Take her upstairs with the lad. Mr. Daventry and I have business to discuss.”
Two large men escorted Susannah up the stairs. The room was dark, but there were a few wall sconces with torches in them. How very medieval. And…castle-ish.
Before her eyes adjusted to the torchlight, Gabriel called her name. “Susannah! You’ve come! I was going to come home, but these men were here, and they said I have to stay. Do they say you have to stay too?”
She glanced at her burly escorts as well as the man standing beside the door, guarding Gabriel. “Yes, they do. For now anyway,” she said.
The guard who had been in the tower grunted at them. “Oy! You two pipe down! I’ve got rope enough for two if there’s any funny business.”
Susannah’s guards pushed her farther into the room and exchanged a few words with the tower guard, apparently named Charlie, before retreating down the stairs. Susannah was relieved to find that despite the threats of rope, Gabriel seemed to be seated on a chair, not tied to it.
Charlie spoke again. “There’s not two chairs, so you’ll have to stand. Pick a spot and stay still. And no talking.” His nose twitched a bit when he spoke, reminding her of a rat. She didn’t like the idea of being held prisoner, but she supposed there could be much worse treatment, so she perhaps following his orders were in her best interest. At least for now.
She stood near Gabriel, in the center of the room, and began to take it in. Gabriel had come looking for a clue, so she might as well take advantage of the situation and see if anything looked…clue-like. But the room was bare except the one chair that Gabriel occupied. She didn’t think the guard would take kindly to her upending the chair to search for a scrap of paper. The walls were bare too, save for the three sconces, each holding two torches. Only one of the sconces in each pair was lit. The pair was joined in the middle by what appeared to be a brass candle holder. Each of the candle holders was a different shape. One appeared to be in the shape of a lady’s fan, though perhaps it was just supposed to be a plume of feathers. Another was a simple decorative oval. The third caught her eye. It was a heart. Nor height, nor depth…shall be able to separate us from the love of God… She’d never met Nick’s grandfather, but she was starting to become familiar with his treasure hunt, and this seemed exactly his style.
But after only minutes, one of the men who had escorted her up the stairs reappeared and spoke a few words to Charlie, who then barked at them. “Oy! You two are free to go.” He jerked his head toward the stairs and then turned and followed his crony down the steps, apparently trusting that Susannah and the boy were no danger.
Susannah smiled at Gabriel and gestured toward the stairs. “Your father is down there.” His small face broke out into a wide grin, and he hopped off the chair and scurried toward the staircase. Susannah took her chance and marched directly to the heart-shaped sconce. She could just make out what seemed to be a small door and a tiny latch. She pushed on the latch, and the door swung open, revealing a piece of paper. She stuffed the paper into the pocket of her skirt, closed the door, and hurried to catch up with Gabriel, only a few seconds behind him.
When they reached the ground floor, Nick was waiting for them. Gabriel ran into his arms, and Nick hoisted the boy up.
“Ah, a touching reunion,” Rattenbury said, smirking a bit. “Just remember, boy, that you don’t go snooping about where you’ve got no business.”
Gabriel nodded. “Yes, sir.”
And then the smuggler nodded at Nick. “I look forward to the successful end of the business we discussed.” Nick nodded in return, not smiling back at the man.
Finally, Rattenbury turned his eyes to Susannah, giving her a leer that made her skin crawl. “And are you sure you wouldn’t prefer to stay with us, now? The men would all fancy some female company.” A few laughs and jeers made their way around the room.
Susannah opened her mouth to speak, but Nick beat her to it. “That’s enough, Rattenbury. No way to speak to a lady.” With one arm wrapped around Gabriel, he held his other hand to Susannah. She grabbed it and followed him, and then they were back outside, the folly behind them, the moon in the sky, and the beautiful ocean sparkling beneath the edge of the cliff. It was almost like a dream, and Susannah felt giddy with the relief of it.
Chapter 22
Susannah accompanied them back to Poppledown Park. Mostly because Gabriel wouldn’t let go of her. Nick had settled the two of them onto the horse and led the animal home. His son had settled into Susannah’s arms and promptly began crying, despite having shown nothing but bravery until they were out of sight of the smuggler’s folly. Susannah shushed him with soothing noises and caresses, and soon the boy fell asleep, clinging to her as if she were his angel of comfort. When they reached the turn to the cottage, and Nick had offered to take her home, she’d looked down at the bundle in her arms and smiled ruefully.
“Poppledown Park, I think. No need to wake him early after the night he’s had. I can walk home after we see to him.”
After a night of facing off against dangerous smugglers, Nick supposed a little threat like Julian Weatherly didn’t signify. But maybe it wasn’t the smugglers. Maybe it was just her fondness for his son.
They arrived at the house to find it still lit brightly, a handful of servants milling about. Stokes assured him that the rest of the staff were out searching the grounds, and Nick sent footmen out to alert the searchers that Gabriel had been found safe.
Stokes also told them that, conveniently, Mr. Weatherly had already turned in, as had his betrothed and her parents.
Nick was not surprised at all to hear this about Julian, knowing his cousin was never one to worry himself with anyone else’s problems. It seemed slightly odd that Lady Clarissa and her parents had done so, but he hardly knew them well enough to judge. He was just relieved that Susannah wouldn’t have to face Julian.
Alice and Terence, Stokes said, had bundled off the other guests, requesting that they keep alert for the boy while making their way home, and promising to send word when he was home safe. Now they waited in the drawing room, ready to act on any word they received.
Nick ducked into the drawing room, Gabriel in his arms. He gestured for Susannah to follow.
Alice stood up with a gasp. “You found him! Oh, praise God.”
Nick smiled. “Yes, thanks to Mrs. Stanhope, who knew him well enough to guess where he had got off to.”
Terence was still sitting, a giant grin of relief across his face. “Well, thank the Lord for Mrs. Stanhope.” He nodded to Susannah. “I went and visited the vicar a few days ago. According to him, you’ve been the answer to quite a few prayers lately.” He glanced at Nick and back at her, and his smile turned speculative. “And perhaps you’ll be the answer to a few more yet.”
Nick could have punched him.
But Alice smiled and hugged Nick, her arms wrapping around both him and the sleeping child in his arms. “So glad he is safe. But you ought to get him to bed.” She released the hug and reached a hand out toward Terence. “We will turn in so that you can as well.”
Gabriel squirmed in his arms, the hug having been enough to rouse him. “Mama!” he cried, practically diving out of Nick’s arms onto Susannah.
Susannah had no time to react to the word, busy as she was trying to keep his not-so-small son from landing on the ground, but Nick was gutted. And certainly his brother and sister-in-law noticed. It was as though the entire room froze at that single word, watching Gabriel and Susannah play their roles of mother and son. Once she had him settled in her arms, the boy rested his head on her shoulder, and she smoothed his hair. Nick’s heart ached with the sweetness of it. With joy from seeing his son loved. With regret that it was not Mary who held him now. And maybe with longing, that Susannah would be forever in their lives.
But then Terence and Alice unfroze and said their good-byes, and Susannah smiled at him to lead the way. He led her up the stairs to the nursery, and they tucked the sleeping boy back into bed, tiptoeing to keep from waking either Gabriel or Charlie. Nick watched Susannah closely and saw in turn how carefully she watched his son. After Gabriel was snugly blanketed, she smoothed his hair away from his face again and held her fingers gently to his hair for a moment, almost reverently, before smiling up at Nick and gesturing toward the door.
He led the way again, and she followed him down the stairs. Back on the ground floor, he turned to her and reached for her hand, holding it between them. “Thank you for helping me find my son.”
She started to wave off his thanks, as though she did nothing. It wasn’t nothing, though. It was everything. “No, Susannah. Thank you. I was a wreck, and I couldn’t think clearly, and I was even unkind to you, but you helped anyway, and I am forever in your debt.”
This time, she acknowledged his thanks with an incline of her head. “He needed to be found. I am glad it worked.” Her eyes narrowed speculatively. “What did Rattenbury want from you anyway? Nothing too illegal, I hope.”
“Ah. Yes, Rattenbury. Not too illegal, after all. A certain man of my acquaintance made a special order for some French wine and then neglected to pay for it once the job was done. Rattenbury asked me to encourage the man to make good on his contract. It won’t be a pleasant task, but it is better than losing my son. Or making an enemy of Rattenbury. Truth be told, he does more good than bad for this town.”
Susannah nodded, “Yes, Letitia told me a little about that.” Then her brows rose in surprise. “Oh! I just remembered! I think I have the next clue!” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper, handing it to him.
“Ephesians 3:20,” he read aloud. “At least no need to determine the verse—only where to search.”
Susannah’s face scrunched in concentration. “Hmmm… It’s not even a complete sentence. ‘Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us…’”
Nick was unable to keep the look of disbelief from his face. “Do you have the entire Bible committed to memory? Did you never play as a child?”
She grinned back at him. “No, not all of it. There’s a bit of Lamentations that I never mastered. And I skipped almost all of Leviticus.”
They laughed together, but then she added, more soberly, “My father, believe it or not, was a vicar, one like Mr. Robinson, who truly believed what he preached. He made a game of memorizing Scripture for all three of us, but the task did come more easily to me than to my sisters.” She made a face. “But apart from the Hosea verse, these haven’t been terribly obscure. Many people know them.”
Nick raised his brows skeptically. “Hmmm. If you say so.”
“I do. But enough about that. Where should we look?”
Nick sighed. This was the hard part for him. Where indeed? There was no mention of location. “Say it again, and pay attention to significant words.”
She did so, and then looked at him, confusion in her eyes. “Exceeding? Abundant? Power?”
Nick considered the words, but then an idea formed. “Above all.”
Susannah echoed his words. “Above all?”
Nick nodded. “Yes. At least it’s worth trying. As you of course know, my grandfather was a pious man. The verse in Matthew, about praying in a closet?”
She nodded in response.
“Grandfather created a closet in the attics.” He shrugged. “It’s above all. Might as well try it.”
“Then lead the way!”
He grabbed a candlestick from the desk nearby, and they went back up the stairs, past the nursery, and into the attics. “Most of the rooms are storage. But this one was his private space.” He paused in front of a door and shrugged at Susannah. “And I suppose we could try the roof if the clue isn’t here.”
The space was dark, of course, and smelled of must. It was so small that the candlestick Nick had brought was bright enough to light the majority of the room. A desk sat in the middle, covered by sheets. He pulled the sheet aside and set the candle down on it. The only other piece of furniture was a chair, also covered by sheeting, thanks to some industrious servant. There was a small fireplace on one wall, and on the opposite wall, a window covered by rather elaborate drapery, complete with swags and cascading silk. It seemed rather too formal for one’s prayer closet. He’d never used the room himself. It had always seemed too far to go just for prayer, when he could just bow his head wherever he was and stay close to his wife and later his child. Now, even just a few years later, he recognized that as the impatience of youth.
Susannah had stayed just inside the door, and he turned to her. “Any suggestions?”
She shrugged. “There’s not much to go on. I suppose you ought to check the desk drawers?”
He nodded. The desk was simple. A flat leather top, with a few shallow drawers running underneath. Nothing in them of course, except a few blank pieces of foolscap. He checked for secret compartments, but if there were any, they were too well concealed for the likes of him.
He shook his head. “No. Not the desk. I’ll check the chair.” He pulled off the sheeting, only to discover a simple armchair, with nary a nook or a cranny for hiding. He met Susannah’s eyes again.
She sighed and tilted her head. “The walls?” She spun to the wall closest to her. The one that had the dishearteningly simple mantel.
He turned toward the window and surveyed it for a moment. It had been a long, rather trying night, and yet here he was, standing in a deserted room, staring at draperies. Perhaps it would be wisest to rest and resume the search by daylight. He was just about to open his
mouth to say so, when he noticed that one swag of the curtain fell slightly differently from the other.
It was too high to reach, so he dragged the chair from its place in the center of the room.
Susannah whirled. “Did you find it?”
He didn’t respond. In a minute, he was dipping his hand down into the swag and closing his fingers around a tiny leather bag. He raised his arm triumphantly and jumped from the chair, the feeling of success rising up in him.
Susannah smiled at him, and the joy of having someone to celebrate his triumph with overwhelmed him. It had been so long. He closed the distance between them and allowed his arm to encircle her waist, pulling her to him. Her head tipped back, and he saw the surprise on her face for the fraction of a second it took to close his lips onto hers. She stiffened in his arms, and he thought to pull back, but then she melted into him, her lips moving on his.
And then he was lost.
The thoughts and burdens of the night—of Gabriel, of Rattenbury, and even of his grandfather—all fled from his mind, making room for him to take in the softness of her lips, the taste of her. Like honey and spice. The way her body felt in his arms. He could kiss her forever.
But too soon his thoughts turned from the kiss to other things that men and women do, and he knew he had to stop. She may not be an innocent, but that didn’t leave room for him to dishonor her.
As though she could read his mind, she broke the kiss, her body stiffening as it had when their lips first touched. He let his arms fall from her and took a step back. Her eyes bored into his, and her breath came heavy. She still looked faintly surprised, although it was mixed with other emotions. He couldn’t tell what.
Guilt rose up in him. She was a woman alone, without protection, helping him out of kindness, and he had lured her into a compromising position. He dropped his face into his hands, scrubbing them over his cheeks. “I’m so sorry,” he said, just as she spoke, “I’ll be going now.”
Legacy Redeemed (Redeemed, Restored, Reclaimed Book 1) Page 19