“He lied,” Eliza said, her voice shaking. “Kitty, I love Thomas. I don’t know what I am going to do if he’s killed! Samuel said I had to convince Thomas that I wanted to leave, that I didn’t love him so that Thomas wouldn’t follow us . . .”
Kitty stared forward, brushing her hand along Eliza’s back. “I can’t believe it, Liza. It’s too horrible to be true.”
“But it is true, and it is all my fault.” Eliza wept, clutching tighter to her sister’s petite shoulders.
The two remained in each other’s comforting arms until the swell of grief receded enough for Eliza to pull away.
Kitty pushed out a rough sigh. “I can’t understand how Thomas would just let you go. He loves you just as you love him.” Her volume escalated as she rose to her feet. “This entire tragedy is—“
“Kitty, please. I didn’t want Thomas to come after me. It is too dangerous for him. You must see that.” Eliza reached out and squeezed her arm. Her sister needed a distraction before the weight of their adversity overwhelmed her, too. “I’m feeling a bit weak, would you be so kind as to make me a bit of something?”
“Of course, Liza.” Kitty stared at the floor for a moment before nodding. “I shall prepare a small platter.”
“Thank you.”
Kitty kissed the top of Eliza’s head and walked past the large fireplace toward the darkened kitchen. “Care to join me?”
Eliza shook her head and spoke slowly to keep her voice from wavering with the emotions that pressed ever upward. “No. I need be alone for a while.”
A look of understanding streaked across Kitty’s face. She lifted an extra candle off the table and illuminated the pathway into her favorite room in the house.
Once alone, Eliza slumped to the hard floor and sobbed.
Her King had forsaken her.
Samuel rode back to the Campbell’s on his steady gelding, the winter air striking his nose and neck as anger rusted his heart. If only he hadn’t allowed the over-zealous reverend to come along—he and Eliza could have been married as planned. He should have known the man would get lost among the crowds. Samuel should never have trusted him.
He squeezed the reins in his hand. Those ruthless Sons of Liberty had foiled his designs yet again, just as they had done at the beginning when Watson had taken Eliza. The memory still plagued him and twisted in his gut like a cold dagger. He squirmed in his saddle. There had been no need for Samuel to go to the church. The minute he’d seen the menial ruckus and how polite the patriots were, he knew there was nothing he could do. Besides, their behavior was nothing but repulsive and he wouldn’t sit through hours of watching them destroy such valuable merchandise. Thousands of pounds worth of tea destroyed! And by men in Indian dress, no less. Despicable. If Samuel hadn’t had Eliza waiting for him, he would have gladly stayed and found a way to punish at least one or two of those wretched traitors. There would be hell to pay!
Even with the dramatic events at the wharf swimming in his mind, a ghostly shadow seemed to follow him as he rode. He shifted once again and kicked his horse to move faster. He could never rest until he knew Thomas was dead. The man was sly and conniving and Samuel could only imagine what he was capable of, considering the ploy he’d already pulled with his future bride.
As he put more distance between himself and Boston proper a persuading voice echoed in his head.
You and Eliza were mere minutes from being man and wife. You had simply to say a few words and you would have been united. Take her as your wife this night as you planned, how could she object to that?
He sat taller. Yes. Why not? He’d waited these many years and after all he’d done for her it was the just reward he deserved. Once he poured his passion upon her she would love him back, he knew it.
A stimulating desire set him aflame and he flicked the reins, kicking at his horse to move at a blistering speed.
He smiled.
Eliza was waiting for him.
Chapter Twenty-eight
The familiar dirt road that led to the Campbell’s home resonated under the pounding hooves of Thomas’s stallion and mimicked the pounding of his heart. It would be only a few more minutes of riding before they reached Eliza’s home.
Only a fragment of the moon shone in the December sky. The horse’s breath plumed into large white clouds as it exhaled into the brisk air. Thomas yanked on the reins and Nathaniel rode up next to him.
“Is this it?” Nathaniel asked, looking at the tree-dotted landscape around them.
“No, we’re still a half-mile away. But I want to leave the horses here—we’ll be able to keep silent and stay out of view of any soldiers if we travel the remaining distance on foot. We can go around the back.” Thomas slid off his horse.
Nathaniel nodded. “How many guards do you suppose Martin will have posted?”
“I don’t know.”
Thomas moved quickly as a stinging urgency flashed through his body. He secured his horse next to a towering oak and Nathaniel did the same then fastened his pistol and a small dagger around his middle.
“I have no idea what to expect.” Thomas glanced around him, clutching his own weapon in his fingers. “I don’t even know for certain if she will be here, but it’s the most logical place to check first.”
“I’m right behind you.”
Thomas took Nathaniel around the back, the same way he and the girls had left in early October. The house rested, quiet and dark. Only a few candles glowed through the windows in the parlor, and another flickered in the kitchen.
Cautious of every movement, Thomas crept toward the house, crouching low. Knowing he may be close to Eliza made his pulse surge.
The modest window by the backdoor provided the needed view. He rose slowly and peered into the dimly lit parlor.
“I don’t see any guards inside,” he whispered into the glass as Nathaniel knelt beside him.
“That doesn’t mean they aren’t around the front.”
“Right. Let’s check there first, before we try and go in.”
“I can do that. You stay here,” Nathaniel said.
Thomas ducked down and shook his head. “No, I’ll come with you. It will be safer if we move together.” He didn’t want his best friend stumbling upon a group larger than he could take on himself.
They crept in silence around two more corners of the house until the front came into view. A lone soldier paced back and forth a few feet from the doorstep, wearing a long black cloak. His arms were folded around his middle as if trying to keep warm. He didn’t seem to be interested in keeping watch. His musket was propped by the front door and his sword was lounging on the front step behind him. When he turned in their direction, his gaze at the ground, Thomas squeezed his pistol’s wooden handle so hard he could have produced sap. A guard out front had to mean Eliza was inside.
His memory pricked to life.
“I know him,” Thomas said. “He’s the one that was after me and the girls the night I came to rescue them.”
“He’ll be an easy one to bring down.” Nathaniel’s mouth twitched upward.
Thomas’s arms and legs cramped. Only this man stood between him and Eliza. But where was Samuel? Inside? There wasn’t time to be worried about that now. “Follow my lead.”
Nathaniel gave him a quiet smack on the shoulder. “I’m right behind you.”
The blow to Donaldson’s head was quick and hard and Thomas moved back to let Nathaniel close.
He checked the soldier’s pulse then rolled him onto his back. “Nice hit, Thomas,” he whispered.
“Nathaniel, I need you to keep watch here and alert me the minute anyone arrives.” Thomas lodged his pistol at his side. “I’m going in for Eliza.”
Muscles buzzing, he opened the front door, careful to be silent as he closed it behind him should the enemy still lurk within.
As he tip-toed, the scene before him struck like a falling beam and he froze where he stood. Eliza, wearing a gold and cream gown, crouched on the floor weeping
and calling for him. Tears glistened against her fair skin as her skirts billowed around her. The anguish in her voice drove into his chest, stealing his breath with the pain of it. His vision!
His heart bled and he rushed to her.
Eliza propped herself up with one hand and wept into the other. The tremendous load she’d carried, poured from her with all the power of a flooded waterfall. Her muscles cramped and her eyes burned. Even after all her efforts, Samuel would kill the man she loved, and she was powerless to stop it.
“Thomas, I’m so sorry. I only wanted to protect you. I love you.”
“Eliza.”
She gasped and shot her eyes in the direction of the voice of the man she cherished. It couldn’t be . . .
Her lungs heaved. “Thomas?” She blinked, not believing the sight before. The dark coat he wore accentuated his broad shoulders and matched the midnight color of his hair. Pure love poured out of his dark-blue eyes and circled around her quivering heart.
He rushed forward and knelt in front of her, cupping her cheeks in his strong hands. “Did you not believe I would come for you?”
“Are you real?” she said, almost unbelieving. But the feel of his cold hands against her skin, and the way his eyes mapped her face made reality crash into her chest. “Oh, Thomas! I wanted you to come. I wanted to tell you—” Suddenly the blood drained and her heart flogged her ribs. Struggling, she rushed to get up. “You must leave. You can’t be here it’s too dangerous!”
Bending down, he helped Eliza to her feet before pulling her against his strong frame. His solid arms formed a protective shield she never wanted to leave. The sound of his heartbeat made Eliza cling to him all the more. Crooking his finger underneath her chin, Thomas tilted her head upward, folding his soft lips into hers with a quiet moan. All her strength evaporated like mist in the sun and she pressed into him, gripping his thick hair at his neck. His warm mouth roamed hers and an audible sigh escaped her throat as a thrilling tingle splashed over her.
Slowly, he moved his hands to her shoulders and he pushed her away, his breath heaving as much as hers.
Thomas’s deep gaze traced her figure as if assessing her condition.
“Are you alright?” His eyes narrowed as he focused on the cut on her cheek. He brushed it with gentle fingers and his voice hardened. “What’s happened, Eliza? What did he do to you?”
Her hands trembled and her leg muscles ticked. She placed her hands on his chest. “Thomas, I told you not to follow me. Samuel will kill you if he finds you. You have to leave. Now!”
Instead of acknowledging her statement, he tucked his fingers into her hair and smiled. “What love can do, that dares love attempt.”
She pushed away from him as her love and desire for him to live surpassed her own need to be at his side. “I beg you Thomas, you must go. Please! I told Samuel I’d marry him as long as he promised not to kill you, but I overheard him saying he would kill you regardless. You have to get away from here. I couldn’t bear anything happening to you. You must leave now!”
Thomas’s eyes widened, then his brow dipped low. “You sacrificed yourself again. This time for me.” He shook his head and pulled her to him once more. “I knew something was wrong when you left. You should have told me.”
“Thomas, I love you, and that’s why you must go. He’ll kill you the moment he sees you and I have no idea when he’ll be back.”
Thomas looked as if her admonition meant nothing. “I won’t leave you again.”
The backdoor burst open and Eliza’s heart shot to her throat. She pressed a hand to her chest and pushed out a quick breath of relief when Nathaniel entered. “Heavens, Nathaniel! What are you doing here?”
“Hello, Eliza.” He quickly shut the door behind him and motioned to the front. “We have trouble.”
“What is it?” Thomas asked.
Nathaniel gripped tight to a pistol. “He’s here.”
Both Eliza and Thomas snapped their heads in the direction of the front door as it flung wide and Samuel entered with iniquitous strides. Clinging to Thomas’s thick bicep, Eliza felt it flex when their enemy drew near.
Samuel’s eyes melted through Eliza then made their way through each person in the room.
“I figured you would be foolish enough to come.” Samuel’s voice was flat.
“You would have been foolish to figure otherwise,” Thomas answered. He rolled his shoulders back and strengthened his grip around Eliza.
“I’m surprised it took you this long,” Samuel sneered. “I never would have let her go.”
Thomas stiffened.
“I have you and your Sons of Liberty to thank—once again—for ruining my plans.” He slammed the door shut.
“How do you mean?” Thomas asked. Eliza could almost feel the bristles of anger poking through his jacket.
“You haven’t heard?” Samuel baited. “If it weren’t for your friends in that traitorous group of yours Eliza and I would already be married.”
Eliza lifted her eyes to Thomas. The muscles in his jaw ticked. “Do explain.”
Samuel shifted his weight to his other foot and removed his long black cloak, laying it over the chair next to him. “They’re destroying thousands of pounds worth of valuable tea by dumping it into the water at Griffin’s Wharf. Had they not done so, I would not have been called to duty. And If I’d not been called to duty, Eliza would even now be my wife.” He stopped and turned his eyes to her. “In more ways than one.”
Thomas lunged, but Eliza pressed him back.
Samuel’s smile exuded wicked pleasure before his expression changed and his glare compressed into tiny slits. “Where’s Donaldson?”
No one answered. Eliza looked between Nathaniel and Thomas, but neither man so much as blinked.
“No one wants to tell me what’s happened with an innocent soldier? Sounds suspicious to me.” He took a step further, his eyes boring holes into Eliza’s skull.
The men exchanged fleeting glances, but none spoke.
Samuel drew his sword from its sheath and Thomas’s muscled flex around her.
“The charges against you are piling to the sky, Thomas,” he said, fondling the hilt of his weapon with feigned indifference.
Nathaniel took a step toward Samuel. Thomas flung him a halting look and he stopped mid-stride.
“Tell me where he is,” Samuel demanded through clenched teeth.
“I’m right here.”
Every head jerked in the direction of the voice.
Donaldson staggered in through the back door, rubbing his neck and trying to stand straight.
“Some guard you are. You fool!” Samuel said, the red in his face mirroring the color of his coat.
Samuel marched forward and backhanded him across the jaw. “Get out, Donaldson! I’ll deal with you later. I can handle these traitors on my own.”
Donaldson extended his hand. “They struck me from behind, sir. I had no way of knowing—”
“Enough! Find your way to the wharf and make yourself useful somehow—if that’s possible. Now!”
Donaldson strode away sending a quick look to Thomas, then slammed the front door closed behind him as he left.
Thomas’s breathing quickened as he exchanged communicative glances with Nathaniel.
Samuel, still brandishing his sword, took on an even more domineering stand. “You know you can do nothing to me. Nothing.” His chuckle oozed malice as he returned his long sword to its sheath. “I’m a soldier in His Majesty’s Army. If anything happens to me you’ll both be hanged and what would happen to dear Miss Campbell then?”
“What’s going on, Liza?” Kitty’s clear voice echoed through the crowded room. “Thomas . . . Nathaniel. What are you doing here?”
Eliza turned, her heart exploding behind her ribs. Lord, don’t let anything happen to Kitty.
Kitty stood at the doorway of the kitchen, a tray of bread and cheese in her hands. Her wide eyes darted between Eliza in Thomas’s arms, to Nathaniel and at l
ast to Samuel. Eliza moved a step toward her, but stopped when Samuel’s demands broke the fragile silence.
“Upstairs with you, Kitty. This is not your affair,” he barked.
Kitty slammed the tray on the table beside her, her features tight as she marched to stand beside Eliza. “Absolutely not, Samuel. Don’t think I am still ignorant of your wicked ways.”
“Do as he says, Kitty.” Eliza forced her voice to stay even.
Samuel pointed to the stairs. “Listen to your sister.”
Undeterred, Kitty lifted her chin. “You don’t frighten me. I’m staying with my sister.”
Nathaniel’s resonating voice billowed in the heated room, his pleading eyes pinned on Kitty. “Kitty, please I don’t want you hurt.”
“Nathaniel, I—”
“Quiet!” Samuel moved toward Eliza, hostility dripping from his stare as he walked. “You told him to come. Somehow you told him!” Samuel spat when he spoke keeping only a few feet between them.
“Samuel, I promise I didn’t tell him to come here—”
“Silence!” Samuel bellowed, the veins in his head and neck bulging.
Thomas pushed Eliza behind him, gripping his pistol at his side.
“Your quarrel is with me, Samuel,” Thomas said. “Don’t release your anger of defeat on Eliza just because she refuses to be with a man like you.”
“A man like me?”
Samuel’s mouth coiled and he swiped his pistol from his side, pointing it at Thomas’s chest. Thomas and Nathaniel stepped back and swung their weapons at Samuel the same instant.
“No!” Eliza screamed and tried to move in front of Thomas, but his solid arm kept her back.
“Drop your weapons now! Kick them to me!” Samuel demanded.
No one moved.
“There’s nothing to stop me from shooting you if you kill him,” Nathaniel said, widening his stance. “I’m not afraid to hang.”
“But are you afraid to bleed?”
In one swift movement Samuel pivoted. Thomas lurched forward, gun extended. Both Kitty and Eliza screamed as the sound of three pistols exploded with an earsplitting crack. Nathaniel hit the ground shouting and clawing at his shoulder, but Thomas and Samuel stood motionless. Eliza almost collapsed.
So Fair a Lady (Daughters of His Kingdom Book 1) Page 29