The Traitor's Club: Ford
Page 12
He listened and heard Hugh’s booted footsteps cross the foyer then approach the study door. Ford sat up in his chair and watched for Hugh to enter.
The door opened, and Ford’s heart shifted in his chest. He stared at Callie while Hugh carried her toward him.
“I brought you a visitor, Captain. Be careful with her. She’s just been shot.” Hugh lowered Callie and gently placed her in Ford’s arms.
Ford opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. All he could manage was to take the precious bundle Hugh gave him and hold her.
He tried to be as gentle as possible, but Callie grimaced when she settled in his lap. “You shouldn’t be out of bed. It’s not wise,” Ford said.
“Would you like for Lieutenant Wythers to take me back?”
“No,” Ford answered. He was afraid this was a dream and Callie wasn’t really in his arms. He was afraid if he let Hugh take her away, he’d never get her back.
“I think we should leave you alone for a little while,” Lady Dunhurst said. “Not long, mind you. So say what needs to be said quickly, Calinda. You can’t stay up overly long.”
With that Lady Dunhurst and Hugh exited the room.
Ford dropped his gaze to where Callie rested against him. “Are you all right?” he asked.
“I am now.” She breathed a heavy sigh, then seemed to relax in his arms. “I’m sorry, Ford. I had no right to react the way I did.”
“You had every right. I should have told you the truth from the beginning, but the time never seemed right.”
“And I should have realized that Her Majesty would never pass down the running of Crown’s to me.”
“She would have once she met you.”
Callie lifted her uninjured hand and cupped his cheek. “I appreciate your flattery, but you and I both know she would not have.”
“Then we must come up with a plan so that you can stay involved in the running of the ships.”
“Do you think there might be a way?”
Ford lowered his head and kissed Callie’s forehead. “I’m certain there is. Would you like to hear my suggestion?”
“I’d love to,” she answered.
“It would take great risks on both our parts,” he said.
“I have always been a brave woman, Captain.”
“That you have, my lady.”
“Anything else?”
“It would also require us to place a great deal of trust in one another.”
Callie lifted her gaze. “What is it you would like me to trust you with, Captain?”
“Your heart, my lady. As I will entrust my heart to you.”
“There is nothing I would cherish more, Captain, than your heart.”
Ford swallowed past the lump in his throat. “Lady Calinda. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife? I don’t have a great estate to offer you or a grand title for you to boast over.”
“Oh dear, I do so love to brag.”
“Hush now. All I have is a townhouse for us to live in, a modest quarterly income to provide for our needs, and three ships. Oh,” he said, pausing to look down on her. “And a heart filled to overflowing with love for you. And only you.”
“Oh, Ford. I am suitably impressed with having a townhouse and an adequate quarterly income. And three ships, no less. Although I could manage without them.”
She wrapped her fingers around his neck and pulled him closer. “But I could not live without a man whose heart overflowed with love for me. I have been searching a lifetime for such a man.”
His lips were a whisper’s breath from hers. “And you have finally found him.”
He pressed his lips against hers and kissed her.
“Then I cannot refuse to marry him.”
“And he will promise to love you . . .” Ford paused to kiss her again, then finished his promise.
“. . . forever.”
EPILOGUE
Callie Remington and her husband the dashing Captain were hosting another informal dinner that included Ford’s three friends, the ones with whom he shared the very exclusive traitor’s club: Lieutenant Hugh Wythers, Lieutenant Jeb Danvers, and Captain Caleb Parker.
And they had dubbed Callie an honorary member. Callie looked forward to the invigorating evenings when they were able to simply close ranks and enjoy one another. Ford’s friends were each and every one scandalously pleasant looking, sinfully humorous, and loyal to a fault to one another. In other words, they’d forged a friendship that was indestructible.
To a one, they were second sons who’d enlisted in Her Majesty’s army to fight in the Crimean War, and there they’d worked together as a band of the best spies the army could call upon to gather secret information.
While a portion of the time they shared together around Callie’s table was always spent reminiscing about missions they’d carried out during the war, the rest of the time was filled with boisterous banter about what was happening in their lives since last they’d met. This inevitably included tales of the times they’d narrowly avoided being trapped by some marriage-minded mama.
Although they openly admitted they envied Ford’s good fortune in finding the perfect woman to marry, they were also very vocal in their determination that Callie was the only female left in London who was an enviable catch.
Callie had long ago given up on any attempt to marry each of them off. More than one peccadillo had resulted from her good intentions. So, for now, she would put aside any scheming and merely enjoy the evenings she had with her dear traitors.
“The profits from the shipping company have already effected remarkable improvement in the lives of our soldiers,” Hugh said as they finished their meal.
“I’ve even had the opportunity to pass along to several of our former infantrymen the address of your new kitchen that serves free meals to soldiers,” Jeb Danvers said.
“And Callie has formed a committee to gather the names of other widows and fatherless children,” Ford said. “Her committee visits them regularly to make sure they have enough food and money to get by.”
Caleb Parker, who was probably the most personable and outgoing of the four, lifted his glass in salute. “To Captain Remington and his beautiful bride, Lady Calinda. Who together have made a difference in more lives than anyone else I know.”
“Here, here,” the other traitors echoed in unison.
When the toast ended, Ford walked to the other end of the table to help Callie to her feet. She needed his assistance more often than not now that she was nearing the birth of their first babe.
“Shall we go where you’ll be more comfortable?” Ford asked, wrapping his arm around Callie’s increasing girth.
“Yes,” Hugh agreed. “I think your wife would like that.”
“Yes, she would,” Callie agreed with a smile on her face.
Ford and Callie led the way to the blue salon, and when they were seated and Ford had given them each a glass of brandy, Callie gathered their attention.
“Gentlemen,” she said. “I would like to bring up a subject I’ve introduced before, but am now even more concerned over.”
Ford laughed while the three remaining traitors all groaned.
“Uh-oh,” Ford warned. “I think my wife’s about to give each of you the lecture about how time isn’t slowing down for any of you and how you need to begin your search for a wife.”
“My lady,” Jeb answered after he took a swallow of his brandy. “I know you and the captain enjoy wedded bliss, but I beg to assure you that I and these two sorry traitors enjoy the untroublesome perfection of unwedded bliss.”
“That’s not fair,” Callie said when the men laughed. She was tired of trying to convince Ford’s friends that time was running out for them. That many of the females who were their age were either already married or not the best choices. That the females who were having their come-outs were getting younger and younger by the Season. It wouldn’t be long before Jeb, Caleb, and Hugh would feel as if they were stealing a young miss from the schoolroom.<
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Caleb lifted the sandy eyebrows that framed his charmingly intelligent face. “Fair to whom, my lady?”
“To me.”
“You?” they all said in unison.
“Yes, me. Although I have grown quite fond of each of you and would not trade our friendships and our special evenings for the world, there are times when I long for female companionship. I want to encourage you to search for the perfect woman. I know she’s out there. I simply want you to find her so you’ll be as happy as Ford and I are. And so I can invite her to tea!”
“Thank you, my lady,” Hugh said. “You know how special you are to each of us and how much we’d love to provide you with female companionship, but I fear a female of such perfection would not look twice at me.”
“Or me,” Jeb added.
“Or me,” Caleb said confidently.
Callie turned to her husband and smiled. “Do you recall someone else having that same opinion upon our meeting, Captain?” she asked.
“Yes, I do. Very vividly.”
Callie focused her gaze on the three bachelor members of the traitor’s club. “Be careful, my friends. I boasted the same sentiment. I vowed I would never enter the bonds of matrimony. But then I met this rapscallion.”
Callie smiled at each of them. “And now the man who came to me as the Queen’s traitor”—she took Ford’s hand in hers as she smiled up into his loving eyes—“has become the dearest desire of my traitorous heart.”
I
ABOUT LAURA LANDON
Laura Landon enjoyed ten years as a high school teacher and nine years making sundaes and malts in her very own ice cream shop, but once she penned her first novel, she closed up shop to spend every free minute writing. Now she enjoys creating her very own heroes and heroines, and making sure they find their happily ever after.
A vital member of her rural community, Laura directed the town’s Quasquicentennial, organized funding for an exercise center for the town, and serves on the hospital board.
Laura lives in the Midwest, surrounded by her family and friends. She has written nearly two dozen Victorian historicals, thirteen of which have been published by Prairie Muse Publishing and are selling worldwide in English, one in Japanese, and several in German. Two are Scottish historicals.
In October 2012, Laura experienced an amazing day when Amazon’s Montlake Romance published not one but three of her newest novels. Two of these have been optioned for publication in Russia and Turkey. Several are also available in German. To date Montlake has published seven of Laura’s Victorian historicals and Kindle Press three.
Always beautifully set and with a mysterious twist or bit of suspense, Laura’s books average a million pages a month read by her loyal readers.
LAURA LANDON IS A PRAIRIE MUSE PLATINUM
KINDLE PRESS AND AMAZON MONTLAKE AUTHOR
WWW.LAURALANDON.COM
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