The Sanctuary (A Spencer Novel)

by Sandra Lea Rice

  Clairece glanced around the clearing. “Where is he?”

  “Gerald won’t hurt anyone ever again, sweetheart.”

  She stared at the men poised near the cliff’s edge, and nodded. Further explanation wouldn’t be necessary.

  “Are you all right, my lady?” Stallings hurried to their side.

  In response, Clairece slipped her hand into a pocket and withdrew a linen wrapped bundle. “Queen Mary’s collar. A gift to the Crown from Lord Harding.”

  Stallings unwrapped the bundle and gaped at the relic. “I thought it lost. My thanks to you both. Her Royal Majesty will be overjoyed and quite appreciative.” He bowed and moved away to join his men.

  “Why don’t we get you both back to the house? Your mother will want to see for herself you’re all right.” Joel nodded in the direction of the Hall and the slender woman anxiously pacing the terrace.

  Anthony turned Clairece under his arm and drew her tightly against his side. At the first step, his wife yelped. He glanced at her feet and the tattered remains of her shoes, and swept her up in his arms.

  As Rafael and his men started back to the stable, Philippe drew up beside them. “Give me the niña, Lord Anthony. I will take her to her mother.” Philippe plucked Clairece from Anthony’s arms, settling her across his lap. With a slight pressure from his legs, he eased his mount into a gentle canter.

  Anthony glanced over his shoulder to see Stallings and two of his men, along with Benjamin Farris, start down the narrow path leading to the rocks and beach below.

  “Come along, son. There’s nothing you can do here,” Joel urged. Together, they began a silent trek up the sloping lawn.

  Anthony turned his back on the cliff, and on the remembered sounds of two boys laughing and splashing in the water.

  Stallings inched the heavy door to the icehouse open and slipped through, lighting a lantern to see his way toward a set of stairs leading to a lower level.

  This madman had been responsible for more murders and heinous crimes against women than Jack the Ripper. The difference was, Gerald Wade’s victims were not left lying in plain sight.

  Stallings hung the lantern on a hook and approached the corpse. Remarkably, the body had landed on the soft sand between several boulders without incurring much damage. Benjamin Farris had determined Wade’s cause of death to be a failing heart.

  Stallings would have preferred to see the man hang for his crimes, but this way would ease the embarrassment to a good man and his family, and save the crown money. Just as important, the damned group of vigilantes parading around Town was not involved. That he was slightly sympathetic to their cause, was of no import. Matters of law needed to be handled the way they were intended, and with Scotland Yard to see them carried out.

  He moved the lantern to the table near the body.

  “It may have taken us years to catch you, but catch you we did. If it were up to me, I would have left your sorry carcass for the carrion. However, Lord Anthony requested you be buried beside your mother and father at Roxbury Abbey. May you burn in Hell, Gerald Wade.”

  As Stallings turned to leave, he glimpsed something protruding from Wade’s coat pocket. He withdrew the calling card and held it closer to the light.

  Emblazoned in gold on a black finish was a likeness of a chess piece. The knight. A scrolled letter ‘P’ slashed across one corner.

  “Hell and damnation!”

  Epilogue

  For Anthony, the three weeks following Gerald’s death were heart wrenching. The loss of a man for which he’d cared deeply, conflicted severely with the reality of Gerald’s horrendous deeds. The saving grace was the joy at the love and acceptance he’d found with Clairece and her family.

  His wife sat cuddled against his side, smiling as she watched their children play. “Our daughters interact so beautifully, one would not guess they’d only just met.” Clairece motioned to the two six-year-old girls playing on the parlor floor.

  “It is amazing, as they are so different in nature.” Anthony pressed a kiss to Clairece’s forehead.

  Sophie squealed in delight and pointed. “They’re doing it again, Mira. They’re kissing.”

  Anthony chuckled, and promptly planted a loud kiss on Clairece’s cheek. The girls giggled uproariously. “You two are next,” he mock-threatened.

  Nanny Baker appeared at the door. “My lord, my lady, it is time for the girls’ studies.”

  The children scrambled to their feet and attached themselves to Emma Baker, each taking a hand.

  “Papa, we are learning our letters. Soon, I will be able to read and write. Nanny Baker says I am brilliant,” Sophie expounded.

  Emma Baker cleared her throat.

  Sophie swirled the toe of her shoe on the carpet. “Well, she said ‘intelligent,’ but that’s the same as brilliant, isn’t it?”

  Anthony laughed. “Close enough, poppet.”

  “You’re learning as well, Papa.” Clairece’s voice carried a note of amusement.

  After their daughters departed, the room grew quiet. Anthony nestled his wife closer. “My love, I must return to London. Parliament is now in session and there are issues requiring my attention.” He took her hand in his. “Jason is overwhelmed with the factories and the weekly commute by train. Although he hasn’t complained, keeping such a demanding schedule is asking a lot of him.”

  The smile faded from Clairece’s face. “How long will you be gone?”

  Anthony raised her hand and touched his lips to the back of her fingers. “I cannot bear to be separated from you for even one moment. I realize you’ve just settled into your new home, but I would like you and the children to accompany me.”

  Her lips curved in a smile. “Dearest, you are my home. Wherever you go, I will happily follow.”

  Thrilled with her acquiescence, Anthony claimed her lips in a kiss of promise, love, and commitment. Releasing her lingeringly, he raised her chin with his finger. “If we left soon, we could see your parents again before they sail for America.”

  She gripped his hands. “I would love more time with them. I know they have to return to America and the ranch, but their visit here passed so quickly.”

  “I’ll make the arrangements and have Inniswood made ready.” He grinned. “From the looks I’ve seen pass between our Miss Baker and Jason, I believe they would enjoy the time to get to know each other better.”

  Clairece’s smile blossomed. “I, too, noticed their preoccupation with each other. I think they’re perfectly matched. Perhaps we—”

  Anthony silenced her with a finger placed gently against her lips. “Perhaps we . . . should let them decide. If it’s to be, it will be.”

  “Of course, darling.”

  Not for one moment did Anthony believe his wife’s demure response. Jason was headed for the altar, did he but know it. “Will Adrian return to Texas with your parents?”

  “He said he plans to visit his estate and attend to other business matters while he’s here. Dividing his time between England and America is difficult, but he does it.”

  Anthony thought of James. He felt certain his friend had involved himself with something illegal, possibly dangerous. “James left suddenly, don’t you think?”

  Clairece sat up straighter. “Yes, but I assumed it was his preoccupation with certain bills in the House and Parliament.” She absently rubbed the lobe of an ear. “I sensed there was something troubling him, apart from the attempts on my life, but I never found the opportunity to ask.”

  Recalling the discussion he’d had with James late one night in the library, Anthony chose to keep his concerns to himself. There was no reason to upset Clairece if he was wrong in his assumptions.

  “There is another reason I wish to return to Town.”

  “Oh?” Clairece tilted her head
and looked at him. “And what would that be?”

  “We will be closer to Dr. Farris. If we are to increase the size of our family, you will need proper care. And, sweeting, I intend to offer my assistance in that endeavor as often, and as enthusiastically, as possible.” He flicked his brows in a teasing, licentious manner and stood, reaching for Clairece. “There is no time like the present to begin.”

  Grinning, she took his hand.

  Also from Soul Mate Publishing and Sandra Lea Rice:

  FORBIDDEN ANGEL

  When Adrian Spencer, The Tenth Earl of Windsford, finds himself the unlikely guardian of the one woman he cannot forget, he has a decision to make. He can follow the dictates of his heart and pursue Angeline and the sensual promise implicit in her eyes, or adhere to the strict moral code he was born to uphold and deny them both.

  Made to flee England after the murder of his fiancée, Adrian builds an empire in America. When his past and present combine in the form of Angeline Ashley, it’s time to prove his innocence and reclaim what is rightfully his. To do this, he must return to England and prove the guilt of his long-time nemesis, Charles Malcolm.

  At the death of her father and stepmother, Angeline is given a letter telling her to ‘seek the truth’ and hints at a mystery surrounding her mother and Angeline’s own birth. But when Charles Malcolm, one of England’s most notorious rakes, produces a note against a large gambling debt, Angeline is given two choices; marriage to Charles, or see her father’s name besmirched and her young brother’s future ruined. But Angeline will have neither of those choices. Instead, she chooses to accompany her brother to America and seeks shelter with his guardian, a man she has adored since childhood.

  When Charles appears in Texas, it becomes obvious that there is more behind his obsession with Angeline than just lust for a beautiful woman.

  Available now on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/zbpv8lh