A Sister's Quest (36 page)

“Bartholomew—”

“I think you should call me ‘Your Highness.'”

“If you do not want me to call you Bartholomew, I shall call you Prince Char—” She cringed as he raised his hand.

“Do not become tiresome.” He gave her the smile that she once had thought was kind. “Mayhap, if you beg, I will spare you such a life, Michelle. Beg me as I begged you to be my wife.”

“And you will give me the same answer.”

“You are right.” He laughed and forced her mouth beneath his. She tried to keep his hands away, but his strength was too much for her.

The carriage stopped, nearly rocking them to the floor. Michelle clutched the seat. At the sound of gunfire, she screamed and waited for the pain that she recalled all too well.

A man shouted her name.

“Alexandre!” she cried when he called her name again.

“Shut up!” said Bartholomew with a snarl. Pulling a handkerchief from an inner pocket, he stuffed it into her mouth. He drew his gun and pressed it against the cloth. “Make a sound, and it will be your last one.”

She tried not to moan with despair as he dropped a cloak on her. Through it, the weight of his gun centered in the middle of her stomach. If she moved, he would fire it.

Straining, she sought to hear what she could not see. The coach rocked as the driver and footman alighted, but the door remained closed. Beyond it, she could hear the hoofbeats from more than one horse. She hoped Alexandre had brought many allies with him.

Bartholomew growled a curse just before she heard Alexandre say coolly, “What a pleasant surprise, Your Highness! As you are heading south, I should offer you a welcome to France, but I admit little pleasure at having you in my homeland. Now, before you continue on your way, I think you have in your possession something that belongs with me.”

“I have nothing of yours, Vatutin. Why don't you go after LaTulippe? He is northbound toward where the armies are amassing in—”

She could hear Alexandre's grim smile in his taut voice. “I know exactly where they are, but that you are familiar with his location suggests many different things, Your Highness. Such as bargains your father would not sanction. That, however, is none of my business. What is my business is that I also know you are holding Mademoiselle Levesque against her will. If you would be so good as to return her to me, I shall let you continue on your way.”

The gun poked painfully into her ribs, and she fought not to gasp in pain.

Bartholomew laughed tersely. “You are chasing shadows, Vatutin.”

“Actually, the name is Vernier. Alexandre Vernier.”

“I do not give a damn what your name is. Get out of here. I have dinner waiting for me at an inn in Namur. Why don't you let me get to it?”

Alexandra's voice lost its easy negligence. “Dinner for two? I have given you enough opportunities, Prince Charming.” He ignored Bartholomew's curse as he went on, “If you do not want to listen to me, mayhap you will listen to my Pauly.”

Recognizing the name as a type of pistol, Michelle slipped her fingers under the cloak and pulled the material out of her mouth. Carefully she waited for Bartholomew to answer Alexandre. At that second, the prince's attention would be centered on his foe.

“Vatu—What the—”

Michelle kicked at him at the same time she shoved the heavy cloak upward to knock his arm away. She scrambled past him for the door. An arm jerked her back.

“Let me go!” she screeched in frustration. The tip of a pistol in her cheek silenced her.

Bartholomew's voice was as agitated as his heartbeat beneath her ear as he said, “Leave us, Vernier, if you do not want to see her with a ball in her skull.”

Alexandre smiled. “How are you faring,
Liebchen
? Forgive me for being so slow to come for you, but I shall explain later.”

“You will do nothing but …” Bartholomew tensed.

Alexandre opened the door with a grand bow. “Prince Charming, if you do not want me to order Rusak to fire his shotgun in the back of your head, I suggest you release Mademoiselle Levesque posthaste.”

For a trio of heartbeats, no one moved. Michelle saw Bartholomew fingering the trigger of his gun. Abruptly he drew it away and shoved her forward. Alexandre caught her before she could strike the ground. He steadied her on her feet and set her beside the road. Although he offered her a smile, he turned back to the carriage.

“Have a pleasant journey home, Prince Charming. If you will excuse us, we have a bit of unfinished business to deal with north of here.”

“You need not waste your time looking for me, Vernier. We can finish that business right here.”

Michelle whirled as she heard LaTulippe's mocking voice. The pistol in his hand was pointed at her.

LaTulippe continued in the same falsely genial tone, “I expected you would turn up as soon as I sent your mistress off with this young fool who thinks more of his tarnished honor than his father's wrath.”

“Shoot him!” urged Bartholomew. He choked back his next words as the jab of the shotgun barrel reminded him that Rusak stood behind him out of sight from the road.

“Why don't we let this princeling go?” suggested LaTulippe as he dismounted from his horse. Two other men appeared from the trees to flank him. “Then we men can discuss this matter, Vernier.”

Alexandre did not move away from the carriage. Any sudden step toward Michelle would guarantee LaTulippe's pulling the trigger. Keeping his pistol hidden behind his coat, he rested his foot on the step of the carriage. The door remained at his back to block an attack from behind, although his own safety was not his highest priority as he waited for LaTulippe to make a mistake.

“Why don't you make this easy on all of us?” LaTulippe asked. “Give me the code, and we will find you a place in the new government.”

“A place for a man who betrayed his ideals to save his life?” Alexandre snorted in derision. “Such a man would have as little worth to Boney as to any leader.”

“'Tis not your life you are bargaining for, but hers.” He emphasized his words by waving the pistol at Michelle. “Give me the clue to the code.”

Alexandre chuckled. “Do you think I am carrying it with me? What good is it when I do not have my book that Michelle gave to you? Once, I might have been able to recall what was said to me in Vienna, but you beat it quite literally out of my head.” Michelle moaned, but he did not look at her. “Neither of us has anything worthwhile. We both have lost.”

“Have we?” LaTulippe's finger caressed the hammer of his gun. “Or could it be that you have both and are here only to save your mistress?”

“I am here to save Michelle, but I do not have the damn information any longer. You have it!”

LaTulippe laughed as he looked at Michelle. “Why didn't you tell your lover about how a candle burned in your room all night before you brought me his book? Haven't you shown him the pages you copied?”

“You are mad, LaTulippe!” Alexandre said with a snarl.

“Am I? Am I, Michelle?”

“No,” she whispered. Her gaze reached out to Alexandre as he knew she wanted her hands to. “Alexandre, I tried to tell you. At first there were too many others around; then we …”

Alexandre cursed under his breath, then louder.
Verflucht!
She
had
tried to tell him, but he had not heeded her, although he should have guessed she would do anything she could to help him with his work. If he had, he would not have needed to chase after LaTulippe and leave her unprotected.

LaTulippe said, “It seems we are back where we started. You have the coded information
and
the key to it. I have your mistress. Is she worth the trade?”

“Yes.”

“Alexandre!” she cried. “You said I should not have given him the book to save you. You said—”

“I was wrong.” When he heard LaTulippe's laugh, he did not react. Instead he held Michelle's wide-eyed gaze as he added, “It seems there were some more lessons I had yet to learn.”

“May I suggest you make your next lesson getting your copy of the information and the code and bringing it to me without delay?” LaTulippe chuckled again. “Tell him where it is, Michelle.”

“No! You will send your men to my family's house again.”

“Tell him, or …” He drew back the hammer.

“No!” Michelle moaned, but her voice was swallowed by Bartholomew's shout.

Guns fired along the road. A splotch of red exploded across the front of the man standing next to LaTulippe. She huddled on the ground. A hand grasped hers, and she tried to pull away. She shrieked for Alexandre as she looked up at LaTulippe's vicious smile.

When he raised the pistol to aim it at her, she grabbed a handful of dirt and flung it in his face. He shrieked a curse as he clawed at his eyes, but was drowned out by the ear-shattering crash of a pistol firing. She watched LaTulippe fall into a widening puddle of blood.

“
Liebchen
?”

She flung her arms around Alexandre's neck and clung to him as she sobbed out all her fright. “Thank you for saving me,” she whispered.

“I didn't.”

“You didn't?” When a finger tapped her shoulder, she moved away reluctantly, then said in a gasp, “Rusak! Thank—”

Come, Michelle. Hurry
.

“Yes, we should leave,” Alexandre said.

She glanced at him and smiled. He must have been learning more signs in the past days.

No. Michelle, come, carriage. Hurry
.

Looking at Alexandre, she saw he was as confused by the emphatic signs as she was. Carefully not looking at the dead men at the back of the carriage, she went with Rusak to the open door. She covered her mouth with her hand as she stared at Bartholomew's blood-soaked coat.

In a barely audible whisper, he murmured, “I could not let him kill you.”

Michelle tore her gaze from him to look at Alexandre's shocked face. Her eyes must be as wide with amazement. Putting her hand on Bartholomew's arm, she said, “LaTulippe is dead, and I am alive. Let us get you to—”

He asserted in his most imperious tone, “No … doctors. I … I … dead man. Tell me … tell … me … Do you … did you … ever love me?”

“Of course,” she lied as she took his already cold hand between hers. “How could I know you and not love you, Bartholomew? You made me believe I could be a princess. You—”

Alexandra's hand on her shoulder silenced her. He drew her away from the carriage door. Reaching past her, he closed Bartholomew's sightless eyes. Then he pulled her into his arms. When he bent to kiss her, she answered his passion for only a second.

Tugging away, she cried, “Why did you wait so long to come for me?”

He pulled off his coat and wrapped it around her ruined dress. “We have been here since about three hours after LaTulippe put you in that barn. The two of us could not storm his stronghold and be sure we would keep him from killing you. We knew he would bring you out eventually. He did.” With a sigh of regret, he shook his head. “Unfortunately we did not consider that your prince would be caught in the cross fire.”

As tears bubbled up in her eyes, he turned her toward where his horse waited. “What about the carriage?” she whispered.

“When we get to the allied camp, we can send someone back for it.”

“The allied camp?”

“This game is not yet done,” he said as the excitement returned to his voice. “We have to get the pages you copied and deliver them with the code to my contact at Charleroi,
Liebchen
. Shall we go and see what we can do to free France from Napoleon's dreams of conquest once and for all?”

She smiled as he lifted her onto the horse. His enthusiasm was contagious. When he mounted behind her and sent the horse along the road with Rusak riding close behind, she did not look at the carnage behind them. She must think only of the future bought with those lives.

A future she wanted to spend loving Alexandre.

Epilogue

…
and that is why I brought you to Zurich, dear daughter. Here we could be safe from the French government. I had intended to take you back to France, so we could find your brother and sister. All my attempts to seek Dominic and Brienne's whereabouts have failed, blocked by that pint-sized dictator. Mayhap someday he will be gone and our family will be together
.

In the meantime, I have worked to further the goals of his enemies. Not against France, but against Napoleon. It has been simpler to leave you at St. Bernard's, because I could not take you with me during my trips out of Switzerland. It would have been too risky for you as well as inconvenient in my guise as an unfettered woman
.

That is in the past. What concerns me, my dear child, is your future. Although I have concluded each day with a prayer that my beloved Marc-Michel will watch over all of you, I know the time is coming when I can help you no more than I can your brother and sister
.

Dear Michelle, you must be aware of your past. If you decide to return to Château Tonnere du Grêlon, you may need assistance. I suggest you find my most recent partner. He will help you deal with any problems you encounter in France. His name is Alexandre Vernier, but he might be using another name. I would describe him to you, but he changes his appearance like a chameleon changes color. You will know him by his green eyes and irreverent humor. Just contact the people at the address below, and they will help you find him wherever he might be
.

God bless you, my child. If someday you should chance upon your sister and brother, tell them how much I have dreamed of holding them again. I pray your life is filled with the peace and the family that I was denied. All my love
.

Michelle glanced up from the crumpled page to see tears running along Brienne's face. Dominic's mouth worked with strong emotions when he put his arm around Abigail, who wept as her month-old son nursed in her arms.