Brazen Temptress (26 page)

Julien ignored the dagger in her hand and stalked across the balcony. He caught her by the shoulders and gave her a good shake. "Listen to me, Reenie. I didn't do this. If it is true, we have to find Ethan and find him fast. Who could have done this? Who else knows about us? Knows about Ethan?"

"No one," she said, fighting off his grasp. She edged past him. "No one but you."

"Someone does. Someone who means to use him against us."

She swiped at the tendrils of dark hair falling over her face. "There is no
us.
Why do you persist in these falsehoods? I don't believe you any longer. You took my son, and I want him back."

She once again flashed her dagger dangerously between them.

"Why would I be here if I took Ethan? If I'd had any inclination to take my son, I certainly wouldn't be here — I'd be halfway to the coast by now."

He could see the questions fluttering behind her gaze, as if she, too, had asked herself the same things. But she was beyond making sense; her anger from the past clouding her judgment. Just then a movement over her shoulder caught his eye.

Someone was approaching the balcony, cutting a sharp course through the costumed crowd like a frigate under full sail.

The Lord Admiral.

Oh, perfect, Julien thought to himself. With Maureen going off half-cocked, he hadn't enough time to make her see the sense of his words before she'd have a noose around his neck, courtesy of Peter Cottwell.

There was only one thing to do, and it was his last choice. Flee. He'd have little chance of finding a way out of this tangle if he were locked up in an Admiralty cell.

Or, worse, swinging from a hangman's noose at Tyburn.

"Reenie, listen to me. Believe me. I didn't do this. Someone else did. We have to find Ethan and your aunt, but there isn't much time." He pushed aside the dagger and pulled her close. Without a second thought he kissed her, hard and thoroughly, hoping his passion would convince her of what his words seemed unable to do.

She fought him like a wildcat, and when she got away she wiped her mouth as if she'd just swallowed poison.

"I'm going to see your men free and the
Retribution
set adrift, just as I promised you. Then I am going to do my damnedest to find our son. If you come to your senses, meet me after midnight at Vauxhall Gardens. Down at the docks. I'll be there on my yacht."

The Lord Admiral was now steps from the balcony door, and his hawkish gaze locked with Julien's.

The two men stared at each other, and then the recognition flickered between them.

"De Ryes," the Lord Admiral mouthed, then he grabbed the door to the balcony, rattling the locked portal with all his strength.

His actions diverted Maureen, and she turned to aid the man in opening the door.

Julien saluted him over his wife's shoulder and then swung over the edge of the balcony. He dropped into the latticework and was down the two stories before the Lord Admiral could wrench the locked door open.

"I love you, Reenie," he called up to her as his feet hit the stone path below. From above she stared down at him, obviously furious at his escape. "Believe me. It is all you have left." And with that, he loped through the back garden and fled into the night.

"What took you so long?" Maureen asked, whirling around from the edge of the stonework to face the Lord Admiral. "He's gotten away!"

She threw her leg over the balcony, fully intending to follow the blackguard, but the Lord Admiral moved too fast.

He caught her by the arm and held her fast. "De Ryes? That was de Ryes?" he asked, his eyes glittering with excitement.

Shaking off his hold, she nodded. "Yes, Julien D'Artiers is your pirate. But if you haven't noticed, he is getting away."

She went to make her escape yet again, but the Lord Admiral grabbed her arm again.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"After him," she said, this time unsuccessful in her attempt to free herself.

"Hardly. This is no longer your concern."

"Like hell," she said. "I'll see him hang, and no one is going to stop me."

"Perhaps if you'd thought to tell me this sooner, he would be dead by now." The Lord Admiral studied her. "You knew. You've known since that night at Almack's who de Ryes was, yet you kept your mouth shut. It seems to me if you truly wanted your husband dead, you would have said something that night. Why, you've been in league with him this entire time."

Furious at this turn of events, she blurted out before she could stop herself, "I'm not in league with him. I've been trying to gain enough proof so that he won't slip away. He's too well-connected with the Traherns and the Westons not to find a way out of this. But you can stop him now, for he'll be at Vauxhall Gardens, near the docks, at midnight. He'll be carrying the proof with him, and nothing will stop you from seeing him hang, not even his high-blown relations."

Even as she made her confession, she realized her error.

The man's eyes glittered dangerously. "You're right about that, you little slut. I'll see de Ryes hang. And you right beside him."

"Me? I'll not hang. We have a deal," she shot back. "De Ryes for my life and the lives of my men."

"An honorable agreement you willfully voided when you withheld evidence from His Majesty's Navy."

Julien's warnings about the Lord Admiral came back to haunt her.

It won't prick his conscience to betray you any more than it did when he consigned your father to life on a prison hulk.

Suddenly, the chill of the night invaded her very soul.

"Hardly," she shot back. "He's been threatening me this entire time. I didn't know what to do. He said he'd see my throat slit, that not even you could protect me."

She spotted a glint of metal lying on the floor. She reached down and plucked up her dagger, holding it gingerly as if she'd never touched such a dastardly weapon before. "As you can see he tried to finish me off this very night, but the coward fled when he saw you."

"Do you really think me a fool?" the Lord Admiral sneered. "I saw him kiss you. No, Maureen Hawthorne de Ryes, you'll hang on the morrow beside your husband. Hang as you rightly should. I'll remove all traces of you, as I did your father."

Just then Lord Hawksbury poked his head through the doorway. "Miss Fenwick, there you are. Our next dance is just about to begin, and I thought to steal you away before my wicked uncle convinced you otherwise."

Maureen swung her hand behind her back to conceal her dagger. There was no use in dragging Julien's nephew into this havey-cavey business.

The young man stepped outside and looked around. "Where is my uncle?"

But then again, she thought, perhaps he could be useful.

Maureen shrugged her shoulders. "Gone. The cad left me out here alone, and the door latched as he left. Thankfully, the Lord Admiral came to my rescue." She smiled coyly at the Earl, whose title and family connections surely outranked even the Lord Admiral's social standing.

"Yes, that's it," the Lord Admiral said, finally entering the conversation. "Poor Miss Fenwick is quite overtaken by her experience; I was just going to see her home." With that he took Maureen's arm and started to lead her away.

"My dear Lord Admiral," she said as sweetly as she could when all she wanted to do was drive her dagger into his back. "As I was saying, that is entirely unnecessary. I feel more than able to continue my evening. Besides, I would hate to disappoint Lord Hawksbury."

Lord Hawksbury immediately stepped up to the bait. "She looks well enough, sir. Kind of you to offer, but this task belongs to someone who has a vested interest in the lady's welfare."

Before the older man could protest, Lord Hawksbury took her hand and led her to the dance floor.

The Earl smiled as if nothing were amiss, but when they were well away from the Lord Admiral, separated by a half dozen or more dancing couples, he said in a voice edged with concern, "What happened to my uncle?"

"As I said, he left."

Lord Hawksbury frowned at her. "I've been watching the door ever since you two went out there, just as he asked me to. He never reentered the ballroom."

Maureen pursed her lips.

"I know more than you think," he said, as if he sensed the questions behind her mask. "Enough to get me hanged. I don't agree with my uncle's politics, but he's family. I'll not see his fool neck stretched, even if it does put me in a bit of a quandary from time to time."

"You know, my lord?" she whispered.

At this he grinned. "Stop that 'my lord' business. You should call me Charles, like a good aunt."

Her eyes must have reflected her shock.

"Oh, yes, I know all that as well. It was quite disappointing to find out that you were, shall we say, otherwise engaged, but I can't fault my uncle's taste in wives. Welcome to the family, Aunt Maureen." He whirled her across the floor, nodding every once in a while to a friend.

She shook her head, trying to make sense of this.

"What I don't understand is why you didn't go with him. He said you both would be leaving tonight. What happened, did that old goat catch up with you before you had a chance to get down the wall?"

"I didn't want to go."

"I can see why. I told Uncle Julien it was foolhardy to think a lady — even one with your illustrious background — could navigate that wall. But he swore you could climb it in your sleep."

"No, it wasn't the wall. I didn't want to go with him because he betrayed me."

"Uncle Julien?" Charles shook his head. "Never. He loves you. I know. I tried to convince him to let you stay here in London. But he wouldn't have it. Said you two had been apart too long."

"Well, he lied to you as well."

At this the young man took affront, his shoulders and eyebrows ruffling with the dishonor of hearing a family member being called a liar. "I don't believe you."

"He stole something of mine earlier today. Something I value more than life itself."

Charles shook his head and lowered his voice as he said, "I was with him today. The only thing we stole were ten barrels of rum and some fireworks. I hardly call such trifles betrayal of one's wife."

"Rum and fireworks?" she said. "I'm talking about my son. He kidnapped my son this afternoon."

"Today? I hardly think so. I was with him the entire day. He needed help and I provided it — Wait a minute, did you just say 'son'?"

She nodded. "Ethan. He's my son."

Charles shook his head. "And Julien's as well, am I to assume?"

"Yes."

He whistled low. "But you said he stole Ethan? Today?"

"Yes," she told him. "I have proof."

"I don't see how he could have. We left at first light this morning, and it took us most of the day to steal —" Charles lowered his voice even further. "To steal the rum and fireworks off a dock near Richmond." He grinned at her. "Never been a common thief before. Quite exciting, really, though my parents would have my head and Julien's if they knew what mischief we'd been about this afternoon."

Richmond? How could he have been in Greenwich
and
Richmond? Even the tides wouldn't have worked for him.

Still, Maureen wasn't about to let Julien off so easily. "But his men, they were in Greenwich. Did you hear him say anything about Greenwich?"

Again Charles shook his head. "No, nothing. As for his men, he never lets his crew ashore in England. For their safety as well as his. In London he works alone. Oh, he has his contacts, but he only buys information from them. That was why I was so surprised when he asked for my help."

If what Charles was saying was true, then perhaps Julien hadn't taken Ethan.

But if he hadn't, then who had?

Her gaze fell on the Lord Admiral, standing at the entrance to the ballroom. The man was directing several well-dressed men, who despite their fancy clothing she recognized as the guards from Cheapside. The Lord Admiral then turned and pointed her out.

She glanced away and feigned indifference to his machinations.

Could it have been the Lord Admiral who took Ethan?

But how would he have known? At this point it didn't matter.

There was only one way to find out.

"Charles," she said. "What if you could help your uncle even further?"

Julien's nephew didn't hesitate. "What do you want me to do?"

Maureen knew she couldn't leave without saying something to Lady Mary. She owed her that much.

"Maureen, there you are," the lady exclaimed. Her gaze fell on Charles. "And in such fine company."

Maureen leaned forward and whispered into Lady Mary's ear. "Your plan worked. I'm off with the Earl. He's asked me to join his family." Maureen didn't feel overly bad about leading the lady on. It was, after all, nearly the truth.

Lady Mary's eyes grew wide. "Such happy news. Are you off to Scotland then?"

Maureen nodded, flinching at this outright lie.

"Oh, you must be careful which road you take. My sister eloped, and she and her husband were nearly caught by my father. The Lord Admiral will have all the posting inns watched. And if he captures you ..."

Hoping to abate Lady Mary's obvious fears for her safety, Maureen decided to taint her story with a bit of the truth. "Lord Hawksbury keeps a yacht near Vauxhall Gardens. We are off to it so as to elude the Lord Admiral. He'll not catch us."

Lady Mary's eyes shone with tears and gratitude as she unexpectedly took the Earl into her arms and hugged him. "You take care of my dear girl, my Lord. She'll make a fine wife."

Charles looked at Maureen, confusion covering his features.

Maureen just shrugged as if she weren't sure what the lady was talking about.

"Now go," Lady Mary said, shooing them away. "Here comes that horrid man, and I won't have you within his reach for another second."

Maureen kissed Lady Mary quickly on the cheek and followed Charles out a side door and then down a hallway. As Charles led her into a bedroom, Maureen cast a questioning glance in his direction.

"My mother would skin me alive if she knew what I was doing," Charles said, striding across the room and around the vast bed.