Read Raised By Wolves Volume four- Wolves Online
Authors: W. A. Hoffman
Raised By Wolves Volume four- Wolves (92 page)
“Oui,” he said emphatically as we began to walk toward the house.
Gaston was embracing Pete and then Chris and whisperingintheir ears.
“Truly,” I said as we walked. “There will be much we will need you all for if you are inclined. The king wishes for us to attend court.”I pointed at Gastonand myself.
“Youspecifically?”Chris asked.
“Oui:he has takena likingto me, apparently.”
“What a pity,” he teased and then asked astutely, “Are youreadyfor that?”
“Non,”I said quickly.
Chris grinned. “Well, at least someone has dressed you well.”
“We have acquired a house we can live in out of the city,” Gaston said happily. “And there are business assets the R and R Merchant Companycanassume.”
“Oui,”I added. “It is a boonto all.”
“Youdid it,”Cudro said.
I shook my head. “Though not even my sister believes it… Non, we arrived here and things unfolded such as they did with little action on our part. My cousin shot my father and they battled and died. We were quite fortunate, considering what my father had prepared for us. And then Theodore and the Marquis were alreadyworkingwiththe king’s manonour behalf, and…”
“Wait,” Cudro said. “Are the others here and not in Holland?”
Holland?”
“Striker’s here?”Pete asked withworry.
“Ouiand oui,”I said.
We were nearing the house, and I saw Striker, Liam, and Bones standing in the lamplight near the courtyard gate, waiting. They tensed with alarm as we emerged into the light; until they saw who surrounded us. Then the whooping and embracingbegananew.
When it died down, Pete and Striker were still holding one another, whispering. They finally kissed deeply, but in the manner oftwo parting. ThenStriker turned to grinat Chris.
“Well, congratulations,”he said sincerely.
Chris’ eyes were lambent. “Striker, please don’t ever think I wonhim.”
He shook his head quickly. “Nay, he’s a thing one earns.” He looked at his former matelot and grinned. “Nay, he’s a thing one gets cursed with. So perhaps I should be offering condolences.”
Chris laughed and embraced him. “I will take very good care of him,” she said so quietly that I only heard because I stood next to them.
“Please do,”Striker whispered back.
“Let’s go inand tellthe others,”Liamsaid.
“Sarah will be surprised,” Striker said with worry as he looked from Pete to Chris and back again. Then he looked to me and sighed. “She did not mean…”
“I know,” I said. Then I met his gaze firmly. “I did not lie.”
He did not flinchfrommy gaze. “I think most ofus know
He did not flinchfrommy gaze. “I think most ofus know that. The Marquis and Theodore surelythink youdidn’t. She just caught us bysurprise. I’msorryif…”
I shook myhead.
“She went upstairs and told me to get out. She’s… Well it’s just how she is whenshe’s pregnant.”
I thought it likely
it
was just how she was, and when she was not pregnant she was better at wearing a mask; but since she was now always pregnant… “If you do not mind, I would like to tellher the good news.”
“Please,”he said witha look ofrelief.
“I willgo,”Gastonsaid.
I acquiesced; with what surely appeared to be an expression similar to Striker’s. Though I did want to speak with her, and knew we must make peace in some manner, I did not relishthe chore.
We entered the parlor and bodies began to swirl in greeting once again; and then the wine was passed around, and food was brought; and the explanations began to pour from lips in colorful, tangled skeins that eventually sorted themselves into the tapestry of our lives since we had last stood together. It was a beauteous thing, made yet more so by our all being here to heap wonder and praise uponit.
Sarah and Gaston had joined us during the tale telling, and now I found her regardingme as the conversationslowed. “I amsorry,”she mouthed.
I nodded and shrugged withvague forgiveness.
At last everyone began to find places to sleep for the night. Gastonand I slipped awayto our room.
night. Gastonand I slipped awayto our room.
“I feelgreat relief,”Gastonsaid as he shed clothing.
“As do I,” I agreed as I, too, threw off the trappings of civilization. “Soon we willmeet up with the girls and the children, and then we can all become safely ensconced in the House of Venus and all will be well.” I sighed, and he regarded me with concern. “Perhaps,”I amended. “I have not felt true worryabout Pete and Chris and the others. I suppose I assumed the Gods would help them find their way here, but… In the same vein of trusting my belly, or perhaps my Horse, I feel that there will ever be things that willbe a burr under our saddle.”
“Sarah?”he asked.
“Oui, and Striker: I am concerned that he is far too acceptingofPete’s new situation.”
At that, Gastonsighed. “Sarahis not acceptingofit.”
“Lovely.”
Gaston smirked. “She is jealous. She made comment that…
the squishy hole
, or Pete’s entry into one, was a thing he had promised to her. She did not say it precisely; but, that was the gist ofher outburst.”
“Oh, Gods,” I sighed with amusement and threw myself on to the bed. “I feel the ambuscades along the road will be manned by our own damn people. We will ever be smoothing ruffled feathers and sortingthings out… and makingamends.”
He was thoughtful as he joined me. “I choose to be thankfulwe have people for whichwe must do that.”
I heard his words as gentle chiding, though I thought it likely he had not meant them in that manner. I smiled at the ceiling and told the Gods. “I am truly grateful for them. I will endeavor to whine less.”
He snuggled against me withhis head onmyshoulder.
“How tired are you?”I asked.
He tensed, and then rose to kneel astride me. “I have beenthinkingallday,”he said withsurprisinghuskiness.
“About tonight?” I teased as his tone reached my cock and gave it stir.
“Non, about the House of Venus. I cannot wait until it is ours and we can go and explore it thoroughly before anyone else. And christenthe rooms…”
“Ohhh,”I said witha grin. “How?”
With more grin than hard glitter in his eyes, he leaned down to whisper in my ear. We took to exchanging outrageous suggestions until we were stirred stiff and I lie gasping with laughter beneath himas he pounded away at my arse with happy abandon.
In the morning, I wished to escape to our future home for another reason: this house was filled with people; and then my sister Elizabeth came to call with her husband. Rachel made quite a fuss shooingpeople out ofthe parlor where severalofour friends had slept the night, and clearing the front hall so that our very proper sister could be greeted by a lord and not a band of buccaneers. Unfortunately for Striker, he was not shooed out. He was Sarah’s husband and expected to join us; and thus he was hurriedlystuffed into a proper shirt and coat.
My sister Elizabeth appeared far plumper than I remembered, but she was still quite attractive. Her husband, Baron Beaucrest, appeared to be a serious and haughty young lord. He displayed a superior and knowing look at Gaston’s introduction, and a sneer at Striker’s. I wanted to hit him. His wife seemed oblivious, though; and after a briefgreeting to me— a brother she hardly knew—and a perfunctory exchange of condolences about our father—who she had never been close to —she retired to the settee with Sarah—the sister she had grown up with—to speak happilyofbabies.
Gaston, Striker, and I were left withher husband.
Beaucrest had noticed Striker’s emptysleeve, and it was now obvious he was trying not to stare. “Might I ask, sir, how is it that youcame to be so injured?”he asked withdiscomfort.
I reined in my ire as I recalled I had once felt as he did about the maimed. The more I had traveled, the more I had grown inured to seeing battle-scarred men. Beaucrest had surely never seen battle, and it was doubtful he had ever traveled. Actually, he should probably be commended on feeling distress at another man’s misfortune. I must remember that everynoble in England was not a man such as myself, Whyse, Thorp, or Rochester—or my father: who had not seen battle or ought else of the world to harden himand still would not have cared that a manwas wounded.
As I was musing, Striker was happily telling the tale of the ambush that cost him his arm. I watched with amusement as this tale of heroism elevated him in the eyes of his new brotherin-law. Striker’s mention of our involvement in the battle gained us a curious glance, but then we too began to rise in the young lord’s esteemas he apparentlyrealized we were not whatever he had assumed us to be. When that story was finished, Beaucrest began asking enthusiastic questions and we relaxed and began to regale himwithour adventures.
“We must visit often,” Beaucrest gushed when Elizabeth had all but demanded they leave—after hinting it several times in the precedinghour.
“We will be delighted to do so,” I assured himsincerely. “Or you must visit us. I feel we will be quite busy becoming settled these next months. Will you be joining us at Rolland Hall for the burial?”
“We had not planned…”Elizabethbeganto say.
“I believe we can,” Beaucrest said and earned a frown fromhis wife.
Once they were in their carriage and pulling away, Sarah laughed. “Well, I see I shall be inflicted with her vapidness quite
Yvette,”I said.
Gaston frowned. “What if someone asks how Yvette
became scarred?”
I sighed, but Sarahwas wavingthe questionaway. “She has already concocted a tale,” Sarah said with a
smile and launched into a dramatic recitation. “Her ship was
attacked by pirates as she sailed to meet her betrothed, the
esteemed physician, Dominic Doucette, in the New World. They
cut her face because she refused to tellthe locationofher jewels;
or to surrender other things…”
“Oh, very good.” I applauded the tale and my sister’s
tellingofit.
Gaston appeared relieved. “That is wonderful. The
people here willsurelybelieve it.”
“Fromwhat we have seen, aye,”Sarahsaid. “So she is a
young lady from a good family who was recently widowed by
her elderlyhusband.”
“Who will now marry another physician,” I said. “If she
agrees to it,”I amended quickly.
“I cannot see why she would not,” Sarah said with a
shrug. “It willmake it very convenient for the four ofyou.” There
was melancholy in her tone and I caught her gaze and raised a
brow. She sighed. “I do not think…” She frowned at her
husband and bit her lip.
“What?”Striker asked.
“I wish for us to have a house… somewhere else,”
Sarah said. “Your offer of quarters at this new house is very
kind, but…”
Striker was shruggingto Gastonand me.
“I assumed as much,” I said congenially. “I thought it
likely you would wish to live in a port, and… We have not had
opportunity to discuss this yet, but I am to inherit everything—
according to what Theodore has been told. There are a number
of businesses that I must divest myself of in order to be a more
proper lord.”
Sarah frowned at that, but she nodded. “Father was not
a good noblemaninthat regard, I suppose.”
“Nay, and the king apparently frowned upon it. So…
Theodore said there are several shipping concerns among these
businesses, and the plantation in Jamaica among other things. I
Striker appeared quite surprised, but Sarah nodded knowingly.
“Shipping concerns?” Striker asked. “Warehouses and goods, or actualships?”
Gaston and I shrugged. “Go ask Theodore,” I said. I was very glad he had forced me to have that discussion several days ago.
Striker left us. Sarahsmiled after him.
“Thank you,”she told me. “I know youneed not…”
“Oh, but I do,”I said. “I want everyone to be happy.”
“We cannot all have what we want,” she said with a sad smile.
“Damn it, Sarah, what would you have of me?” I asked witha smile and more frustrationthanrancor.
“Something you cannot grant,” she said. “I would be the eldest, and a man.”She shrugged.
I sighed. I supposed I was hearing the truth and perhaps the thing that drove her Horse. It was sad: it was a thing I could not grant. I smiled. “Well, youcanmake the best ofwhat youdo have, or youcanlive miserablyand die bitter as our father did.”
She frowned. “What did he say? At the end.”
“That I could not have everything I wanted. That the world as it is—that society and the ways of other men—would not allow it.”
She awarded me a sad and weary smile that said she agreed withhim.
I snorted. “Sarah, I will live as I wish, take what I want, and leave the rest.”
She snorted. “Spokenlike a buccaneer and not a lord.”
“Perhaps.” I smiled at her, but my thoughts were stirred and muddy. There was a time when I would have thought I had spoken like a lord and not a buccaneer—like a wolf. Now, I supposed it was truly spoken like a centaur; and oddly, it made me feel very tall in a world of wolves, and dogs, and other fourlegged beasts without the heart and head ofa man.
Striker rushed in. “Four ships!” He held up his hand for emphasis. “The damnfrigate we sunk would have beenthe fifth.”
I laughed and looked to Gaston. “I told you Pete sank myfrigate.”
He frowned and shook his head thoughtfully. “If we had onlyknownthen…”
That sobered me. “Oui, but… Non, the Gods had not writtenthis future, yet, had they?”
He smiled. “Non, because we had not set out to reach it.”
The meal and evening passed with Striker, Cudro, and Peirrot—who was now a partner of the R&R Merchant Company, apparently—engaged in delighted discussion about this treasure that had beendelivered unto them.
That night, in the privacy of our room, Gaston was thoughtful. “It seems odd that we are now perceived as civilized and heroic battlers ofthe Spanish and pirates, and not… pirates. We stillthink like pirates.”
I laughed, but quickly sobered. “It is as if we have gone
to a new world:one inwhichwe are different people.” He sighed. “Oui, but let us not become different people.” I recalled my initial dislike of Beaucrest. “Perhaps there
He was placing a pistol on the stand next to the bed. He turned to frownat me, his fingers stillrestingonthe piece.
“Not that,” I said quickly. “This new world is as dangerous as the old; but non, our attitudes—well, my attitudes —myassumptions.”
Gaston nodded thoughtfully. “Mine as well. So let us do as we always have, and always continue to change the way we think, but let us not change that we do think.”
“Just so,”I agreed witha grin.
There was a quiet knock on the door. We were both stripped to our breeches but not naked. I swung the door open and found Chris. She looked quite odd with her short hair in the ill-fittingdress Rachelhad loaned her.
“Pete is
talking
withStriker,”she said witha shrug.
“Well, they have not
talked
in a long time,” I said and ushered her in.
She chuckled and rolled her eyes. “And I begrudge no one. Truly. I think it will be good for him.” She smirked as she flopped onto the bed to sprawl like a boy despite the dress. “Withthe baby, I’mnot feelingas heartyas he likes me to be.”
I laughed. “Well, as it has been a long time, Striker might not be as heartyas Pete prefers.”
Chris laughed raucously, and Gaston gave a sympathetic grimace before askingwithconcern, “How are youfeeling?”
“Much the same as last time,” she said seriously. “Sick
“Much the same as last time,” she said seriously. “Sick every damn morning and tired. I vomited so often on the voyage here we were afraid I would starve. But it’s been better since I got my feet on solid ground. I swear I will never sail again while pregnant, evenif
Pete’s
father were threateninghim.”
“Well, things should be better now,”I said.
“It seems that way. But now I had best be a woman,” she sighed.
“I amsorryfor that. Youmade a fine boy, after all.”
“Oui,”Gastonadded. “It is odd seeingyouina dress.”
She smiled. “Thank you. And it is odd beingina dress— especiallyanuglyone. Don’t tellRachelthat.”
“Well, she has… conservative tastes,” I said. “We should have a dressmaker soon, though.”
“That will be wonderful.” Then she frowned. “I have… expensive tastes, and I don’t know if catering to them will be warranted. There’s no point in my having fine dresses to wear around the house.” She chewed her lip. “What exactly is our place to be in this new household? Pete feels he is responsible for allmatters ofsecurity. What amI to do?”
I grinned. “Youand I are trulythe onlytwo people inthis household with any experience concerning the exigencies of a court. Gastonand I shallrequire your assistance.”
“How? I cannot attend withyou.”
I frowned. “Well, my initial thought was that you could assist with the gathering and organization of information concerning our enemies and allies. I do realize that would be better accomplished if you could actually meet the people in question.” Then the answer occurred to me, and I laughed. “I question.” Then the answer occurred to me, and I laughed. “I suppose we could always have you pretend to be my mistress if the need arose.”
Gastonfrowned and thensmiled.
Chris was laughing. “Oh, that will be… We shall bedevil themall! They willnot know in the Gods’names what we are up to withinour walls.”
We laughed.
Gaston finally dropped onto the bed beside her to sprawl and grin at the ceiling. “We will do as we will; and if the dragondislikes it, we shallleave.”
“Dragon?”Chris asked.
“The king,”I said.
“Well, let us not do that ifI’mpregnant again,”she said.
“Ah oui,” I teased. “We will try to plan for that. Is it