Secrets In Savannah (Phantom Knights) (11 page)

“Familial duty,
old fellow,” Dudley replied with a jaunty smile. “What happened here?” Dud
pointed to Jack’s arm that had been put back into the sling.

“Thrown from my
horse,” Jack lied smoothly.

Dud made a
sympathetic noise in his throat, but it stuck as he glanced over Jack’s
shoulder, and his eyes nearly popped from his head. “Miss Clark?”

“Mr. Stanton,” I
replied, inclining my head as I stopped beside Jack to greet Dudley. He looked
past me, and his jaw sagged lower than what was considered polite. “
Mrs.
Lamont
?”

Hannah looked
taken aback for a moment, but she recovered swiftly and amusement filled her
eyes.

When Andrew
stepped down from the carriage, Dudley looked one shock away from an apoplexy.

The dragon
looking woman on his arm rapped him with her black lace fan and Dudley’s face
reddened. “Allow me to present my mother, Mrs. Clarabelle Stanton. Mama, this
is Mrs. Hannah Lamont of Philadelphia, Miss Guinevere Clark also of Philadelphia,
and my greatest friend, of whom you have heard me speak, Jack Martin.” Dudley
glanced at Andrew. “Oh, and Mr. Andrew Madison,” he added as an afterthought.

“So this is Nell
Martin’s son. Pray, tell me how your mother does. She and I have been acquainted
for years, you understand.” Mrs. Stanton said it as if it was a great honor.

“She is well,
thank you, ma’am.” Jack bowed over her outstretched hand as if he had no cares
in the world, but I was quickly filling with alarm.

Dudley and his
mother being in Savannah was sure to add difficulty to our mission.

Mrs. Stanton,
appearing pleased with Jack’s answer, moved her attention to Andrew and there
it stayed. She spoke of his upcoming nuptials to Miss Anne Crawford, Sam and
Charlotte’s cousin, and Hannah, never one to ignore gossip, listened intently.

“Mrs. Lamont had
informed me that you had moved away from Philadelphia, but what made you come
here?” Jack was asking Dudley when Mrs. Stanton was occupied in offering
unsolicited
  advice
to Andrew for his wedding
celebrations.

“
M’mother
required my presence and assistance, you know,”
Dudley whispered in reply.

“Dudley, you
make me sound like an invalid, and I do assure you I have
many
years
left in me,” Mrs. Stanton retorted, proving that her hearing was far from
failing.

“Just so, Mama,”
Dudley murmured, casting a harried glance at Jack. “You never told me what you
are doing in Savannah, old fellow. You find me all agog with curiosity, and
with Mrs. Lamont, Miss Clark, and
that
fellow accompanying you.”

I could tell
that Jack was searching for something to say that would be considered
appropriate. Something that would convince them that we would be engaged for
our entire stay. The question drew the attention of Mrs. Stanton.

“They are on
their wedding trip,” Andrew offered helpfully, drat him.

“Yes, and I have
come along as companion to dear Guinevere,” Hannah added happily.

My eyes were
surely flashing with fire, but Jack smiled at Dudley.

“Truly, by Jove?
This is a call for congratulations, dear fellow,” Dudley said, stepping forward
and reaching out to pump Jack’s hand. “Of course I heard of your sister’s
marriage,” Dudley tossed Andrew a smirk, “but that you too, and to Miss Clark,
well that is something indeed. Is that not something, Mama?” Dudley asked,
looking at his dragon of a mother.

Dudley had been
the most persistent of Bess’s suitors until Andrew Madison came to
Philadelphia. Their betrothal had been one of great interest to the matrons of
society. So when Andrew broke off, it entered Bess into a scandal that drove
her from Philadelphia. It all ended well in my opinion.

Mrs. Stanton was
looking me over critically, and when her lips pursed as if she had eaten
something sour, Jack looked as if he would like to choke Dudley’s mother. I may
not have looked my best to Mrs. Stanton, but all of us were journey worn, and
had just been through a fight besides.

“Who are Miss
Clark’s people?” Mrs. Stanton asked haughtily, her gaze moving away from me
toward Jack as if I was not good enough to speak to. I bit my cheek to restrain
from saying something that would put us in an even greater predicament.

“She was the
ward of Richard Hamilton, my mother’s former betrothed.”

“Ah, yes, I
heard about his unfortunate demise. Expired in a carriage accident, did he not?
Well, respectable enough I suppose, but what are you doing marrying so young?
There is much to explore yet,” she said as if I were not standing beside Jack.

“So there is,” I
said, reaching out toward Jack. He took my hand without a hitch, smiling
quizzically at me. “We mean to explore it together, living each day for each
other. Is that not so, my love?”

“Just so,
darling. I could not have said it better myself,” Jack told me with an
appreciating smile.

Mrs. Stanton
grumbled something unintelligible before engaging Hannah and Andrew in
conversation, and ignoring Jack and me.

Dudley asked us
where we were to live, where the wedding took place, and why we came to
Savannah, of all places, for our honeymoon.

“We were married
privately last week, we will reside in Charleston to be close to my mother and
sister, and we have come to Savannah on family business,” Jack explained.

Dudley made some
reply, but it was lost on me when his mother said, “Yes, a party. I insist. It
is the least I can do for dear Nell’s son.”

Drat the woman!
We did not have time for festivities.

Mrs. Stanton
looked between Dudley and Jack. “Mrs. Lamont and I have agreed that Dudley and
I shall host a party for you and your bride. Tuesday evening should be
sufficient time to invite all of the elegant company this town has to offer.”
Mrs. Stanton then added Andrew into the invitation by demanding that he bring
his bride-to-be. Once she had badgered an acceptance from Andrew, she turned
her animal-like eyes on me.

“Oh dear, are
you accustomed to parties of high society? We would not wish to embarrass you,”
she said in a way that made me believe that was just what she meant to do. The
woman had nerve.

Smiling sweetly,
I replied, “We could not think of imposing upon your generosity in such a way.”

“I insist,” the
dragon countered.

“Then we
accept.” The woman needed a lesson, one which I was only too obliged to give.
“Oh, I may just burst with excitement. Come, Jack. We must away to the house at
once so that I can sew something together suitable for a high society
jollification. Until Tuesday.” I waved three fingers, and we turned and walked
toward the house.

Jack’s head was
shaking as he laughed. “You, my wife, are a fortress that cannot be
overthrown.”

My smile felt
tight as we stopped outside his mother’s house. “As long as you remember that.”

“You forget one
thing, my love. For me, you already opened the gate. I am inside the walls, and
there is no being rid of me now.”

Andrew came toward
us to bid us farewell, extending us an invitation to attend his wedding on
Thursday. This Andrew Madison was not like the one in Philadelphia. This one
had a haggard appearance compared to the paragon who had swept into the city.
That man had not approved of Jack paying court to me; this one looked genuinely
happy for us. As we watched him depart, I mentioned how sad Andrew appeared.

“Regret will do
that to a man,” Jack replied before sweeping me with him into the house.

A stout woman
with white hair stared at us from inside the foyer. As her eyes rested on Jack,
they widened in horror. “Sir!”

Jack’s back
tightened through his coat as he greeted the woman. “Good day, Mrs. Short.”

“That is not her
name,” I whispered against his ear and he tossed me a smile before looking back
at the shocked little woman.

“I have brought
my new bride here for a few weeks.”

Her eyes widened
even more. “But, sir, the house, it is not prepared for guests. It has not been
cleaned. Where will you sleep?”

His arm
tightened around my waist, but I was glancing around the house that had
belonged to Richard. I knew that he had left all of his holdings to Nell
Martin, for I had instigated it.

When I had acted
the part of his ward, I knew that his days were limited. With my orders to
destroy his branch of
Levitas
, I knew that he would
either perish in the fight, or end up in some horrid prison. One evening when
he had much to drink, I spoke to him about his family. He had only distant
relations. I suggested that he make a new will so that his detestable cousins
would not inherit his holdings. He liked that idea, so the following morning he
called in his attorney and set things in order. Nell had inherited an import
business as well as a number of ships, three houses, and more pairs of high
heeled shoes than any man should ever wear.

“I believe there
are bedchambers aplenty and we do not mind the house in its current state. It
will give Mrs. Martin something to do, or I should say something else to do.”

“Jack,” I hissed
in his ear.

“Jack, what are
you about?” Leo called up to him when Jack had me pulled halfway up the
staircase.

“Do not stand
between a man and his bride, Leo,” Jack called down to him as we reached the
hall.

Jack opened the
first door he reached, pulled me inside,
then
kicked
the door closed behind us.

The room was
dark with the only light coming in through the crack between the shutters.
There were white cloths covering several pieces of furniture including a bed.

Grabbing a
fistful of white cloth, it slipped from the top of the canopy and fluttered to
the floor revealing an elegantly carved wooden bed. The spindles were carved
into vines with wood roses.

Jack pushed open
the shutters on one of the windows so light could stream into the chamber.

When he turned
to me, a grin was tugging up his lips.

“Whatever you
are thinking, do not,” I said at once. “We are not truly married which means
that all of this,” I gestured with a swish of my hand encompassing the bed, “is
forbidden.”

He sauntered
toward me, and I leapt away from the bed.

“I am in
earnest, Jack!”

Laughing and
appearing happier than he had been since before Lucas Marx shot him, he said,
“It shall be as you wish, my love, but only until we are married, then it will
be my turn to make the rules.”

With a sigh that
could be construed as resignation or contentment, I had not decided which, I
moved around the room pulling off covers from furniture. “What is the next step
that we should take?”

“A parson would
be preferable.”

I frowned, and
he gave in.

“We will search
for George and the guards, and I know where to begin. Dress in your hunting
clothing, darling, and I will take you to hunt for a fox.”

JACK

G
eorge and my father had first met
in Savannah when my father was searching for men to join him in forming the
Phantoms. At that time, George had a plantation in Charleston. The house in
Savannah had belonged to his parents, so he went there when he needed some time
to himself.

Guinevere and I
set out on a walk to Washington Square where I knew George’s house to be.

She was dressed
in breeches, but never could she be thought a man. Her cheeks were too soft;
her skin too perfect. Her hair was tucked in her hat, and when I told her she
could never pass as a man, she stopped.

As she searched
the ground around us, I was unsure what she was about, until she picked up a
clump of dirt. She rubbed some on her nose and cheek then tossed it aside.

“People do not
look too close if you do not initiate contact. Life is hard, and there are many
other things to occupy the mind. No one would look twice at a person dressed as
I am,” she said as she resumed walking.

“That is untrue.
I would always notice you.”

She cast me a
sweet smile. “Yes, but the difference is that you have been trained to see
everything.”

We stopped
before a two story brick house that was like every other house in the square,
nothing grand or glorious about it. The shutters were closed, and the knocker
was off the door, but that did not deter us. We went to the door, pounding for
the servant I knew George employed.

When there was
no answer, I stepped away from the door. “I am going to see if I can get in
through the servants door. Stay here, I will be but a moment.”

“I am going with
you,” said Guinevere at once.