Secrets In Savannah (Phantom Knights) (18 page)

As I had allowed Charlotte to stay
the night with her cousins, I hoped it was not the constable coming to tell me
she had done something against the law.

Mrs. Short, who had chastised me
at least twice since my arrival for answering the door myself, came bustling
into the foyer and opened the door.

“Yes, may I help you?”

“Good morning, Mrs. Short, it has
been a long time.”

At Mrs. Short’s gasp, I twisted to
face the door.

“Tell me, is that scamp of a
brother of mine in this house?”

“Scamp?” I exclaimed as Bess and
Sam came into the house. I hugged my sister close for a moment, before
releasing her to shake Sam’s hand.

Bess removed her bonnet and tossed
it negligently onto a small table in the foyer as was her way. Her dark brown
hair was upswept, and she looked as delightful as always. She was tall for a
woman, but she was elegant and extremely skilled.

“Scamp, if the gossip is true and
you’ve married Guinevere Clark without any of your family present. Though I’ve
always known she would entrap you in the end.”

Heat seared the back of my neck as
Sam cleared his throat then pointed at Guinevere, who was standing on the
stairs. Bess turned, saw her, and laughed.

“So it is true. Well, I will not
apologize because we both know where we stand with the other. We have faced off
enough times.” Bess stood before Guinevere as she came down the rest of the
steps. Bess was the taller by a good six inches, but my Guinevere was not to be
intimidated.

“I must welcome you to the family,
sister.” Bess wrapped her arms around Guinevere, hugging her, but speaking in a
mock whisper. “If you hurt my little brother I will personally dispose of you.”

Bess stepped back, grinning, and
as much as I wanted to take offense at her words, I found myself smiling. Now
that Bess was not a Phantom, she would forever be her true, outspoken self.

“Please tell me that Charlotte is
here,” Sam said at once.

“She was, but I allowed her to
stay with her cousins as she is standing up with Anne at the wedding,” I told
him as Hannah and Leo joined us.

“Andrew’s wedding?” Bess asked
without emotion, not yet having seen Hannah.

“He has quite changed since
Philadelphia,” Hannah said, causing Bess to go rigid before slowly turning.
Hannah smiled impishly. “You do not appear surprised, Bess.”

“No, Marie Antoinette, I am not.
Though why you are in my mother’s house has me perplexed.”

“Why, I am Guinevere’s companion.”
Hannah’s gaze settled on Sam, and she transformed into the Hannah we used to
know.

As if a horse drawn to water,
Hannah started toward Sam. Bess stepped in Hannah’s path, blocking Sam from
Hannah’s grasp.

“Do not consider it,” Bess nearly
hissed.

“What will you do? Feed me to an
alligator?” Hannah retorted with glee.

“Do not tempt me.”

“Enough, ladies. We have a wedding
to attend lest you have forgotten. All talk of how to dispose of Hannah must
cease until after,” I interposed, taking Guinevere’s hand and placing it on my
arm.

Sam announced his intention to
attend and Bess surprised me by accompanying him to their carriage.

Since we had to use two carriages
to transport our number to the church, Bess and Sam rather rudely demanded that
I go with them while Guinevere rode with Leo and Hannah.

On the drive over, Bess was
demanding to know what I was thinking in marrying Guinevere. It was not so much
in marrying her, for Bess had known I was going to do that, but it was that I
did so without her and our mother present. When I saw tears in her eyes, I felt
like a horrible brother and broke, telling her that Guinevere and I were not
married ... yet.

Bess leaned back beside Sam and
crossed her arms over her chest as I told them how the ruse began. When Bess
heard that Dudley and his mother were in Savannah, she looked rather
astonished, but that was nothing compared to her incredulity when she heard
about Andrew aiding us in the fight.

“I suppose it should not surprise
me after I witnessed Andrew’s abilities in a fight the time that he rescued me
from Richard’s attackers,” Bess said contemplatively.

Sam’s eyes kindled at Andrew’s name,
so Bess wisely changed the topic.

Bess wanted to know what I meant
to do about Guinevere, threatening my life if I should so much as consider
marrying Guinevere without Bess present. I told her the truth. It was only a
matter of time before Guinevere agreed and then family or no; I would make
Guinevere my wife.

Sam gave me an approving nod as
Bess huffed and mumbled threats against my person. It felt superb to be with my
sister again.

“How is the arm, Jack?” Sam asked
me with genuine interest.

Leo, whose father had been a
doctor, had checked it every day for me and said that as long as I did not
engage in another battle, I would heal well. It was fortunate for me that Lucas
was a poor shot. He had hit nothing too important that would not heal. Thankfully
it was not the shoulder that Guinevere had shot the year before. Her aim had
been just as poor, but that had been purposefully done to get me out of the way
so she could save the president from
Levitas
.

The church was reached, and it
looked as if every person in the county turned out for the wedding. When we
made it inside the church, we discovered why.

Andrew’s uncle, former president
James Madison, was attending the wedding. I wanted to greet him, as I had met
him before, but Bess was adamant about staying out of his sight. As she had
been betrothed to Andrew, and we did not know what reason he gave to his uncle
for the dissolution of their proposed union, I agreed.

The people crowding into the
church left only the back few pews for us to sit in.

Seated between my sister and
Guinevere, I was able to watch Bess throughout the ceremony. She held Sam’s
hand, but not from disappointment or anger, but from relief. It was all over
her face.

When the ceremony was through, we
were able to greet Andrew and his bride. It quickly became apparent that the
new Mrs. Madison knew nothing about my sister other than that she was Sam’s
wife and a friend of Andrew’s from Philadelphia. Anne, in my opinion, risked
her life when she hugged Bess and called her cousin. Bess smiled and skillfully
evaded the suggestion that Sam and Bess join Andrew and Anne for supper one
night soon.

Sam found Charlotte and remained
beside her, guiding her toward our carriage. We were separated from them in the
large crowd as Andrew and Anne were preparing to depart. Well-wishers were
lining the street, and it was then that I caught sight of a head of white hair
and a puffy face that I would recognize any place.

“George is here,” I said to
Guinevere.

She rose on her toes, searching
the crowd. Taking her hand, we began pushing our way toward him. He was on the
opposite side of the street, and walking with a group of other men, Anne’s
father among them.

Guinevere’s urgency was mounting
as we fought against the crowd who were gathered around the carriage. Guinevere
was starting to shove people out of her path, picking up her pace.

We reached the other side, but
George was gone.

“There!” Guinevere rushed forward,
once again not waiting for me.

At the end of the street, two men were
struggling to force a small blonde woman into the carriage.

“Edith!” I shouted, and all three
glanced toward me. It was not Edith.

“Jack!” Charlotte screamed as they
threw her into the carriage.

Fury broke free within me. The
door was shut, but George’s face appeared in the window as the carriage lurched
forward, moving at a spanking pace away from us. I started to run after it, but
Guinevere grabbed my hand.

“If they have Charlotte, where is
Sam?”

The carriage was traveling down
the street at a pace that I could not catch unless I was on a horse. With a
growl of frustration, I allowed Guinevere to pull me toward the crowd.

We found Sam at his carriage,
seated beside Bess with a cloth pressed to his head.

“What has happened?” I asked as we
climbed into the carriage.

“Several men attacked him and took
Charlotte,” Bess informed us as she kept her hand to Sam’s head.

“We saw her, and we saw who took
her. It was George.”

Sam pushed Bess’s hand away, his
jaw grinding back and forth. Bess placed the cloth back to his head, and when
he tried to push her hand away again, she swatted him.

“Do not make me restrain you,
Samuel Mason!” Bess and Sam scowled at one another for a moment.

“What did I tell you? A shrew,” I
humored, and Sam’s lip twitched as Bess tossed me a disdainful scowl.

“Where could George have taken my
sister?” Sam asked.

“The same place that he has taken
mine,” Guinevere said. “To Lucas Marx.”

GUINEVERE

A
fter Sam and Bess were taken to the
house, Jack and I set out on foot for George Crawford’s house. If what I said
was true and George was taking them to Lucas, his henchman would know about it.

With the amount of rage that was consuming
me, if I found George in his house, I might not be able to contain my actions
against him.

When we reached the house, I led
the way to the back door that was unlocked. The kitchen was empty, so I moved
past to the second staircase, not waiting for Jack to fall in step beside me.

Easing open the door at the top of
the stairs, I took one tentative step. Pain shot through my body as a hand
grabbed my throat and another my arm. My body lurched forward and around the
door from Jack.

He was running up the stairs, but
Sturges
was shaking and squeezing the life from me. I
fought against his arms, tried to reach his face, but he held me away from him
and applied enough pressure to make my vision go black for a moment.

“
Sturges
!
Release my wife at once!”

Sturges
slackened his grip, and I threw
my fist into his gut as I stomped on his bare foot with my boot. I tore from
his hold, swaying and coughing, but I was not going to allow him the chance to
run.

Grabbing his hair, I brought his
head down to face me. “Where is George?” The click of my pistol’s hammer being
pulled back made
Sturges
go still.

“
Ain’t
here.”

“Darling, be a good husband and
help me take this miscreant to the kitchen. He and I are going to become better
acquainted,” I gritted out.

Curiosity shone in Jack’s eyes as
he forced
Sturges’s
arms behind his back and guided
him down the stairs.

In the kitchen, I had Jack place
him in a chair while I moved to stoke the fire. Pulling a kettle from the spit,
I poured the water into three teacups.

“If he moves, I want you to shoot
him,” I said to Jack, handing him my pistol. “Now, I believe you lacked
incentive before, so I shall repeat my question. Where is George?”

Sturges
refused to speak, so I did what I
knew. I poured the hot water on his lap.

Jack’s brows shot up like he
thought that I had lost control of my mind. It was not so, my mind and I were
in perfect agreement.
Sturges
required a lesson.

Sturges
screeched, leaping up. Jack
knocked him back into the chair.

“Must I repeat myself?” My voice
was filled with long-suffering, and irritation.

“Do
yer
worst, I
ain’t
talkin
’.”

“At least we know you can speak
more than grumbled words. Jack, do hold him down, for this one will hurt.”

In a quick movement, I had both
remaining cups poured into
Sturges’s
lap.

A few drops hit my hand, and I
nearly exclaimed at the heat. I could not imagine what
Sturges
was going through, but the stubborn man refused to speak.

“Where is George?” I yelled.
“Answer me!”

Sturges
broke free of Jack’s hold and
jumped up. As he stumbled for the door, I grabbed an iron that I had left near
the fire and gave chase.

Striking his back with the iron,
he fell forward, landing on the stairs.

“Guinevere, enough!” Jack said
from behind me.

Sturges
was panting, but grinned as he
rolled over on the stairs. “Ye be the sister then. One can hope that the same
fate of
yer
sister comes to
ye
.”
Sturges
leaned forward. “An innocent no more. Passed
from guard to guard is what she got.”