Stormy Persuasion (4 page)

Nathan raised a brow.
His
prize? “Tell me you’re not asking me to bring my ship back to you.”

“No, if you can recover
The Pearl
, she’s yours again, but good luck with that. They refit them with new paint, new
names, then auction them off to their unsuspecting countrymen, who actually think
they are legitimate shipbuilders. And they’ve gotten away with this for years. But
you’re going to end it. It won’t be easy getting the Yanks to do you any favors, but
you’ll need to figure out a way to get the authorities over there to work with you
in closing down that operation. That’s my condition. I want a letter from an American
official stating that the thieves have been arrested and put out of business.”

“That’s all?” Nathan rejoined drily.

The commander’s eyes narrowed with the warning. “Don’t even think of running away
once I give you your freedom for this task. As I mentioned, I found out more’n I expected
to about you, including that you have guardianship of your two remaining relatives.
I would hate to see your nieces end up paying for their uncle’s crimes. So do you
agree to my terms?”

“For my freedom, did you even need to ask?”

Chapter Six

I
n Grosvenor Square, at the home of Edward and Charlotte Malory, most of the extensive
Malory family in England and a few close friends were gathered for a send-off party
for Jack and Judy, who would be sailing in the morning for America. The crew was already
aboard
The Maiden George
, the trunks had already been delivered. It only remained for the seven members of
the family bound for America to row out to the ship at dawn, too early to expect good-byes
at the dock, thus the party tonight.

Glancing about the room, Judith was looking for Brandon so she could ask him what
had happened with the vagrant. She’d told him that she suspected the vagrant was a
smuggler, and Brandon had assured her he and his father would send the man packing.
But it appeared her cousins from Hampshire weren’t going to make it tonight. She wasn’t
surprised, when she and Jacqueline had visited them so recently and they had already
given Jack their good wishes for the trip.

Derek had even told Judith, “I bet your mum will change her mind, so I’m going to
wish you a wonderful voyage, too.”

“I wish
Amy
were saying that,” Judith had replied, and she hadn’t been joking.

Derek had laughed. “Yes, that would guarantee your sailing to America, wouldn’t it?”

It would indeed. Amy never lost a wager. Judith realized she should have asked Amy
to bet on it before she’d sailed with Warren. Maybe Amy had and
that’s
why Judith was going now.

Jacqueline came up beside her and said in an annoyed tone, “
He
shouldn’t be here when he’s not a close friend of the family and only your mother
knows him.”

Judith followed her cousin’s gaze and saw Roslynn fussing over Lord Cullen. “But now
we all know him, and besides, my mother is right. It was quite thoughtful and gallant
of him to come here tonight to wish me well on my voyage when he must be in pain from
his injury.”

“He’s here because he’s got his heart set on you and your mother’s got her heart set
on him
for
you. Tell me your heart’s not getting set here, too, when you and I swore not to
marry this year.”

Judith grinned and teased, “Now that I’ve met him again after all these years, I have
to admit he turned out rather handsome, don’t you think?”

“If you like dark red hair and pretty blue eyes. Flirt all you want, just no falling
in love yet.”

“Stop fretting. I’m not eager to get back here because of him when we haven’t even
left yet.”

In a corner of the room, Boyd joined James and Anthony, who were looking at the Scotsman,
too. Anthony was saying, “Ros should’ve confessed what she was up to, trying to match
him with Judy. But I’m not complaining when he managed to bring peace to the family
by getting himself laid up. But if it weren’t so obvious that my baby ain’t interested
in him, I bloody well would.”

“Noticed that,” James agreed.

“He’s head over heels for her, though,” Boyd put in.

“And how would you know anything about it, Yank?” Anthony asked.

“Because as a last resort, Jack and I tracked him down and asked him to feign an injury
to help Judy convince her mother to let her go to America.”

“That splint on his leg is wrapped up rather tight for a fake,” James remarked.

“It’s not a fake,” Boyd said with a grin. “The man is as clumsy as an ox. He got so
excited by the scheme he really did fall off his horse and break his leg.”

James rolled his eyes.

Anthony said, “I see I’m going to have to have a word or two with Roslynn, after all.
What the deuce could she be thinking, matchmaking our daughter with such a bungler?”

“It was a brilliant plan, though, you have to admit,” James said. “The broken-limb
part. You should have thought of it, Tony.”

“I didn’t even know about
him
, so how could I?”

“Just remember you owe me one, both of you, the next time you lay into me,” Boyd said
before quickly walking off.

“Did he just goad you?” Anthony said with an incredulous laugh. “And with a smirk,
too!”

James shrugged. “He should know by now that I have a faulty memory when I find it
convenient. And my memory will definitely be faulty when it comes to being beholden
to an Anderson—wife excluded, of course.”

Lord Cullen didn’t stay long, shouldn’t have come at all when his doctor had ordered
him to stay off his feet for three months. After Judith thanked him again for coming
and wished him a swift recovery, Jacqueline steered her toward their mothers.

“D’you feel the excitement?” Jack asked. “We’re going to have a grand time, you know.
I feel it, I’m bubbling with it.”

“You’re bubbling with triumph, not excitement. Note the difference.”

“Pooh, whatever it is, let’s go share some of it with your mother. She might have
given in when she learned the Scot won’t be here for the start of the Season either,
but she’s still not happy about it or what she termed our ‘collective tantrum.’ And
if she’s not happy, then Uncle Tony won’t be getting a nice good-bye from her tonight,
and he’ll be in a rotten mood the whole trip.”

Judith blushed at that statement as Jacqueline dragged her across the room to their
mothers. Despite how brazen Jack could be at times and how used to it Judith was,
she believed some things just shouldn’t be mentioned or even alluded to, and what
their parents did behind closed doors was definitely one of those things.

Both girls walked up to Roslynn and put an arm around her waist. Judith was now as
tall as her mother at five feet four inches and had the same sun-gold hair streaked
with copper, but her father’s exotic cobalt-blue eyes, a stunning combination, or
so her family liked to remind her. But Judith’s features also resembled her mother’s.
She had a heart-shaped face and finely molded cheekbones, a small, tapered nose, even
the same generous full lips. Jacqueline, on the other hand, looked nothing like her
mother. She didn’t inherit Georgina’s diminutive height. She was taller at five feet
six inches and had James Malory’s blond hair and green eyes, but her features were
uniquely her own: a pert nose, high cheekbones, a stubborn chin, and a mouth far too
sensual for a woman.

Her lips were turned up now in a smile meant to melt hearts. Few people were immune
to it, and Roslynn wasn’t one of them, but she still admonished her niece, “None of
that now. You won’t be cajoling me out of this snit.”

“Are you sure?” Jacqueline asked. “I haven’t heard your Scot’s brogue yet to prove
you’re in a snit. But Judy won’t take my word for it, so a little reassurance from
you before we sail is in order.” Then, in one of her more serious tones: “Don’t make
her suffer because there’s been a little dent—”

Georgina cut in with a gasp. “Jacqueline Malory! Not another word!”

Jacqueline merely met her mother’s eyes with a steady look that offered no apology.
She was protective of family, always had been, and most particularly of Judith. It
wasn’t the first time she had stepped up to be Judy’s champion, and Roslynn loved
her all the more for it.

“It’s all right, George,” Roslynn said, and then to Jack, “You’ve made your point,
sweetheart. And I wasn’t going to let my darling leave without my best wishes.” Roslynn
leaned her head toward Judith’s. “You can have fun. In fact, I want you to enjoy every
minute of your trip.” But her tone turned stern when she added, “But don’t you dare
come back in love. You will wait and fall in love here. And that’s the last I’m going
to say about it.” But Roslynn ended that with a smile.

Jack still leaned forward around Roslynn and said to Judith, “You didn’t tell her?”

“Tell me what?” Roslynn asked.

Jacqueline chuckled. “We’re not getting married this year. Next year maybe, or even
the year after that. We’re in no hurry to. Really we aren’t.”

“It’s true, Mother,” Judith confirmed. “The fun is going to be in the trying, not
the doing.”

As the girls moved off to circulate about the room, Roslynn remarked to Georgina,
“That was no doubt word for word from
your
daughter.”

“I quite agree,” Georgina said.

“But they can’t be that naive. When it happens, it’s going to happen, and there’s
not a bloody thing they can do to stop it.”

“I know, but still, I wish Jack had let her father know that was her intention. James
has been masking it very well, but he’s been a powder keg since the beginning of this
year, with the thought of Jack getting married by the end of it. He’s not going to
deal gracefully with her falling in love, you know.”

“You think Tony is? He used to only visit Knighton’s Hall a few times a week, but
it’s been daily for several months now. He wants to stop time from advancing but he
can’t, and he’s extremely frustrated because of it. Truth be told, that’s why I didn’t
want to delay Judith’s Season here and hoped she would favor young Cullen before it
even began. The sooner Judy gets married, the sooner my family can get back to normal—until
Jaime comes of age.”

Georgina laughed. “You
really
should have owned up to that sooner, m’dear.”

“Prob’ly.” Roslynn sighed. “I swear, our husbands were never meant to have daughters.
Sons and more sons would’ve been fine, but daughters! It was just asking for trouble.
I fear for their suitors, I really do. Our men don’t have the temperament to just
stand back and let nature take its course.”

Chapter Seven

J
udith tried to mask her smile when she and Jack moved away from their mothers. She
was starting to feel some of the excitement that had infected Jacqueline. And her
cousin was so proud of having been right, she might as well have been crowing with
it. To keep her from bragging with an “I told you so,” which would have annoyed Judith
because she’d heard it so often, she put a finger to Jacqueline’s mouth when she started
to open it.

“Don’t say it. Let me. You were right—as usual. My mother is not angry at me for the
way this turned out, so the burden is gone and now I can fully enjoy the trip.”

“I wasn’t going to mention
that
,” Jacqueline replied, and turned Judith around to face the parlor’s double doors.
“Who’s that and why does he look familiar?”

Judith saw the man then, a stranger, elegantly clad if not quite in an English style.
He wasn’t wearing a greatcoat, but a cloak edged with black ermine. The frock coat
underneath it was a bit too full skirted to be fashionable. And was that a sword poking
out from under the cloak? He appeared to be a foreigner, but Jacqueline was right,
he did look familiar. And they weren’t the only ones who thought so.

Their uncle Edward put his finger on it, taking a step forward to say in his typically
jovial tone, “Another long-lost relative? Come in!”

Everyone more or less turned in unison to see whom Edward was talking about. The young
man at the door seemed embarrassed now that he was the center of attention, and perhaps
a little overwhelmed, with so many people in the room. Even though Judith doubted
that the tall, handsome young man was related to them, she didn’t think her uncle
had been joking. But then, when did her uncle ever joke about family?

And the stranger didn’t dispute her uncle’s conclusion. In fact he appeared rather
amazed when he replied, “How did you know?”

Judith’s cousin Regina stepped forward, grinning. Jack’s brother, Jeremy, stepped
forward, grinning. Anthony just stepped forward. They all resembled the stranger with
their exotically slanted, cobalt-blue eyes and raven-black hair.

“Another Malory,” James stated the obvious in his drollest tone.

The young man looked directly at James and, not seeming the least bit intimidated
by him as most men were, said, “No, sir, I am not a Malory. I am Count Andrássy Benedek,
of Hungary.”

“Are you now? A blood relation nonetheless. Tell us, which Stephanoff you are descended
from?”

“Maria—apparently.”

“Our grandmother Anastasia’s grandmother?” Anthony remarked. “You don’t sound too
sure.”

“I obtained the information from my great-grandfather’s journal, which is only a memory
now.”

Anthony began to laugh. “Another journal?” At Andrássy’s curious look, he added, “We
found one, too, some ten years back, written by my grandmother Anastasia Stephanoff.
Prior to that, it was only rumored that Gypsy blood ran in our family.”

Andrássy nodded. “I had never heard of this Stephanoff ancestor. I don’t believe my
late father was aware of her either. Gypsy bands pass through Hungary, never staying
long. I have never met one myself. So for me, there was no rumor or other clue until
I found the journal. Ironically, I might never have known of it, or had a chance to
read it, if my stepsister hadn’t found it in our attic while she was hiding there
during one of her tantrums, but that is some unpleasantness I don’t need to burden
you with.”

“Another time, perhaps,” Edward said as he stepped forward to lead Andrássy into the
room. “What happened to your ancestor’s journal? Why don’t you have it anymore?”

“It perished in the fire that destroyed my home and all my family heirlooms.”

“How awful,” more than one person said.

“You’re destitute?” Edward asked.

“No, not at all. My father might have distrusted banks, but I never shared that sentiment.
I had an inheritance from my mother. May we speak in private?”

“No need, m’boy,” Edward said. “Everyone in this room is a member of our family.”

That rendered the young man speechless, but then all four of the eldest set of Malory
brothers were present: Jason, the third Marquis of Haverston and the oldest, Edward,
the second oldest, and James and Anthony. Their wives were present, too, and most
of their children, including their children’s spouses and a few of their older grandchildren.
More than twenty Malorys had shown up for Jack and Judy’s send-off, and the young
count was obviously overwhelmed.

“I had no idea,” Andrássy said, his blue eyes moving slowly about the room, a little
glazed with emotion. “I had hoped I would be able to track down one or two of Maria’s
descendants, but . . . never this many. And you don’t even seem surprised by me.”

Edward chuckled. “You aren’t the first member of this family to show up full grown,
my boy, albeit one more distant than we might have expected. And I am sure we are
all interested in hearing what you read in the journal about our great-great-grandmother
Maria Stephanoff.”

Anthony handed Andrássy a drink, which he merely held as he spoke. “The journal belonged
to my great-grandfather Karl Benedek, Maria’s son. Karl’s father, understandably,
didn’t want to speak of his indiscretion with a Gypsy woman, and he didn’t until the
night he thought he was dying. Maria’s caravan was merely passing through and he allowed
them to spend one night on his land. She came to him and offered herself in payment.
She was young and pretty, but he still refused her, until she said a son would come
of it. He had no children, even after going through four wives trying to obtain one.
He was desperate enough to believe her that night, but come morning he was angry over
what he guessed was a deception.”

“But it wasn’t a lie?”

“No, it wasn’t. Somehow Maria knew and swore she would bring him the boy when he was
born. He still didn’t believe she was carrying his child, but just in case, he refused
to let her leave. He kept her a prisoner until exactly nine months later when she
gave birth to a son. He let her go, but he kept his son, whom he named Karl. Maria
said the boy would be able to find her if he ever needed her, no matter where in the
world she was. Such an odd thing to say. My great-great-grandfather never saw her
again and did not tell his son, his only heir, about her until the night he thought
he was dying.”

“Did he die that night?” James asked curiously.

“No, not for another ten years, and he and Karl never spoke of his strange tale again.
But when my great-great-grandfather did die, Karl went in search of his mother, Maria.
He found her in England, still traveling with her band of wandering Gypsies. Her granddaughter,
Anastasia, had just married an English marquis.”

“Wait,” Jason spoke up with a frown. “That can’t be all that Karl wrote about Anastasia’s
husband. Merely that he was a marquis from this country?”

“No, Christopher, Marquis of Haverston, was the name written in the journal. I went
to Haverston first, only to be told the current marquis was in London. I was given
this address, but I almost didn’t come here tonight since I am only passing through
England on my way to America to search for my stepsister Catherine’s real father.
I had planned to get her settled and out of my life before I tried to find any descendants
of Maria’s here. I simply couldn’t resist the chance to meet at least one of you before
I left England.”

James guessed, “I’m beginning to suspect we don’t want to meet your stepsister?”

Andrássy sighed. “No, you don’t.”

“Not to worry, dear boy,” Edward said. “My brother James deals remarkably well with
difficulties that arise in the family, so we’ve learned to leave such things to him,
trivial or otherwise.”

By the young count’s expression he had obviously taken offense. “I didn’t come here
for help. I am capable of dealing with my responsibilities and she—”

“Yes, yes, she’s your albatross, we get that,” Anthony said, putting an arm around
Andrássy’s shoulder. “But you haven’t heard my brother complaining about being your
champion, have you?”

James raised a golden brow. “Give me a moment,” he said, but was ignored.

Anthony continued, “As luck would have it—ours, yours, who knows—we happen to be sailing
for America in the morning. You’re welcome to join us. No need to say another word
about your sister if you’d rather not. Think of it as giving us a chance to get to
know you a little better, and vice versa. You might want to consider it fate that
led you here tonight.”

Andrássy didn’t agree, but he didn’t decline, either. And before he decided either
way, the rest of the family wanted a chance to speak with him. James and Anthony stood
aside, watching how readily the family took to him. Jack and Judy had him cornered
now.

“They’re going to talk his ear off,” Anthony remarked.

“Jack will,” James agreed. “She’s rather good at that. And if she thinks he ought
to come with us, the matter is as good as settled.”

“You don’t doubt he’s one of us, d’you?” Anthony inquired thoughtfully. “You weren’t
exactly throwing open those beefy arms in welcome.”

“There’s no harm in checking into his background,” James replied. “I’ll ask Jeremy
to see what he can find out about him while we’re away. But considering we’re heading
into Anderson territory, it might not hurt to have another Malory relative, however
remote, on our side.” James paused a moment. “On the other hand, I’m not so sure it’s
a good idea to stick him on a ship with us. Once he gets to know us, he might want
to run in the opposite direction.”

“Speak for yourself, old man.”

“Regardless, it’s been known to happen. And on a ship, there’s nowhere to run.”

Anthony chuckled. “Do we need to wake up Knighton tonight? Get rid of all our aggression
before we sail? Might work for a week or so.”

“No need. I had a ring installed in
The Maiden George
’s hold for us. I do like to plan ahead.”