The Marquis At Midnight (19 page)

‘Sherry,’ Lady Morvyn exclaimed. ‘And Lord
Woodward. What a coincidence. Both Lady Pemberton and Lady Woodward
have been paying a call on us.’

Hester looked past the
marquis' shoulder to catch her husband’s eye. He met her look and
for a long moment. It was impossible to say what he was thinking as
his face was expressionless and that look had given very little
away. Was he
very
angry with her? She did not want to tell him her news if he
were shouting at her. Not that Porter had ever shouted at her. He
merely shut her out, which was so much worse. Hester could manage a
fight. It was rejection that left her in an emotional
mess.

Morvyn had come to meet Grace, pausing to
take her hand and raise it to his lips. She widened her eyes at
him, but he was either oblivious to the fact that he was showing
such an obvious preference or he did not care. His smile was so
warm it made her heart lift and she could not help but return
it.

‘My lord,’ she murmured.

‘Have you forgotten my name so soon?’

Yes, clearly Morvyn did not care who knew
about his intentions.

Lady Morvyn had taken in the interaction
between her son and Grace and her expression had become a little
more thoughtful, although Judith wore a look of smug
satisfaction.

‘Shall I order more tea?’ Lady Morvyn
suggested brightly.

‘Thank you, Mother, but Lord Woodward and I
would like a private word with the ladies.’ He turned and smiled at
his mother. ‘We will not be very long.’

‘Oh.’ She looked a little disconcerted at
this, but had little choice but to do as he asked. ‘Very well then.
Come along, Judith.’

‘Coming, Mama.’

They waited in silence until the two ladies
had gone, then Hester looked at her husband. ‘I know I have done
the wrong thing,’ she said quietly, ‘but must you shut me out?’

Porter stared at her for a moment longer,
then sighed. ‘Hester, I could strangle you!’

Well, this was encouraging. Hester moved
forward and took hold of the lapels of his coat. ‘I am all kinds of
a fool,’ she said softly, ‘and I am deeply sorry for this mess. I
promised you once that I would not gamble and I broke that promise.
I know that you will find it hard to trust me again, but I swear,
Porter, I will not let you down a second time. Besides…,’ she
hesitated, stopping to look over her shoulder.

Grace reached out and took Morvyn’s hand in
her own. She tugged him towards the windows gently. ‘They need a
moment of privacy.’

‘They are not the only ones,’ he murmured,
‘although this is hardly the most ideal of situations. What brings
you here, my love?’

‘When Porter did not come home we decided to
come and see you, to discover what had been happening.’

‘Neither of us escaped,’ Morvyn said
ruefully. ‘The meeting went into the small hours. I believe Porter
intended to send word, but things were rather hectic and then it
was so late there was no point.’

‘So he is not beyond forgiving her?’

Morvyn gave a wry smile. ‘He was not
pleased, I will not deny it. It would have been better if she had
told him everything, but I explained the situation. I think he
understands.’

Behind them, she heard Porter exclaim. ‘Is
it true? Oh my love!’

Morvyn raised an eyebrow at Grace, who gave
him a mischievous smile. ‘A little good news to alleviate the
situation. I believe an heir is in the offing.’

Morvyn’s lips twitched. ‘That will certainly
take his mind off the lecture he was rehearsing last night.’

‘Hester only realized yesterday.’ Grace
hesitated a moment, ‘Sherry, there is something I feel I should
bring up. You might not have considered this, but I have been
married before...’

‘Yes, my love. I had realized that,
actually.’

‘...and I did not have a child.’ The words
came out in a rush. It was such a big thing to consider, when one
was looking for an heir. In the normal course of events, Morvyn
would have selected a virgin to wed with the reasonable expectation
that she would give him a child, but Grace had been married and
there had been no children. It was entirely possible that she was
barren and a barren wife was no good to anybody.

Morvyn stared at her for a long moment, then
moved closer, drawing her into his arms. ‘That is the last thing
you need to consider,’ he murmured, lips against her hair.

She leaned back a little, staring up at him.
‘It is the first thing I should have considered,’ she corrected
him. ‘I… I might not be any good to you in… in that way.’

‘Stop being so foolish.
Like all men, I have always thought that I would have children to
continue my direct line, but there are cousins, plenty of them,
that can take up the position. The one who would take up the mantle
is actually a very decent fellow who would do a splendid job of
it.’ His hand came up to stroke her hair and, just for a moment,
Grace closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of being held by
this man. He was a rock. It would take nothing at all to allow him
to be
her
rock. He
continued on, speaking quietly. ‘As I told you the other day, my
sweetest Grace, I never thought much about the woman who would
become my wife – until I met you – and then, it seemed that nobody
else would do. We will either have children, or we will not. Nobody
can say what the future holds, but I would never marry you simply
to produce an heir. I will marry you because my life would be
incomplete without you in it.’

‘Oh dear,’ she whispered
against his chest. ‘I think I may cry. How very
mawkish
of me!’

He chuckled, putting a hand under her chin
and raising her face so he could look into her eyes. ‘That is the
last word I would ever use to describe you. If I can ever put this
business behind us, I am going to make a proper fist of the
marriage proposal you so richly deserve, but until then, know that
you hold my heart very firmly in your hands.’

Then he kissed her and Grace knew that every
word was true.

Once again, it was not the time. Behind
them, Porter gave a discreet cough and they drew apart. Turning
around, Grace was delighted to see that Porter had his arm around
his wife’s shoulders and that both were looking decidedly more
relaxed. Nothing like the advent of a long anticipated event to
create unity.

‘We’re interrupting again,’
Hester said mockingly. ‘Unfortunately, it is difficult
not
to interrupted them
lately. The two of them are a perfect pair of
lovebirds.’

Grace blushed, but Morvyn was entirely
unperturbed. ‘I am hoping at some stage, to get Grace to myself for
more than five minutes at a time, but until that happy event we are
entirely at your disposal.’

Porter laughed at this. ‘Shall we sit down?
We have things that must be discussed. It’s just as well that the
ladies are here. It certainly makes things easier.’

They settled down once more. Grace was
amused to see Porter fuss about Hester as if she were suddenly made
of porcelain, while Hester herself smiled up at him, as besotted as
a wife could be. It was marvelous to see that all the tension had
gone from her. Perhaps now, things could return to normal.

Grace remembered the note that had come that
morning and retrieved it from her reticule, holding it out to
Morvyn.

‘This arrived this morning.’

He read it, then handed it across to Porter
who also scanned it. Both men suddenly appeared grim.

Grace and Hester looked from one to the
other. ‘Well?’ Hester demanded. ‘When are you going to arrest him?
Clearly, he is working for the French.’

‘We do not doubt it. We’ve suspected as much
for some time,’ Porter confessed, which made his wife blanche. No
wonder he had insisted she have nothing to do with Lovington.

‘I did not,’ Morvyn added, with a wry smile.
‘I have not been as involved in the machinations of the foreign
office as Porter. I admit, I learned a great deal last night.’

‘So you are going to take him into custody?’
Grace asked eagerly.

‘Actually, we have another plan,’ Morvyn
told her. ‘He will be arrested, assuredly, but we know he is not
working by himself. He wants Porter’s seal for a reason -’

‘Yes, that seal.’ Hester interrupted,
recovering. ‘Why does he want it?’

‘The man who holds the seal is the man who
will be delivering the new deployment overview of the regiments to
the commander of our forces on the continent. That seal, along with
a letter from the Price of Wales, is the guarantee of identity.’
Porter told them quietly.

‘You are going to France?’ Hester whispered.
‘To where the fighting is?’

Porter shook his head, leaning forward to
touch her hand lightly. ‘Until this business is completed, nobody
is going, but when it is, even if I am selected, I will not be
traveling into a war zone. The British command is set up at Nantes,
well away from any fighting.’

‘And Lovington wanted the seal so that…
what,’ Grace inquired. ‘He could take the plans himself?’

‘More likely so that he could put his own
courier in place. If he substitutes the documents with his own or,
rather, with whoever he is working with, then he will know exactly
where our regiments will be stationed and where they will be
focusing their campaigns. And the French will be ready for them. It
would be a disastrous blow to the English forces.’ Morvyn
explained.

‘That is diabolical,’ Grace exclaimed. ‘Are
you sure of this?’

‘We have our own information,’ Porter
smiled, ‘so yes, reasonably sure. There is a network of espionage
that means that the French have some of their people in England and
we have some of our people in France.’

‘Confusing,’ Grace murmured.

The marquis’s lips twitched.

Porter grinned. ‘Generally, we managed to
keep things straight enough. It is through this network that we
discovered Lovington’s intention. He has a French valet.’

‘So Bertie said,’ Grace interjected.

‘Yes,’ Porter said grimly. ‘Young Coslowe. I
must have a word with him.’

‘Never mind Bertie. From what you’ve said,
whoever was selected to carry these documents into France would
have been killed.’ Hester snapped.

Porter sighed and glanced at Morvyn. ‘This
is why we do not tell civilians things.’

‘More like, why you do not
tell your wife things,’ his loving spouse retorted. ‘Because you
know that she will have a fit of the vapors if you even
think
of leaving the
country.’

Morvyn’s chuckled. ‘Touché. Getting back to
the situation at hand, however, we have decided to let Lovington
have the seal.’

‘What?’ Grace sat up a little straighter in
her chair. ‘But why?’

‘To see where he goes with it. He must give
it to the man who will be traveling to France. The same man whom,
we suspect, has been causing havoc among our own intelligence
network. We know he is one of us, an Englishman, but we do not know
who he is.’

‘So the plan is that I give him the seal?’
Hester looked at her husband enquiringly.

‘That
was
the plan,’ Porter replied grimly,
‘I did not like it when it was suggested and I like it even less
now.’ He looked at Morvyn. ‘I do not want Hester involved in any of
this. The situation has changed.’

‘Oh, pfsst!’ his wife said dismissively.
‘Many women carry on through their confinements without a moments
trouble. I feel perfectly fine, I can assure you.’

‘I do not care how you feel,’ Porter replied
frankly. ‘I am not allowing my wife to deliver that seal to
Lovington. I do not want her anywhere near the man. We shall have
to arrange a drop off.’

‘That is too risky,’ Morvyn frowned. ‘He
will be expecting Hester to give it over to him. There is no reason
why he shouldn’t as he has no idea we are on to him.’

‘I still do not want Hester involved,’
Porter repeated stubbornly.

‘But there will be no danger. We have
discussed this. There will be people watching the entire time.’

‘Honestly Porter, you are being silly,’
Hester chimed in. ‘I will be completely safe.’

‘I don’t care. You are not doing it.’

‘I agree completely. Hester should not be
involved, not in her condition. Fortunately, she doesn’t have to
be,’ Grace said calmly, ‘Lovington knows that I have Hester’s
complete confidence. I can hand it to him.’

Morvyn opened his mouth to protest and she
met his look with raised brows. He had just told Porter that Hester
would be perfectly safe so he could hardly say differently now and
he knew it.

Porter’s face cleared and he nodded. ‘That
is a splendid idea. Grace can give him the seal.’

Morvyn still looked as if he had swallowed
something unpleasant. Probably his next words, Grace thought with
amusement. It was not in his nature to put the woman he cared for
in harm’s way, but then, logically, she should not be in harm’s way
so he had no real argument. Even so, it rankled and she longed to
be alone with him and smooth that look from his face. She knew
exactly how she would do it, too.

‘So it is settled,’ Porter said, settling
back. ‘Hester, you will write to Lovington tomorrow and tell him
that you have the seal and ask how he would like to collect it. He
will give you a time and place. Then Grace turns up, passes it to
him, and we follow on from there.’

‘And if he does not go to his contact
immediately,’ Grace asked.

‘He will be watched day and night,’ Porter
assured her. ‘We have no intention of loosing this fellow, let me
assure you.’

‘I must say, this is all very exciting,’
Grace glanced at Morvyn, who was clearly troubled. ‘Oh, stop
looking so thunderous. It will all work out very well.’