A Scandalous Adventure (20 page)

The prince made a dismissive sound and waved the servant away. He waited until they were alone once more before he turned on the general. “Have you not done enough harm with your stupid feuding? Never an honest discussion. Oh no. Instead, you are forever undermining each other so that neither of you can ever be trusted to give me an honest answer.”

The general's mustache quivered, but he did not speak.

The door opened once more, and the nervous servant crept back in, holding a tray before him like an offering. “Excuse me, Sire, but a messenger brought this from Captain Staufer.”

Conrad almost leaped at the servant and snatched the letter from the tray. “A messenger? Send him in. I may have questions.”

Ripping open the letter, he scanned it quickly and gave a shout of laughter. He handed the first page to Olivia and said, “While we have been driving ourselves half mad with worry, Max and Lady Susannah have gotten themselves married.”

“What?” Olivia read the letter quickly and handed it back to him. “Goodness gracious. How? Where? I never would have expected Susannah to do such a thing.”

Lady Augusta started to rise and then fell back in her chair, clasping her hands to her breast. “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. They will never forgive me. How can I ever explain to Anne and Phillip? How could I let such a thing happen?”

Conrad looked at Olivia in confusion.

“Lady Susannah's parents,” she said.

“Ah. But will they not be pleased by the match? Max is, after all, a count.”

“And her parents are the Marquess and Marchioness of Penworth,” snapped Lady Augusta, twisting a handkerchief in her hands. “I should have been watching over her. They trusted me.”

The general reached over to pat her hand but thought better of it and shrank back into his own seat.

“But what is the problem?” Conrad asked Olivia, still looking confused.

“I don't think they will have any objection to Max. Not really.” Olivia sounded doubtful. “It's the suddenness of it all. And it's so far from her home.”

Conrad continued to look confused but returned to the letter. His expression immediately turned to satisfaction. “Yes! He knows where she is. Krassau—Hugo's hunting lodge. No wonder the twins are fleeing there.” He turned to the final page and gave a shout. “Yes! At last!”

They all turned to him.

A smile of delight spread across his face. “Max proposes to rescue the princess tomorrow. It is as well that he is sharing his plan because he does not know that Hugo and Helga will be there. He will stop at a farmhouse we both know—we have stopped there when we were out hunting—and will wait there until three if I care to join him. If!” He threw his head back exultantly. “At last!”

Olivia laid a hand gently on his arm. His expression softened as he looked down at her. “This is what I have been waiting for. You understand, do you not? It is not only that he has left it to me to decide whether I shall join him or not. I must join him, for he does not know what he will be facing. He does not know that Hugo will be there—and doubtless accompanied by Angriffer.”

Conrad began to pace about the room, thinking. “General, you are about to be of use. I will need a troop of your men to accompany me, and you may come as well if you choose. Have them ready to leave by six tomorrow morning. That will get us there in good time.”

“As you wish, Sire.” The general stood and saluted formally, but his fierce mustache did not quite cover his hopeful smile.

Ostrov

The sun had not yet risen, but it was no longer night. The chill gray light that precedes the dawn had crept into the room. Max could see well enough to dress himself, and he did so silently so that he would not awaken his bride.

His bride. His.

In the dim light, her hair was a dark shadow on the pillow and he could make out only a faint suggestion of her face. Not that he needed light to know what she looked like. Her face in all its many moods was always with him. Longing for her stabbed through him. His great regret was that he had never had a chance to watch her while she slept.

Perhaps he would. If all went well, they would have a lifetime together. There would be a thousand mornings when he could watch her while she slept and awaken her with a kiss. She would turn to him, all soft and rosy with sleep. They would have a lifetime of love and joy.

And if all did not go well—at least she would be safe. His family, his people would protect his wife against all danger. No matter what Hugo might intend, Susannah would be safe. That was what was important. She must be kept safe.

He leaned over and brushed a kiss on her hair.
Sleep well, my love.

Stepping carefully, he left the bedchamber.

* * *

As soon as the door clicked softly shut, her eyes opened and she sat up in the bed. Foolish man. Did he really think she would not notice his departure? The moment he moved away from her, she had felt the loss of warmth from his body. A week ago—a day ago—she would not have known what a sharp pang that loss could cause. But there was no time for such thoughts.

In the dressing room, her clothes from the day before—Elinor's exploring outfit—lay ready for her. Good. The maid had followed her instructions and brushed it all clean. Well, reasonably clean. Grateful once again that she needed no assistance to don these clothes, Susannah dressed quickly, pulled on her boots, and headed for the stables.

She kept out of sight and waited while they rode out. Max had Josef and two other men with him. Not exactly an army. He could not be planning any kind of frontal assault on Krassau. He must be intending to somehow sneak in and then sneak the princess out.

That meant she could be of help to him.

Max did not even realize how intimidating he could look. Not to her, of course, but to other people. If he appeared suddenly before the princess and demanded that she go with him and obey his orders, she was quite likely to get hysterical. It was all very well and good to think that she would recognize him since he had been part of her escort in the first place, but she hadn't wanted to be escorted to Nymburg. She hadn't wanted to marry the prince. She needed to be assured that she wasn't just trading one imprisonment for another.

If he was accompanied by a woman who could speak to the princess calmly and reassuringly—namely, herself—it would all go far more smoothly. At least Susannah could help convince her that the prison of duty would be pleasanter than the prison Hugo had contrived. It would also keep her alive.

Susannah waited until they were safely out of sight before she moved toward the stables, then had to stifle a shriek when something brushed her leg. Lev looked up at her as if to ask why she had stopped. While her heart gradually slowed to its normal rhythm, she leaned on the dog.

“Well, Lev, it's probably just as well that you're here. You'll be able to help me if I get lost in the woods.” She rubbed him behind his ears, and he rested his huge head against her. “But first I need a horse.”

The dog trotted behind her into the stables. The grooms were apparently still asleep. A few horses turned and looked at her with sleepy indifference. It was fortunate, she decided, that her father had insisted that all his children be able to care for their own horses. That included saddling them. So she located the gray mare she had ridden before and set to work. She would have used one of the sidesaddles in the tack room, but she wasn't sure the mare was accustomed to one. At least she and the mare were accustomed to each other by now.

In very little time, she and Lev were following Max and his men. It wasn't even difficult, she realized. Four men on a forest path created enough disturbance to make their passage clear.

It took about half an hour before she was close enough to hear them up ahead of her, and she kept back for another half hour before she heard Max say sharply, “Listen!” The horses up ahead stopped then. Since neither she nor Lev was attempting to be particularly silent, Susannah was surprised at the length of time it took Max to realize that he was being followed. He really hadn't been expecting it. There was something sweet and innocent about that. Any of her brothers would have been on their guard before they even left the house.

She stopped too, but then decided she might as well travel with them at this point, so she nudged the mare onward.

Max was in the middle of the path with Josef and the others behind him. He looked utterly dumbfounded when she rode into sight, so she smiled cheerfully.

“Suse.” It sounded like a sigh. “What do you think you are doing?”

“I'm going with you, of course. I assume you are on your way to retrieve the missing princess.”

“No.” He lifted his riding crop to point in the direction from which she had come. “You are going back to the castle. Now.”

“Don't be foolish. You need to take me along.”

“Oh? Should Hugo's men decide to resist, you will be of great assistance, I am sure.”

“You needn't sound sarcastic. Of course I won't interfere if there is any actual fighting.” She tried to look shocked at the very thought. “But the princess is likely to be frightened—and just as frightened of you as of Hugo. You probably don't realize how intimidating you look. I'll be much better able to reassure her that we have come to help her, not put her in even more danger.”

Max exploded. “For God's sake, woman, I married you to keep you safe, not to let you run into danger!”

He was going to be difficult. That was obvious. She tried to look upset. “I hope that wasn't the only reason you married me.”

“No, of course not.” He ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his neck. “You know that wasn't…”

She caught herself up. No, this was all wrong. This should not be like trying to wheedle her brothers into letting her do something. She must begin as she meant to go on. Max was her husband, and there would be no games, no trickery between them. She was not going to pretend that he had hurt her feelings, but she had to make him understand. She had to make him understand by giving him the truth. “No, I do know that's not why you married me, any more than I married you to keep myself safe. So you must know that I will not be tucked safely behind the castle walls. Not when you are going into danger. There is no safety for me without you. There is no life.”

He froze in place, his hand still on the back of his neck. When he finally did move, it was to pull his horse up next to her. He did not touch her, but his look enveloped her as tightly as any embrace. “My love, you must be sensible.”

“I am being sensible.” Her words were half whispered so that only he could hear. “You must understand. You are my life. I cannot lose you. And so I cannot let you go off into danger without me. Not when there is a chance I could help you. Would you let me go off into danger alone?”

“Of course not!”

She pulled back enough to look up at him. “Then how can you expect me to stand by when you are in danger?”

“My love…” He groaned in protest.

She held firm. “Together, or not at all. That is how it must be, now and always.”

The argument continued, more pleading than argument. How could he act, knowing she might be in danger? How could she stay behind, knowing he might be in danger?

Josef coughed to get their attention. “We need to be going.”

“But Suse…”

The old man shrugged. “She is the countess. She has the right to go with you. And if you do frighten the princess, she will be able to calm her down.”

“And I promise I'll keep out of the way if there's any fighting,” she said.

“Ah, Suse.” He took her by the shoulders and gave her a little shake. “I would have someone take you back and lock you in your room, but you would just climb out the window.”

She offered a half smile. “True.”

“So you must promise me that you will obey orders, just as my men will. I cannot be worrying about you all the time.”

“I promise. I will not do anything to cause problems.”

The five of them rode on through the forest in near-silence. The morning mist hovered in the hollows, and the damp earth muffled the hoofbeats. Lev trotted beside her, his white coat making him appear almost like a piece of mist himself. No one else seemed surprised by the dog's decision to join them, so she kept silent as well.

After another hour, keeping silent required a major effort. Under some circumstances she might have enjoyed the ride. Once the mist had burned off, the air was crisp but not really cold, bits of colorful foliage still hung on a few of the trees, and they were surrounded by the fragrance of the pine trees. Unfortunately, Susannah was still sore from all the riding yesterday and the day before, to say nothing of other activity.

Eventually—to her relief—they stopped beside a small stream to rest the horses and themselves. She sat down on a log. It was no softer than the saddle, but at least it did not move. Breakfast appeared from Josef's saddlebags—bread, a hard yellow cheese, and garlicky sausages that he cut into chunks with his hunting knife. To wash it down, there was icy water from the stream. Like the others, she ate with her fingers and drank from a shared tin cup.

It was a meal unlike any she had ever eaten, but somehow one of the finest. Max sat beside her, close enough for her to feel the warmth of him. It was enough to make her feel safe. He always made her feel safe.

“Do you see them smile?” He smiled too. “They are yours now.”

She blinked in confusion.

“My men,” he said, tipping his head toward Josef and the two other men—they had been introduced to her as Hans and Gustav—who had ridden out with them. “You sit here and eat with them, and do not scorn their food. You ride with them and do not complain. They would have protected you in any case because you are my wife. But now, now they will follow you because you have won their respect.”

“Because I ate a sausage?” She choked down a surprised laugh. “They are easily won over.”

He continued to smile at her, and there was pride in that smile. “Not easily. Josef will have told them that you rode with them to my rescue, that you never flinched on the journey, that you never complained. And now they see for themselves that you are prepared to ride with them, to face hardship, to do what must be done. My warrior countess.”

“Goodness. All that from a sausage?” She flushed, embarrassed by the thought. She was about to protest that she was really a very conventional person, a proper English lady, but then a smile began to spread. Was she a warrior? Was that who she really was? A warrior countess. She liked that image of herself. It was certainly better than Susannah, the dutiful daughter, who always knew the proper thing to do and never caused anyone a moment's worry. That Susannah who had somehow become very boring.

She held her chin up a little higher. But a warrior countess did not mean she had no questions. She felt a bit foolish that she had to ask, but she could not see how she could be expected to know, so she asked, “What are we going to do? Is there a plan?”

Max grinned at her. “Is that why you insisted on coming along? You thought me such a fool that I would go running into danger with no plan?”

To her annoyance, a blush was heating her face. “You know I didn't think anything of the sort. But
I
don't know what the plan is. And if I don't know, I could be more of a hindrance than a help.”

“Ah, don't worry, Suse. I will not let any harm come to you.”

She sent him an exasperated look. “You are enjoying yourself, aren't you? You know perfectly well that I'm not worrying about myself.”

“Yes, and yes.” He was still grinning. “It is a pleasure to tease my wife. No, no, do not distress yourself.” He raised his hands in surrender. “I will tell you all.”

With a glance at his men, he said, “First we go to the farm of Hans's uncle. It is on my lands, but not too far from Hugo's hunting lodge. Only a few miles. There we may be joined by another.”

“Another?” She could swear Max looked a bit shamefaced.

“I could not deny him the chance. He was right. We—I—must stop trying to protect him and allow him to rule.”

“Him? Do you mean the prince?” Her voice rose almost to a shriek.

“Hush.” He glanced over at the men, but they did not appear to have heard. “I do not know. It is his choice. I told him I would be at the farm until three.”

She gnawed on her lip briefly. “Do you need his help?”

He looked down at her in surprise. “I? No. It is he who needs to act. Not for me, but for himself.”

* * *

The farm was at the edge of the forest. The house itself was on a hill near the trees, a whitewashed building two stories high. A wooden balcony with a fancifully carved railing looked out from the upper floor. Nearby stood a barn and other buildings. Stubble in the rolling fields beyond showed that the harvest was over, though close to the house rows of vegetables were still flourishing. Farther off, cows stood about in a field. No other houses were visible, but a broad road at the bottom of the hill meant that it was not too isolated. It looked very peaceful, with smoke drifting lazily from the chimney.

It was not, however, quiet.

Aside from usual farm noises—chickens in the farmyard, ducks and geese by the pond, pigs somewhere out of sight but not out of smell, and the steady
chunks
of wood-chopping—a pair of dogs came running up, barking furiously. Large dogs, looking much like Lev, with loud barks. Threatening barks. Very loud threatening barks.