After the Abduction (6 page)

“At least you protected her from that.”

“I protected her from
everything.
”

“Then why are she and her family after your blood?”

The lash of his uncle’s words raised welts on his conscience, exactly as the man had intended. He ignored them. And the image of Juliet’s accusing eyes. Devil take it, he’d done his best under difficult circumstances. He refused to feel guilty about it. “Perhaps they don’t view matters as I do.”

“Can you blame them? When you didn’t bother to tell them any of this? You simply restored her to her relations and vanished, instead of remaining to accept whatever penance they required.”

“A trial? That’s what Knighton would have required, I assure you.”

“Not if you’d offered to marry her and make it right.”

He scrubbed a hand wearily over his face. “Don’t think I didn’t consider it.” Especially after that kiss. “But it was too risky. If they’d dragged me off to hang instead, who’d have been left to search for Morgan and take care of Charnwood? Remember, they had ample reason to despise me, since Lady Helena and Knighton’s friend Brennan were also thrust into danger while I was trying to extricate Juliet from Crouch’s clutches.”

“So you didn’t execute the kidnapping perfectly after all, did you?”

Shooting him a foul look, Sebastian rose and walked to the fireplace, where he crouched to throw a log on the fire. Blast, but it was cold up here and always had been. “I had matters well under control until they showed up. It wasn’t my fault that Lady Helena and Brennan blundered in where they shouldn’t have.”

“And I suppose it’s not your fault that Lady Juliet’s reputation is now on the verge of being ruined by gossip.”

“I had nothing to do with that!” Highly offended, he straightened to face his uncle. “What kind of wretch do you take me for?”

His uncle took out his snuffbox to dip more snuff. “I don’t know. A kidnapper?”

“Very amusing. But I took great care to keep Juliet
and
her reputation from suffering. I counted on her family keeping the matter quiet, which they did. As for this new gossip, I don’t believe there is any such thing. I’ve seen no mention in the London rags. And after all this time, why would anybody gossip about what happened? Who could know? If there truly is any gossip, it’s probably minor. They’re simply trumping it up to engage our sympathies, make me reveal myself. Which I refuse to do.”

“So you’re going to let her suffer through it on her own?”

Sebastian bristled. “See here, if I learn that there is indeed talk about her in London—which I highly doubt—I’ll do what I can to quell it. But
after
this matter with Morgan is settled.” He paced before the fire. “It’s not as if I actually
did
anything to her while I had her in my care; I acted with the utmost propriety.”

“Did you?” Uncle Lew cast him a sly look. “That must have been quite taxing. The young woman is lovely, a temptation to any man with eyes.”

Sebastian struggled not to scowl. It annoyed him that Uncle Lew had noticed Juliet’s loveliness, and his annoyance annoyed him, too. For God’s sake, Uncle Lew was over twice her age. “All the same, I behaved as a gentleman. I have nothing to be ashamed of.” Except for that one kiss. That one perfect, sensuous…

By thunder, why must he keep thinking of it?

“If you’ve done nothing wrong, tell the Knightons the truth.”

“Certainly. Then on Knighton’s way out of town, he can stop by the magistrate’s and arrange to have me carted off to London in chains. I prefer to keep my neck the appropriate length, thank you very much.”

“Surely Mr. Knighton is reasonable enough to understand your desire to rescue your brother.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes. “You saw firsthand how reasonable he is.”

His uncle’s face clouded over. “Ah, yes, the man with the ready fist.”

“Coupled with Knighton’s ruthless business reputation…” Sebastian strode back to the table. “I’m not so much concerned about what he can do to me. I knew the risks. But I can’t have Knighton sticking his nose into the negotiations for Morgan’s return.”

His uncle sighed. “I’d forgotten about that. Have you heard more from Morgan? Any explanation?”

“Just that one brief letter saying that he’ll be home soon, and he’ll explain then.” With a scowl, Sebastian dropped onto a leather-bound stool. “How the devil can he explain showing up on the Pirate Lord’s ship?”

His uncle shook his head. “I still don’t understand it. He joins some smugglers at the Home Office’s behest, the smugglers discover he’s a spy and imprison him aboard the
Oceana,
it goes down, we think he’s dead, and then that man from the navy informs us he was spotted aboard the
Satyr
when it took Lord Winthrop’s ship. It makes no sense. Why would Morgan take up with pirates after years of loyal service to his country? Could Winthrop’s crewman have made a mistake when he said he recognized Morgan?”

“Not if he really did serve with Morgan in the navy. A bad piece of luck, that. Now Winthrop’s howling for Morgan’s head. Thank God the man never met me in society or he’d be howling for mine instead.”

“Perhaps Morgan ended up aboard the
Satyr
because it sank the
Oceana
?”

“I thought of that. But the Pirate Lord is known for plundering only.” He sighed. “Still, he’s thoroughly hated by the navy. We’re fortunate they’re willing to offer that pardon in exchange for Morgan’s helping them capture the man.”

Sebastian rose and paced to the window that looked out over the west lawn toward the setting sun and the Welsh border. “I have to deal with Morgan’s situation the minute he arrives here, before anyone learns of his return. And the
last
thing I need is Knighton muddying the waters. If he tells the Navy Board of the kidnapping, they’ll break off negotiations at once. It’s only my apparent good character that’s kept them willing.”

His uncle sighed. “I suppose that’s true.”

“That’s why Knighton
must
believe Morgan is dead. It might convince him to abandon his vengeance before the Navy Board hears what I did.”

Uncle Lew observed him quietly for a moment. “It is not only Morgan I worry about. If you were to hang—” He shuddered. “Let us not think of that. But suffice it to say, without you Charnwood would fall apart, and I somehow doubt Morgan could step into your shoes. You do realize you took a great risk in trying to save your brother.”

He did realize it.

“Some would even say you went beyond the bounds of familial duty, and all for a man so heedless of the family name that he consorted with pirates.”

“He’s still my brother. A Blakely never turns his back on family.” Sebastian would have done
anything
to get Morgan back. He still would. Who else did he have, aside from Uncle Lew? He’d spent his whole life with an absent father and no mother. Even Uncle Lew had been away most of Sebastian’s life. Morgan’s arrival had finally
given him a taste of what it was like to have family, and Sebastian wasn’t about to give up on him. “Besides, you’d have shot me if I hadn’t looked for him. You do have a soft spot for the rogue.”

“No more than I have for you, my boy. With your mother and my Lucinda long gone, you two are all I have.” His uncle cleared his throat. “Though at present, you’re both trying my patience enormously.”

Sebastian twisted away from the window. “It’s not my fault Morgan is in this mess.”

“No, but it is your fault that we are now under siege by a ruthless man and a young lady bent on learning the truth.”

He couldn’t deny that. Striding back to the table, he resumed his seat. “All the same, when I get my hands on Morgan, I’ll thrash him into the next shire for getting involved with the Pirate Lord.”

His uncle laughed. “I shall help. Although you could just leave him to Knighton, since he is already convinced that Morgan was Lady Juliet’s kidnapper.”

“I’m sorely tempted, but even Morgan doesn’t deserve that.” Picking up a flint lock he’d been trying to unstick, he applied some neat’s-foot oil to its rusty screws. “No, once Morgan is safely pardoned, I’ll throw myself on Knighton’s tender mercies.”

“In the meantime, how will you keep them all at bay?”

“Devil if I know.” He worked the rusty cock up and down until it was moving smoothly. “You didn’t help matters by inviting them to stay here.”

“Nonsense,” Uncle Lew said with a wave of his bejeweled hand. “They’ll rest well here tonight, awaken in a genial mood, and be on their way back to London. Whereas if they stayed at the Peacock Stye, they’d awaken in a foul mood, and Knighton might come back here to punch you in the nose again. I was merely trying to help.”

“You were trying to annoy me.”

Uncle Lew’s twinkling eyes proclaimed that Sebastian had hit the mark. “Ah, but you should have seen your face when I did it. It made it worth any inconvenience that might arise from this sticky situation.”

“Inconvenience?” He raised an eyebrow. “If that’s all that comes of this, I won’t begrudge you your entertainment, Uncle. I’m afraid, however, that it may grow stickier before we’re done. I’m not sure that Knighton believed me.”

“And Lady Juliet? Did
she
believe you? That is perhaps more important.”

Sebastian thought of her face, of the certainty in her eyes, her accusing looks. “I’m not sure of that, either. We’ll simply have to prevent her from divining the truth.” He glanced at his uncle. “That will be
your
job.”

Uncle Lew eyed him suspiciously. “Mine? Why?”

“Since you’re the troublemaker who invited them to stay,
you
must make my excuses at dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow. The less she sees of me, the less chance she’ll recognize me as her kidnapper.”

“Surely your absence will rouse her suspicions even more.”

“Remind her that I’m a recluse. Or say that talk of my brother dredged up my grief. Just keep Lady Juliet away from me until they leave.”

“Are you sure mere evasion will do the trick? Your pretty sprite seems rather determined to root you out.”

“She’s not my sprite!” Realizing that his uncle might read something into his strong protest, he modulated his tone. “She’s not my anything, I assure you. And though she puts up a brave front, it can easily be punctured.”

At least he hoped so. Though Juliet had been coddled and cosseted all her life, she’d shown quite a bit of spirit the night she’d discovered he was kidnapping her. Still, she’d always tended to acquiesce to her family’s opinions.
“As long as her brother-in-law’s suspicions can be assuaged, she can probably be managed.”

Uncle Lew shook his head sadly. “You
are
a cold one. How can you talk of the poor girl’s feelings so callously? From what I gather, you hurt her rather badly.”

His uncle’s comment disturbed him, but he shoved it into the closet where he’d had to keep his conscience for the past few years to meet the demands of familial responsibility. “It isn’t callousness—it’s merely practicality. She’s young. She’ll get over her hurt feelings as time passes, and more quickly if she thinks Morgan’s dead.”

“You think so, do you?” Uncle Lew extracted a scented handkerchief from his coat and dabbed snuff from his prominent nose. “You made her care about you, then spurned her. My dear nephew, if you think she’ll stand by and let that pass, you lack a basic knowledge of the female sex.”

The memory of how she’d cared for him—once—left Sebastian feeling unsteady and out of breath, not a feeling he relished. Especially if his uncle was right, and all that caring had now turned into a burning desire for revenge. “I hope you’re wrong. Because if you’re not, we’re in for a long and arduous battle.”

Chapter 4

Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.

Homer’s
Iliad,
written on a design for a sampler by Juliet Laverick but never worked

A
n hour after dinner was over, Juliet approached Lord Templemore’s study. The door lay open and the room was dark.

I knew it!
she thought.
I knew his uncle was lying!

His lordship wasn’t “perusing the estate ledgers in his study.” That was a humbug. Nor was he the sort to retire early. No, he was elsewhere in the house, avoiding her.

That was why she’d pretended to retire when Griff and Rosalind had. Why she’d hunkered down under the bedclothes fully dressed to feign sleep when the maid had come in to undress her. And why she’d sneaked out of her room to come here.

She entered the study to confirm that it was empty. Not
that his lordship’s absence or defection from dinner surprised her. He was avoiding her because he knew she didn’t believe one jot of that nonsense about his twin being her abductor. She’d thought about it all afternoon, picking away at the loose threads of his tale, exposing the gaps in the seams. She still hadn’t figured out the how and why of it, but one matter she was sure of—Lord Templemore was the one who’d kidnapped her.

Steps sounded in the corridor, startling her. Quickly, she ducked behind the door and held her breath as candlelight poked a finger of light into the dark room.

“Sebastian, are you in here?” came a voice so near she jerked. But it was only Mr. Pryce, who was also apparently looking for his lordship. Fortunately, he couldn’t see her.

“Off to your guns again, are you?” the older man muttered as he continued down the hall instead of returning the way he’d come.

She hesitated. She really shouldn’t follow men around strange houses, but she could hardly resist this opportunity to confront his lordship alone. Depending on how he responded to her suspicions, she might garner enough evidence to convince Griff to act.

Griff was being incredibly stubborn, insisting upon leaving in the morning. He’d heard her protests and her reasons for not believing Lord Templemore, then dismissed every one! She supposed she couldn’t blame him. If she hadn’t met Morgan herself, she’d have been skeptical, too.