Chivalrous Captain, Rebel Mistress (21 page)

They’d found him.

Allan and Gabe crossed the room and Edwin lay his head back down on the table.

Allan looked down on him. ‘Edwin.’ He spoke as if issuing orders.

Edwin looked up and it seemed to take time for his eyes to focus. ‘Lawd, it is you.’ His filmy gaze turned to Gabe. ‘And
you
. I s’pose you’ll want to drink with me.’ He waved his hand to the weary tavern maid again. ‘Two bottles, wench. These fellows are paying.’ Edwin laughed as if he’d said something extremely amusing.

Allan gestured for the woman to leave them. He sat and leaned close to Edwin so others could not hear. ‘Something is afoot. What have you learned, Edwin? Where is Jones?’

Edwin looked around. ‘Where
is
Jones?’ he said too loudly. He slapped his forehead. ‘That’s right. He left. Went to make the report.’

‘What report?’ Allan demanded.

Edwin drained his glass and poured another bumper of brandy from the bottle. He gave Allan a smug look. ‘Not going to tell you.’

Gabe seized Edwin by his coat and hauled him to his feet. ‘Tell him what he wishes to know if you value your neck.’

Edwin’s face contorted. ‘Very well. Very well. I’ll tell. What do I care about it?’

‘Then speak up now,’ Gabe ordered.

‘Jones left. Told me to go to the devil.’

Allan took Edwin’s face in his hand and forced Edwin to look at him. ‘Where is the march to be? When is it scheduled?’

Edwin squirmed in Gabe’s grip. ‘This morning. Not going to tell you where. Not going to tell you when. You’ll grab all the glory.’ He tried to pull away, but Gabe restrained him from behind. ‘Going there myself. T’watch the Horse Guards. Told Jones I’d meet him there.’

The Horse Guards? Did Sidmouth plan to release the Horse Guards on the protestors? The soldiers would not stand a chance.

Allan leaned into Edwin’s face. ‘Tell us where. What time this morning?’

Edwin slumped and Gabe must have loosened his grip, but all of a sudden Edwin broke free, flailing his arms. He swung out at Allan before Gabe grabbed him again.

‘Leggo!’ Edwin shouted. ‘I’m gonna report you to Sidmouth. Have you arrested. You wait and see!’ He struggled, but Gabe held him tight.

Allan moved to another table, asking the two men seated there, ‘Do you know where the demonstration will be? Do you know what hour?’

‘Go away,’ one man growled.

He addressed the entire room. ‘Tell me, any of you. Where is the demonstration to be?’

They only glowered at him.

He went back to Gabe. ‘I have to find out more, but I cannot let him get to Sidmouth.’

‘He’ll cause no mischief.’ Gabe shook Edwin like a rag doll. ‘I’ll make certain of that. Do what you must.’

Allan nodded his thanks and rushed out. All he could think was that he had to warn Marian that she was walking into a trap. Bryanston Street was too far to walk, and finding a hackney coach might take time.

More men filled the streets, sauntering in the direction of Westminster Cathedral. Were they headed there or to Westminster Palace? There would be few avenues of escape if the march was on Parliament.

Allan went to the stables where Valour was kept. He shouted for the stable lad to let him in and to saddle his horse.

A few minutes later he was astride Valour, skirting Hyde Park to reach Marian’s town house. The first slivers of dawn were peeking through the sky.

He dismounted in front of Marian’s house and pounded on her door. ‘Marian! Open the door! Open the door!’

Her house was dark. He glanced at Yost’s. It was dark, too, but that did not mean that they were not awake in the back, preparing for the march.

He pounded again. ‘Open the door! It is urgent!’

He heard a frightened voice through the door. ‘Go away, sir.’

‘Hannah? Hannah, is that you? It is Captain Landon.’ He used his army rank without thinking. ‘I need to see Miss Pallant immediately! Let me in, Hannah.’

‘I dare not!’ she cried. ‘She’s not here, anyway.’

He heard another woman’s voice. ‘What is this, Hannah?’ Blanche.

‘Mrs Nunn,’ Allan cried. ‘You must let me in. I have news of grave importance.’

There was a pause, then the door slowly opened. Blanche’s face appeared in the gap. She held a candle. ‘What is it, Mr Landon?’

‘Let me in, please,’ he said to her.

She stepped aside and he entered the hall. Hannah held a hand to her mouth, looking frightened.

‘I’m not going to hurt anyone,’ he assured her. He turned to Blanche. ‘Where is Marian?’

The women looked from one to the other.

‘Has she already left for the march?’

Their eyes grew wider.

Allan took a step closer to Blanche. ‘You must tell me where she is going. I have to stop her. She’s walking into a trap.’

‘A trap?’ Blanche cried.

‘The Home Office knows where the march will be and when, but I do not. You must tell me before it is too late.’

Hannah spoke to Blanche. ‘You cannot tell him. Miss Pallant said we were not to believe him.’

He faced Blanche, placing his hands on her arms. ‘You must believe me. I want only to protect her. And the men, if I can. And Mr Yost. Good God, Mrs Nunn, they are calling out the Horse Guards.’ She blinked.

‘Mrs Nunn, listen to me—’

‘Don’t listen,’ Hannah cried.

Allan went on. ‘She is walking into a trap. You must help me stop her.’

Blanche searched his face. She blurted out. ‘Dawn. At Charing Cross. She should be there already.’

He spared her only a quick grateful look, running out the door to mount Valour and race down Bond Street to Piccadilly.

The sky had lightened. Dawn would come within minutes. On Haymarket Street wagons and carriages stood at a full stop. Valour made her way through them.

When he finally reached the intersection known to all as Charing Cross, it was filled with soldiers, hundreds of them. They kept their voices low, collectively producing a low hum.

He searched for Marian, slowing Valour to a walk. The men barely parted for him.

‘I say we give them a good fight,’ he heard one man say, his voice louder than the others.

‘We gave our word, man,’ another responded in a Scottish brogue. ‘Stubble it or we’ll mark you for a provocateur.’

Allan continued to pick his way through the crowd. How hard could it be to find a woman among all these men?

He glanced down Whitehall towards Westminster Palace. Years of war had made his eyesight keen.

He saw movement.

The Horse Guards were forming their ranks, preparing for the charge.

M
arian stood at the base of the statue of Charles I inside the wrought-iron fence, dressed once again as a boy. Surrounded once again by soldiers. Her nerves bunched in her throat, making it hard to swallow. Soon she’d know if they’d be successful or hanged for traitors.

Reilly climbed on to the statue. ‘Is it time now, miss?’ He would lead the cheer.

Three huzzahs and they would be done.

The sky was light, light enough for Marian to catch sight of the man on the horse, the man searching the crowd. The captain.

She turned away from him. ‘Yes, Reilly, now, I think.’
Before he arrests us.

She should have known the captain would come. He’d warned her he would.

Reilly climbed a little higher and cupped his hands so his voice would carry. ‘Soldiers!’ he shouted.

The crowd went silent.

‘Prepare to cheer!’

‘No!’ The captain swivelled around on Valour and pointed towards Whitehall. ‘Horse Guards! They are coming!’

Marian scrambled up the statue to see rows of uniformed soldiers on horseback starting their charge. She remembered from Waterloo. They started slow and gradually built speed. They would burst into the intersection like a fire-breathing dragon.

‘Cheer!’ she cried at the top of her lungs. ‘Cheer!’

‘Huzzah!’ Reilly lifted a fist in the air.

‘Huzzah!’ Five hundred fists rose. ‘Huzzah! Huzzah!’

‘Run!’ boomed Allan. ‘Run now!’

The men ran. From her vantage point on the statue they were like water splattering in all directions.

The Horse Guards built their speed.

Marian climbed down from the statue, and Reilly lifted her on to the iron fence surrounding it. ‘Do not wait for me, Reilly. Get out of here.’

Reilly easily climbed to the other side. When his feet hit the pavement, he reached for her.

‘No,’ she cried. ‘Go.’

He glanced behind him.

‘Get out of here, Reilly!’ It was the captain.

The captain’s strong arm plucked her off the fence and on to Valour’s back. Reilly ran, disappearing into the remnants of the crowd. She prayed he would escape.

‘Hang on,’ the captain told her.

She seized Valour’s mane in her fingers and pressed her knees tightly to keep herself from falling. Rather than turn away from the Horse Guards, the Captain headed straight for them, but veering off and heading into St James’s Park instead. She expected to hear horses’ hooves behind them, but soon the only sounds were the chirping of early morning birds. The water of the lake peacefully sparkled as the sun finally rose.

‘I didn’t see Yost.’ The Captain sounded worried.

‘He wasn’t there.’ With luck, Yost had delivered the list of
demands to Parliament safely. She could only hope for the others as well. ‘Do you think they got away?’

‘I think they very well might have.’ He sounded as if he was glad of it.

She turned to look at him. ‘You warned them. You warned the soldiers to run.’

He did not answer, merely put an arm around her as he had done when they fled the peasants’ farm.

The park seemed quite deserted as if nothing had ever disturbed its tranquillity, not even a nearby demonstration that almost ended with a cavalry charge. ‘Captain, I want to stop. Might we stop a while?’

He swivelled around, checking the area. ‘Let us find a place where we won’t be seen.’

He left the trail and found shelter under a weeping willow tree next to the lake. They dismounted and Valour ambled over to dip her nose into the water to drink.

Marian sat upon the ground at the trunk of the tree.

‘I am reminded of our resting place after running from the peasants’ farm,’ the captain remarked as he joined her.

She remembered every moment of their being together, but now was not a time for memories. ‘Why did you warn us about the Horse Guards?’

He looked surprised by her question. ‘So the soldiers might get away. If not, there would be injuries and arrests. I never wanted that.’

She shook her head. ‘You did not want the march to take place at all.’

‘There is no fear of arrest if no one breaks the law.’ He spoke as if this should be self-evident.

‘But then the plight of the soldiers could be further ignored.’ She lifted her palms, realising she was starting their old debate. ‘Did you not risk arrest by being there?’

He glanced away, then met her gaze. ‘I had to save you.’

Valour ambled over and nudged her. She reached up and
patted the horse’s neck until Valour spied a spot of grass nearby to nibble.

Marian turned back to the captain. ‘I never wanted anyone to be arrested. Or hurt. That is why I planned it the way I did, to only show that the soldiers could be a force to be reckoned with if their needs were not met—’

He interrupted her. ‘You
planned
it?’

She nodded and went on. ‘There was to be no rabble-rousing. No speeches. Just a demonstration of force and the delivery of a list of demands.’

He touched her arm. ‘You were the leader?’

‘It was my idea. All my idea,’ she admitted. ‘I involved others only because I knew no soldier would follow a woman.’

‘You enlisted Yost?’

She would not answer him.

He shook his head. ‘I am not spying now, if that is what you fear. In fact, today I shall resign from the Home Office.’

‘Why?’ she asked, astonished.

He leaned back against the tree. ‘I kept hearing my father’s voice telling me to do what was right. I finally decided to listen to him.’ He glanced away for a moment. ‘Sidmouth’s tactics were not right.’

‘But you knew he was doing nefarious things like hiring provocateurs and still you worked for him,’ she accused.

His eyes narrowed. ‘I needed to protect you. I could only do that by remaining with the Home Office and learning what I could from Sidmouth and his men.’ He took a breath. ‘I did not believe the rumours of Sidmouth’s provocateurs, that is, until he hired Edwin.’

Her jaw dropped. ‘He hired Edwin?’

The captain nodded. ‘Edwin boasted of being hired as a provocateur.’ His expression turned doleful. ‘But I do not suppose you will believe any of this now.’

A day before she would believe nothing he said, but everything seemed different under this tree, next to the water, no
one else around. ‘Did Sidmouth truly ask you to use me to spy on Yost?’

He stared at her. ‘Yes. And I agreed.’ He gave her an anguished look. ‘But once I’d been with you, I knew I would tell him nothing I learned at your house.’

She waved that away. ‘Did he ask Edwin to use me to spy on Yost as well?’

He nodded. ‘I fear so.’

She dropped her head into her hands for a moment. ‘Why on earth did Edwin wish to work for Sidmouth?’

The captain rubbed his brow. ‘I have no idea.’

Marian felt as if her insides were shredding into bits. Her own cousin had been working against her. Not the captain.

He added, ‘Edwin never knew you were involved. I am certain of that.’

Would Edwin have cared? she wondered. At least the captain’s work with the Home Office had been grounded in his beliefs about government and law. Edwin had no such strong convictions. She doubted Edwin would have experienced any conflict over using her to get what he wanted. She believed the captain genuinely had. She, on the other hand, had been as single-minded as Edwin.

Marian’s thoughts and emotions were a jumble. ‘I risked too much, did I not?’

He searched her face. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I was outraged by the government’s neglect of the soldiers, so I planned something grand to show they had better pay attention. I see it all differently now. I thought I was so clever, that I had thought of everything. My march would not be violent like Spa Fields. My march would succeed, unlike the Blanketeers.’ She paused. ‘I did not think of the cost, that men might be arrested and hung because of my vanity.’

He took her into his arms and held her close. ‘It was not vanity, was it? I would never doubt your loyalty to the soldiers.’

She nestled against him. ‘Do you think some men were arrested?’

‘I think they all scattered in the nick of time.’ His voice soothed her. ‘I see things differently as well. My work had as much to do with ambition as the lofty principle I espoused.’ He lifted her face with his finger. ‘Perhaps I am as vain as you are.’

She smiled and settled against him once more. ‘Well, I have learned my lesson. I will think of others from now on, not myself.’

‘You make it sound as if you are like Domina.’

They both laughed.

She felt him take a deep breath. ‘We need to get you home before anyone sees you dressed as a boy.’ He helped her rise and they walked over to Valour. ‘I will tell you that I am still ambitious, Marian. I still want to become an M.P., but not at any cost. It is now more important for me to do what is right. As my father said.’

She hugged him close.

He broke away, but she felt a camaraderie with him that surpassed even what they’d had in Belgium.

‘Come.’ He smiled. ‘I will take you home, then busy myself composing my letter of resignation.’

When he moved to help her mount Valour, she stopped him. ‘Wait a while before resigning from the Home Office.’

‘Why?’ he sounded surprised.

‘If you resign today, Sidmouth might blame this failure of the Horse Guards on you. Wait a while and find some other excuse to resign.’ She thought some more. ‘In fact, if anyone reports seeing you at the march, you must explain that you were the one who broke it up. That is the truth, and you might as well take credit for it.’

He gaped at her. ‘By God, you are scheming to rescue me again.’

Her brows knitted. ‘I was thinking of your desire to become
an M.P. This must not ruin it. I could not bear it.’ Then she smiled. ‘And I do owe you a rescue or two.’

She threw her arms around him again, holding on tight and pressing her cheek against his chest. ‘I am so sorry, Captain. So sorry for doubting you. So sorry for the things I said to you.’

He lifted her chin. ‘Then perhaps you must make it up to me.’

‘How?’ she cried. How could she possibly repay him for what he’d done for her?

‘Marry me,’ he murmured.

Her eyes widened and she took a breath. ‘I will not marry you to make it up to you.’

He turned away with an expression of pain.

She clutched him to her, rising on tiptoe. ‘I will marry you because I love you, and nothing will stop me this time.’

An urgent sound escaped his lips before he crushed them against hers in a kiss that made her forget about spies and marches and everything but him.

‘Take me home, Captain,’ she whispered. ‘And never be parted from me again.’