Moonlight Rebel (48 page)

"I have the power to override any orders you have," the Count raged.

"I'm afraid not." Sin-Jin remained firm. "But you may come with us if you wish. You might be able to persuade the general to put the woman in your custody."

It would be an inconvenience, but Andrej's craving for vengeance and his lust for Krystyna were too great to deny. "Very well, I shall get my carriage."

A carriage would attract too much attention. "Only a horse, I'm afraid, sir. We need to travel quickly," Sin-Jin commanded.

Andrej threw up his hands in disgust. "Afraid, afraid," he parroted. "You keep saying you are afraid, but you are not afraid at all." He glared at Krystyna, willing her to cringe. When she didn't, that was all the fuel he needed. "All right, I shall get my horse and go with you, you damn upstart!"

They made their way out of the house slowly, Sin-Jin holding a musket on Krystyna and Jason.
 
The Count ambled along next to him, muttering under his breath.

"We'll need a horse for the young woman," Sin-Jin called as Andrej went to the stables to have his own mount saddled.

"She can ride with me," Andrej threw over his shoulder. At least that would be some compensation for this miserable business.

"I would prefer that she have her own mount if you don't mind." There was no arguing with the authority in Sin-Jin's voice.

Andrej glared as he went off. He would get his revenge on that one too, he promised himself, as soon as they got to General Howe. He had the general's ear, as well as several interesting items the man would not wish to be made public. The general would let him have his way.

Andrej brought out two horses. Sin-Jin already had his own and Jason's at hand. The Count thrust the reins of one mount into Sin-Jin's hand. "Do you want a plume for the horse's head as well?"

The belittling look in Sin-Jin's eyes cut Andrej's sarcasm dead. "That will not be necessary, Count." Sin-Jin turned toward Krystyna. "Do you need help mounting?"

"I do not need your help." She grasped the saddle horn and swung herself up easily. How could he do this? After what they had been through together, how could he betray her this way? Had she been so wrong in her judgment of his character? Had she been so wrong about everything?

And why wasn't Jason doing anything? It wasn't like him to just let this happen to them. He could overpower John. He was broader and more muscular. And she could certainly help. What was wrong?

She looked at Jason. His face was expressionless. Surely he must know by now that she could be counted on to help him if he needed it.

But Jason gave her no sign.

Something was afoot, she could feel it.

They rode for nearly half an hour, Andrej's constant complaining marking the way. He hated riding, hated the heat, hated everything.

"There is no need to take the woman along. You do not have to make a full report," he said to Sin-Jin. "I am sure that that one," he indicated Jason, "would have been enough for the general."

"I have my orders." Sin-Jin didn't even bother looking at the Count. The man's whining was getting on his nerves.

"Bah, orders. Orders can be bought off, you mindless peasant. Besides, this is all for nothing. They will not hang him. They are only hanging men like that young schoolteacher I led them to." He jerked a thumb at his chest importantly. "The general owes me a great deal for that one."

Jason reined in his horse and turned around. "Move on, you dog," Andrej ordered.

But Jason didn't. He put his hand over Andrej's reins. Andrej looked toward Sin-Jin, but the man remained where he was. What was happening here? Why wasn't the soldier making Jason desist?

"What schoolteacher?"

"I will not be addressed in that manner," Andrej shouted indignantly. He looked expectantly toward Sin-Jin.

"What schoolteacher?" Jason demanded again, his voice rising.

Andrej saw that they weren't going to resume traveling until he answered Jason's stupid question. "I think his name was Nathan Hollow or something like that."

"Hale?" Jason asked quietly. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears. Dear God, don't let it be Nathan.

"Yes, that was it. Hale. Now can we get on with this accursed journey?"

Jason held onto the reins. "What did you do with him?"

"I turned him in as a traitor, although he was not a traitor in my eyes. I have no allegiances here, except to money. Right now, being with the British suits my purposes. Turning in the boy put them in my debt."

"What happened to him?"

Krystyna stared at Andrej in renewed horror, waiting for him to answer Jason's question.

"Are you going to let him address me in that fashion?" the Count demanded hotly.

Sin-Jin made no reply.

"Answer me!" Jason grabbed Andrej by his jacket.

"I told you. They hung him!" the Count said nastily. He pulled himself free. "He said some stupid thing about having only one life to give for his country. Ridiculous sentiment, but . . . What are you doing?" he cried as Jason pulled him from his horse.

Jason landed a blow to the Count's face and then hammered at him with his fists until the man fell, screaming, to the ground.

Sin-Jin grabbed hold of Jason's arm, restraining him from beating Andrej to death. The Count was already unconscious and bloodied. "Jason, what's the matter? What's this all about?"

Krystyna was beside him. There were no words of comfort she could offer. She knew the hollowness that sprang up inside when death came to claim someone dear. "Nathan was his cousin." Her eyes filled with tears as she remembered the gentle man who had walked beside her by the stream at Christmastime.

Chapter Forty Two
 

Krystyna placed a hand on Jason's shoulder. The gesture communicated her sympathy for what he was going through. They had a mutual communion brought about by loss. She glanced down at Andrej. "Are you going to kill him?"

"No." Jason drew in a breath, trying to steady the turmoil within him. "I'll see he suffers the same fate as Nathan. General Greene's camp isn't far from here. I'll take him there, and he'll be hung as a spy." One step at a time, Jason counseled himself. Take one step at a time. Steeling his mind, he fought back the grief that threatened to overwhelm him. He walked away from them, to be apart in his pain.

At this moment there wasn't anything she could say to lessen the sharp sting of anguish. She knew that. She followed Jason with her eyes, but left him to his grief, turning to Sin-Jin. "I do not understand all of this. Are you part of us?"

Sin-Jin smiled. "So, it's become 'us' now, has it? When I once asked you if you were part of 'them,' you told me you were part of 'you,' remember?"

Why did that seem so long ago? She felt as if she had lived through an eternity in these last few months. "I remember." But he still hadn't answered her question. "Have you left the British?"

"I will always be British," Sin-Jin told her with a careless smile, "but I have decided to leave the army. A sudden whim," was all he said in answer to the question in her eyes. "Jason and I threw our resources together in order to follow your trail and find you." He looked down at the unconscious man at their feet. "Nasty business, this spying. Suits him." He nodded at Andrej.

She couldn't keep the loathing out of her eyes. "He had my father murdered. I will enjoy seeing him die," she said quietly.

"He had your father murdered?" Sin-Jin repeated. He waited for her to explain.

"Yes. The people who brought about Poland's partition feared my father would return eventually. They knew of his influence, of the charismatic effect he had on people." Her voice took on a fond note as she remembered. "My father's people would have followed him into hell. He came here because of me." She looked toward Jason and her heart ached anew. "Excuse me, please."

Sin-Jin nodded as he took a rope from Jason's saddle. He watched her and Jason in silence as he bound the Count's hands behind him.

Krystyna came up behind Jason softly and placed her hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at her. Unshed tears shimmered in his eyes. "I am so sorry, Jason. I knew him only a very short time, but he was a fine, gentleman. He has gone to his reward, like my father before him." As she spoke these last words, her eyes hardened and a spark of fire entered them. "And Andrej will pay for his treachery."

Jason nodded, his hands clenched at his sides. "That he will. General Greene's at Fort Sullivan. I heard my father say so before all this blew up. They'll make short work of Malinowski there." Jason let out a long breath, which didn't ease the ache in his chest. "But it won't bring Nathan back."

"No, it will not." Krystyna let her hand drop to Jason's arm, trying to reach this man shrouded in despair. "But it will help you live with yourself if you see the man responsible for his death brought to justice."

He took her hand in his and smiled sadly. "You seem to understand the way I feel." He paused a moment as he looked into her eyes, those eyes he loved so well. "Do you know, when I couldn't find you, I thought my world had ended. I've never felt like that before." He smiled as he looked into her eyes. "I suppose I'll just have to marry you to keep you under careful scrutiny."

Marriage. He wanted to make her his wife. Something within her began to sing, but she had had to deal with too many disappointments in the last year. She couldn't let herself believe what she was hearing.

"I will not have your pity just because I am alone. Though you feel — "

"My pity?" Jason bracketed her shoulders with his hands as he stared at her in disbelief. "Princess, you have my adoration, my undying loyalty, my boundless lust —and my love. You'll never have my pity. I never met anyone who needed pity less than you do."

Still she was afraid that he'd regret what he was saying to her in the heat of the moment. "You are only agitated by the situation. You may be making a commitment that you will regret later, so please do not continue, because . . . because . . ."

She couldn't finish. There was a huge lump in her throat.

Jason's temper was ragged and short. He had thought her lost, possibly dead, and now had learned that his beloved cousin had been hung as a spy. He had no patience left to draw on. "I have never told a woman I loved her before, and I don't intend to do it again and have it flung in my face, so you had better listen closely, Krystyna." His hold tightened on her shoulders, his eyes on hers. His gaze was dark and angry. "I don't know why, but I love you, love you to the point that I have a pain in my gut from thinking of you, dreaming of you. Your face, your hair, your body. I've had more than my share of women, and not a one of them has left me with the emotions, the feelings that you have conjured up within me. Lay my declaration to whatever reason you will, I love you. And you, you damned, impertinent princess — "

"Countess," she corrected, but her eyes were soft.

" — love me!" His eyes dared her to deny it.

There was no point in refuting what he said. He knew it to be true. "Yes, I do. You have known that since the first time you kissed me. There is no reason to say otherwise."

"Then for God's sake, will you marry me?" Almost shouting the proposal, he saw Sin-Jin grinning at him and thought the man should be boiled in oil. Slowly.

"Do you really mean that?"

It was the first time he had seen her hesitate. It endeared her to him all the more. "Krystyna, how else am I to make you understand that without you there is no meaning to my life? If I can't have you, I don't want anything else, but if I have you, then the world is at my feet. I just can't say it any plainer than that. Now, will you marry me, or will you make me suffer through a life without you?"

She smiled. "I shall make you suffer with me."

He took her into his arms and kissed her warmly. With her body against his, the ache in Jason's heart, caused by Nathan's death, began to ease a little. Nathan had died as bravely as he had lived, and for the principles he had believed in. That sealed Jason's commitment to the war. And now he really had something to live for and to fight for. This land had to be free for them, and for their children and all the generations that would follow.

He smoothed her long, black hair away from her face. "You won't be sorry," he promised.

"I know that," she whispered. Her eyes fluttered shut as he kissed her again, and for the first time since she had left the shores of her homeland, Krystyna felt whole.

"I don't mean to break this up," Sin-Jin called over to them, "but our friend is coming around and I think we had better be on our way."

Quickly, they hurried over to him. "Krystyna and I are going to be married," Jason stated proudly.

"Doesn't surprise me," Sin-Jin said drily. He supposed that she had been lost to him before he had ever come on the scene. He made the best of it as he always did. But he hadn't expected this news that he had known was coming to sting when he heard it.

Sin-Jin looked down at the bound man at their feet. "Do you still want to take him to the fort?"

"More than ever," Jason replied. "But we can't take you along, not dressed like that. Provided you want to come with us."

"I have nowhere else to go," Sin-Jin reminded Jason. "And there is your sister." There was a twinkle in his eyes. "But you're right. I can't very well march into the fort in this red coat. Makes too good a target."

"We brought clothes along for Jason, in case his were badly torn," Krystyna told him. "They should fit you." Hurriedly, she went to Jason's horse. The clothes were still there in the saddlebag. She handed them to Sin-Jin.

"Give me a moment and I shall look just like a Colonial." He looked around, but there were no trees handy, no bushes. Both men looked expectantly at Krystyna. She grinned, and then turned around obligingly.

Her back to Sin-Jin, she looked down at Andrej who was just regaining consciousness. "You shall pay for everything," she promised in their native tongue. "And I shall pray that your soul, if you have one, shall roast in hell for eternity."

The Count looked at her, panic in his eyes. "Krystyna, Countess, please. For the sake of our homeland — "