Moonlight Rebel (50 page)

Lucinda firmly pushed her aside. "We'll ask questions later," she ordered, taking charge. "Let me help." She raised her arms up to receive her husband's limp body, fighting to keep her tears back. Let him be alive, oh please, God, let him be alive.

"Stand back before he falls on you, girl," Morgan ordered, elbowing her out of the way. He took his firstborn into his arms. Jeremiah helped Aaron slide from the saddle, then dismounted himself. He reached out to take back his burden.

But Morgan shook his head. "No, I'm not that feeble yet. I'll carry my son." It was the first time any of them had ever heard pride in his voice when he referred to Aaron.

"Jeremiah, is he . . . ?" Lucinda couldn't make herself say the word.

"No, Miz Lu, he just needs tendin' to. Caught a bullet while we was escapin'." He looked at Morgan. "Brave thing he done. Mast'r Jase sent him home."

Morgan turned. He had assumed, when only two returned that the others were dead. "Jason? Then he's free?"

"Yes, sir. He's free. He done went to give the money to the man who set it all up. Loose ends, he said, needed tyin'."

"Thank God," Morgan murmured under his breath.

Marwilda appeared at the door as they walked into the house. Alerted by Lucinda's tone, she had rushed to gather the things she would need to tend to the wounded. Morgan placed his son gently on the daybed, confident that if Aaron could be saved, the large black woman would be the one to do it.

"Where's Krystyna?" Christopher asked suddenly.

It was only then that they realized they hadn't even thought of her. Lucinda felt ashamed.

It was Jeremiah who answered the silent question in everyone's eyes. "She went with Mast'r Jase."

"God bless them both," Lucinda murmured as she held
onto her husband's hand. God had already granted her one miracle, perhaps there was another He could spare.

Chapter Forty Five

General Greene was his own law and order. What he decreed, stood. There was no court to appeal to and no one to provide a defense for the accused.

On the basis of Jason's story and Thaddeus' verification that Andrej had been a treacherous man back in Poland, Greene found Andrej guilty of treason. The proceeding was over in an hour.

Now Andrej paced about his small, dark cell. Raw, naked fear was written on his face as his heart raced deep within his chest. Desperately searching for a way out, he nervously ran his hands through his thinning hair, scratching his scalp and drawing blood.

Why had he come to this accursed country? Why hadn't he been content just to keep what he had acquired when he had seized Krystyna's lands? His overwhelming greed had gotten him into this. That and his desire to avenge the insult Krystyna had dealt him by spurning his proposal.

Krystyna. Why had he ever allowed himself to be so overpowered by his desire for her? He had always wanted to grasp everything just beyond his reach. It was part arrogance, part fate that he was the captive of his cravings.

And now they had brought him to this. Damn them! But he would get out of this. And he would see his enemies die. He would personally send them all to hell.

The door to his cell creaked open, and two soldiers clad in blue entered.

"What is it you want? No, no, let me go!" he pleaded as each man took one of his arms.

"General says it's time," one soldier said. There was loathing in his eyes for the man who squirmed between them as they dragged him out onto the grounds.

"Time, time for what?" the Count demanded hysterically. Before him stood a crowd of soldiers. And Krystyna. God damn her.

With a superhuman lunge, Andrej pulled himself free and threw his arms around her. His bravado dissolved into tearful whimpers as he sank down at her feet. "Please, please, I do not want to die! I cannot die. Not now. I am not ready!"

Jason pulled him roughly to his feet, thrusting him at the two soldiers.

"My father was not ready to die, either," Krystyna said, her eyes cold and dispassionate. "And neither was Nathan. He was only twenty-one. How many will we save today by executing you?"

"None, none, I swear it. I shall reform. I shall give away all my money to the poor. To the Poles. To you." He turned and looked at Greene, the wild look of a trapped animal in his eyes. "I promise. Only, please, please make them set me free!" He trembled, tears glistening on his fat cheeks.

Krystyna turned away. Jason placed an arm around her shoulders.

Andrej would not stand on the hastily constructed scaffold. He wouldn't rise off his knees. The two soldiers who had taken him from his cell were forced to hold him up as the noose was placed around his neck.

To the last, Andrej kept pleading and screaming. The few words General Greene said for the good of the Count's soul were drowned out by the man's desperate ravings.

And then it was over. The box was kicked away, and the Count thrashed about in surprised horror until he finally became limp.

Krystyna forced herself to watch, but the sight didn't please her. Vengeance was not such a sweet thing, she discovered. It was hollow. But it was something she had had to exact, if not for her father and for Nathan, then for the next person who would have been betrayed by the Count. Who knew how many others he had sent to the grave one way or another?

"It is over for you at last."

Krystyna looked up to see Thaddeus standing next to her. He took her hand in his. "Your father's murderer has been punished. Now your father can lie peacefully in his grave."

Krystyna nodded numbly. "And others will not have to lie in theirs."

Thaddeus smiled his agreement. "I must attend to something at this moment, but I would like to speak to you when I finish, if I might." He looked toward Jason, who had withdrawn his arm from Krystyna's shoulders when she had addressed him. Thaddeus seemed to be asking Jason's permission, assuming that Krystyna had an attachment to the American.

"Krys is free to do as she chooses," Jason answered stiffly.

"I would like that, Thaddeus," Krystyna told the officer softly.

Around them, the crowd had dispersed and the burial detail had formed to undertake the task of putting the spy into his grave.

"I'll just go on ahead," Sin-Jin volunteered, sensing that Krystyna and Jason needed to be alone as they waited for Thaddeus to return.

Krystyna watched Sin-Jin go, not really seeing him. Her
 
mind
 
was
 
humming
 
with
 
half-a-dozen
 
different thoughts and emotions. Her father's murderer had been made to pay, and Thaddeus was back in her life. There were things to decide, sentiments to lay to rest. Her eyes drifted over to Jason. She saw that his rough, handsome face was lined with concern.

"You're going to go with him, aren't you?" he asked suddenly.

His question caught her completely by surprise, rendering her speechless. How could he even think that after he'd asked her to marry him?

He took her silence to mean that he had guessed correctly. "I thought so." He took a deep breath. This was the hardest thing he had ever done. "Krystyna, I'd do anything in the world to keep you, but you have to follow your heart. I want you with me because you want to stay, not because I make you stay. I wouldn't be able to face that longing look in your eyes. Since the day I met you, all you ever wanted to do was go home. Thaddeus, or whatever his name is," he waved a hand impatiently in the direction the man had taken, "can take you back. I can't. I can't offer you anything but me. You won't be titled here. You'd only be my wife. That's not quite enough to offer someone like you."

Her heart was touched by his words, by what she saw as his sacrifice. She didn't speak for a moment, and then Thaddeus approached them.

"Krystyna," he called. She turned in his direction.

"Go ahead," Jason urged. "I understand. He's waiting."

With that Jason left to join Sin-Jin.

The latter was readying the horses in preparation to leave. He was uneasy in this camp overflowing with American soldiers, afraid that someone might recognize him and think him a spy.

He was surprised to see Jason approaching alone. "Where's Krystyna?"

"She's not coming." Jason refused to look back at the two people he'd left behind him.

"Not coming?" Sin-Jin scowled. "What do you mean, not coming?"

"Just that." He didn't want to talk about it. "I told her to go back to Thaddeus."

"You did what?" Sin-Jin demanded in disbelief.

Jason shrugged. "She's always wanted to go home. He can take her there. Besides, she told me about him once. She was in love with him —probably still is."

Sin-Jin studied the man before him, shaking his head. His voice was kind. "That was all very noble of you, but if you don't mind my saying so, you're a fool." Jason's head shot up as he looked at Sin-Jin. "If she were mine, which she regrettably is not, I would have fought to hang on to her. You don't let someone like that walk out of your life, my friend."

"Sin-Jin, she'll never be happy out here. Her heart is with her home."

"How do you know that?" Sin-Jin demanded. "Have you tried to talk her into staying? What arguments did she raise?"

"None."

"None?" Sin-Jin couldn't believe what he was hearing. The Colonial was crazy. "What did she say about going with him?"

"Nothing. I was the one who told her to go."

Sin-Jin shook his head sadly. "Very noble of you. Stupid, but very noble. God, you're a bigger fool than I thought. Oh well," he sighed, "you still have me."

"I won't comment on that." Jason tried to smile. It didn't quite hide the pain he felt inside.

"So you are happy
 
here?" Thaddeus
 
asked,
 
looking down into Krystyna's face. How she has matured since I last saw her, he thought. She had been a small rosebud back on the dock that day she'd left Poland. Now she was a full-blooming rose smiling into the face of the sun. He envied the man she loved.

"Yes. There is nothing back there for me anymore, only memories. I know that now. Out here, there is life, a new life I want to be a part of."

"I understand." He nodded. "I have the same feelings, the same reasons for being here and helping them fight this war of theirs. But I shall take what I learn back for the good of our own revolution."

"One revolution is enough for me," Krystyna said. "Write to me. Let me know how things turn out. Remember me to all those who were once friends."

"Friends," Thaddeus said, taking her hand and raising it to his lips, "are forever. God has so decreed."

She smiled at him. She was fond of Thaddeus, as she would have been of a beloved older brother. That was all there ever was, she realized. Just a fond affection. Not love. That belonged to Jason alone. And she would always keep it alive.

"Take care of yourself, Krystyna. Keep our heritage alive in this wonderful country."

"I shall," she promised. "I shall." With that, she turned away.

Jason was mounting his horse when Sin-Jin placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. The Englishman grinned as he said, "Look behind you."

Jason turned just as Krystyna reached him.

"Where are you going?" she demanded, out of breath. She had seen him getting ready to leave and had run all the way. "Why are you not waiting for me?"

"Waiting for you?" He looked over her head. In the distance, Thaddeus was watching them. The tall man waved goodbye and then turned away. "But I thought . . . Thaddeus—he could take you home again, just the way you wanted."

Tears stung her eyes as she laughed. "Oh, you big, wonderful fool. Do you not understand anything?" She stood on her toes as she threw her arms around his neck. "You are home. All the home I shall ever need or want."

Sin-Jin grinned as Jason took Krystyna into his arms and kissed her. "That's the second time he's been called a fool today. No," he reconsidered, "the third."

But neither of them was listening to him. They were far too busy to hear.

Marie Ferrarella

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And read the second book in the Moonlight series!

Moonlight Lover

Sin-Jin and the Irish Spitfire!

Rachel needed nothing but her brother and a good musket to hold off the men who came at her like hungry wolves--until Sin-Jin Lawrence taught her what love was really for. 

An unforgiving heart

In the bitter wake of devastating tragedy, Rachel O'Roarke and her brother had fled Ireland to seek refuge on the shores of Colonial America. But Rachel could never forget how the British had destroyed her family, and knew she'd hate them until she died. Then a tall, blond-haired stranger showed up on the doorstep of their Virginia home. His name was St. John Lawrence, he was obviously English…and far too handsome for his own good. Though she vowed to have nothing to do with him, the spirited, flame-haired beauty soon found herself unable to resist his virile charms…especially when he swept her into his arms in the silvery moonlight and claimed her lips in a heart-stirring kiss that made her senses reel and her heart cry out for his loving caress!

An unrelenting passion

St. John had turned his back on his oppressive homeland to throw in his lot with the rebels. But the former officer found himself facing off against a very different kind of adversary when he escorted drunken Riley O'Roarke home…and was confronted by a fiery Irish beauty wielding a loaded musket! Headstrong Rachel made clear that he was unwelcome in her home. But the reluctant passion blazing in her emerald eyes told a different story indeed!  And now all the enflamed Englishman wanted to do was draw her lush curves close against him, kiss her until she begged for more--and posses her forever in love's ultimate embrace! 

Buy it at Amazon now!

The Women's Contemporary Originals from Marie Ferrarella--Read them all!