Surrender the Stars (43 page)

All his instincts told him he was not alone, yet his eyes and ears could not confirm his suspicions. It was time for Harry and Lord Chadwick to arrive, so Ryan couldn't afford even to move, let alone investigate.

Harry emerged from the shadows first, strolling leisurely toward the arbor. He looked around, then withdrew a flask from his breast pocket and drank deeply. A cloud passed over the moon just as the Earl of Chadwick came into view.

"Fancy meeting you here." Harry chuckled softly.

"Spare me your feeble attempts at wit and get on with it," Chadwick hissed. Drawing his cloak closer about his slight form, he looked left and right from under a beaver hat.

"I'll be happy to get on with it as soon as you tell me what you intend to pay me."

"That depends on the worth of your information, Brandreth."

"I've told you that I won't settle for a shilling less than two hundred pounds."

"I have it, but I'm not turning it over to you until I hear what you have to say. To be honest, I've been waiting for a communication from Admiral Cockburn regarding the information you've sold me so far. Because of the distance and time involved, I really have no idea whether what you've imparted thus far has been of any value or not!" Chadwick agitatedly took snuff. "Now that I know your father-in-law, I find myself wondering why he would confide all of these so-called secrets to a bumbling imbecile like you!"

Harry went red in the moonlight. "Are you insulting me, Chadwick?"

"Don't be an ass, Brandreth. Next you'll be calling me out. What a joke! Just tell me what you feel is worth two hundred pounds and we'll go from there."

Drawing himself up, Harry intoned, "I have very fresh news regarding the American campaign in the Chesapeake Bay. They think they have a 'secret weapon' that could win the war for them! Have you heard of a Commodore Joshua Barney?"

Icy calm with rage, Coleraine stepped around the corner of the arbor, his pistol pointed at the two conspirators. "I think you've said
more
than enough, Harry. I hope you two won't mind cutting this little meeting short and coming back to Grosvenor Square with me for an interview with Captain Raveneau?"

Knowing the delayed firing time and inaccuracy of the pistol, Chadwick felt perfectly safe in drawing out the knife he held under his cloak. He lunged straight at Ryan, surprising the two other men with his agility and ruthless strength.

"Let it go," he snarled, pressing the blade to Ryan's corded neck. "I said, Drop the pistol! I can assure you, old man, that I have no qualms whatsoever about killing you outright."

"That's doubtless your intention, anyway," Ryan replied in deadly tones.

At that moment, a slim, masked figure emerged from the other side of the arbor. The young man's hair was concealed by a hat pulled low over his ears and he was clad, like Ryan, all in black. In his hands, he held a large pistol.

"Halt!" the figure commanded in rather unconvincing bass tones. "Release that man or I shall shoot!"

Chapter 30

June 26, 1814

Ryan, his head forced back at an awkward angle while the sharp blade of a knife pressed against his throat, hardly knew whether to laugh or cry at the sight of Lindsay brandishing a pistol.

"And who might you be?" Lord Chadwick sneered. "Raveneau's bodyguard?"

"Never mind that," Lindsay retorted gruffly. "I may not be powerful, but I can assure you that I am highly skilled with a pistol. If you value your life, unhand Mr. Raveneau!"

Harry had been sidling toward her as she spoke and now Lindsay couldn't decide what to do. If she turned the pistol on him, or even went so far as to wound him, Chadwick might well go ahead and kill Ryan, then take his chances with her.

"Halt, sir!" she thundered at Harry.

He laughed softly. "I have an idea that this mysterious masked stranger just might be my adorable sister-in-law. You wouldn't shoot
me,
would you, Lindsay? Mouette would never forgive you!"

"I'm warning you..." Lindsay pulled the hammer back with her thumb. "And as for your wife, she would probably thank me!"

"Harsh words, my little hellion. I find such devotion to your brother quite touching. One might also suspect that your relationship ran deeper! I have heard
rumors..."

Ryan, meanwhile, was burning with rage and frustration. He couldn't even speak without risking the blade, and it would certainly do Lindsay no good if he were dead. His entire body was tensed as he watched Harry taunt her, edging closer, and then he held his breath when Lindsay put a finger over the trigger.

"I'll shoot you, Harry," she warned with deadly calm. "I won't aim to kill, but one never can be quite sure with these pistols, can one?"

Brandreth cocked his handsome blond head at her, measuring her, then smiled as he made his decision. "You're feisty for a female, m'dear, but you don't have it in you." Jauntily, he strolled toward her, then froze as Lindsay pulled back on the trigger. The pistol clicked but didn't fire. Harry's eyes narrowed. "Little witch!" he hissed.

She stared at the pistol in horror and heard her heart pounding in her ears. Harry lunged at her, wrenched the weapon away, then angrily struck her over the head with it. Stars flashed before her eyes as she sank to the ground.

"Shall I kill her?" he asked Chadwick.

"Don't be a fool," the older man returned coldly. "All we need to do is to incapacitate the pair of them, then we'll be safely away before they awake."

Although he longed to take the risk and fight back, Ryan knew that the odds were stacked too heavily against him. When Harry approached, brandishing the pistol, he recognized the contempt in Ryan's midnight-blue eyes.

"You're a swine, Brandreth," he dared to whisper, his nostrils flaring.

"And you are a fool, Raveneau." With that, Harry brought the butt of the pistol down over his head and Ryan crumpled to the ground.

Although stunned, he was not unconscious. Lying limp, he prayed that they wouldn't decide to slit his throat after all. Instead, he heard Chadwick mutter, "Well, this has turned into a right mess, and we have troubles enough without risking being arrested for murder. Although, if I could be certain that no one else knew about us, I wouldn't hesitate to kill these two...."

"What do you intend to do, then?"

"We'll go away—immediately. I had planned to rendezvous at sea with my intermediary, a courier who will be en route to America. As much as it pains me, I suppose I must allow you to accompany me, if only to keep you from telling what you know to all of London."

"My marriage is finished," Harry moaned. "The Raveneaus will see me dead if I stay here."

"Quite. For myself, this sort of thing could get very messy. It might spell the end of my career in the House if a controversy erupts now. After the war's been won and I have proved a credit to our cause because of my spying, it will be different. Once your meddling in-laws leave town, I could return and plead my case without their arguments."

"Brilliant thinking, my lord!"

"The solution seems to lie in dropping out of sight for a time. There's a large debt I've put off collecting. The debtor himself lives not far from our destination at sea. No doubt he'd hide us until the Raveneau family returns to America."

"There's nothing else to be done, then, is there?"

"Nothing except elude the Raveneaus. You realize that if they capture us, they could take us back to America to stand trial as spies?" Chadwick stared down at Ryan's prone body. "Or they might save themselves the trouble and simply do away with us. I can't imagine that your father-in-law will be pleased to learn of your treachery, Brandreth."

"Well, then, let's be off before these two awaken. I only wish we had some rope with which to tie them up!"

"The less evidence they have against us, the better. Since Nathan Raveneau doesn't have any inkling of our plans, he'll never find us. Let's be away now."

His voice fading into the distance, Harry replied, "Besides, Nathan's too stupid to outmaneuver us. I wouldn't be surprised if that blow to the head destroyed whatever intelligence he had to begin with."

Listening to the sound of their footsteps die away, Ryan clenched his teeth as raw fury coursed through his body. Somehow he remained motionless on the ground, counting off the minutes, then slowly raised his head and looked around. In the distance there was only blackness; not even a shadow could be seen. Across the arbor, Lindsay had begun to moan softly. Lithely, Ryan got to his feet and crossed to her side.

"Lindsay, can you hear me?" Cradling her head against his thigh, he looked for blood in her hair and was relieved to see that the blow Harry had dealt hadn't been as serious as he'd feared.

"Ryan?" she murmured groggily.

"I'm right here, sweetheart, and you're safe. Can you open your eyes?"

Her sooty lashes fluttered once, then lifted to reveal focused gray eyes. Lindsay even managed a tremulous smile. "Are you terribly angry with me?"

"Are you joking? I'm far too relieved—and worried—to be angry. Thank God you're all right. When I saw Harry strike you with that pistol butt, I wanted to kill him—and I may yet," Ryan told her grimly. "How do you feel, angel?"

"My head hurts and I'm a bit dizzy, but otherwise I'm all right." She basked for a moment in his intensely concerned and loving gaze, then murmured impishly, "I'll wager that you yell at me once you're certain I'm not injured."

"Nonsense," Ryan returned gently, kissing her brow. He stared distractedly into the darkness. "My only concern is getting you home—and then figuring out how to track down those two scoundrels. If Brandreth and Chadwick imagine that they can escape so easily, they're in for a tremendous surprise."

* * *

"I cannot believe that you followed me after I specifically ordered you not to!" Ryan shouted at Lindsay from across her bedroom.

Propped against thick pillows, her burnished curls cascading over her shoulders, she smiled. "I knew that you would scold me." Pretending to examine a fingernail, she added, "Besides, I didn't follow you. I took an entirely different route and arrived before you did."

"That's not the issue!" he raged, approaching the bed.

"What is the issue?" Lindsay inquired sweetly.

"The issue is that I cannot go through the rest of our lives worrying that you will be forever disobeying me—"

"Disobeying?" she repeated in mocking tones. "Do you intend to be my master?"

"No, of course not, but—"

"If that is the arrangement you have in mind, Captain Coleraine, you may as well search out a different wife because I happen to believe that my intelligence and opinions are a match for any
man's."

"I am well aware of that. It's just that—"

"I will not be bullied by you or anyone else!"

Exasperated, yet half amused and quite captivated, Ryan clamped a dark hand over her mouth. "My darling brat, will you do me the courtesy of allowing me to speak?"

"Mmph!" Her delicate brows flew upward.

"Thank you very much." Keeping the hand in place, he narrowed his eyes at her, but they sparkled with humor. "I am simply concerned that you might get yourself killed by rushing off wildly into dangerous situations after I have warned you not to. I worry that I will spend the next, uh—"

"Sheventy yearsh," Lindsay supplied in muffled tones.

"Seventy years looking over my shoulder in fear that you are about to leap out of the shadows brandishing a pistol!" Removing his hand, Ryan bent to kiss her tenderly. "My darling, you could have been killed tonight."

"So could you," she whispered mutinously.

He arched a black brow, hoping to silence her. "It wasn't the place for a female, though, especially one masquerading as a boy! Those men were playing by a deadly set of rules."

"But, Ryan—" Although her head had begun to throb, she would never have admitted it to him. "If my pistol hadn't jammed, this would have all turned out very differently. I would have wounded Harry and Lord Chadwick would have been forced to release you. It wasn't my fault that the silly thing wouldn't fire! What if I'd saved the entire situation? I'll wager you would be showering me with kisses of gratitude right now rather than scolding me!"

"I have never doubted your intentions, Lindsay, but even if all had gone perfectly and we had captured those men due to your courage, I would still be upset with you for taking such a risk. You must promise me that you won't do anything so foolish again."

"No."

He reared back in surprise, staring. "Pardon me?"

"I will not promise any such thing. I couldn't! If, at some point in the future, I believed that you were in danger and I could help, I would have to break my word. I'm sorry, Ryan, but if you have your heart set on an obedient wife, you'll have to look elsewhere."

Shaking his head, he closed his eyes and made a sound that mingled laughter with a sigh. "I should have known, that night on the wharf in Pettipauge, when you appeared in the thick of battle to throw buckets of water on that fire..."