Chapter Twenty-seven

Gabriel had a fruitful morning, and now he had two more stops to make.

He had picked up the forged papers, and he could not tell the difference from Stanhope’s signature on the original and on the forgery. He also visited the Peregrine, which was being loaded. Crates were being stored in the hold.

He badly wanted to look into one of them, but that might alarm the captain, who might warn Stanhope.

The captain was an older man of hefty girth. The ship looked sloppy, the crew more like brigands than sailors, and they eyed him suspiciously. He was shown the cabin he would have, and it was no more than a mate’s closet. The captain was obviously not pleased to have one of the owners aboard, and Stanhope had not told him to pretend otherwise.

But he dutifully showed him around the ship, and Gabriel inspected the timbers that lined the bottom of the hold. They were rotting, but not enough to make it unseaworthy.

He thanked the captain profusely despite the man’s lack of hospitality. He had also visited the Amelia. The difference between the two ships was like day and night. He was comforted. Monique, Dani, and the Smythes would be safe aboard the latter.

He had one last stop before going back to his lodgings, sending the Smythes to the ship, and finally making sure Monique was aboard.

He rode Specter to Baron Tolvery’s home, gave the horse over to the care of the groom, and asked if the baron was inside.

“Yes, my lord. ’E seldom leaves these days. ’E will be pleased to see ye an’ hear about the ’orse.”

Gabriel climbed the steps leading to the front door and used the door knocker.

A moment, then two, passed before a footman opened the door. Recognition flashed across his face. “My lord,” he acknowledged.

“Is the baron in?”

The footman stood aside. “If you will wait, I will inquire if he can see you.”

Gabriel nodded and allowed himself to be led into a small drawing room. In a matter of seconds the servant was back. “He will see you, my lord. If you would follow me.”

Gabriel followed him into the room where he had met the baron before.

The man struggled to his feet, grabbing a desk as he did so.

“Please do not rise,” Gabriel said.

The man sank back into his chair, a grateful smile on his face. “There is no problem with the horse?” he asked.

“He is everything the groom and you told me he was. And more. I think I received the best of that arrangement.”

“Then sit and tell me to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit.”

“I am not sure it will be a pleasure,” Gabriel said slowly. “I have some information about the Earl of Stanhope, and I do not know where to take it.”

Tolvery’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of information?”

“I am involved with a business arrangement with him, a shipment of muskets and other supplies to troops in Ireland.”

“Is that wise?”

Gabriel stood. “You once asked if there was anything you could do to help.”

“Aye, and you refused.”

“I have changed my mind.”

“Why?” the baron asked bluntly.

“Because you said you had been with the admiralty. You might know people I cannot reach. I do not know who to trust. You might.”

Tolvery’s eyes narrowed.

“I believe Stanhope has sold faulty goods to the army and plans to sink a ship to hide the corruption and receive the insurance on poor or nonexistent goods. I am intended to be on that ship when it goes down.”

“A very serious charge, young Manning.”

“I know that.”

“Can you prove it?”

“Probably only after I am dead. I wanted someone to know what is happening in the event … I am right.”

Tolvery’s eyes gleamed. “Then how …”

“I overheard a conversation between him and Lord Stammel …”

“Stammel is dead. I heard about it today.”

“After an argument with Stanhope.”

“How do you know that?”

“I was there. I overhead everything.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Have someone inspect the crates on the Peregrine. It is the ship contracted by Stanhope to ship supplies to troops. And,” he added, “you might inspect the ship itself.”

“When does it sail?”

“Day after tomorrow.”

“And it is being loaded now?”

“Aye.”

Gabriel watched as the man considered all the information. A gleam enlivened dull blue eyes.

Gabriel reached in the pocket of the cloak he was wearing. “This is what the ship should be carrying. It is the manifest Stanhope gave me. I doubt whether it matches the cargo.”

“And you are sure the ship is not carrying these items.”

“I am betting my life on it. I am also risking it just talking to you about this.”

“You are sure he killed Stammel?”

“They quarreled. Items were missing from rooms and found in Stammel’s. He died hours later.”

Tolvery’s eyes, earlier dulled with pain and age, glinted with new life. “Convenient for you.”

Gabriel permitted himself a small smile. “Thieves cannot help being what they are.” He paused, then added, “I saw Stanhope after it happened. There was no regret. Only a certain eagerness to ensnare a new and obviously temporary business partner.”

“You are playing a dangerous game.”

“Perhaps. You will help?”

“I told you before I owed your father.”

“As you warned me, it could be dangerous. A whisper in the wrong ears.”

“I am an old man with few pleasures and many regrets, young Manning. Perhaps a new battle is what I need.”

“There is someone you can trust?”

“I think so. I cannot guarantee it. Stanhope has information on many ministers who fear him. But there is one man I believe I can trust. I will send a note to an old friend tonight and invite him to join me in the morning.”

“My thanks. Time is of the essence.”

“Should I mention your name?”

“I think it wise not to. Just that someone—perhaps a sailor who once served with you—noted something strange.”

Gabriel wondered how much more he could say. He had the forged documents tucked on the inside of his cloak. He planned to get them inside Stanhope’s home tonight. That was essential. They would show that Stanhope purchased far fewer goods than showed on the ship’s manifest.

“There is a safe in his home where he keeps all his private papers,” Gabriel finally said. “I have seen them there. If there is anything … that invites suspicion on the ship, then you might well find something in that safe.”

“You, of course, would have no idea of what someone might find?”

“Stanhope is arrogant. He believes he is smarter than anyone else. He would not think to destroy papers.”

“Let us hope you are right, Manning. Or is it Manchester?”

“It is Manning,” Gabriel said. “I detest the title.”

“You are a rarity then,” Tolvery said.

Gabriel shrugged. “You will let me know what happens?”

“I will have Jock, my groom, find you as soon as I know.”

Gabriel stood. “My thanks.”

“It is little enough to compensate for what I should have done years ago.”

“Nonetheless, it is dangerous to cross Stanhope.”

Tolvery started to stand as well.

“It is not necessary,” Gabriel said.

“Yes, it is,” Tolvery said as he struggled to his feet, reached for a cane, and balanced himself on it. “I wish you and my son had been friends. I think you would have liked each other.”

“One thing more,” Gabriel said.

Tolvery waited.

“Stanhope has a daughter. Her name is Pamela. She is an innocent. Wise and kind. She has a young man, a medical student. If anything happens to me, will you look after her? Make sure she can get to her young man, that his family is not harmed.”

The baron nodded. “I will do that for the lad I did not assist so many years ago.”

“It is over,” Gabriel said. “Any debt has been paid.”

There was nothing more to say. Tolvery limped to the door. He offered his hand, and Gabriel took it, then took his leave.

He retrieved his horse and looked at his pocket watch. Three. He was to see Monique at four and get his answer. He had never been a religious man, but now he prayed she had decided to go to America with the Smythes, even though his brain told him the woman he knew would not surrender so easily.

Despite the complications, his heart quickened at the thought of seeing her. He mounted Specter, and the horse seemed to capture his anticipation.

He wondered what she had been doing this day, whether she planned to go to the theater tonight. A last performance, one way or another. Either by her choice or by his. The thought saddened him. He was asking her to give up something she loved, something at which she excelled. As he excelled at the sea. Could he give up the sea for her?

He did not know. His stomach churned at the decisions they both would be making this night.

The two bulky men sent by the detective were exactly what Monique wanted. They were polite. Their eyes were intelligent, not cruel, and they listened intently.

She was not sure she would use them, but she wanted them available.

She’d given them instructions earlier. They were to wait across from her home this evening. She wanted them there when she returned from the theater.

When she needed them, she would place a light in the window. Then they were to come to the back door. The door would be open. She gave them ten pounds each, and told them there would be another ten pounds later. She emphasized that she wanted no one hurt, just carried to a ship.

One looked shocked. “You ain’t wanting us to have ’im impressed?”

“No,” she said. “Nothing like that. He has booked passage for friends. I am afraid he might be in danger here, but he is like every other man. He believes he can conquer anything and everyone.” She gave them a soulful look. “I plan to meet him in America. I love him. You understand, do you not? I only wish him to be safe.”

They looked at each other, then seemed to exchange some unsaid message. “We will be waiting.”

That was several hours ago, and she had faith they would be in position tonight.

She checked the small bottle of laudanum she had tucked inside a drawer in her bedroom. It should be easy to pour a few drops into his wine. All she had to do was convince him to share that wine tonight, and to linger awhile.

She looked at the clock in the room. She said she would give him an answer this afternoon at four. She would lie and tell him yes, she would go with him. That was the one way she could bring him back tonight.

The prospect was agonizing. She had become quite proficient at lying. In truth, they had been lying to each other since they’d first met. But now they had shared truths. Not all of them to be sure, but some. She understood much about him, but she knew he did not—could not—share all her truths.

Which was the greatest lie? That to make him safe, or that to make herself safe from his contempt? For how could he not have contempt for the blood of the man who had destroyed his father? She wondered even now whether that was another reason for tonight’s act.

He would never know that he had made love to the daughter of his enemy.

She looked in the mirror, felt the hot pull of tears behind her eyes. She did not cry. She had not cried since her mother’s death. She had been stoic most of her life, accepting what had to be accepted and making the best of what came.

But then she had a goal. What would she do when her goal had been reached? When Stanhope was dead or in prison? When the need to avenge her mother no longer crowded away every other emotion?

How very empty she would be without Manchester, with his amused eyes and slow smile and gentle yet very passionate touch.

A solitary tear fell.

Gabriel paused at Monique’s residence. He had not had time to return to his own.

He could only hope that the Smythes were prepared to leave for the voyage to America.

He knew he was cutting everything too close. But the murder of Stammel—and Stanhope’s offer—had speeded everything. He was simply running out of time.

If only Monique—Merry—had decided to leave with the Smythes.

The door opened before he used the door knocker, and Monique stood in front of him.

Her gray eyes were smoky, her lips curved in a tentative smile. She wore a simple gown that he’d learned she preferred when at home. Her hair was pulled back with a ribbon. She looked delectable.

He stepped inside, closed the door behind them, then lowered his head until his lips met hers. They courted, teased, demanded. His blood quickened and he felt her leaning against him. He wrapped his arms around her, and she snuggled into them.

Gabriel felt as if he had just returned after a lonely and endless journey. With sudden realization, he knew that Stanhope’s destruction was no longer landfall. Monique was.

How to make her safe? And keep her?

Give up something less important now. Convince her to give it up as well.

Her arms tightened around him, her fingers tangling in his hair. His heart was racing and he thought hers must be, too. His lips left hers and trailed along her cheek to her neck. His blood turned into lava flow.

Her hands played with the back of his neck, and he felt the same urgency in them that he had.

Move away.

His legs had other instructions, perhaps from his heart rather than his brain.

“Gabriel,” she whispered in a broken voice.

He knew by the hurting edge in her voice that she would not leave.

He wanted to wipe away the desolation. He wanted to be convincing. He wanted her to trust him enough to leave London. They had each set certain things in motion. He needed to visit Stanhope’s home tonight and find a way to place the forged documents in his safe. Or even his desk.

They reached her room and once inside a touch led to an embrace, the embrace to raw desperate hunger. He wanted her. He wanted her to want him enough to give up her plan.

They made love. Frantically and passionately and as if it were the last time they would see each other. He barely managed to withdraw before spilling his seed.

He held her in his arms. He memorized the feel of her, the taste of her. He treasured the slight aroma of flowers and the way her dark hair framed her face.

“Will you come with me tonight?” he said.

“Can you leave now?”

“Yes. I did not think I could,” he said. “But you are more important to me than Stanhope.”

The day was fading, but he saw the question in her eyes. “And in years to come, will you hate me for it?”

“I could never hate you.”

“You do not know very much about me.”

“I know everything I need to know,” he said.

“No.”

He stopped her protest with a kiss. His hands reassured her. He pulled her against him.

“I love you, Monique Fremont, or Merry.…” He stopped. “Merry what?”

“Anders,” she said in a low voice.

“Merry Anders. I like that. But then I like everything about you.”

“I have the contract,” she said. “I have never broken one before. It is one of the things you do not do in the theater.” She paused, then pleaded, “Will you go without me if I swear I will not see Stanhope, that I will end my part in this. I will meet you in Boston when I finish the play. I swear it.”

He understood commitments. He’d known when he accepted a command of a ship he could not just walk away.

But this was something else. He saw it in her face. In her eyes.

Did she intend to go after Stanhope? Or was it something else holding her back? Like Pamela.

“I gave some information to a man who knew my father,” he said slowly. “He will see that it gets to someone untainted by Stanhope. I also asked him to look after Pamela. To see that she reached that young man of hers.”

“That was very kind,” she said.

“I trust him to do what he said. He feels an obligation to this matter.”

“Thank you,” she said, but now there was a reserve in her eyes that had not been there before. She was holding something back. “I cannot break the contract,” she said again, stubbornly.

He released her and stood, unaware of the chill in the room.

“Please go tonight,” she said. “My contract is complete in another month, and Mr. Lynch will have his license. I will have fulfilled my end of the bargain.” Her face was pinched; her eyes, however, were unfathomable.

She still did not trust him. She did not trust him with whatever truth she was withholding. She did not trust him with Pamela’s safety. Stanhope was still more important to her than him.

Disappointment was like a sword in his gut. He had been ready to let go for her. His boyish vow. His honor.

She was not.

He found his breeches in the dimming light and pulled them on, tucking his shirt inside them. Then he located his waistcoat on the floor. It was in sad shape, but then so was he. He put it on, tied the cravat loosely around his neck.

He looked back at her. She sat on the bed, legs tucked under her. Her face looked anguished.

But not anguished enough to leave with him. To make the choice between hate and love, between the past and the future.

She said nothing.

“I will be back tonight to see whether you’ve changed your mind,” he said.

“You are going then?”

Only God knew at that moment what he would do. He shrugged.

Would they ever be honest with each other? He’d tried. God knew he had tried.

She was silent, but he felt her eyes on him even as he avoided them.

He wanted to lean over and kiss her. Pride and pain stopped him. He wanted her above all things, and he wanted her to want him that much. But she did not. His declaration of love, so difficult to make, had gone unanswered and unacknowledged.

Perhaps he had been wrong all along.

Still he had to take her out of harm’s way. If she hated him all her days, then so be it. Her life was more important than his future.

He gave her a long, piercing look, then left without another word.

Monique’s heart crumbled as he left. She had to force herself to ring for Dani.

She still had to ready herself for the performance tonight. Perhaps the routine of doing so would diminish the pain she still felt at seeing the disillusionment in his eyes. Pain. Disappointment.

I love you.

She wanted to say the words back to him. She wanted to tell him everything. She wanted to tell him that she was the daughter of his bitterest enemy and that Pamela was her sister. But the words wouldn’t come.

They just wouldn’t come. How do you say you are the daughter of a monster?

How could she leave now without knowing his fate? Or Pamela’s. She had started something that could not be stopped. Stanhope had already killed once because of her actions. What if he tried again? What if she was responsible for her sister’s death?

Then she would be as bad as her father.

A knock at the door. Dani entered. Her face looked more alive than ever.

“Are we going to America?”

Monique’s stomach tightened. Dani was obviously in love, and her face radiated happiness for the first time since Monique had met her. Monique vowed then that Dani would have her chance at happiness. Even if she had to drug her wine as well.

“I told Lord Manchester I would meet him there when I finished my engagement. I want you to go and find us lodgings,” Monique said.

“I will stay with you,” Dani said. “A few weeks …”

“No,” Monique said sharply. Too sharply. She saw the hurt in Dani’s face. Even shock. “Please,” she said in a softer voice.

“Is it because Lord Stanhope is …”

Monique shuddered. “He is responsible for Manchester’s father’s death.” She had not told Dani that before, though she knew Dani realized Manchester had some reason for joining with them.

“Tell him,” Dani urged. “He will understand.”

“How can he when I do not?” Monique said. “I am plotting a man’s ruin. I am responsible for a man’s death. I am a liar and a thief. How am I that different from my father? I have his blood.”

“You also have your mother’s blood,” Dani said. “You are fine and decent and good.”

Monique shook her head. “I can never be Merry again. Or my mother’s daughter.”

Dani’s eyes were filled with empathy. “I don’t think Lord Manchester wants Merry or someone else. He wants who you are today just as Sydney wants me.” She took a deep breath. “I told him what I used to be. He says it doesn’t matter. And he believes you are quite wonderful. Because of you, I will not die in prison or on a rope or beaten to death.”

“But you are not the daughter of his worst enemy.”

“Neither are you. He was never your father. You may have his blood but you also have kindness.”

Monique stared at her maid. Could she possibly be right?

Perhaps she would tell Manchester about Stanhope tonight. Then, at least, he could make a choice. Would that not be preferable to living out a lonely life without ever knowing?

He said he would be back.

“Help me get ready for tonight,” she said with new courage. “It could be my last performance.”

“Oui,” Dani said. “I will make you très belle.”