‘Absolutely not! I will not hear of it!’ Griffin barked furiously in reply to Maystone’s suggestion. The older man was looking very pale and tired as he lay back against the pillows in one of the guest bedchambers at Stonehurst Park.
‘But, Griffin—’
‘I tell you I will not hear of it, Bea!’ He turned that glare on her. ‘Whatever it is that Bea is supposed to know, she has no knowledge of it now—’ he turned back to the other two men ‘—and to even think of sending her back amongst that possible nest of vipers, completely unprotected, is totally unacceptable.’
‘But she will not be unprotected,’ Christian put in softly. ‘It has been proposed that I will accompany Lady Bea, along with her maid.’
‘She has no maid.’
‘Then we shall find her one,’ Christian said reasonably.
Bea could not bear to be the cause of contention between Griffin and the gentlemen, who were obviously two of his closest friends. ‘It is no more than I offered to do myself just minutes ago, Griffin,’ she reminded softly.
‘And if you recall I turned down that offer. Unequivocally!’ he came back fiercely.
‘But surely you can see it is the only course of action that makes any sense?’ she reasoned. ‘I will go to Latham Manor, having travelled from my friend’s house under the kind protection of the Duke of Sutherland. At which time, my aunt and uncle will then either react with gladness at my safe return after my abduction, and so proving their innocence. Or they will both sincerely thank the Duke of Sutherland for having safely returned me from my visit with friends, and we will know that in all probability my aunt has lied. It all makes perfect sense to me.’
‘It makes no sense to me!’ Griffin bit out as he ran an exasperated hand through his hair.
‘But—’
‘It is far too dangerous, Bea,’ he ground out harshly as he continued to glare down at her. ‘Added to which, I absolutely forbid it!’
She sat back in surprise, not only at the fierceness of Griffin’s emotions, but also because he felt he had the right to forbid her to do anything.
Admittedly he had been claiming to be her godfather and guardian this past week, as a means of explaining her presence here at Stonehurst Park, but it was a sham at best, and a complete untruth at worst. Griffin could not seriously believe that tenuous arrangement gave him the right to forbid any of her actions?
‘Have a care, Griff,’ Christian warned ruefully as he obviously saw the light of rebellion in her eyes. ‘It has been my experience, in my many dealings with my younger sister, Julianna, that it is a mistake for any man to forbid a strong-minded woman to do anything—unless he expects her to do the opposite. For myself, in regard to Julianna, I am more than gratified to have passed that particular responsibility over to Worthing!’ He grinned ruefully.
Griffin drew in a harsh, controlling breath, well aware of the contrariness of a woman’s actions; he had been a married man for a year, after all.
‘This is all my fault,’ Maystone rallied apologetically. ‘For having suggested such a plan in the first place.’ His expression gentled as he looked up at Bea. ‘Perhaps Griffin is in the right of it, my dear, and we should not proceed with this.’
‘Griffin is most certainly not in the right of it!’ Bea stood up, her expression one of indignation, eyes glittering rebelliously as she glared at Griffin. ‘Lord Maystone’s suggestion is a sound one. And I shall do just as I please,’ she added challengingly as Griffin would have spoken. ‘I have no doubt I shall be perfectly safe under the protection of the Duke of Sutherland.’
That was one of Griffin’s main objections to the plan!
Besides the obvious one of Bea deliberately placing herself in the path of danger.
Whether either of the Lathams were involved in her abduction or not, Bea’s reappearance at their home would still leave her vulnerable to the people who had been responsible. To Jacob Harker, at the very least.
Besides which, if anyone was to act as Bea’s protector then it should be him. In this particular situation that was an impossibility, when the Lathams lived but a mile away from Stonehurst Park, and he was supposed to be unacquainted with the Lathams’ niece. And if Griffin could not be at her side, once she was returned to the uncertainty as to the innocence of the inhabitants of Latham Manor, then he could not, in all conscience, approve of Bea going there either.
Or bear the thought of her spending so much time alone with Christian.
Griffin knew his own nature well enough to realise he could be taciturn and brusque, and that his looks were not, and never would be, as appealing as Christian’s. Just as he knew Bea could not help but be charmed by the man, as so many other women in society had been and still were, if the two of them were to be so much together at Latham Manor.
If Christian, charming and gentlemanly, were perforce to become Bea’s rescuer in Griffin’s stead.
What made the situation worse was that Griffin knew how ridiculous it was for him to feel this way.
Even petty and childish.
Griffin knew he would be lying if he claimed to not already feel jealous at having to share Bea, first with Christian, and now with Maystone too.
This current conversation was a prime example of just how frustrating he found having this situation taken out of his control! ‘I believe I should like to go to the library and discuss this alone with Bea, if you two gentlemen have no objection?’ He eyed the other two men stonily.
‘And if I should object?’ In point of fact, Bea did not have any objections to going anywhere with Griffin, but she did resent his high-handed attitude in not so much as consulting with her on the subject.
He turned that stony gaze on her. ‘Do you?’
She drew her breath in slowly, sensing, despite his chilling and controlled appearance, that Griffin was teetering on the edge of another explosion of temper. ‘I merely wish you to have the courtesy of consulting me,’ she finally replied softly.
‘Very well.’ His jaw had tightened. ‘If you would care to accompany me to the library, Bea, so that we might discuss this matter further and in private?’
It was impossible, facing the three gentlemen as she was, for Bea to miss the knowing look that passed between Seaton and Lord Maystone, even if she did not quite understand it.
‘By all means I will accompany you to the library, Griffin. Gentlemen.’ She nodded politely to Sutherland and Maystone. ‘But be aware, Griffin,’ she added as he moved to politely open the door for her so that she might precede him out of the bedchamber, ‘I have no intention of allowing myself to be bullied. By you or anyone else,’ she warned as she swept past him and out into the hallway.
Was it even sane of him, Griffin wondered as he had to hold back a smile as he accompanied Bea down the curved stairs to the library, to feel both admiration and frustration for her at one and the same time?
Admiration for the way in which she had conducted herself just now.
And frustration with the light of determination he had seen so clearly in her eyes as she gave him that set-down.
‘I am aware our conversation was interrupted earlier, Bea,’ he remarked as he closed the library door firmly behind them. ‘But nevertheless, I cannot have left you in any doubt as to my disapproval of this scheme.’
Bea faced him as she stood in the middle of the room. ‘Even if it were to save the life of a small child?’
Griffin’s hands were clenched together behind his back. ‘I do not believe it sensible to save one life by putting the life of another at risk, no.’
She eyed him reprovingly. ‘I am sure, during your own work for the Crown all these years, that you must have done so many times in the past?’
‘I...’ Griffin hesitated in order to draw in a deeply controlling breath.
He knew Bea too well now, realised that the remark he had intended to make—that he was a man, and so the situation was different—would only result in Bea becoming even more intransigent.
‘I may well have done,’ he conceded. ‘But the risk to you in this situation is too great. Bea, you might conceivably have died of the cruel injuries deliberately inflicted upon you the last time you were held prisoner,’ he added gruffly.
And instantly regretted it, as he saw the colour immediately leave her cheeks.
He stepped forward quickly to grasp her shoulders as she would have swayed. ‘I did not mean to upset you by reminding you of such things,’ he bit out. ‘Can you not understand, Bea—’ he attempted to temper his tone ‘—that I am concerned for your safety?’
Tears swam in her eyes. ‘It would indeed be a pity to undo all the good work you have done this past week by tending my cuts and bruises and feeding and clothing me.’
Griffin drew back as if Bea had struck him. Indeed, it felt as if she had just done so. ‘That was an unforgivable thing for you to say, Bea.’
It was, Bea knew that it was. It was just that she’d felt so disconnected from Griffin since Christian Seaton’s and Lord Maystone’s arrival. As if the closeness the two of them had shared this past week had been completely rent asunder by the arrival of his other visitors.
She missed Griffin.
As she missed their previous closeness. Their conversations. Their bantering and occasional laughter. Their lovemaking.
But that was still no reason for her to have been so mean to Griffin just now.
She bowed her head in shame. ‘I apologise, Griffin.’ She looked up at him, tears blurring her vision. ‘This is just such an awful situation for everyone, and I cannot bear the thought of that little boy being all alone, and suffering as I did. I want to do something to help him, Griffin.’
Griffin was well aware that she felt as impotent as he did over this situation. But, still, he could not bear the thought of her once again being placed in danger, and this time by a decision consciously made.
He knew he looked defeat in the face because of the depth of her determination. ‘I do not suppose I can stop you if you have made your mind up to help.’
‘Oh, thank you, Griffin!’ She beamed up at him as she reached out to clasp both of his hands in her own. ‘I will feel so much better about doing this if I have your blessing.’
Griffin was not sure she did have his blessing, but he did welcome the breaking of the tension that had existed between the two of them for most of today. As he welcomed her voluntarily touching him again.
He looked down at her gravely as his fingers tightened about hers. ‘You will be careful, Bea? And you will accept Seaton’s instructions in regard to your safety?’ He almost choked over the directive, still far from happy that Christian would be the one to accompany Bea to Latham Manor, but knowing that he now had no choice, in the face of Bea’s stubbornness, but to accept it with good grace.
Most especially so when he now held Bea’s hands in his own and knew himself bathed in the warmth of her smile.
‘I will do as you ask.’ Bea moved instinctively up on her tiptoes to kiss him lightly on the cheek, her own cheeks immediately becoming flushed and warm as she looked up at him shyly. ‘I cannot thank you enough for being so very kind to me this past week, Griffin.’
A nerve pulsed in his tightly clenched jaw. ‘You are a woman whom it is easy to be kind to.’
The two of them remained looking at each other for several long moments, before Bea broke the connection as she sternly reminded herself of the conversation she had overheard last night between Griffin and his friend. She must not make the mistake again of thinking that his kindness towards her, his concern for her welfare, was anything deeper than that of a man who cared deeply for others—hence his work for the Crown these past years—even if he did not care to show it in the often stern exterior he presented to the world at large.
She released his hands before stepping away. ‘I shall need to go up to my bedchamber and pack what few belongings I now have. I shall have to give the excuse to my aunt and uncle that, having accepted the Duke of Sutherland’s protection for the journey, the rest of my luggage will be arriving later by carriage,’ she added with a frown.
Griffin still believed this whole concept, of Bea going to Latham Manor, was fraught with the possibility of mistakes being made, of someone getting hurt. Possibly Bea herself. Mistakes she, or Griffin, or even Christian, would not have any control over.
Which was not to say Griffin did not intend to find some way in which he might watch over her himself.
* * *
‘Do not scowl so, Griffin!’ Bea advised teasingly the following morning as she sat in the coach opposite Christian Seaton, prior to their departure for Latham Manor. She wore a pretty yellow bonnet over her curls to match her gown, with her hands and arms covered to the elbows by cream lace gloves.
She looked, in fact, to Griffin’s eyes at least, a picture of glowing health and happiness. All of the visible bruising had now faded from her creamy skin, and her eyes shone brightly with the excitement of what she was about to do.
As she stepped willingly—even eagerly—into a possible lion’s den.
Albeit with Christian at her side.
Griffin’s jaw tightened as he looked at his friend, seated across the carriage from Bea. ‘It is understood that at the first sign of danger you are to bring Bea away from there?’
The other man gave a mocking inclination of his head. ‘Do not fear, Griffin,’ he drawled as he stretched his legs out across the carriage. ‘You may rest assured I shall take good care of our little Bea.’
Griffin’s eyes narrowed at his friend’s obvious mockery. ‘You will send word immediately with Miss Baines if I am needed.’ He nodded in the direction of the young woman sitting beside Bea. She was a niece to his housekeeper, Mrs Harcourt, who had agreed to accompany Bea to Latham Manor as her maid. ‘I shall be visiting Sir Walter this morning, in any case.’ He was also well aware that he might possibly arrive too late, if there was an immediate reaction to Bea’s arrival. But this proposed visit to take another look at Sir Walter’s hunter was the best that Griffin could come up with in the circumstances.
At least this way he might have opportunity to be formally introduced to Bea as Sir Walter’s niece.
The irony of his eagerness now to be introduced to Sir Walter’s niece, when he had not cared to meet the daughters and nieces of any of his other neighbours, was not lost on Griffin.
Nor was the possibility of Lady Francesca Latham being involved in the plot to secure Bonaparte’s freedom.
Again Griffin questioned as to whether or not he was being influenced in this suspicion by his personal dislike of the woman. Lady Francesca had been far too much of a negative influence on his late wife, he suspected, in regard to their marriage, and him. And she’d enjoyed being so, if the mocking smiles Lady Francesca had so often given Griffin were an indication.
‘Is that altogether wise, Griffin?’ Christian frowned at Griffin’s proposed visit to Latham Manor.
Wise, or otherwise, it was Griffin’s intention to visit shortly after Christian and Bea had arrived. ‘I shall be calling upon Sir Walter this morning.’ He nodded.
‘As you wish.’
‘It is exactly as I wish.’ Griffin gave another terse nod before stepping back and closing the carriage door.
His last sight of Bea as she left Stonehurst Park—and him—was as she turned her head away from the window in order to answer something said to her by Christian.
‘Stay calm, Griffin,’ Aubrey Maystone advised softly half an hour later as he and Griffin travelled down the driveway of Latham Manor in the ducal coach.
Griffin stilled immediately as he became aware of the fact that he was sitting on the edge of his seat, as well as tapping his hat impatiently against his thigh. An impatience exacerbated by the fact that he had been forced to travel by coach at all, out of concern for Maystone’s health, when he would have much preferred the faster travel of horseback.
Truth was, he would have preferred to call upon the Lathams by himself, and he had told Maystone as much when the older gentleman had announced his intention of rising from his bed and accompanying him.
Maystone was not to be gainsaid, however, and in the end Griffin had no choice but to capitulate when he could see how pale and agitated the older man was in his need for news of his young grandson.
As agitated, in fact, as Griffin was in regard to news of Bea’s reception on her arrival at Latham Manor.
He shot Maystone an impatient glance. ‘I warn you now, I cannot answer for my actions if anyone has harmed so much as one hair upon Bea’s head!’ His teeth were clenched, a nerve pulsing in the tightness of his jaw.
The older man’s expression softened. ‘Perfectly understandable, when you are in love with her.’
‘I— What?’ Griffin looked at the other man incredulously. ‘Of course I am not in love with Bea,’ he denied harshly. ‘I am concerned for her safety, that is all.’
‘Of course you are.’
‘I have had to suffer enough of Christian’s sarcasm these past two days, and can quite well do without your adding to it!’ Griffin scowled darkly.
The older man gave an acknowledging nod. ‘It was not intended as sarcasm. Very well, I will say no more on the matter,’ he acquiesced as Griffin continued to glare coldly across the carriage at him, before politely turning away to look out of the window at the trees lining the driveway.
Leaving Griffin alone with his thoughts.
Was he in love with Bea?
Of course he was not! The mere idea of it was preposterous, ridiculous.
Preposterous and ridiculous or not, was it possible that the feelings of jealousy, of possessiveness, which Griffin so often felt where Bea was concerned, might indeed be attributed to a growing affection for her?
No!
He did not love Bea or any other woman. Nor would he ever do so.
And Bea?
Griffin had no choice, once this present situation had resolved itself, other than to allow Bea to return to Michael. The man she obviously loved.
After which she would likely not give Griffin so much as a single thought. Unless it was out of gratitude for having saved her from her abductors. And for having returned her safely to the man she would no doubt give the rest of her life, and her love, to.
‘We are arrived, Griffin,’ Maystone announced softly as the carriage came to a jostling halt at the end of the driveway.
Griffin barely managed to contain his impatience long enough to allow his groom to open the carriage door, and then wait while Maystone preceded him down onto the cobbled driveway, before quickly jumping down from the carriage himself.
He drew in a deep and steadying breath as he placed his hat back upon his head to look up at the grim grey-stone visage of Latham Manor.
Knowing that Bea was somewhere inside this inhospitable-looking house...