Baron: The Deception Part 23

But the duke had believed him ready and able. She had to believe that he knew how to protect Edmund. Surely Mr. Bullock slept in the same room with Edmund? If he did sleep in Edmund's room, then Edgerton would get them both. Who could be prepared for this? Poor Mr. Bullock, the chances were good that Edgerton would kill him as well.

One last chance. She reared up and brought her fists into Edgerton's back. He nearly fell forward with the weight of her blow. He cursed, low and viciously. Then he simply turned quickly and her head struck the wall. She fell instantly into blackness.

She regained her wits when Edgerton was easing open the nursery door. "Come now, Evangeline, I didn't hit you against the wall all that hard. You're awake again and chastened, I hope. Now, which way is Edmund's bedchamber? Ah, I keep forgetting you're blessedly mute. Perhaps behind that door on the left?"

He slowly eased the door open. He heard nothing. He stepped inside. He saw Edmund lying there, surrounded by piles of pillows. "Edmund," he called out softly. "Edmund, come, lad, it's time for you to wake up."

Edmund sat up, scratching his head, then rubbing his eyes. "Who is it? Where is Ellen? Oh, no, what's happened to Eve?"

"Come up, my little lordling. I've got your cousin Eve over my shoulder. She's all trussed up because I can't trust her to hold still and be quiet." "Eve? Are you all right?"

She tried to rear back, but Edgerton twisted to the side, nearly slamming her head against the door.

"Come now, Edmund, the three of us are going to take a little trip."

Edmund looked at Eve, helpless, silent, slung over Sir John's shoulder. He raised his chin. "No, sir. I won't go anyplace with you. You will lower Eve now, very gently. If you don't, my papa will hurt you."

Edgerton laughed. He took two steps toward the little boy, who was standing by the side of his bed, his nightshirt long to his ankles and white, his small hands fisted at his sides.

Evangeline wanted, quite simply, to die. Once again, she reared up, knowing he just might end it and kill her now. She dug her fingers into the small of his back. He yelled, distracted.

Evangeline thought she'd heave with relief when she heard, "I believe that's plenty fur enuf, sir." It was Mr. Bullock. "Sorry, I didn't git ye right away, missus. I 'ad to wait fer ye to get beyond me and now, finally, the bighter 'as. Lay 'er down, sir, or I'll blow a 'ole right through yer ear."

Edgerton was cursing, but Mr. Bullock just shook his head. "No, sir, don't say such things in front of the little sprat. 'Is pa wouldn't like it attal. Lay down the gun, now."

"No!" Edgerton shouted. He whirled about, ran straight into Mr. Bullock, and threw Evangeline off his shoulder and against Mr. Bullock's chest, sending him crashing to the floor. Mr. Bullock's gun went off loud and raw in the small bedchamber.

Mr. Bullock cursed, pulled himself from under Evangeline and ran through the open door into the nursery. "Stay down!" he yelled back at Edmund and Evangeline. "'Old up, yer blighter! Now, or else I'll shoot ye where ye stand, right in front of that nice globe what belongs to the little sprat."

Edgerton stopped in his tracks. Finally, his head bowed, he dropped the gun. Slowly he turned to face the little man who shouldn't have been more than an insect to crush underfoot. He'd been brought low by an illiterate, pathetic little man. No, he'd been brought low by a lying, betraying b.i.t.c.h. He saw Evangeline standing in the bedchamber doorway, Edmund held close to her side. The boy had untied all the knots and she was again free.

"Take a step back. That's right. Now sit down in that chair." Edgerton sat.

Edmund tugged at Evangeline's hand. "You're all right, Eve? He didn't hurt you? Oh, goodness, look at your jaw. He hit you." Edmund suddenly got a look on his face that mirrored his father's. He rushed at Edgerton and slammed his fists into his chest. Edgerton tried to grab him and Mr. Bullock shouted, "Lord Edmund, get back now!"

Edmund jumped back before Edgerton could grab him.

"Edmund," Evangeline said very calmly, very quietly, "come here, love, and help me. I'm not feeling very well right now. I stood up too quickly. I'm not sure I can remain standing up without your a.s.sistance. Yes, come here. That's right. Now, let's have you help me stand here all straight and tall and face this awful man who would have hurt us."

Once Edmund was safely beside her again, Evangeline felt both immeasurably better, and immeasurably mean. She wanted to leap on Edgerton herself and strangle the life out of him. She felt Edmund take her hand.

"Mr. Bullock," she said, "thank you, sir, for being alert. Now, shall we tie this b.a.s.t.a.r.d up? Or perhaps can you give me your gun and I can shoot him?"

"Let's shoot him, Mr. Bullock," Edmund said, standing there with his nightshirt flapping around his ankles, his hair, black and thick as his father's, sticking up around his head. "He's a bad man. He hurt Eve. Yes, I want to shoot him like I would a highwayman. I'll get my gun." Edmund dashed back into his bedchamber, ran to his bed, reached under his pillow and pulled out his wooden gun. He was back into the nursery, aiming it directly at Edgerton.

Evangeline laughed, actually laughed. "You see his toy gun? It was a gift from me upon my arrival here at Chesleigh. You recall who procured it for him, do you not?"

Edgerton looked at her with such dull hatred in his eyes that she nearly yelled with the pleasure of it. "Nothing matters now except that you'll no longer be in our lives. You've lost, sir. Finally, you've lost." "Conan DeWitt was right about you," he said. "Oh, yes, indeed he was," Evangeline said. "But you know, truth be told, it was you yourself who brought the whole thing to an end." "Impossible," Sir John Edgerton said.

She just smiled at him. "Oh, yes," she said. "Oh, yes."

"Now, missus," Mr. Bullock said to Evangeline, "it's time fer me to tie this feller up real tight."

"Allow me, Mr. Bullock." Evangeline said. "Edmund, keep your gun pointed at him while I tie him to that chair."

When the duke, Drew, and six soldiers arrived four hours later, the duked was so frantic, he nearly crashed through the front door. He was met by a smiling Evangeline, and his son holding his toy gun, his small face wreathed as well in smiles. The duke, so relieved that she and his son were safe, drew them both up against him and simply wouldn't let them go until Edmund said, "Papa, my ribs are bent inside out. Goodness, Eve and I are heroes. We let Mr. Bullock help us, too." The duke released his son. "What happened here?" "Papa, come with Eve and me. We've got a surprise for you. It's almost better than my gun. Come, Papa." The duke and Drew Halsey followed Evangeline and Edmund into the library, where Mr. Bullock stood beside a seated John Edgerton, his gun pointed at Edgerton's head. "I didn't want to take a chance," Mr. Bullock said. "This fellow's a shifty worm." He grinned widely and stepped back. John Edgerton was all trussed up, his face pale with fury. Thankfully, he was blessedly gagged.

"It's over," Evangeline said, and walked to the duke and wrapped her arms around his back. "It's over. We won."

"Tell me," the duke said, and she did, with Mr. Bullock and Edmund weaving in and out, some of their details, Edmund's primarily, not all that valuable or pertinent, but it didn't matter.

As for Drew and the duke, they'd gone to Edgerton's house to put their plan into action, only to find him gone. "I can't recall ever being quite so scared," the duke said. "Someone warned him in the nick of time. I died a thousand deaths between London and here." He shook his head and hugged Edmund so tightly that his son squeaked. "Dear G.o.d, at least we've got him and it's over now."

"Yes, all of it," Drew said. "I even found that envelope you put in my office, Evangeline. Jesus, it made me a perfectly placed traitor. As for the journal you kept, a lot of the damage can now be undone. My men are tracking down all the spies. We'll be clean of them before the end of the day."

She was afraid to ask, but she had to. "My father? Is there any chance at all that he'll survive this?"

"We will send a message shortly to Paris. We believe that Napoleon will trade your father for Edgerton. As the duke told you, Napoleon is loyal to those who are loyal to him. Ah, as for yourself, my dear ma'am, the duke a.s.sures me that once you're married to him, you won't have time for any more visits to the beach at midnight."

"I'm pleased you can now speak to her without swallowing your tongue, Drew," the duke said, and buffeted his friend in his arm. "She doesn't bite, usually."

"She's bitten you, Papa?" Edmund wanted to know, staring at Evangeline with undisguised awe.

"Only in situations where she's so mad at me she's lost all her words, Edmund."

Drew Halsey, Lord Pettigrew, stared at Evangeline, who was leaning into the duke, a vivid smile on her face, and just shook his head. "Life," he said after looking deeply into a snifter of brandy, "is sometimes stranger than a man's wildest nightmares."

"I'm not quite certain how to receive that proclamation," Evangeline said, and laughed, even as the duke leaned down to kiss her. "Forget Drew," he said into her mouth, "I never have wild nightmares."

"Is she going to bite you for nuzzling her, Papa?" "I pray she'll do no biting at all until much later," the duke said. Drew coughed behind his hand. Edgerton had closed his eyes, Mr. Bullock hovering over him, his gun at the ready.

Two hours later, the duke, Drew Halsey, and their soldiers escorted Edgerton back to London. "When will Papa come back, Eve?" "Very soon, Edmund. Probably by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. Trust me that he didn't want to leave, but it seems there are more matters he had to attend to in London before he can come back to us." "I saw him kissing you again, not just talking into your mouth," Edmund said, and he was frowning. "He wasn't patting your back like he sometimes does to me. No, he was rubbing your back, up and down and up again. He looked really interested in what he was doing."

"Well, yes," she said. "I suppose he was rather absorbed in what he was doing. Actually, I'm rather fond of both you and your papa as well."

"I didn't know you bit my papa, too. I never thought about anybody biting anybody else. Fancy that both you and Papa do it. Once I saw him bite your ear and you stretched your neck up so he could bite you better. Why he'd want to bite your ear?"

She came down on her knees in front of him. She looked into his beloved face, and lightly laid her hand on his shoulder. "Do you like to have me here, Edmund?"

"Yes," he said clearly. "I like to chase you." So did his father, she wanted to tell him, but caught herself just in time. "I like you to chase me, too. Getting shot is sometimes disconcerting, but I'll manage it well enough."

"You're going to stay here with me? You'll teach me how to swim better than Papa?"

"Yes," she said, "I'm staying. When your papa gets back from London, we'll all talk about it."

"I'm going to go shoot a peac.o.c.k and when he's lying there dead, I'll bite him."

"You'd get feathers in your mouth. That wouldn't be fun at all. Ellen would have to wash your mouth out. No, you wouldn't like that, Edmund."

"All right," Edmund said, nodding. He turned to run back up the stairs. "I'll go bite Ellen."

Lucky Ellen, Evangeline thought, watching Edmund run upstairs. Even after he was gone she continued to stand in the magnificent entrance hall, shaking her head, grinning like a loon, so relieved, so happy, she thought her heart would surely burst.

Chapter 39.

It was the following morning. The sun was bright, the breeze off the sea tangy and light. It would be a mild day. Evangeline was whistling as she walked from the breakfast room to the drawing room.

"Madame," Ba.s.sick said. "There's a gentleman here. He says the duke sent him to you."

She nearly ran to the drawing room, a smile on her face. "Thank you, Ba.s.sick," she called over her shoulder. "Close the door."

She stood frozen in the doorway, staring at Conan DeWitt. He was pointing a gun directly at her. "Close the door, or else I'll kill that old man standing out there. Do it now."

She closed the door. Slowly she turned to face him. "What are you doing here?"

"I'd like to tell you that I'm Edgerton's emissary here to inform you that the b.l.o.o.d.y duke is dead. Unfortunately, it isn't true. They've got Edgerton. I believe, thanks to you, Eagle, they've got all the men who have come into England through you as well. I got away. The same men who warned Edgerton that Lord Pettigrew and his men were here at Chesleigh also told me. If he'd waited even an hour longer, I would have been caught with all the rest."

"Why did you come here? Surely you know that they're looking for you?"

"Let them look to Scotland, they'll not find me. I told John not to trust you. I warned him repeatedly, but he wanted you, you see. What's more, he wanted you in his power, so that what you were, what you would become, would all be in his hands. He was a fool as well because he'd convinced himself that his hold on you was strong enough to keep you in line. But still, regardless of whatever it was he was holding over you, I still knew you would betray us."

"Actually, it was because of Edgerton's actions that everything fell apart for you. Because he strangled poor Mrs. Needle, he set events in motion for his downfall, yours as well. You see, the duke had a Bow Street Runner come with him to help find out who had murdered her. The night before the duke and I returned to London, I met a man on the beach at midnight. The Bow Street Runner saw everything and told the duke. Evidently, he didn't realize that I wasn't a man, what with the long cloak I always wore. I didn't betray you. Edgerton himself did you all in."

"No," DeWitt said. "No, you're twisting things." He walked to her. She could hear his furious breathing. "Oh, yes," he said, very close to her, "I'll go back to France, but I'm not going back alone. I know you've told them everything you know. I'm taking you back with me to Houchard himself. He will kill you, and I will smile when he does it.

"You're an excellent hostage. Don't do anything foolish. You're not worth much more to me alive than dead."

At least Edmund was safe. Thank G.o.d, only Edgerton had known of his threat to Edmund. She had no doubt at all that if DeWitt had known, he would try to kill Edmund. She'd won and she'd lost. But it wasn't over yet. As long as she was alive, it wasn't over.

The duke jumped down from his curricle, threw the reins to Juniper, and strode up the great stone steps. He shoved open the great front doors of Chesleigh castle and shouted her name.

"Your grace, what are you doing here? I don't understand this. The gentleman you sent is here now, telling Madame of your delay and-"

"Ba.s.sick, what man?" He grabbed the butler's arms and shook him. "Quickly, Ba.s.sick. What man? What delay? What's going on here? Where's Madame?"

"She's in the drawing room, your grace, with the gentleman you sent to see her. I'll inform her of your early arrival."

"G.o.d in heaven, I sent no man!" He didn't wait for Ba.s.sick to reply. He rushed through the entrance hall and flung the drawing room doors open. He saw a heavy brocade curtain lifting slightly in the breeze through an open window. The room was empty.

He strode back into the corridor, a knot of fear twisting in his belly, and nearly collided with Ba.s.sick. "Who was the man?"

Ba.s.sick, like every denizen of Chesleigh, knew that French spies had been caught doing their shady deeds in the Chesleigh cove. He as well as everyone else knew that Madame was somehow involved, but no one knew exactly what the facts were. But now something horrible was happening. "He said his name was Ferguson, your grace." The duke cursed. "What did he look like? Quickly, Ba.s.sick, can you remember anything at all about him?"

"He wasn't much older than you, your grace. A pleasant gentleman he seemed, and a large man. A mole, your grace, yes, there was a large mole on his cheek. Oh, dear, the man wasn't named Ferguson?"

"No," the duke said. "It's Conan DeWitt, a very bad man, Ba.s.sick. Get all the men together. He's taken Madame. Quickly, Ba.s.sick."

He was running to the library to get a brace of pistols, when he called over his shoulder, "Was he in a carriage, Ba.s.sick? A horse? What?"

"He was riding a horse, your grace. Yes, that's right, there was no carriage."

Once the duke had his two loaded guns, he headed toward the stables. DeWitt had come either to kill her or to take her with him to France as a hostage. He couldn't very well expect to get far if he held Evangeline before him on his horse. He'd have to have another horse. Then he'd have to get her to Eastbourne. It was the closest town to catch a ship to France.

Trevlin was sitting on his haunches at the stable entrance, mending a bridle. "Trevlin, have you seen Madame?" "Yes, your grace," Trevlin said, scratching his left ear. Then he sensed the urgency in the duke's voice and jumped to his feet. "I wondered. Yes, I wondered what she was doing with him. She's with a man, your grace. They were walking toward the cliff, right over the cove."

The duke heard a half dozen men running toward them. He shouted over his shoulder even as he sprinted away from Trevlin, who threw the bridle to the ground to join in the chase, "He's taken her to the cliffs." He rounded the rear of the stables, ran down the rutted path, men at his heels trying to keep up with him. DeWitt had a boat waiting.

The duke was some thirty yards distant from the cliffs when he heard Evangeline's terrified scream, and then a thin, wailing yell.

The duke didn't stop. Blood pounded at his temples, and his breath sounded like thunder in his ears. He was afraid to think of what that scream meant. The rocky terrain sloped upward to the cliff edge, and he saw her locked in Conan DeWitt's arms. He was pulling her toward the cliff. There was no horse in sight. Dear G.o.d, he was going to kill both of them.

"DeWitt, let her go!"

The man turned to face him, Evangeline held tightly against his side.

"Fight me, you puling coward. Let her go." Suddenly, in that instant when DeWitt was distracted, Evangeline brought her knee up and struck him in the groin. He yelled, and his hold loosened. She jerked away from him, stumbled on a rock, and went flying forward, flailing the air to keep her balance. DeWitt twisted around, saw her falling toward the cliff edge. He was on her then, his hands outstretched. Only she didn't stay standing. She fell to her hands and knees, and when he struck out at her, she fell flat on her stomach. Conan DeWitt went flying over her back, screaming.

When the duke reached her, she was standing, looking over the cliff to the beach below. He stood behind her, looking down. Slowly, all the men came forward, looking over the cliff down to the beach.

Conan DeWitt lay on his back, his black greatcoat spread out about his body like huge wings. It was then that the duke saw a boat being rowed frantically away from the dock.

He hadn't been going to kill her. He was going to take her to France.

He gathered her against him. "It's over now," he said against her hair. "It's over. DeWitt's dead." He was rubbing his hands over her shoulders, up and down her back. His hands were trembling. He was so filled with relief that for a moment he couldn't speak.

She slowly raised her face, and he saw that her pupils were nearly black. "You came," she said. "You came. I knew he was going to kill me. I saw the boat come in, you see, and I saw there was only enough room for one more. He didn't want me for a hostage. He just wanted to kill me. He kept pushing me closer and closer to the cliff edge, and the path wasn't even near here." Suddenly, her arms were around his back. She was panting, her eyes wild. "I didn't want to die. Oh, G.o.d, I just found you, I didn't want to leave you." Still he had no words. He simply held her, feeling her heart beating against his.

"After I kicked him, I just wanted to run, but I tripped and fell. Then he fell over me."

"Yes, I know. We all saw it. It's over. All over now. He's quite dead."

Evangeline turned then to see a good dozen Chesleigh people, both men and women, each of them carrying a weapon-a branch off a lime tree, a pitchfork, a gun. Mrs. Raleigh carried an umbrella, Ba.s.sick a large candelabrum. Trevlin held a bridle wrapped around his fist.

Evangeline said, "Thank you all so very much for coming to my rescue."

The duke said, "I thank you as well. Evangeline de Beauchamps will soon become your mistress and my d.u.c.h.ess." Evangeline heard the cheering as she and the duke, arm in arm, walked slowly back to Chesleigh castle. "Drew asked me if we were going to marry. I told him that I felt it my duty since you seemed so utterly helpless without me. At which he had the gall to laugh his head off. As I recall, he yowled, 'Helpless, by G.o.d, helpless!' before I smashed my fist into his shoulder and he wisely quieted his mirth. I then said that very well, you weren't all that helpless, but you certainly couldn't seem to tread the straight and narrow without me. He brought himself to agree with that and said, only giving an occasional hoot of laughter, that the Ministry would be relieved that things had solved themselves so neatly."

When they were in the drawing room, the door closed, the duke brought her against him, and for a long moment he simply held her, his face buried in her hair. "We'll leave for London tomorrow and marry as soon as your father arrives from Paris. Now, we must speak to my son."

"Yes," she said, "I will promise to let him chase me if he'll give us his blessing." "I doubt he'll be overly surprised," the duke said. At that moment Ellen came down the corridor, her hands raised above her head. They heard Edmund say from behind her, "Keep walking, Terrible Tom, or it will be the worst for you. Stop a moment, and I will take these travelers' money."