Anne Ashley (16 page)

She was totally untroubled by the evident censure, but the
suggestion of wounded pride was another matter entirely. ‘Of course I trusted
you. That wasn’t the issue,’ she assured him, rising to her feet and going over
to the window to gaze at the view that had become so very familiar in recent
days. ‘But Mary remains a friend of mine. How could I reveal what I suspected
about her brother without discussing it with her first? I couldn’t have
reconciled it with my conscience had I done so.’

He remained silent for so long that she began to think no
excuse she made would serve to placate him, but then he said softly, ‘You’re a
strange girl, Briony. You could drive a fellow to the brink of distraction with
your deliberate provocation and wildly dangerous antics. Whereas on other
occasions you accomplish amazing feats that would completely overwhelm most
every other member of your sex. Furthermore, you even consider most carefully
before taking action. In short, you have a contrary nature, my girl, and not one
a fellow can easily understand or predict!’

Her gurgle of mirth at his disgruntled tone was not the
reaction he might have expected, as she discovered for herself when she turned
to look at him again. ‘It would seem, Luke Kingsley, that you and I have far
more in common than I would ever have imagined possible. That is precisely what
I thought about you for a good many weeks.’

‘Ah! But there was a reason behind my diverse behaviour,’ Luke
pointed out in a flash. ‘I’ve explained all that. I was putting on an act,
playing the privileged fribble for a specific purpose. Whereas your contrary
behaviour, I very much fear, is perfectly natural.’

Although his remarks, she felt sure, were not intended in any
way to be complimentary, Briony couldn’t find it within her to take offence.
Instead, she returned to the chair by the bed and asked if Will had been willing
to help. ‘Of course, I don’t expect you to furnish me with details. But I just
want the assurance that he will come to no harm, for Mary’s sake.’

He looked gravely back at her. ‘That, I’m afraid, is something
I cannot guarantee. Of course there’s a risk, a very grave risk, and Will
appreciates this himself.’ He sighed. ‘In a way I feel sorry for the young fool.
I can now understand why he got himself into this mess in the first place. He
was influenced by an older member to join the gang, and did so in the spirit of
adventure, not for any financial gain. He soon realised the stupid mistake he’d
made, when he revealed he wanted nothing to do with any subsequent runs and was
informed in no uncertain terms that he had no choice.

‘I told him I believed I would be able to ensure his sister’s
continued safety without too much difficulty, and for that assurance alone he
handed me a sheet of paper with the names of all the gang members listed upon
it, which I believe Mary herself penned for him before coming here. One or two,
like Will himself, are very reluctant members whose services are retained by
threats of reprisals. As for the others… Well, they’d happily do anything for a
price. It makes interesting reading, believe me.’

Curiosity got the better of her and she couldn’t resist asking,
‘Would I be correct in assuming that more than one member of the Petersham
household are among the list of names?’

He smiled appreciatively at her quaint perspicacity. ‘I shall
tell you this much, it was none other than the head groom himself, a real
hardened member of the gang, by all accounts, who recruited Will in the first
place. I shall reveal something else, too, as you richly deserve to know,’ he
continued, thereby unequivocally acknowledging her invaluable help. ‘On one
particular occasion, when Will was helping to offload goods, he noticed Miles
Petersham standing a short distance away among the rocks, conversing with a
complete stranger, a Frenchman who had come ashore in one of the rowing boats
containing the contraband. He couldn’t hear precisely what was being said, and
wouldn’t have understood much either as they were conversing in the stranger’s
native tongue. But he did happen to notice Miles exchanging something with the
stranger—papers, or a small package, he seemed to remember.’

‘Hardly the conclusive proof you need,’ Briony remarked, after
giving the matter a moment’s thought. ‘Miles could merely have been making sure
he received his share for allowing the goods to be offloaded on Petersham land.
But I certainly think he’s looking increasingly the traitor you and your
associates are after.’

‘My sentiments precisely!’ Luke agreed hollowly. ‘And what’s so
confoundedly annoying is I’m not in a position to do a damned thing about it! I
cannot even get further word to Sir Bartholomew. I cannot send a missive via the
mail and risk it going astray. Or, worse, falling into the wrong hands.’

Briony could well understand his sense of frustration. On the
other hand, she didn’t want him exerting himself too soon. Although he’d never
admit to it himself, he still tired easily. Often she would slip into the room
in the afternoons and catch him dozing.

Rising from the chair, she straightened his bedclothes in the
businesslike fashion she’d adopted from the first. ‘If Ben doesn’t return and no
news reaches us by Friday, I shall travel to London with a letter for Sir
Bartholomew myself.’

Far from appeasing him, he cast her the steely, determined look
of a gentleman well accustomed to being obeyed. ‘Oh, no, you won’t, my girl! I’m
not having you careering across the country by yourself. So you can put that
foolish notion out of your head here and now.’

Not knowing whether to feel moved by his evident concern for
her safety or irritated by this dictatorial stance, she plumped for a
provocative response and curtsied quite prettily. ‘But you’re hardly in a
position to prevent me, now, are you?’ she reminded him sweetly.

‘Baggage!’ he muttered, before she had managed to whisk herself
from the room.

* * *

When Friday dawned fine, if a trifle overcast, Briony
began seriously to think that travelling to London was the only solution, if she
wished to prevent Luke from indulging in rash actions.

Understandably, frustration at his continuing weakened state
had given way to irritability, and with every passing day his temper had become
progressively worse. She had succeeded thus far in persuading him to continue
taking things easy, but the previous afternoon he had demanded Janet provide him
with a full set of clothes, an order that the dutiful housekeeper quite
naturally had obeyed.

Briony had been on tenterhooks since the housekeeper had
conveyed the news of this worrying development, but she had appreciated
immediately there was little she could do if Luke was bent on leaving the lodge.
In truth, it would not have surprised her in the least to have seen him stroll
boldly into the Manor. What she had never expected to witness, however, was him
alighting from a bang-up-to-the-mark travelling carriage midway through Friday
morning, followed by a distinguished-looking gentleman in late middle age.

When James the footman opened the door, thereby allowing his
master, his right arm in a sling, and the stranger to stroll into the room,
Briony hardly knew what to say or how to act, for that matter. In truth, she
could quite cheerfully have boxed Luke’s ears soundly, but appreciated this was
neither the time nor the place to vent her frustrations. Fortunately she was
able to take her lead from him when he announced quite boldly,

‘Briony, my darling, allow me to make you known to Sir
Bartholomew Walters, my friend and saviour. As you can see, I have been hurt.
Set on by footpads in London and received an injury to my shoulder. My good
friend saw to it that I received the very best of care whilst I was recovering
by taking me into his home.’

Briony realised, of course, that Luke’s little homily had been
for the benefit of the footman, but even so she willingly took the baronet’s
outstretched hand after the servant had left the room. ‘It is a pleasure to make
your acquaintance, sir.’

‘Believe me, my dear Mrs Kingsley, the pleasure is entirely
mine,’ Sir Bartholomew responded, before willingly accepting the offer of a seat
and refreshment. ‘I cannot express my gratitude adequately enough for the
invaluable service you have rendered our country. Everything we’ve worked so
hard to achieve for many, many months might so easily have been for naught but
for your timely actions. Your country owes you a debt of gratitude it would find
hard to repay.

‘Now, I shall leave Luke here to explain what I have been
doing, since receiving your letter, in an attempt to smooth things over with the
local militia and with the Customs’ people,’ he continued, after fortifying
himself from his glass. ‘You should receive no further trouble from them now.
Quite the opposite, in fact! This latest development, finding a member of the
smuggling gang willing to help, obliges me to return to the capital as soon as I
can. I am supposed to be staying with my sister in Bath for a week or two in
order to take the waters.’

All at once there was a disarming twinkle in the baronet’s eyes
that Briony found reminiscent of the one she had glimpsed in her husband’s on
the odd occasion—disturbingly irresistible.

‘Sadly, I fear I shall rapidly grow impatient of the water
cure,’ Sir Bartholomew continued, little realising the favourable impression he
was making on his young hostess, ‘and shall return to London before the week is
out in order to put into effect the chain of events that, with luck, will bring
our country’s enemies to justice…at least, a few of them.’

After finishing his wine in one swallow, he rose to his feet.
‘It only remains for me to assure you, my dear Mrs Kingsley, that I shall do my
utmost to make certain your young friends come to no harm as a result of their
assistance in this business. Your husband’s invaluable contribution is virtually
at an end, as far as I am concerned. So, I entrust his future well-being into
your safe-keeping.’

Sir Bartholomew glanced from a clearly startled expression
flitting over quite lovely feminine features, to catch a half-crooked and
satisfied smile lurking on masculine lips, and drew his own conclusions.

‘No, no, don’t trouble yourself to see me out, Kingsley. I’m
certain one of your servants will do that admirably well, if you would kindly
ring the bell. It is my considered opinion that your time would be much better
spent explaining to your darling wife what I have been about since reading her
beautifully written missive.’ He then turned again to Briony, just as James
returned to the room in response to his master’s summons. ‘I sincerely hope I
shall have the pleasure of seeing you again in London, Mrs Kingsley, in the
not-too-distant future.’

Briony waited only until the charming baronet had left the room
before giving voice to her bewilderment. ‘Anyone might suppose he doesn’t have
the faintest notion why you were obliged to marry me!’ A disturbing possibility
then suddenly occurred to her. ‘He must know, surely? I cannot imagine you
haven’t confided in him. And yet to hear him speak, anyone might suppose…?’

Luke smiled crookedly again as he went across to the window.
‘Let me assure you, Briony, hardly anything ever escapes that man. I’m so very
glad he’s on our side. I wouldn’t want him as an enemy, that’s for sure.’

‘Yes, appearances are so often deceptive, are they not?’ she
agreed softly, thinking particularly of him, and how she had been only too happy
always to think ill of him. ‘On the surface Sir Bartholomew seems so gracious
and charming. Yet, common sense suggests he must be quite ruthless to undertake
his kind of work.’ She gave an involuntary shudder. ‘I shouldn’t wish to be in
Miles Petersham’s boots.’

‘No, and neither should I,’ he admitted sombrely.

She looked at him keenly. ‘Do you feel a little sorry for him,
Luke?’

‘Not sorry, no,’ he answered, after giving the matter some
thought. ‘But I’ll take no real pleasure in ensuring he receives his just
deserts.’

‘But your involvement now is over, surely?’ When he didn’t
attempt to respond, Briony began to experience some alarm. ‘Sir Bartholomew said
you’ve achieved what you came down here to—’

‘He wants me to continue liaising with the new colonel of
militia he’s had transferred down here,’ he interrupted, keeping his back
towards her, thereby denying her the opportunity to glimpse the speculative look
in his eyes. ‘He’s a reliable fellow by all accounts, totally trustworthy.’

‘That’s as may be. But you’re still not strong enough to—’

‘He also wishes me to keep Lieutenant Henshaw abreast of any
new developments,’ he again interrupted her to reveal. ‘Seemingly he’s under
strict orders not to question my movements and to offer me every assistance in
the future, should I require it.’

‘But you’re not going to require it, are you?’

‘Then there’s Will Norman to consider,’ he continued, just as
though she had not spoken. ‘I insisted that, for the time being, only I should
know of his involvement in order to protect him. He’s of vital importance now.
His cover must not be broken.’

‘That’s all very well, Luke,’ Briony countered, having become
firmly convinced now that his intention was to involve himself further. ‘But
you’re nowhere near strong enough yet to take an active part in any further
developments. And don’t you dare to interrupt me again!’ she snapped, when he
attempted to do just that. ‘Otherwise I’ll box your ears soundly!’

His response was to throw back his head and roar with laughter.
Which, as he well knew it would, only served to annoy her still further. ‘If you
imagine that, after spending many, many hours nursing you back to health, I
intend just to sit back and calmly watch you put your life back in jeopardy once
more, when there are others well able to take over from you now, then you can
think again, Luke Kingsley!’