Captive Scoundrel (24 page)

He wiped her tears with his fingers. “You always wanted the baby, didn’t you, Faith? And I couldn’t see it.”

“So much,” she said. “I want it so much.” Anguish brought new tears. “But you don’t, and—”

“What the devil are you talking about?”

“Justin, you were so angry when I told you.”

“Because you said you didn’t have a choice but to have it.”

Her eyes widened. “I didn’t mean I wanted a choice. It was such a ridiculous question, I didn’t know what else to say. I was so filled with joy, and you were so, so—”

“Afraid you were like Catherine.” He shook his head. “It seems I’m always asking your forgiveness, doesn’t it?”

“I’m afraid, Justin. I don’t want to lose our baby.” Justin lay her back against the pillows and went to the hall door. “Stay. Don’t move.” He opened it.

“Justin! Where are you going?”

“To get you a doctor.”

Spring slipped upon the world unaware. Daffodils were in bloom, but here, inside their personal Newgate, they were no closer to finding a solution to their problems than at Christmas. Time had become their enemy, and Justin anguished over a way to keep his family safe. Sometimes he wished he’d gone for that doctor, but with her nursing experience, Faith knew the only thing to be done was to stay in bed.

She told the staff she had a bad grippe, contagious, and needed rest, but in their little world, her role and his, as patient and nurse, had reversed.

Now she was getting better and their child was growing.

But they were in more serious trouble than ever. They needed to get away.

He couldn’t sneak out at midnight with a pregnant wife and four-year old in tow. But with a little planning, if Faith could pose as his nurse again, before she blossomed beyond hiding, they might make it.

Where?

So much had changed, yet so much remained the same.

Hemsted—the irksome splinter in his nether region—gave Faith the news just after Christmas that Vincent was married.

His brother must want him dead more than ever. But for the first time in years, Justin wanted to live. Because of Faith.

With her pregnancy, it had been easy for them to abstain from intimate relations, as she requested. And her reasons were beginning to make sense to him. Even he wanted more than the physical intimacy they’d shared the night she conceived. Their role reversal had made him understand something about caring…which was frightening, if he allowed himself to ponder it.

During his illness, with him vulnerable and wretched, he’d expected Faith to be repulsed. Now, nursing her, he was more attuned to her, as if their spirits marched side by side on a plane too high to imagine. Sometimes he’d swear he experienced the same physical distress as she.

He wanted her well, the feisty, determined Faith again. He wanted to be free to share her life. He wanted her by his side to the end of their days, her hand in his, her smile like sunshine, her laughter a melody too sweet to imagine.

Yes, he wanted her body too, but he wanted her soul more.

They needed a fresh start. Away from here. But they would have no life at all, if anything happened to either of them.

Her condition was becoming evident…at least to him. Soon it would be evident to all, putting her in as much danger as him. Vincent would not wait and see if their child was a girl, or the heir that could depose him.

The clock was ticking. In his head. In his life. In truth.

He wished to hell he knew how to beat it.

In his room that evening, Justin brought up their dilemma.

“It’s worse than you think. When Jenny dressed me after my bath today,” Faith said. “I popped a button clear across the room. She said I shouldn’t be gaining weight after being so sick. She didn’t finish her sentence, but her eyes got round as saucers. I think we need to tell her, Justin. Or I’ll become gossip below stairs, and that’ll be a short jump to Hemsted’s ears, then to Vincent’s.”

Justin paled. “Sharing our secret with anyone is alarming.”

Faith couldn’t agree more, but she refused to let him see her concern. “Jenny is loyal, Justin. I’m certain of it.”

“You’re too trusting by half, Faith. You must realize that?”

“You’re speaking about Hemsted. I’m speaking about Jenny.”

He ran his hand through his hair. “You’re right. And this is no time for us to argue.”

“I agree.”

When she heard a knock on her bedroom door, Faith crossed from his room to hers, Justin following as far as his doorway. “Who is it?” she called.

“Max Hemsted, Miss Wickham. May I speak to you for a moment? I have news.”

Faith turned to Justin.

He raised his arms as if to say, “You see! There he is, after you again.” Then he banked his expression lowered his arms in defeat, and stepped back to close his door with a gentle click.

She stared at it, fearing that more than a slab of wood stood between them. But there was nothing she could do now. When she opened her door, Hemsted beamed, and despite everything, she smiled. “It must be good news.” Please.

He folded his hands behind his back. “Even if it were bad, I like looking at you.”

She shook her head, amused, even gratified, but she bristled anticipating Justin’s reaction. In a wifely act of rebellion, she went into the hall and shut her door. It was time Justin learned trust. This might not be his hardest lesson, but it would drive him crazy not to hear the conversation.

Twenty minutes later, Faith bid Hemsted a good-evening. She closed her door, leaned against it, and let her false smile go. Lord, she hadn’t been this frightened since she planned to withhold Justin’s medicine. First Jenny, and now this.

Danger rushed them from all directions.

Faith soothed her unborn child. “We’ll keep you safe,” she said. And no putting off the inevitable; Justin needed to know.

As she made the decision, Beth’s door opened and Beth came tearing in, Sally and Jenny right behind. The sprite went straight to her father’s door, grabbed the knob, and faster than Faith could move, Beth opened it and ran in. “Horsy, Poppy!”

Sally and Jenny heard Justin laugh and stepped forward to see into the forbidden room.

With a sigh of resignation, Faith joined them and saw, as did they, the man she loved shaking his head, a little chagrined, a lot handsome, which Sally’s and Jenny’s sighs confirmed.

They probably thought they saw a miracle—a distinguished man, gray at his temples, dashing in a mulberry dressing gown, his daughter in his arms.

They were clearly bemused and smitten with her husband.

Justin set Beth down, took her hand and approached. He bowed, tilted his head in greeting, and bestowed his knee-weakening smile. In response to their besotted grins, he slipped his arm around Faith’s waist. “Well, Faith,” he said. “I believe introductions are in order. Circumstances seem to be moving us forward with the speed of a snowball rolling downhill.”

“You have no idea.” Faith regarded her husband soberly. “Vincent is coming home.”

Justin recovered after a sober bit of thought. “Our course is set then.”

The abigail and nursemaid, even Beth, seemed to sense the gravity in the situation. Faith smoothed Beth’s curls. “That snowball seems to be gaining weight and speed.”

“Sit down, everyone. Please,” Justin said. “We need to talk.”

“The medicine I was giving Justin was poison,” Faith began. “As soon as I suspected, I stopped giving it to him, and in a long, slow process, he began to get well. We’ve kept his recovery a secret because….” She hesitated.

“Someone wants me dead.”

Their loyal retainers’ eyes widened.

“Now,” Justin said. “Faith is my wife, she is increasing, and Vincent is returning, so we have no choice but to leave. If the situation is as I suspect, Faith’s life, and that of our unborn child, are also in danger.”

“We discussed this eventuality, and we’d very much like for you both to go with us,” Faith said.

The girls’ heightened senses of adventure became apparent.

“I would like to remind you that this could be dangerous,” Faith cautioned.

“Yes, miss, my lady—your grace.” Jenny giggled.

“Her grace will say her mother is ill and she must go home, that she’s taking me and Beth, and both of you to help her.” He turned to Faith. “Is that all right? It seems the best reason. You did say your parents would take us in.”

“I could be with my mother when the baby comes.”

Justin nodded. “Good.” He rubbed his hands together. “With allies—he nodded at Sally and Jenny—it’s time to move our army through enemy flanks.”

“Justin Devereux. Are you enjoying this?”

“The army likely to win the war always enjoys a good battle.”

“You’ve lost your wits from being locked up. I perceive no clear road to glory here. Tell me how you expect to leave?”

Justin shook his head. “You returned a dead man to life, Faith. Surely transporting a corpse can’t be such a puzzle. On his back, my dear. On his back.”

“Tell anyone who asks,” he told Jenny and Sally, “That you’re accompanying Faith, her patient and Beth, to her parents’ home. We’re depending a great deal on both of you.”

Sally and Jenny nodded as one, the weight of responsibility now heavy in their looks.

“Thank you,” Justin said, leading them to the door.

The enormity of the move they planned astonished Faith, and by the time Justin returned, she badly needed his comfort.

“I guess this is it,” he said.

Faith nodded. “It’s frightening.”

“Life and death frightening.”

Faith wasn’t ready to explore that right now. She’d barely made peace with their momentous resolve, much less the possible consequences. Instead, she considered details. “We’ll leave word with Mrs. Tucker for Harris to come to us in Arundel.”

“Don’t you think it would be suspect for you to want my servant after managing without him for so long? Havey-cavey Hemsted will balk as it is over letting you go. If he realizes you want a male servant, he’ll offer to go, himself.”

Her husband’s frown amused her.

“Send word to Harris, at my London house, for him to go to your parents. That way, no one here will know.”

“This is a good solution. Why didn’t we think of it sooner?”

“Events have forced us to act, and it’s not a solution, but the beginning of one. We’re lucky we’re both able to travel, now that it’s imperative we leave. First, I was too ill, and then you were.”

“That’s true. But how do you see this move as the beginning of a solution, Justin? I fear we only postpone the inevitable.”

Justin hugged her. “Where’s the mettle that allowed you to withdraw my medicine? Where’s my feisty, fearless nurse?”

“Frightened…and pregnant.”

“The most imperative reason to go. Even if Vincent didn’t notice that I’m well, he’d certainly notice you with child.

“From Arundel, I’ll get in touch with the scoundrels, Grant and Marcus in London. Gabe, I mean the vicar, would have written to keep them up to date on the entire affair. My friend Carry will come in handy, too. And if none of them are available, there’s always the magistrate. From your parents’ home, Harris will be able to come and go more easily. I’ll be able to go outside, ride a horse. You, Beth and the baby will be safe.”

Faith shivered. “Unless Vincent decides to come to Arundel.”

Two days later, Faith stood at the top of the stairs looking down at Mrs. Tucker, Hemsted, all the servants lined up for her astonishing departure. If she made a mistake, just one….

Trepidation made her hesitate. She should return to their apartment. It wasn’t too late. Except that it was.