Dangerous to Love (47 page)

“You have no right to try me,” said Julian. “I do not recognize your authority.”

“Nevertheless, we shall proceed.”

Serena half rose from her chair. “If you harm one hair of Julian’s head, I shall expose the lot of you. I mean what I say.”

“And I mean what I say,” snapped Sir Robert. “If you insist on acting like a child, Serena, you will be punished like one. It is not by my wish that you are here. Now that you are, however, I expect you to remember that you are a Ward. No, hear me out. If you think that your brother and I were heartless in our treatment of you, you will come to see that this man has behaved toward you like a monster.”

“That’s a lie!” Softening his voice, Julian turned to Serena. “He lies, Serena, I swear it.”

She nodded in acknowledgment of his words, but it was evident to Julian that a small seed of doubt had been planted in her mind. Folding her hands, she stared intently at her father, waiting for him to begin.

It was becoming clear to Julian that something had gone seriously awry with his friends. They had not anticipated that he would be moved from the safe house. Even so, Loukas was no fool. He would have been prepared for anything. His eyes strayed to the window. Except, perhaps, for the fog.

With the realization that he could no longer rely on Loukas to rescue him, Julian began to think of the logistics of escape. He must take Serena with him. He could not depend on her father’s charity, not even to his own flesh and blood. If she opposed Sir Robert, there was no saying what he might do. He did not think it would come to physical harm, but there were other methods of restraining a rebellious daughter.

A thought occurring to him, he said abruptly, “What are you going to do with Clive?”

A look passed between father and son. “That need not concern you,” said Sir Robert.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” said Julian. “You don’t trust him. He has no stomach for your Cause. That’s it, isn’t it?”

Jeremy took a threatening step toward him, but Sir Robert stayed him with a gesture. “Clive is a young man,” he said. “He has yet to learn that war is not child’s play. He will remain loyal to the Cause for he knows how we deal with traitors.”

The silence which followed these words was so profound it was like the deathly aftermath of a forest fire. Julian felt the fine hairs on the back of his neck begin to rise. He was no longer sure how far Sir Robert would go if Serena proved recalcitrant. He did not dare look at her
but hoped, sensed, that she was aware of her own danger as well as his.

“Shall we begin?” said Sir Robert. “You, sir, are a spy in the employ of an unlawful government. The evidence against you is incontrovertible.”

He motioned, and Jeremy Ward took over. “We first suspected you when you appeared at one of our rendezvous points, The Thatched Tavern. You do remember The Thatched Tavern, Major Raynor?”

“I was there by chance,” said Julian. “It had nothing to do with your blasted rendezvous.”

“Nevertheless,” said Jeremy, “it was a close call, not only for the ‘passenger’ whom Clive was to get away that night, but also for two of our agents who were watching. Though they were taken into custody, fortunately they were later released.”

Because her fingers were trembling uncontrollably, Serena hid them in the folds of her skirts. Trying to appear natural, trying to disguise the revulsion and panic that had taken hold of her, she forced herself to speak calmly. “Are you saying, Jeremy, that you had me watched?”

“No, not you particularly. It was always our practice to have other agents in place in case of trouble.”

“I never knew it.”

“It was these same agents who first mentioned Raynor’s interest in you at The Thatched Tavern.”

Serena’s stomach clenched as she waited for Jeremy to reveal that she had spent the night with Julian. When he did speak, however, it became clear to her that he knew nothing of it, and she let out a careful breath.

“From that moment on,” said Jeremy, “Raynor courted you assiduously. What were we to think?”

Julian retorted scathingly, “What any sane man would think—that I was taken with her, captivated by her, that I loved her if you want the unvarnished truth.”

“You and Serena? It seemed to us, then, farfetched. However, we were willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, though we kept a watchful eye on you. And then, when we were in France, we were joined by Lord Alistair and it became clear to us that you had infiltrated our network.”

“That was my doing,” said Serena.

“Yes, that, too, became clear to us, which is why we were forced to make other arrangements when our messengers had to be got in and out of France.”

“Messengers?” said Serena, as in a daze. “I thought they were fugitives?”

“Not latterly, no,” said Jeremy, “except for Lord Alistair. As I said, that was Clive’s doing, and it was quite unauthorized. However, it showed us how far Raynor had advanced in your confidence, how close he was to unmasking us.”

“Raynor was never in love with you,” said Sir Robert. “Surely you must have realized it when it became known that he kept his mistress at that house of his in Twickenham. What was her name, Jeremy?”

“Victoria Noble.”

They didn’t know about her Fleet marriage, didn’t know that she and Victoria Noble were one and the same person, didn’t know just how far in her confidence Julian had advanced. And she never wanted them to know. Of that, she was very, very certain. Inhaling a shallow breath, she said, “I did know it, and after I found out, you may be sure I put a guard on my heart.”

Sir Robert brought his fist down hard on the flat of the desk. “Do you expect us to believe you when you persuaded Clive to open the escape route to get this man away? Have you no sense? Do you really believe he has murdered a man and is fleeing from the law? I tell you, Serena, he is playing a dangerous game. Think how much
harm such a spy would do to our Cause if we passed him along to our agents. He would know names and faces, as he now knows ours. What did you think, that only you, Flynn, and Clive were involved? I tell you, this man could have done irreparable harm to our friends. If I’d had my way, this would never have happened. We should have rid ourselves of him a long time ago. It was a mistake to spare his life, as I told the prince.”

“You were the one who was behind my abduction,” said Julian. He had to grit his teeth against the rage which boiled in him.

Sir Robert’s face remained impassive. “I was, though I was in favor of the death penalty.”

“And I presume some higher authority commuted my sentence?”

“It was the prince who took a hand in things. Since you were not there to defend yourself, he counseled clemency.”

“I’m obliged to the prince. And I suppose he is the reason we are going through this farce?”

“In cases such as this, the prince insists that offenders be tried by a military court.”

“So, you dare not get rid of me without due process for fear the prince—” Julian broke off as a startling revelation clicked into place. “There were two attacks on me that night. The first was your doing, wasn’t it? Whatever the prince may have counseled, you were determined to see me dead. You sent those highwaymen to kill me before my abduction could take place. The one was sanctioned, the other was unsanctioned.”

Serena’s breath came hard and fast as she tried to take everything in. “No,” she said. “No. That cannot be right. They were in France, Julian. How could they be in two places at once?”

“They sent their minions to arrange things while they
played out their little charade far from the scene of the crime. It was one of their cutthroats I recognized when he broke into my gaming house. What was he doing there? What was he looking for?”

Jeremy answered him. “He was searching for evidence against you.”

“What evidence? There is no evidence, because I am innocent.”

Jeremy shook his head. “Then how do you explain how you came to have my bills and mortgages? I warn you, I know full well that they did not fall into your hands by chance. You deliberately set out to acquire them. What did you think, that you could use them to force Serena into betraying her friends?”

Julian checked himself as he tried to marshal his thoughts. It was Lord Charles who had redeemed the vowels and mortgages when he was already a prisoner aboard the transport ship.

“You put Lord Charles up to redeeming those bills?” he said.

Jeremy inclined his head. “I did, though not directly. There is nothing Charles will not do for my wife, Catherine. He holds them still, and would not dream of asking me to redeem them.”

“And so you laid another false trail. You are diabolical, do you know that?”

“Answer the question,” said Sir Robert. “What was your purpose in gaining possession of those bills and mortgages?”

Julian looked into those cold, pitiless eyes and he understood for the first time how his gentle, forbearing father had chosen flight rather than battle.

He wasn’t like his father. He had no wife and children to protect. He had never run from a fight in his life.

He leaned forward in his chair, hands clasped in front
of him. “Yes, I deliberately set out to acquire your bills and mortgages, but not for the reason you think. It had nothing to do with Serena or trying to infiltrate your precious escape route.”

He had to draw a breath, a long, steadying breath before continuing. “Don’t you know me, Sir Robert? Have you not guessed my identity? Look at me, really look at me, and see if I do not remind you of someone.”

At these strange words, Sir Robert came away from the back of his chair. His eyes were very sharp as they carefully assessed Julian. Finally, he said, “I never saw you in my life before today.”

“I am William Renney’s son,” said Julian. “Surely you remember my father? He was tutor to Lord Kirkland at one time, the present Lord Kirkland is whom I mean. My father eloped with the girl you had hoped to marry. Yes, I see that you do remember him.”

“Father?” said Jeremy.

Sir Robert silenced him by holding up one hand. “If you are Renney’s son,” he said, “it does not surprise me that you are a government agent. Like father, like son, I’ve no doubt.”

Julian had to clench his hands to restrain them from wrapping themselves around the man’s throat and choking the life out of him. “I’m proud to be my father’s son. He was a man of honor and integrity. You know it too. There never was a letter betraying you to the authorities, was there? You made that up.”

“And why should I do that?”

“So that you could ruin my father’s good name. You hated him for depriving you of the woman you loved, my mother, Lady Harriet Egremont.”

Sir Robert smiled, a thin disdainful curving of the lips. “If you knew me better, you would know that women play a very insignificant part in my life. Your mother
meant nothing to me. I would not have troubled myself over a woman. No. Your father wrote that letter, and I punished him for it.”

The ring of truth stamped Sir Robert’s words. For a moment, Julian faltered, then another blinding revelation clicked into place.

“My father was not the author of that letter,” he said. “Lord Kirkland wrote the letter, but that is not important now. What is important is that I was determined to ruin you for all the misery you had brought to my family. You hounded my father from pillar to post till he died a broken man in a debtors’ prison. Do you deny it?”

Sir Robert’s face twisted in a sneer. “He brought it on himself. The man was a weakling and a coward, though we did not know it at the time. By betraying us, he won my implacable enmity.”

“And so you destroyed his good name and made it impossible for him to find employment in his chosen profession. Naturally, my father wasn’t the only one to suffer from these reprisals. He had a wife and children. What do you suppose became of them?”

“He should have thought of that before he betrayed us.”

“My mother and younger brother and sister died in the workhouse. I was the only one of my family to survive.”

He heard Serena’s voice whisper something brokenly, but his eyes never wavered from Sir Robert’s face.

“If you think that will sway me,” said Sir Robert, “you don’t know me.”

“Sway you?” Julian laughed. “I think I know you better than that. There isn’t a drop of the milk of human kindness in you. All I am doing is proving that I had good reason to .  .  .”

His words died as a sound, a thrumming, reached them from outside the house. Jeremy strode to the window and
opened it wide. Serena joined him. The thrumming grew louder, took shape, and formed itself into the rhythmic beat of a hundred drums. It seemed as though an army was on the move.

“Soldiers,” said Jeremy.

Julian laughed recklessly. “If I am not mistaken, Lord Kirkland has called out the militia. Can’t you feel it in your bones, Sir Robert? Can’t you smell it in the air? Unseen powers are at work here, bringing everything to a sublime consummation.”

He had risen to his feet and was supporting himself with both hands on the flat of the desk. “I am no government agent. I knew nothing of your Jacobite conspiracies. Yet I, William Renney’s son, am the one who has brought your ambitions to ruin. Cosmic justice! Think about it, Sir Robert.”

With one lunge, he grabbed for the pistol on the desk and sent it clattering to the floor. Rolling, he came up with it in his hand. Sir Robert backed away from him.

“Julian, run for it!”

His head whipped round. Serena was struggling with Jeremy, trying to
get
the gun away from him.

“Serena, no!” He leapt for her, and even as he reached her the gun went off. Air was stripped from his lungs. His heart stopped beating.

A look of surprise crossed Jeremy’s face, then he sank to his knees and rolled to the floor.

Julian closed his eyes. “Thank God,” he said.

Doors were slamming. Men were calling for him by name. Lord Kirkland’s voice. Loukas’s voice. Julian hesitated. Serena was bent over her brother’s inert form, using the hem of her gown to wipe the trickle of blood that dribbled from the corner of his mouth. When she saw that his eyes were staring, she gathered his head in her lap, and crooning his name, began to rock with him.