His to Keep (Regency Scoundrels Book 2) (18 page)

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Archie, you sit down there, and tell me everything. I haven’t seen Louis-Daniel yet, where did he get off to?”

“Louis-Daniel is taking his sweet time getting home.”

“No doubt visiting his fancy woman in town,” his mother snorted. 

“No doubt,” Archie sighed, scrubbing his hand vigorously over his face. He wanted to strangle Gemma while making love to her all at the same time. The feelings she inspired in him were going to drive him to distraction! 

“The two of you getting up to no good is enough to give me a head full of grey or white hairs,” she sighed. “I don’t like the caged look in Lady Gemma’s eyes. She looks very ill at ease. What did you do, Archie?” 

“Mama…I…I should like to see Papa before we start having a row.”

She raised her hand, giving him the signal to remain silent. “Your father is resting right now, and I do not want him disturbed. Tell me, did Lady Northam marry you under duress?”

“No, Mama, she did not.”

“So…she married you willingly without being imposed upon either by yourself or by that wretch the former sea hawk?”

“No, her brother didn’t force her hand. No one could force my wife into doing anything. She isn’t spineless, Mama.”

“That relieves my worries considerably. In seeking out your revenge against St. Martin…you didn’t…you didn’t hurt anyone did you?”

A pregnant pause hung between them. At length, he broke the silence.

“No, Mama. One of my men, well…St. Martin was injured in the scuffle, though not seriously.” 

“Oh, Archie. I had thought you were only going to wound his pride. I didn’t want any blood to be shed.”

“Didn’t you, Mama? Tell me that you thought I could get my revenge without shedding a few tears or a bit of blood.”

“I didn’t want any innocents harmed.”

“St. Martin is hardly an innocent, Mama. He deserves what happened to him, and then some.”

“We shan’t argue about this, Son. I am happy you and Louis-Daniel escaped unscathed, now what shall you do with your wife? You can hardly have a happy marriage when you loathe her brother.”

“We shall find a way.” 

“And the lad?”

“He is St. Martin’s adopted son, some believe that he is his natural born son but a bastard, nonetheless.”

“I see,” his mother went white. “We are not strangers to that kind of relationship.”

“No, indeed not.”

“I raised my husband’s bastard child. I commend the Duchess for deciding to do the same, some women…some women are not strong enough to do that.”

“I suppose,” he said gruffly, “I suppose the Duchess can be commended. The Duke, however is still every bit a scoundrel.”

“Mayhap, Archie, maybe we acted without cooling our heads. Perhaps, perhaps, revenge isn’t the way. The prospect of it hasn’t healed your father in any way. He’s still out of touch, lost in his mind somewhere. Every day I see him in such dire straits my heart breaks a little more. I cannot lose a son—and a husband, too. I think, I think we should make peace with the St. Martins, and you should return Gemma to them. I do not want to hate any longer, Archie.”

“I only started out on this mission, Mama. I shan’t end it so prematurely. I want Gemma.”

“You love her?” his mother asked, hope glimmering in her eyes.

“I do,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.

“Then…then, you should hold onto her and keep her with your love. However, if she yearns for Sussex, if she shan’t stay by your side willingly—then, you should release her.”

“She is my wife!”

“I know, Son. But many in the ton live separate lives from the ones they have married. Maybe…maybe that is what you should do for Gemma. But…but I thought her name was Emma.”

“I wouldn’t call her Emma. She doesn’t exactly like that.”

“I should think not,” his mother laughed. “And St. Martin, he aided you in your quest to make his sister your wife?”

“Oh, indeed. He thought he was enlisting me to be her keeper. He was in London with me when I went for the special license.”

“I expect you thought it a grand jest.”

“I did…until I met Gemma and realized the joke was on me,” he sighed heavily.

“I shall not see another heart broken. If you love her—if you love her with all of your heart, Archie, make her see it. Make her know it. Make her feel it. Don’t let her go. Ignore what I told you to do. You must do what is best for your heart. I…why would St. Martin encourage the match?”

“He didn’t want her to marry the man she had set her cap on.”

“She set her cap on a man? Oh, she is quite the bluestocking, isn’t she? I like that.”

“Indeed. And the man she set her cap on wasn’t worthy of her. I wouldn’t wish him on my worst enemy.”

“And so that’s why you went through with it, and leg-shackled yourself to her.”

“That…that and the fact that she stirred my heart, she woke something inside of me I had long since believed had died.”

His mother looked at him with her sad blue eyes. He wished they would brighten, but since his brother’s death they had held the same hauntingly shattered expression.

“You said you were going to go and just give St. Martin the fright of his life. Does he even know that his sister is alive?”

“You wanted me to strike out against him,” he pointed out. 

“I know,” she said, looking down at the cup of tea she had been sipping. “I think…I think you should sent a missive to her mother. Tell her that Lady Northam is alive and well, and that you are introducing her to the rest of your family. Try to repair the damage you have caused. Try to extend the olive branch. If we are lucky, they shall ignore this whole sad and sorry incident, and all shall be forgiven. If I can forgive St. Martin for what he has done, then…then his mother can forgive you for what you have done.”

“I didn’t actually kidnap Gemma. She is my wife.”

“Indeed she is, and yet you took her by using force. You hurt her brother and you took his little by-blow. Didn’t you?”

“Aye, Mama. I did. I shall endeavor to do whatever you want of me.”

“Good, Archie. It is the only way.”

“I know that, Mama. As ever…you…you made me see sense. I don’t know if Louis-Daniel will look at it the same way.”

“You leave Louis-Daniel to me.”

“I shall send a message to the Dowager Duchess straightaway.”

“Thank you. His mother can relay all communication to him. I see no need to send him a letter.”

“He will be coming for me, Mama. I daresay he has already left. His mother won’t be able to talk any sense into him.”

“Then, let him come. We shall cross that bridge when we come to it. I do not want any more bloodshed, and I won’t let him hurt you or Louis-Daniel.”

Her eyes filled with pain, he hated seeing her look this way. “Mama, I will make him pay. I will make him feel the pain you’ve felt.”

“No more of that talk. If he loves his sister like I suspect he does, you are already making him pay. You showed him that he is not as powerful as he thinks he was—you successfully knocked him down a peg or two—I’m sure he’s been properly humbled. Now, do go and fetch your brother back from whatever little slut’s bed he is warming. I think we both know whose bed he’s in. He needs to get an earful from me as well. Isla has told me what he did at the abbey. I know Isla was out in the thick of it, watching to make sure the two of you didn’t get yourself killed. Shooting the butler! Drawing St. Martin’s blood—I swear, his viciousness sometimes scares me. I don’t know what to do with him when he gets into one of those moods.”

“To be fair to Louis-Daniel, Mama…he wasn’t the one that drew a bit of St. Martin’s blood, even though he might have taken credit for it, and my wife did shoot Louis-Daniel first.”

“Well, I shan’t reprove him on that but I shall tell him to control his men a bit more. They…they are not all as civilized as we are. Now, fetch him home, so I can give his ears a good blistering.”

“Yes, Mama. Pray, do not fret. I shall keep an eye on Louis-Daniel. I will make certain he doesn’t do too many reckless things.”

“That relieves some of my worry. As long as you always stay close to him—he shouldn’t give into the little monster that always sits on his shoulder. I worry…I worry that he shall follow in his mother’s footsteps. She was a viciously cunning woman…she played with men’s emotions like they were a game at a gaming hell. I can’t bear it if he ends up like her.”

“That will happen over my dead body.”

“Thank you, Son. And whatever you do, don’t make any rash decisions yourself. Pray, do not gamble with fate.”

“I already have gambled with my life. I married Gemma.”

“Ah, well. I suspect you will one day look back and think that was the best moment of your life.”

Speaking of keeping an eye on people, did you allow Gemma to have full run of the grounds?” Her eyes filled with curiosity, as she craned her neck to look at the windows.

“My lord,” their butler rushed into the room. “Lady Northam had a horse saddled for her and her nephew. I think, I think she is plotting to escape you, my lord. I can’t imagine why she’d want to do that but that is what a maid tells me she overheard.”

“I think you should go and deal with that matter, Archie. Did you tell her that there was no hope of getting off the island on her own?”

“She thinks we are in Ireland,” he chuckled. 

“It would seem to me Archibald Campbell that you’ve failed to mention a lot of things.”

“Perhaps,” he said carelessly, giving his mother a lopsided grin, earning him an indignant snort.

“Now, would you like to go after your wayward wife, or would you like me to help you?”

“I can handle her on my own, but thank you for the offer.” He laughed. 

“From what I have seen Lady Northam, shan’t let you put a halter around her neck and lead her about by it.”

“Of course, she wouldn’t, nor would I try to.”

“Have they left the property, Pettigrew?” his mother asked calmly.

“Oh, aye, I expect they are halfway to the village by now, Your Grace.”

“It sounds as if you had better hasten to catch up with them,” his mother said, her eyes twinkling. That was the first time he had seen her eyes light up in such a way. Oh, how he missed seeing it.

“Blast and damn.” He jumped up and flew out the door.  

*****

“Aunt Gemma, how are we going to get back to England?”

Charles rode alongside her on his own horse. During his time with them, Mallory had groomed him into quite the good little equestrian.

“We shall have to hire a boat, oh, I don’t know, Charles. What do you think we should do?”

“I think we should have stayed back there with Lord Northam, and his mother.”

She looked over at Charles, aghast.

“How can you say that?”

“I don’t want to go sailing off into the unknown, Aunt Gemma. Besides, we…we won’t be alone for much longer. They’ll come for us, won’t they? And…and ain’t you Lord Northam’s wife? Don’t you, don’t you have to stay by his side?”

“I do not.”

“Most wives, do.”

“Oh, Charles, really. I had expected more from you.”

“I think we should go back, Auntie. I think we should go back before we get into more trouble.”

“Do have any idea of our location, Charles?”

“We ain’t in England,” he said.  

Their voices carried over the whipping wind. A gale was starting to brew, and soon they would be doused with water.

“I think we are off the coast of Scotland, Aunt Gemma. I might be wrong, though.”

“Then, we are on a Scottish Island.” She nodded her head thoughtfully. Of course, it all made sense. Archie’s family were probably the lords of this island. Apprehension tickled her scalp. 

“I think you’re right, Charles. I did act hastily. We should have remained with Lord Northam. I shouldn’t have run. I am dreadfully sorry.”

“No harm done. We can turn about right now, and none will be the wiser. They’ll just think we went out for a nice little ride. The Duchess is quite nice. She said I could call her Mama as everyone else did.”

“You should call her the Duchess, or Your Grace,” Gemma chastised.  

“I suppose I should,” Charles sighed. “Why…why did Archie do what he did?”

“He thinks that he has to strike back against Mallory for something he thinks that Mallory did.”

“And did he do it?” Charles asked bluntly.

“Yes, but it’s complicated, he didn’t do it on purpose and I’m certain he is plagued by guilt because of what he did,” she said firmly. “Mallory is ruthless, but he’s not cruel.”

“Good. Can we stop Lord Northam from hurting them?”

“I don’t know,” she said, sighing heavily. “I think…I think…I think he might give it all up for me.”

“Then, then we do need to go back. Uncle Mallory can fight him, but he can’t fight him as long as he has you. Perhaps, you can broker a truce between them. Maybe you already have.”