My Lord Rogue (15 page)

“
Danbury
?” Nelson
asked
impatiently
.

“Yes, my
lord
,” he said, peeved that he’d allowed his thoughts to get the better of him
— again
.

“Let us not keep the
men waiting.”

“No, my lord.”
Simon
nodded
and
cast Gillian out of his mind
.
“
Everything is in readiness, Admiral
.
”
He extended his hand.
“Welcome
.”

“And they said it
couldn’t
be done,”
Melville
interjected
, following
suit.

One by one, Simon and Melville shook the hands of Nelson’s
aide
s
de camp
.

Goodayle
appeared
with a
tray
of
deep amber liquid
sloshing around in
glasses
. He
offered Nelson
a beverage
before turning toward Simon and Melville and
moving his way through the throng of twenty men gathered in the large dining area
.

Admiral Nelson
’s penetrating eye locked to
Goodayle
and
Simon
. He winked
and then
slowly
inspected
the group
.

“
To England
!”
Nelson
launch
ed
his head back
and
down
ed
the
liquor in one gulp. He took a deep breath
, waited for Goodayle to return,
placed the
empty
glass
on
the
tray
,
and
reach
ed
for another. “I’m indebted to you
,
sir
.”

Goodayle
’s eyes
beamed
brightly
.
“Thank you, my
lord
.”

The switched positions in
Nelson’s rank and Goodayle’s
title,
Goodayle’s
place in this group
as a butler
, was an inside joke Simon particularly enjoyed.

“You serve your master well, Goodayle. Good man
,
”
Nelson said
, a smile hovering on his lips
.

Simon nodded
at Goodayle
. “As you’ve said many times, my
lord
,
‘
To be s
ure, there is no doing anything—
’
”

“Without trying,” Nelson finished. “
A man can do anything he sets his mind to do
, Goodayle
.
” Nelson turned back to Simon.
“
And yet
,
there are many who do not see things the way you and I do
,
Danbury
.
”
Nelson then gave a slight bow to Melville.

Melville’s color rose above his stock.

“I heartily agree,” Simon said.
His brother
’s
reaction
to
his involvement with
the
clandestine group
was certainly one example he
couldn’t
forget
.

“Presumptuous pup. You have a wife. Heirs to spawn. What have you got to offer Admiral Nelson that countless squadrons of officers and sailors cannot
readily
provide?”

What indeed
, S
imon thought, at the ninth hour,
struck by the
combination
of humility and ambition in Nelson’s countenance.

Nelson’s Tea would succeed. T
hat wasn’t the problem. T
he
question
was whether or not the men he’d chosen would hand over their lives and reputations for what
they
proposed. With Napoleon’s navy fast at work to destroy England and Spain, the time for drastic measures was at hand.

“
They look like a stout lot.
” Nels
on’s deep
, authoritative
voice
boomed
.

Yes.
The
men,
he’d handpicked had
their
own
stories
, stories
the admiral
would
be
hard-pressed
to
dis
agree
with in terms of granting them
a place within Nelson’s Tea
.
Simon had
spent a year researching gentleman of the
ton
, His Majesties
Royal Navy, the merchant class,
farmers, hack drivers, anyone worthy of serving the better good. British lives were at risk unless he, or anyone else,
kept
Napoleon’s
armada
from pirating trade between their countries
. Even worse. Plots against King George were deeply
seated.
From the struggling foot soldier
s
to tars on the sea, a tight
inner circle
ensured
the safety of the crown.

“Stanton!”
Simon
exclaimed, moving close to shake
Percy’s
hand. “
You are the first
of those I want
to introduce
.”

Percy
looked past
Simon
to
Nelson
and
swaggered
closer
. “
E
g
ad
,”
he
said
, his starched cravat providing a
firm
foundation to the man’s head
, his back wrought-iron straight
. “
What
a fabulous
honor it is to finally meet Admiral Nelson at last.
”

It begins.
A smile drew up the corners of Simon’s mouth
.
Percy
was a man who spoke
his mind, but that he did so in costume
—
powdered
,
high
teased
wig,
powdered
face
with
mole in place,
ribboned queue, flamboyant green stripped
suit with brilliant embroidered rose-colored waistcoat
, shoes spit-polished to a glistening sheen
—
set
those he met
off guard.
It was as if the man had stepped out of
an
eighteenth century
gilded painting
.
Ingenious.
His performance left Simon
no doubt as to
the muscled warrior primed for battle beneath the disguise.
But Nelson
wouldn’t
know that
— yet
.

Percy
tapped Simon’s nose with his quizzing glass. “I can see I was wrong to doubt you.” His
brow cocked
and
he smiled.
“
Odd’s fish.
Have you not been schooled on the virtues of staring with
mouth agape
,
Danbury
?”

“
Aye
,”
Simon
said,
ignoring
Percy’s
jovial
barb
.
He turned to Nelson.
“
I give you
Percival Avery, Marques
s
Stanton, the
Duke of Blendingham’s firstborn
son
.”

“Blendingham
serves in the House of Lords, does he not?” Nelson asked.

“
My father has his way of serving the King. I have mine
.”
Percy
tossed his quizzing glass upward, caught it with lightning fast reflexes, stashed the fob into his waistcoat
,
and
with a comical gyration of his hips, he straightened his spine
before accepting Nelson’s extended hand. His voice
deepening
immeasurably
,
Percy
said, “
It’s a pleasure to meet you
,
Admiral
. There is no greate
r honor than serving my country
.”

“You are to be commended, my lord. I recently heard your father speak.”
The contrast
between fop and man
was so unexpected,
Nelson guffawed. His men followed suit.

“Capital.”
Percy produced a broad smile and then
bowed
with aplomb. “Allow me to introduce my fellows.” His quizzing glass reappeared. With foppish zeal, he extended his arm, pointing his spectacle at two men. “Oliver Stanley and Jacko Clemmons, two better men you’ll never meet.”

Nelson extended his hand to both men in succession. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

At Simon’s nod, Percy said, “Gentlemen, shall we
lead the way
?” Extending his arm
with a flourish
, Percy indicated the dining table
,
and the three men turned to walk away.

Another man stepped forward
.
“
Lieutenant Henry Guf
fald
.”

Blond, blue-eyed
Guffald
, his uniform pristinely ornamented,
bowed and then
sharply
rose
to attention
. “It’s
my honor bound duty to be of service
, my lord
.”

“Aye,” Nelson said, taking
the lieutenant’s
hand, grinning at Langford. “He reminds me of Parker.” He turned back
to
Guffald. “
I lost Parker
at Boulogne
. I
should hate
you
to
acquire the same fate
, Lieutenant.
An officer who wins the love of his men will work wonders where a leader of a different stamp will fail.
Wisdom before honor.
M
ake
me
proud.”

“Aye, my lord.”
Guffald nodded, stiffly.
“If you’ll allow me, I’d like to introduce the finest officers
under
my command. Lieutenant Lucas Winters and Mid-shipman Pierce Edwards.”

Winters and Edwards saluted
Nelson
, who saluted in turn,
then took
each
man’s
hand
, giving it a
firm
shake
before the three men
joined Percy at the dining table
.

A
tall wide-shouldered man with
long
unqueued
hair and icy blue eyes
shuffle
d
his way
forward
.
H
e laid a jeweled hand on a
silver
sword scabbard at his wide leather belt and
regarded
Nelson’s aides
with distrust
.
The men broke eye contact, causing laughter to bubble up from the sly man’s throat.
“
Lord Garrick Seaton
, privateer
, Earl Pendrim’s firstborn son,” Simon said, introducing the
jovial,
wayward
,
sea-faring captain.

Seaton towered over Nelson as he moved forward, bowed
low
, barely meeting the polite definition of a bow,
rose,
and then winked.

“Privateer, eh?” Nelson
peered sideways at
his aides
, who suddenly appeared thunderstruck
. “
Are you the
mysterious
spawn of Cornwall?”