Peregrine's Prize (14 page)

"You'd have made a good
cleric," Perry said to Nash. "But you're a better huntsman and it
seems even more so at intrigue. Perhaps I should recruit you."

"Perhaps not, thank you. I
like my life and my love the way it is."

Perry grinned. "As I hope I
will soon."

A crash by the window and Felicity's
strangled groan made them both look up.

"Such a pity then neither of
you will be in a position to do so."

Perry and Nash sprung to their
feet, only to be stopped by the wicked looking gun held in one hand by a wild-eyed
Gussie Gravesend, as the other threatened to cut off Felicity's breath.

"Sit down where I can see
you. Yes, it’s different being on the receiving end, isn’t it? You see the
Grettons are not as clever as they think they are. Stupid enough to try and
thwart my plans, even worse to deprive me of my husband. He may have been a
blockhead at times, but he served his purpose. Now without him, life is so much
harder." She waved the gun wildly. She was mad, Perry thought, not the
madness of insanity but the madness of one foiled and not prepared to accept
it. He cursed the fact he didn't have his tiny concealable pistol on him.
What a time to remember that.
He
wondered where he'd left it.

"She was waiting in
there," Felicity managed to gasp. "I couldn't…" Her voice tailed
off in a squeak, as Gussie tightened her arm across Felicity's windpipe.

"Oh, I was." Gussie
sniggered.

The noise sent shivers down
Perry's spine as it echoed around the room.

"Now it's a pity that other
silly fool of a woman isn't here," Gussie continued. "But I guess by
now she'll be ten foot under. Masters and Minton may be oafs but they will
follow orders to the letter. You really shouldn't have left the manor
unattended, you know. You've made it oh so easy for me. Now let me see."
She cocked her head to one side. "Yes, hands on the table where I can see
them and you," she pushed Felicity toward Nash. "You sit over there
and do the same. That's it, three targets all in a row." She waved the
pistol again and Perry realized there was a real chance of one of them being
killed without being the intended target. "And don't worry, I have another
pistol to back me up." She nodded, and pulled a second pistol from a
concealed pocket. "I have everything covered."

Gussie seemed oblivious to the
way Felicity gave her a glance of such loathing. Perry decided if looks could
kill, Gussie would be struck dead and none of them would be mourning her
demise. The only positive thing he could think was that Gussie obviously didn't
realize Maggie was in the house. Not that that would help them, because he couldn't
shake the horrid feeling she'd come in any second with her tray of food, and be
as helpless as the rest of them.

Felicity sat down next to Nash,
and gave a very dramatic sigh. "Now what? We sit like three wise monkeys
and hear, speak and say no evil? The no evil part is true, you do enough of
that."

 
Gussie stiffened, and smiled. The malevolence it
contained was enough to make Perry shiver and he wondered if it was wise to
goad her. However he reasoned, Felicity and Maggie both knew her a lot better
and for a lot longer than him, and therefore would know the best way to keep
her out of kilter.

"Pull the table tight toward
you, and do nothing else that might make my finger twitch. I've been told this
trigger is very sensitive, and I have often wondered how much pressure I'd need
to fire it without prior thought.
Do it.
"

Perry nodded and he and Nash
pulled the table until it rested across their torsos. They were effectively
imprisoned by it. Even Felicity, slimmer than either of them, wouldn't be able
to move in a hurry.

Gussie giggled. "Oh, how I
love seeing you all there like that. Now you'll see who's in charge."

Behind Gussie out of the corner
of his eye, Perry watched the door through which she'd dragged Felicity slowly
open. He made sure he kept his face schooled to blankness and hoped if Felicity
or Nash saw what he did they'd do the same. Hardly daring to move his eyes, he
watched as Maggie slid unheard into the room.

Felicity raided her eyebrows and
yawned. "Oh Gussie you haven't changed one jot. Still the same silly,
attention grabbing, it’s not fair I want it all, petulant person you were at
school. Why when your parents doted on you, your husband adored you, and you
lived a life many would envy, did you stoop to this?"

Gussie flushed the color of the
shawl around her neck.

"Enough. It's easy to sneer,
but you didn’t always have Felicity Oakley, Cecelia Gretton or Margaret Lowther
rammed down your throat as model pupils and debutants to emulate, did you? Oh
no, I got so sick of your names, always ohh they did this, they did that. Argh,
I wanted to scream. Do you know how I laughed when none of you wed? I did, and
I thought I'd achieved something none of you did. I married, and you were all
on the shelf. But Mortimer was weak, and not as wealthy or important as I
thought, but I loved him. Poor Mortimer to be cast aside so. Now he's gone, and
I am wealthier than all of you, and well, it's not you in line of a bullet is
it?"

"No, it's you."

Gussie swung round to see who spoke
and her gun hand jerked upward.

The bang reverberated around the
room, to be followed by another.

****
  

Maggie dropped to her knees as
the bullet went over her head, and lifted her pistol.

 
Behind Gussie, Perry and Nash were scrambling
to their feet but they were hampered by being hemmed in by the heavy table.
Felicity dropped to her knees and Maggie guessed she intended to crawl under
the oak panels and get out that way.

Gussie screamed and swore as she
brought forward another pistol and swung it toward Maggie. She held it steady,
pointing at Maggie's heart for a long second.

"You. I might have guessed it
would be ‘come to the rescue’ Margaret. Well it's too late; let’s see how you like
losing the person you depend on, eh?" She changed the direction of the
pistol and aimed it at Perry who, with Nash, managed to move the table and climbed
on to the top.

 
Maggie had no time to wish her hand wasn’t
shaking or her fingers slippery on her pistol. She scarcely had time to think
about what she was doing before her hand steadied. As if in slow motion Maggie
watched Gussie tighten her hands on the trigger of the gun. Perry still moved
steadily forward, and if Gussie kept her aim true it would be impossible for
her to miss her target.

With no time to allow herself to
think, Maggie just reacted. She watched as the red spread over Gussie's chest,
and the keen of surprise she started stopped abruptly, as she fell forward onto
the floor.

Maggie lowered her hand and
looked at the wisps of smoke coming from the barrel. "I shot her,"
she said in a blank voice. "I've shot her. She didn’t kill you."

"No, she didn't kill me."
Perry grabbed her and passed the gun to Nash. "I'm here, and so are you,
my brave lady. But don’t you ever do anything so foolhardy again, do you hear?
Or you won't be able to sit down for a week. Do you know how many deaths I died
watching her point that damned gun at you?" He shook Maggie and she felt
her head spin like a rag doll's as it flopped everywhere. "I was helpless
and all I could think was ‘that's my life about to leave me’. It was
hell."

 
Maggie stared at him. Behind Perry, Nash found
a tablecloth from somewhere and covered Gussie. Felicity, white faced and
somber, bit her lip and leaned on Nash as if he were the only solid thing for
miles around.

"Why are you swaying?"
Maggie said. "Why is the room going round, and oh lord, what happens
next?"

"You sleep." Perry
lifted her and strode out of the room. A feeling of warm wellbeing and safety
surrounded Maggie. Under her cheek the steady beat of his heart matched hers, and
his breath sent warm caresses onto her head. She tightened her arms around him.

"I love you, Perry Gretton. Do
we really have to wait to be wed?"

He kissed her head as he kicked
their bedchamber door wide open and then repeated the manoeuver to close it
tightly.

"Sadly yes, but we can
practice our wedding night. Well, almost. No little Grettons are needed just
yet."

Epilogue

Maggie looked up from her tambour
as Perry walked swiftly into the room, took her needle from her and lifted her
to her feet.

"Wh…?"

He grinned and swung her around
in a circle. "I have good news." The room swirled and Maggie closed
her eyes as her legs spun out and no doubt showed her nether regions. She
rarely bothered with a chemise at home unless they were due to receive
visitors.

"Well unless you put me
down, I will be in no state to assimilate it." She felt decidedly
nauseous.

Perry laughed but obliged her by
putting her back onto her feet and then guiding her to the chaise.

"Sit love, and take a deep
breath, this is something that affects us both."

Her breath caught in her mouth
and her pulse raced. Had he realized? Or could it be? "You have found the
traitor?"

Perry kissed her nose. "I
wish that was part of it, but sadly no. However I've received an epistle from
my papa. A very uplifting and positive letter that makes me think our nuptials
are now in the foreseeable future." He reached into his pocket and brought
out a sheet of foolscap, covered in an elegant, but manly script. "He says
and it is somewhat cryptic, 'that to have travelled all o'er and seen so many
sights is truly magnificent. But to have missed what was under one's nose all
the time is a fault of a man who is scared of his completion. Now I have lifted
that state of mind, and realized indeed my completion was here in our beloved
country all the time. Truly love is a wondrous thing and to achieve that state,
is perfection. I trust you are well, and will be happy of my impending arrival
home.' He then informs me that Martin Nelson will arrange to have his house
opened up, and let us know of his arrival." He folded the letter and
returned it to his pocket. "Well?"

"Well indeed, does he always
write in such a prosy manner? I thought that sobriquet allegedly belonged to
you."

 
Perry laughed, deep and carefree. "No,
it's him playing the mystic. But I did speak to Martin earlier who informs me
it is a matter of weeks rather than months, and he will ensure our wedding is
fixed as soon as can be."

Some of the worry that wedged
inside Maggie for several days began to lift. "Thank goodness," she
said fervently. "For I suspect it needs to be sooner than later. You
remember the day in the meadow? Where you were most insistent we both held back
for as long as possible?"

Perry smirked and Maggie dug him
in the ribs.

"I won," he said. "I
pulled out long after you screamed your completion."

"Yes, well," she said.
"It seems we both won, or not."

He looked closely at her, and
then a light of understanding appeared in his eyes. He rested his gaze on her
stomach, and then her breasts. "Sore to touch." He ran his finger
lightly over the soft swell of flesh above the top of her gown. "Nicely
rounded." He patted her stomach where no bulge showed. "Our
child?"

"I believe so. Do you
mind?" Maggie waited anxiously for his answer. She was only a few days
overdue, but somehow she knew. "I'm not certain, but it seems
likely."

"Mind? No, my love, not at
all." The kiss he gave her was long, deep and hinted of things to come.
"But I hope Papa is here sooner rather than later. A six month child would
be rather premature. However, it will be our child and anyone else's opinion is
irrelevant. If necessary we'll defy the family and elope."

Maggie snuggled in. "As long
as you're happy, I am."

"Very happy," he
assured her. "Shall we go and celebrate? I have heard to be in an
interesting condition increases a lady’s arousal. Perhaps we should test it
out?"

The End

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