Rebel Dreams (46 page)

“Guilt, I imagine, love. He knew he was responsible for your
arrest. He didn’t wish you to lose the one thing that belonged to your father
after all he had done to you. Perhaps loneliness gave him a conscience at the
last. I’m here to admit that it can gnaw at a man’s insides.”

Evelyn opened the packet he’d given her and glanced at the
summary of the contents, then at the names and signatures on the contracts and
certificates that proved the ownership of the companies shipping the illegal
goods. “My uncle and my lawyer. They did this to me. Why?”

Alex removed the evidence from her hands. “I don’t think
they meant for you to get involved. They just wanted you out of the way so they
could continue their profitable smuggling operation. But you proved more
intransigent than they anticipated. I am fairly certain they’re the ones
responsible for tricking us into the inn. Once we were married and out of the
country, they thought they would gain the control they needed.”

“They had me arrested,” she said bitterly. “I’ll never
forgive the humiliation. Why did you not tell me sooner? I thought Thomas was
my friend. Why didn’t you warn me?”

Alex pulled her down against the pillows. “I tried to warn
you, but I didn’t want to turn you against your family. I know what it’s like
to be without family. I think I had convinced your uncle to get out of the
business. There seemed no point in involving your aunt and cousin in scandal
and possibly losing all that they possessed. And I knew Everett had the power
to have your charges dismissed eventually. Just holding the evidence seemed a deterrent
to further illegal activity. I didn’t foresee the Admiralty going so far beyond
its authority as to confiscate a child’s trust.”

“And Uncle George died trying to prevent that? I can
scarcely credit it. What can we do now?” Weary, sleepy beyond measure, Evelyn
curled into her husband’s embrace and accepted his high-handed methods of
protecting her. She would have done the same.

“The apoplexy could have taken him anytime. I think your
aunt will be proud to know that he died trying to protect your interests. We’ll
not tell her the rest. But the evidence in that packet should be sufficient to
convince any court in the land of your innocence, or at least establish
reasonable doubt as to your guilt. The warehouse may be tied up in legalities
for a while, but it will belong to Jacob one day. You need not fear that.”

“They will go after Thomas and the rest of the men on that
list,” she murmured as she slipped down beside him.

“They’re not our concern. Go to sleep, love.” Alex pressed a
kiss to her brow as her eyes closed. “I will send messages to your mother and
aunt in the morning.”

“Will you send someone for me too when the time comes for
the vote on the Act? I want to be there.” Sleepily she kissed his shoulder.

“I shall hire a stable of message boys to gallop about all
day. Go to sleep or we’ll wake junior.”

“Alexander Hampton II,” she whispered.

“Brat.”

She replied with a giggle.

***

Alex was gone before Evelyn woke the next day. She suffered
none of the nausea that she had been warned about, but she indulged in lethargy
until she remembered the letter. She had better write to her mother with more
details.

Alex had left the packet with the evidence on the desk.
Evelyn wondered if Thomas had really thought her so lacking in sense that she
would not read these papers before handing them over to him. Or did he not
believe his guilt was traceable?

Pulling out the papers, Evelyn read them over again. The
name Thomas Henderson appeared in several places, usually with her uncle’s
name. As her uncle’s attorney, Thomas would be expected to draw up and witness
many of these documents. That didn’t mean he necessarily knew that the
operations were illegal. He was partial owner of several of the businesses
involved in smuggling, but there were many other owners.

If her uncle ran them, as she suspected he would, then it
was possible his attorney was innocent. Her uncle had been the customs officer.
The various ship owners and captains represented here would know the illegality
of the goods they carried. A lawyer would normally be left innocent of their
nefarious dealings. Her father had trusted Thomas, and she had never seen him
commit a dishonest act in all the years they had worked together.

She owed him a warning.

Returning the packet to the desk, Evelyn went down to
breakfast. She explained the contents of Alex’s urgent correspondence to
Deirdre. The dowager agreed a letter should be sent to Mrs. Wellington. She
wasn’t quite so happy about one to Thomas Henderson but conceded just a note
should be harmless.

Evelyn thought if he were innocent, he might call on Alex
for information. If he were guilty, well, he had stood by her side too often
not to give him a fair chance. It was more than she had been given, but she had
room in her heart to be indulgent these days.

She whipped out a hasty warning.

It had not occurred to her that Thomas would plead for an
audience. A few hours after she’d sent her note, Evelyn stared with dismay at
his message begging to talk with her. As a friend and countryman, she simply
couldn’t ignore Henderson’s request. Smuggling was practically considered a
legitimate trade in the colonies.

Sighing, she penned a reply assigning a place and time to
meet. Alex didn’t want the man in the house, and she understood that. So, she
would bring Margaret into town with her. They could have tea and some of those
delightful bakery cakes the girl loved. When Thomas arrived, it would take but
a minute to explain she could be of no further help.

Margaret was eager for the outing. The weather was still
cold, but a hint of sun dispelled the dreariness of old snow and gray clouds of
chimney smoke. They had heavy mantles for warmth and high wooden pattens to
keep their shoes from the mud.

Families were returning to the city for the spring season of
parties and routs, but the streets weren’t yet crowded. The Hampton carriage
with its noble crest halted behind a black hackney outside the bakery. Evelyn
instructed the coachman to return within the half-hour.

When the landau pulled away, Evelyn took a deep breath to
steady her nerves. The scents of fresh-baked cakes kindled her appetite. She
was learning to enjoy having the leisure to come and go as she pleased. The
work Alex brought home for her was interesting but left time for shopping when
the mood took her.

Strangely content despite the unpleasant news from Boston,
Evelyn smiled at her stepdaughter and started across the street to the bakery.

In the next instant an arm like a steel bar wrapped around
her neck. Margaret screeched and attacked Evelyn’s captor with reticule and
parasol, but the man seemed impervious to her trifling blows. He closed a hard
hand over Evelyn’s mouth. She feared for the safety of her throat when he yanked
her backward toward the hackney.

The early morning street was empty. She could see only
Margaret’s terrified face before someone in the carriage reached out and shoved
the girl into the mud. Furious, Evelyn kicked backward, but connected only with
her petticoats and skirts. Her captor yanked into the interior of the curtained
carriage and the door slammed, plunging the interior into full darkness.

Evelyn pummeled her captor, and her hand connected with a
jaw. Undeterred, he grabbed her thrashing arms while the other man shouted for
the driver to hurry. Her wrist was caught and twisted backward until she
screamed. He shoved a handkerchief between her teeth then. With both hands
captive, she could do little more than kick and squirm and cause as much trouble
as possible before they trussed her like a prize sow.

The jouncing of the coach threw her about as much as the man
holding her. Evelyn considered throwing herself against the door, but even if
she could escape the strong hands binding her wrists, she didn’t dare risk her
child by a bruising fall.

As her eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, she searched
for the identity of her captor. She recognized his voice first.

“You weren’t supposed to bring company, Lady Cranville, but
you always were one to make life difficult, weren’t you?”

Evelyn stared at Thomas Henderson’s handsome face with
loathing. The only reply she could make was a swift kick to his shins.

The massive brute who had kidnapped her tightened the
knots in the ropes on her wrists and shoved her into a corner. Evelyn tried to
ascertain his identity, but his gap-toothed grin and bland face could be any
one of a hundred sailors down at the docks.

She turned her fury to the handsome lawyer now safely out of
reach of her pattens.

Henderson closed his hands over the head of his cane and
regarded her with curiosity. “I had planned to persuade you away more gently
than that, Evelyn, but you’ve become the fashionable lady now, haven’t you?
Traveling unescorted through the streets is beneath your dignity, I suppose.
That’s a shame. Hampton will be notified sooner this way, so we’ll have to race
against time. You won’t be too comfortable under the circumstances.”

He checked beneath the curtain to discern their location,
then shook his head at Evelyn’s warder. “It will be a while before we reach the
outskirts of the city. You’ll have to keep her gagged.”

He sat back against the poorly padded seat and smiled. “You
always did talk too much, Evelyn. It should be more pleasant this way. I may
just keep you gagged for the entire journey.”

Evelyn’s thoughts raced frantically over all the possible
places he could be taking her and why. Henderson’s smile grew less pleasant,
and he answered her fears.

“I mean to be in Plymouth by tomorrow night, my dear. A ship
has been waiting there to take me back to Boston for some time now. All I need
is that packet of evidence you were supposed to provide me. I don’t suppose you
have it on you?” At her stony glare, he clucked his tongue sympathetically. “It
would have saved you and your husband a lot of anguish if you had. Well, it can’t
be helped, I suppose. He can have either you or the evidence. We’ll just have
to wait and see which he chooses.”

Henderson’s chuckle didn’t bode well for either choice, and
Evelyn closed her eyes in fury and helplessness. The first chance she got, she
would tear the villain’s eyes out.

***

Margaret’s hysterical screams brought the proprietors of
nearby shops running into the street. “Help, please! Someone must follow that
carriage!”

But there wasn’t another vehicle in sight beyond a few sedan
chairs. Not until the Cranville carriage returned could she find help. By then,
the other carriage was out of sight. The earl’s driver was in a quandary on how
to deal with her cries, so he took her back to Hampton House.

Alarmed by Margaret’s hysteria and Evelyn’s obvious absence,
Deirdre sent footmen fleeing through the city in search of Alex.

A message from him arrived some hours later urging Evelyn to
hurry if she wished to hear the vote on the Stamp Act. Realizing the footmen
hadn’t found him, Margaret again descended into hysterics and offered to drive
the coach herself if someone would just tell her where to find the docks. She
was certain one of the kidnappers had to be a sailor.

Panic-stricken, Deirdre penned word to Mr. Farnley asking
for his help. She left Margaret to explain when the lawyer arrived. Then,
donning pelisse and bonnet, Deirdre set out for Westminster.

***

Alex was in the stands, celebrating the defeat of the
nefarious Stamp Act when he received Deirdre’s frantic message. His happiness
crumbled into nothing. Months of hard work, the welfare of thousands, and it
all meant naught when faced with the loss of Evelyn.

Unable to locate Deirdre in the crowds, he borrowed a horse and
tore across town.

Flying up the outside stairs and into the foyer, Alex nearly
bowled over the butler and two footmen helping the dowager from her pelisse.
The excess of servants in the front hall bespoke their fear.

“What does this mean!” Alex flung the crumpled message on
the entry table. “By Jove, you don’t turn a man gray by sending mad missives
like that to his office! Where’s Evelyn?”

Margaret raced down the stairs at his bellows. Even his
mother stepped outside the salon. But Deirdre was closest, and he focused his
fury on her.

Alex’s tempers had always terrified the tiny countess, but she
didn’t quake now. “If what Margaret tells is true, Evelyn was abducted this
morning. We have spent the day trying to reach you.”

“That’s preposterous! It’s some kind of hoax. Margaret…”
Alex held out his hand to his frightened daughter, but before she could
approach, the butler held out a sealed letter.

“This came while my lady was out. Ames has the messenger in
the kitchen in case you wish to speak with him.”

Alex ripped open the seal and hastily scanned the missive.
He didn’t need to recognize the writing. The demands told him instantly with
whom he dealt. Feeling a shade grayer, he stalked toward the kitchen, oblivious
of his entourage.

He grabbed the messenger by his coat front and lifted him a
foot in the air. Despite the manhandling, the terrified boy provided no useful
information. Alex didn’t recognize the description of the man who had paid the
messenger to deliver the note. He had been hired off the street simply for his
knowledge of the whereabouts of Cranville House. Alex threw him out the kitchen
door and wearily turned away, to be met with almost the entirety of his
household.

He wiped a shaking hand across his brow in hopes of
steadying his thoughts, but only screams of fear and rage filled his mind.
These people, his family and servants and friends, needed to be told what was
happening, but he didn’t have it in him to explain. The only one who could have
spoken for him was in the hands of an immoral bastard whose promises couldn’t
be trusted.