Secrets In Savannah (Phantom Knights) (17 page)

I stared at her for a moment before
a snort of laughter escaped me. “That is ridiculous.”

“So I told her, but she is
adamant.” Hannah’s mouth twisted as if she had eaten something sour. “You
should know that she is determined to thwart your relationship with Jack.”

She could try, but she would never
succeed. Jack knew me, and what was more, he knew Charlotte. She was impetuous,
pert, and still a child, if not in body at least in mind.

When Hannah’s gaze remained fixed
on me, it filled me with foreboding.

“Where is Jack?” I asked, swinging
my legs over the side of the bed.

“He is with Charlotte. Her cousin
is having her fitted for a new dress before the wedding tomorrow. Jack escorted
her.”

“Then she cannot do too much
mischief.” Leaning back against my pillow, I laid my hand over my eyes. Sleep
was what I required, but Hannah would not allow it.

Hannah was not so convinced that
Charlotte could do no harm. She was sure that Charlotte had some scheme afoot
and being with Jack would give her ample time to place her barbs against me.
She believed that Charlotte meant to poison Jack’s mind against me with
whatever nonsense that Lucas fed her. I wished that I could be there when Jack
put her in her place.

“You had best help me to dress. I
should be there to welcome them home. We would not want Charlotte to add
rudeness to my list of faults.”

As soon as I was dressed, Hannah
helped me down the stairs to the parlor. Mrs. Short brought me a tray of things
she said would cure any lingering effects from her brew that she had given me.

It was not until after Hannah and
I had consumed a light luncheon that Charlotte and Jack returned.

They came into the parlor in good
spirits, quite at ease with one another.

Hannah questioned them about their
outing which spurred Charlotte into telling us all about her new dress that
would be delivered later. She droned as she spoke about how swift her cousin’s
dressmaker was. When she cast a look of triumph at me, I knew she was up to
mischief.

She turned a worshipful gaze to
Jack as she went on to say that he had been so kind as to take her shopping and
then to a confectionary for cakes. From the amount of packages that Mrs. Short
and Leo were carrying into the house, I would say that Jack lavished money upon
Charlotte.

“Hannah, do be a dear and help me
unpack my new things. Then you may do my hair, for Jack and I have been invited
to dine with my cousins.” Charlotte flounced out of the parlor.

Hannah turned on Jack with a
smoldering gaze.

“Hannah,” Charlotte said, snapping
her fingers three times.

“It is apparent that the girl does
not know who I am,” Hannah said rather thoughtfully, but with a sinister twist
to her words.

“Hannah, please be kind. She is
but a girl in need of a friend and a woman’s guiding hand,” Jack entreated.

“So it shall be,” Hannah replied
with a wicked glint.

When she was gone, Jack dropped
onto the sofa beside me and took my hand in his. His head fell against the
cushion as his eyes closed.

Knowing it was foolish, that I had
no reason to feel as I did, jealousy filled my chest nearly choking me.

There had been only a few times in
the past that I felt such a horrible emotion. When Harvey chose others to work
in Philadelphia instead of me, when I thought about my sister being friends
with the Martins, and when I saw the close relationship between Jack and the
Phantoms. They were a family, and there had been no one for me to call friend
or family.

That was changed now, and I would
not allow a pert little hussy like Charlotte Mason stand in the way of my
happiness.

“You are to dine with Charlotte’s
family?” I asked, allowing only mild interest to reflect in my voice.

“So it seems. Andrew requested my
support as Anne Crawford has five giggling sisters.”

“You are rather friendly with him,
considering what he did to your sister.”

“All in the past now that Bess is
happy and settled.”

“I wonder what she would say to
that.”

Jack’s eyes opened, and he turned
his head toward me. “Andrew is not a bad man, and Bess knows that. He was
selfish in their dealings, but he never set out to harm her.”

“Unlike me, who was both selfish
and did harm you.”

Jack sighed as he closed his eyes
again. “That is not what I meant.”

“Though it is what you thought?”

He sat up, taking both of my hands.
“You know that is not how I view you. From the moment that I saw you in that
Inn yard last year I have been devoted to you. Nothing has changed my ardor.
Not the discovery that you were the white phantom, not you capturing my sister
twice, or you shooting me.”

When put like that, I could not
fathom why he loved me. I was a wretch, and just as selfish as Andrew Madison,
if not more. The only difference was that I had to be selfish; too many others
depended upon my success.

“You were invited as well,” Jack
said, and I felt like a fool for my jealousy.

“That was kind, but I am not
feeling quite myself, so I shall stay here and have an early night.”

“It is for the best, I suppose,”
he said, drawing my full attention. “Charlotte would not be able to make
herself the center of all attention if you were there to capture my attention.”

A few minutes later, Jack took
himself off to prepare for the evening, but I was not alone for long.

“You made the right decision, you
know,” Charlotte said as she came into the room. “It would have been
embarrassing to my family when I exposed you to Jack before them.”

“Expose me?” I laughed. “Expose
what?”

“You may cut the theatrics,” she
snapped.

Clearly good breeding had gone out
the window.

“You are a skilled actress, are
you not, Miss Clark? If that is your real name.”

“It is not,” I replied, to which
her mouth dropped open.

“Then you admit it!”

“I admit that my name is not
Clark. It is Martin.”

Her face became suffused with
color, and she stomped her right foot. “It is not, or at least it should not
be. Jack deserves better than ... than ...  than a temptress.”

“I cannot agree more, though I was
not aware that Jack has anything to do with temptresses.”

“Oh, don’t you just,” Charlotte
muttered and I saw that candor was the only path for such a petulant child.

“I will not pretend to
misunderstand you, but do allow me to speak candidly. You do not like that I
have married Jack. This I know well, but I have married Jack, and
you
,”
I added pointedly, “and everyone else will have to grow accustomed to the fact
because it is not going to change.”

Charlotte smiled unkindly. “Oh,
won’t it just. I know who you are and, what is more, I am going to tell Jack.”

I smiled, saying the one thing she
did not expect, “And?”

Charlotte began to look concerned
at my lack of fear. “He will see what kind of woman he has married. You will be
forced to return from whence you came to answer for your crimes.”

“Little
peagoose
,
I thought you lacking in common sense, but I never knew you were daft. My
crimes, as you call them, are nonexistent. Jack knows me well, and he knows
you. Whom do you think he will believe?”

Charlotte’s face slowly grew red
from chin to forehead. “He has been bewitched and when he hears the truth your
spell will be broken.” She smiled like she had just landed me a
doubler
. “Do not worry though, for after you are gone, I
shall take good care of Jack.” She swept up the train on her skirt and flounced
out of the room.

Sighing, I rose. My first impulse
was to go to Jack, but I could not. Though it was a precarious situation, Jack
was far too emotional when it came to Charlotte. She was a Phantom, and they
protected their own. It was their vow of honor, and no matter how I tried to
mend my ways, the

Phantoms would always come first.

If I wanted Charlotte away before
she could do some irreparable damage, I would have to seek the aid of someone
who had no feelings whatsoever.

òòò

“You should have sent me word that
you had taken this position, Frederick,” I said from just inside the door at
the temple. There was a formal table set in the middle of the room, and
Frederick was seated at a chair before it. He looked up, with utensils paused
in the air. “When I asked you to alert the royal guards to my whereabouts in
Charleston so that I could do away with them, I had hoped that would be the end
of our acquaintance.”

“Partnership. Call it what it was,
dearest.”

“Annoyance, mistake, detestable
yet unavoidable understanding,” I retorted, to which Frederick chuckled and
rose.

He brought a chair to the place
across the table and held out the chair for me to be seated. What needed to be
said would require that I take that seat, as loathsome as I found his company.

Once I was seated, and Frederick
had pushed in my chair for me, he retook his own seat, and one of his lackeys
brought me a plate filled with food.

“Is this where you reside now?” I
asked as I took in the temple. It was similar to the one that existed in
Delaware but not as ostentatious as the one in Philadelphia had been.

“Are you requesting to see my
living quarters, Guinevere? Whatever would Jack say?” The charming way he said
it did nothing to endear him to me. I knew his way with women. He would say
things, give compliments with a mixture of seduction and humor that would make
most women question whether he was in earnest or having fun at their expense.
It was his allure.

Frederick was an imbecile, but he
had his uses. “Jack trusts me.”

“He is a fool,” Frederick murmured
with amusement.

“Jack is not a fool. He is
misinformed.” My relationship with Jack had never been one of ease. We had many
things to work through, the most of which was my past. Some things were
unforgivable, and it was for that reason that I had hesitated for so long in
the telling of my history. I wanted him to know, but I dreaded the moment of
revelation that would surely lead to disgust. When I told him, I was certain
that I would lose him forever.

“What, I wonder, does that mean?”
Frederick mused.

“I have met with a conundrum. One,
I am ashamed to say, requires that I come to you for aid.”

Frederick dabbed his mouth with
his napkin and sat back, the picture of polite interest.

“Charlotte Mason has come to
Savannah, and Lucas Marx has her under his spell.”

Frederick’s face changed to
understanding. He knew about Lucas, and he knew what a threat he was to us all.
“Tell me, Guinevere, does Jack know that you have come to me?”

“Jack is too attached to the
situation to be able to see it the way it is. Charlotte Mason presents a
possible threat, one that I need to be removed.”

“What would you have me do?”

What I wanted was for someone to
lock her up and dispose of the key, but what I would have done would be much
more in a giving nature, one that I rarely showed. “I want her removed from
Savannah and returned, safely, to Charleston. Take her to Rose Eldridge with
the instructions to put a chain on her so she cannot run away again.”

Frederick was smiling, but his eyes
were a bit too narrowed, and his fingertips were touching.

“In exchange, I have brought you a
charge.” Pushing aside my cloak, I untied the strings to a bag, then set it in
the middle of the table.

Frederick stared at it a moment,
and I could see his distrust, but his intrigue far outweighed it. He snatched
the bag off the table and opened it.

To say that he was in shock over
what he saw was a gross understatement. He was overpowered with a move that he
would never have seen coming his way. With slow movement, he looked up.

“Why?” was all he said, all he was
capable of saying.

“Because I know where your true
alliance lies, and you will protect it until the proper moment arises.”

Frederick reached into the bag and
drew out the
Sfære
af
lys
, the greatest of all
the artifacts of the Holy Order. It was a black puzzle box with many points
like a star, and engraved along each point was a different symbol. When the
symbols were aligned, a tiny keyhole was revealed, to which I held the only
key.

“You and I, you see, are loyal to
the same alliance, and that is something that Jack can never understand.”

Jack

T
he morning of Andrew’s wedding,
Leo and I were waiting in the foyer for Hannah and Guinevere when there was a
knock on the door.