Secrets In Savannah (Phantom Knights) (8 page)

Andrew’s tense
shoulders relaxed as he shook my hand. “The same must be said to you. I
understand that you and Miss Clark have married. My best wishes for your health
and happiness, ma’am,” Andrew said to Guinevere, bowing slightly.

Guinevere’s
reception of his well wishes was on the chilly side, but Andrew had never cared
for Guinevere and her lack of family and connections.

Andrew was the
nephew of the former President Madison and had his own sights set on politics.
I suspected that his marriage was to further those ambitions.

The captain
offered to show Guinevere and Hannah to their cabin while one of his sailors
led Leo and me to ours.

“That one smells
of trouble,” Leo said as we left Andrew on the deck.

“If only the
stench had been stronger when I made his acquaintance in Washington. It would
have saved Bess a multitude of pain.”

When we had been
out to sea for an hour, I found Guinevere by the stern railing, staring out
over the water. Hannah was on the deck as well, but she was attempting to flirt
with a stone faced Leo.

“Guinevere, can
you tell me who is after you?” I asked as I leaned against the rail beside her.

Before Guinevere
replied, Hannah’s voice drew our attention. She was dragging Leo toward us.
“Jack, your friend refuses to speak. Tell me, is he or is he not Junto? I know
all the Phantoms’ names, I will have you know. After you had rescued my sister
from
Levitas
, I made it my business to discover all I
could.”

The woman was an
annoyance to be sure. Hannah stopped speaking long enough to look from me to
Guinevere. “Telling secrets?” She leaned against the railing on the other side
of Guinevere. “Go on. Tell us what we are facing.”

“My uncle.”
Guinevere more breathed it than spoke, and all I could do was stare at her.

She was not the
orphan she had led me to believe.

“Why are you
hiding from your uncle?” I asked, and Hannah’s eyes grew large as if she was
just beginning to understand.

Guinevere’s
throat bobbed as she swallowed. She looked as if she wanted to run rather than
admit the truth, but I knew she would not. It was time for confession.

“Because he
wants to kill me and my sister, as he did my parents.”

Hannah’s eyes
were large, and incredulity was written there. “Why would he do such a heinous,
unforgivable crime?”

“We hail from a
small country in Europe, where my father was the second largest landowner after
the monarch. If my uncle disposed of us, he would inherit land, wealth, and
title, all things important to a man whose own father had disinherited him.”

Not only did she
have family, but she had a home, a place that rightfully belonged to her, but
was torn from her by a devil.

My stomach
seized so tight that I thought I would burst. All of my beliefs were crumbling
around me, and I had a feeling the assault would keep coming.

“How did you
escape?” Leo asked when Hannah and I only stared at Guinevere.

“We had a
faithful servant whom I went to, and he helped us to escape through the forest
while my uncle was having his men search our house. We boarded a ship that
sailed us first to England and then to America, dressed as boys.”

“Are you certain
that your parents were murdered? Could he not have been lying about that?”
There was hope in Hannah’s voice, but Guinevere’s fierce expression assured us
all that there was no doubt.

“I witnessed it,
so no, he was not lying.”

If there was any
lingering doubt existing in me that she was not the bravest woman alive, it was
shattered by her words. With every new revelation, I was beginning to see the
treasure that I had in Guinevere, and with each word she spoke I was more
determined to never let her go.

Guinevere’s gaze
rested on me alone. “My sister and I had three companions who fled with us, and
it was one of them who had stolen something that my uncle wanted. She is Ma
belle
. She is who my uncle is coming for, but I am the one
he believes will lead him to her. He will come for me first.”

Hannah
straightened, laying a hand on Guinevere’s shoulder. “You have my sworn
allegiance to fight to the death if the need should arise.”

Guinevere
smiled, and I felt the relief that covered her. She knew that I would fight for
her, as would Leo, but it became evident to me that I did not know the woman I
loved. I still meant to marry her, but I now understood why she always ran from
me. A battle was on the horizon, and all near her would be caught in the fray.

The rest of the
day passed in a cloud of consideration and planning. I was prepared to write to
my sister and the other Phantoms, to call for their aid in the fight, but Leo
convinced me to wait until we knew more. Once Guinevere’s sister was safe, then
we would make plans to capture her uncle.

That night as
sleep eluded me, I pulled on my boots to go topside. With Leo guarding the
women’s cabin, it was far too quiet for me in our own. Picking up my loaded
pistol, I exited my cabin. Leo was not the only one with a lack of trust for a
ship full of men, no matter how orderly the captain kept his vessel. In our
line of work, one did not throw trust around to every kind soul that you met.
We had to choose whom we trusted as we would choose a weapon. Who would best
protect us should the need arise.

As I climbed the
ladder and pushed open the door to the deck, a blast of cool night air struck
my face. The life of a sailor had never appealed to me, but it did fascinate me
to be aboard such a mighty vessel. It appeared that I was not alone in my
feelings.

There were three
others on the deck as I stepped into the moonlight.

What stood out
to me first was that there was no sailor at the helm. All three people were
standing in the shadows near one of the rails. As I moved closer on silent
feet, it became evident that something wicked was at play.

“Do not be
foolish, for it will get you killed,” one of the sailors was saying.

“I am not the
one who was foolish. You thought I would not recognize you? I see all.”

The voice struck
me a hard blow. What was she doing on deck with two sailors?

“If you should
reach Savannah, do be sure to give him my greeting.” Guinevere stepped back,
and the man beside her picked up the sailor and tossed him overboard.

My body burned with
fury as I ran toward the man beside Guinevere, who would not be long for this
world.

Grabbing the
sailor’s shoulder, I twisted him toward me and let my fist fly.

“Jack!”
Guinevere shrieked as my fist struck the corner of the man’s mouth.

He stumbled back
a step, a rope in his hands slipping out of his grasp. I grabbed his coat and
brought him toward me again. My fist soared to do more damage.

He caught my
first in his palm, gripping my hand with painful strength. “You going to kill
me, Jack?”

“What the devil!”
I swore as I released him. “Leo?”

“One and the
same,” he said as he felt where I punched him.

“What are you
doing up here?” I asked as I shook out my hand filled with pain.

“Disposing of
vermin.” He stepped away from Guinevere, who was gazing over the side of the
ship. “Now that you are here I will return to my post.”

Leo backed away
then went below deck, and I shifted to Guinevere.

“What in the
name of all that is good did you think you were doing?”
she
demanded of
me
.

“Rescuing you from
a would-be attacker?” I mocked.

She huffed.
“When have you ever known me to require aid in escaping would be attackers?”

“Oh, I do not
know, last evening perhaps. Or was that a staged rehearsal of things to come?”

“Do you mock
me?” she asked, standing toe to toe with me as if she could best me in a fight.

“Do you make a
habit of throwing unsuspecting sailors over the side of ships?” I retorted.

“He was far from
unsuspecting. He was a royal guard, and it is not like we left him to drown. We
gave him a boat.”

Sure enough, she
spoke the truth. There was a boat shifting with the waves and a wriggling
figure fighting against ropes. Leo must have been lowering him down when I
struck.

“Do tell me the
truth. If you are so capable of handling such things yourself why then did you
beg for my assistance in rescuing your sister?”

“I never
begged!” Guinevere protested.

“Implored,
enticed, and revealed,” I assured her.

“Never,” she
retorted with vehemence.

Her indignation
melted my own. Leaning close to her face, she was scowling at me. “You wanted
me for more than my aid alone. Admit it. You wanted me as much as I craved
you.”

She scoffed.

“I know you,
Guinevere. Seduction is not your strength. Subterfuge yes, manipulation without
question, but not seduction.”

Her anger
disappeared like that of a wilting flower. “You are in the wrong, Jack. I do
what I must to succeed in my ends.”

“Denial will
only make this journey all the longer, Guinevere.”

Her anger
snapped back into place. “So too will arrogance of which you have in
abundance.”

“Madam
wife
, let he who is without fault cast the first stone.”

She shook her
head, but a smile broke through her attempt at resistance. “My specious
husband, you are peerless.”

“Untrue, my
darling,” I said as I took her hand and placed it on my arm. “You are my match
and for that reason I mean to make you my wife.”

“That reason
alone?” she inquired.

“Not at all, but
some mysteries must be saved for marriage.” I ran my finger down her cheek to
her lips. When they parted, I smiled. Her resistance was cracking, and no bogey
from her past would stand in our way.

Guinevere

After a late night dealing with one of
the men sent by my uncle, it was mid-morning before I left my cabin.

Hannah had not been awake when Jack
brought me back to my cabin, but she had known that I went out. When I had
awakened, she asked if I enjoyed my late night stroll. She laughed when she
heard about Jack hitting Leo.

“Those Phantoms would perish if they
could not fight with someone, which leads me to Elizabeth. She has done well
for herself. Her Mr. Mason was divine,” Hannah said as she arranged my hair for
the day.

“Be thankful that you did not attempt a
flirtation with him. Bess would have struck you down, and I do believe she
would have enjoyed it.”

“You prove my point. A violent bunch
these spies. You should step warily when it comes to Jack. The leader is always
the most precarious.”

It almost made me smile that she did not
know that Bess, and not Jack, had been the leader of the Phantoms.

“I am not your competition, you know,”
Hannah said abruptly. Her eyes were stayed on her task, but I could sense her
awaiting my reply.

“I never thought you were,” I replied,
if not with complete honesty at least with a semblance of the truth.

It was true that Jack had thought he was
chasing Hannah as the white phantom, kissing Hannah, when in truth he was
chasing me, and kissing me.

“Your words say one thing but your eyes
say another.”

Staring at her for a full minute I did
not know what she thought she was reading in my eyes, but whatever it was, it
should not have been there. Perhaps Harvey was right, perhaps I was slipping in
my duties. I had long since mastered the art of keeping all thoughts and
emotions from my eyes unless I wanted them to be there. I was master of my
emotions until Jack came into my life, and like a fool I fell for him. It was
never his poetry, which was laughable, or his good looks, though those aided my
traitorous feelings. It was the way he saved me. When he came to my rescue at
the Inn in Philadelphia, I was shocked at the lightning bolts of excitement
that coursed through me when he reached his hand down to me. I thought about
little else for a long time, and when I saw him again in his mother’s house I
knew that I was on a spiraling slope with nothing to hold on to.

Hannah handed me my auburn wig, but did
not move to help me put it on. “You need to know that I have no designs upon
Jack. My affections are engaged elsewhere. So, I hope that you can come to
trust me.”

Seeing the earnestness in Hannah’s
expression, I felt myself softening just a mite. I may not have fully trusted
her, but I did not fully trust anyone.

“I know what it is to be separated from
the one that you love. If you love Jack, you should not let anything stand in
your way. The lord knows you deserve some happiness.”