The Raven's Lady (3 page)

The planning
session devolved into an argument over a different topic; first
Felix against Joselyn, and then—when Joselyn convinced the others
of the sense of what she said—Felix against the officers and
part-time smugglers alike.

Felix did not
want Joselyn taking her usual place down on the beach at the head
of her women. Indeed, if Felix had his way, all of the women would
be replaced with his trained soldiers.

Joselyn and her
helpers agreed that the soldiers would form the main part of the
workforce on the beach, disguised in skirts and with concealing
shawls to keep their masculine features from giving away the
ambush. But, Joselyn insisted, she needed to be there, head
uncovered and face seen, so that the villains would believe they
had her trapped. And her supporters insisted on joining her.

She was right.
Felix knew she was right. He hated placing her in danger, but she
was essential to the success of the plan.

Reluctantly, he
had to agree.

By the time
Cyril returned from his errand, all was prepared. Tonight, they
would trap the Black Fox.

Cyril clearly
expected an outcome much more to his liking. He could hardly
contain his glee when both Joselyn and Felix claimed tiredness
early in the evening and retired to bed. And they had to hastily
conceal themselves behind trees when he came crashing noisily down
the path towards the clifftops, muttering to himself about tonight
being the last night.

Reaching the
clifftops themselves, they watched him hurry away down the path
towards the village.

“I don’t want
you going down there, Josalyn,” Felix told her. He wasn’t going to
stop her. She had as much at stake as he—more, given her love for
these people. But he wanted her to know he was reluctant.

Had she been
this frightened for him, knowing he had gone to war? If so, he’d
have to spend the next fifty years making up for his unthinking
cruelty in staying away so long. He smiled at the thought of that,
and she smiled back.

“I will be
careful. And if the smugglers come this way, you will be in more
danger than I.”

In the event,
the Black Fox split his forces, and attacked from the sea as well
as the cliff top. For a few minutes, Felix was too busy to worry
about Joselyn, but once the thugs on the cliff top were subdued,
Cyril among them, he hurried down the path to the beach, where
clumps of people wrestled in the moonlight.

As he reached
the sand, a sudden loud shout stopped him in his tracks. “I have
the woman, and I’ll kill her if you try to stop me.”

It was the
Black Fox, his arm around Joselyn’s neck, brandishing a pistol in
his other hand. He was backing towards the rowboat he had arrived
in, two of his henchmen flanking him on either side.

“Not another
step!” the Fox shrieked at the soldiers following him. The rest of
his crew were gone, subdued by the soldiers or Joselyn’s women. But
no one dared approach these three!

Felix’s heart
was in his throat, blocking his breath and pounding like the French
cannon at Waterloo. He couldn’t attack without risking Joselyn, but
if he didn’t attack, they’d take her with them to who knew what
horrid fate.

At that moment,
there was a loud caw. Immediately, and so fast that Felix couldn’t
afterward untangle the order, a large black feathery missile hurled
itself into the Black Fox’s face, Joselyn gave a twist and vicious
upward punch into a portion of the Fox’s anatomy that made Felix
wince, two shots rang out, and the two henchmen fell.

Within moments,
it was all over, the smugglers captured and the raven marching up
and down the beach cackling his satisfaction at his timely
intervention.

Felix, with
difficulty. restrained himself from wrapping Joselyn in his arms in
front of half his tenants and all his soldiers. He’d never been so
frightened in all his life. Thank God she was safe!

The Black Fox
was hauled off in custody, along with his surviving men and Cyril,
his co-conspirator. They would face the magistrate on the
morrow.

Joselyn and
Felix walked home together through the dawn. The raven had flown
off about his own affairs, and the housekeeper had gone on ahead,
arm in arm with the farmer’s wife.

“Joselyn,”
Felix said, “I have explanations to make, and excuses. I let
everyone think I was dead because that was the best way I could
serve in the war against Napoleon, but I didn’t think about how it
would affect you. Dare I hope that you will forgive me? I will
spend a lifetime making amends if you will permit.”

Joselyn was
silent for a long time. He was wrong then. He had hoped she was
beginning to like the adult him, at least a little. Eventually, she
spoke.

“You seem very
certain that we would suit,” she stated.

“I know we
would suit,” he said. “Certainly you suit me. I did not think there
was a woman in the world who so combined courage, intelligence and
spirit with beauty and kindness. I wish for a chance to convince
you I can make you happy. May I court you, Joselyn?”

She was silent
again, but a quality in the silence gave him hope, and he waited
patiently.

“I did not know
there was a man in the world who valued spirit and intelligence in
a woman. Certainly I have not before met a man who would allow me
to lead my troops into battle, even though he wished to protect
me.”

“I didn’t want
you to go,” Felix admitted.

“But you
respected me enough to agree,” she said.

She was silent
again.

“I daresay, now
that my last surviving relative is dead, my trustees will find me
somewhere else to live,” she said after a while. “I cannot, of
course, stay here as a unmarried woman in the house of a
bachelor.”

That was true,
Felix supposed, his heart sinking. He hadn’t thought of that. Would
she leave him, then?

“I never
knew... Felix, you really do want me, don’t you? Not just my
money?”

“Joselyn, I’ve
not taken my officer’s pay in eight years, and it has all been
soundly invested along with my prizes. Believe me, you are the
treasure I want, not your money.” He moved to take her back into
his arms, but Joselyn stopped him with her hand.

“Then I
wonder,” she looked down shyly, “if you would consider marrying me
first, Felix, and courting me after?”

So it was that
Joselyn Bellingham and Felix Maddox were wed as soon as the bans
could be called. And if there were some who questioned the sudden
change in Viscounts, and wondered at the reappearance of one who
had been thought dead these six years the older servants and
villagers soon put them right. And if some said the bride should
not have lived in the groom’s house that last fortnight,
Viscountess Maddox’s supporters told them to hush their mouths. And
if some raised their eyebrows when the bride was escorted down the
aisle by a large raven, Viscount Maddox didn’t care a jot. After
all, he said, the raven had found him his bride and saved him his
bride, and that was all there was to that.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Amy Rose
Bennett and Mari Christie, two of my wonderful cohort of
Bluestocking Belles. Amy and Mari read the rough first draft and
told me to strengthen the middle with more showing, and less
telling.

They also said
the ending was unconvincing if Joselyn and Felix didn’t already
know one another, and suggested that they might have been children
together.

All great
ideas, and all now part of the story.

Thank you, as
always, to my dear personal romantic hero, who kept me fed and
watered while I wrote this story over two fevered days.

And thank you
Crystal for the characters and the trope. I particularly enjoyed
the raven. I hope you like what I did with your ideas.

Connect with Jude
Knight

Jude Knight is the pen
name of Judy Knighton. After a career in commercial writing,
editing and publishing, I am returning to my first love, fiction.
My first novel is Farewell to Kindness, Book 1 in The Golden
Redepennings. I have several novels in progress, and plot outlines
for 40+, all set in the early 19th century. The plans include seven
series, several stand-alone novels, novellas and short stories, and
a number of characters who intersect across series.

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