Whisper To Me of Love (37 page)

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Authors: Shirlee Busbee

BOOK: Whisper To Me of Love
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“But something went wrong?” Royce interjected when Jacko stopped to grab a bite of the bread and meat that Morgana had fixed for him. From the way he wolfed the food down, it was obvious that he had not eaten in a long time. Royce gave him a moment, then repeated, “But something went wrong ... ?”
The blue eyes full of anxiety, Jacko nodded swiftly. “Bad wrong!” he said in a low, tormented voice. “The one-eyed man showed up at our rooms night before last, said he had a small job he wanted us to do for him. It didn't seem to be too difficult, and since we didn't want to arouse his suspicions, we didn't try to wiggle out of it.”
“I take it the ‘small job' turned out to be a trap?” Royce asked quietly, setting down his empty snifter on the mantel and helping himself to a slice of bread and cheese.
“Yes, it was! And it's the devil's own luck that I am not in Newgate with Ben this very moment,” Jacko said roughly. “There was this gentleman the one-eyed man wanted us to rob, said the gentry cove always wore a fine ruby that he had a fancy to own. Told us where the fellow would be this morning, or rather yesterday morning. Said the fellow would be driving up from the country to put his affairs in order before leaving the city for the summer. Said it would be our only chance to bite the blow for a long time.” Jacko rubbed the back of his neck. “It seemed simple enough and it was something we've done time and again, so we weren't looking for trouble.”
“But you found it,” Royce commented dryly.
“Oh, yes, we found it!” Jacko replied bitterly. His forehead wrinkled in memory, Jacko said slowly, “The fellow had to have been warned, because he was ready for us—the instant we neared him, before we had even touched him, he struck Ben a mighty blow to the head with his fist, nearly knocking Ben to the ground with the force of it. And then quick as a flash the bloody bastard whipped out a sword stick and came right at me! Ben was groggy, stumbling about while I was trying to keep the fellow's attention on me to give Ben time to recover and avoid being stabbed at the same time, when all of a sudden out of nowhere four members of the watch are there, swinging their cudgels.” Shame and despair in his voice, Jacko confessed, “All I could think of was getting out of there—I thought Ben was behind me, and I dodged through the alleys and streets until I knew I had lost any pursuers. Ben wasn't with me when I stopped running, but I wasn't worried—we've often had to split up to escape, and I just figured he'd be waiting for me back at our rooms.” Bleakly he said, “He wasn't, but someone else was—the watch! I almost walked slap into their arms before I noticed them lurking about where we live, and that's when I knew for certain that the one-eyed man had betrayed us.” Tossing down some more whiskey that Morgana had just poured for him, Jacko continued, “I hung around awhile, thinking that maybe I had gotten there before Ben, but after a while, I knew that things were very bad for us. I had to keep hidden, but I also had to know what had happened to Ben. I did some damn cautious snooping, not knowing who I could trust anymore, and discovered that he had been taken away to Newgate. As soon as I learned that, I started out for here.” He sighed tiredly. “I walked when I had to, but I was able to cadge a ride with a farm cart every now and then.”
“I wonder,” Royce began slowly, “if the one-eyed man's betrayal is because he realized that you had been following him, or if he has somehow learned of your imminent departure from England.”
Jacko shrugged listlessly. “What does it matter? Ben's in Newgate, and until he is freed, we're not going anywhere!”
“My point exactly!” Royce said bluntly. “By having Ben in Newgate, he has to know that none of you will be leaving the country ... which gives him time to concoct further plots to kidnap Morgana!”
Silence fell in the room, no one having anything to add to the conversation. Several seconds passed, all lost in their own thoughts, before Zachary asked softly, “How are we going to get Ben out of Newgate?”
After tossing down the last of his brandy, Royce replied crisply, “Without a great deal of trouble, I should hope! I shall leave at first light and return to London. George will know which magistrate or judge I should see, and if all goes well, Ben will be sitting here with us by tomorrow evening!”
“And if it doesn't?” Morgana asked anxiously.
Royce smiled gently at her. “Sweetheart, please have a little faith in my persuasive powers!” Attempting to interject a lighter note into the proceedings, he grinned. “If I cannot convince the authorities that Ben must be released in my care, I'm quite positive that I shall be able to find someone who, for a handsome consideration, will be quite willing to look the other way and allow Ben to escape.” His teasing mood disappearing, Royce looked at Morgana and promised grimly, “Believe me, one way or another, I will free your brother for you. It may take longer than we want, but Ben
will
be free—I swear it!”
“I shall go with you!” Zachary said grimly, leaning forward intently.
“And me!” Jacko said promptly.
Morgana opened her mouth to state her intention of being included, but Royce slanted her a fierce glance and snarled softly, “Don't even
think
of offering to accompany me!” Her mouth shut with a snap and her chin lifted belligerently.
Looking at the two younger men, Royce said forcefully, “No one is coming with me—I'll need you here to guard Morgana, and I see no reason for us to split up our pitifully few forces any more than necessary.”
Both Zachary and Jacko were much inclined to argue with this line of reasoning, but eventually Royce made them see the sense of what he proposed. “Don't you see! He may very well have arranged Ben's capture for just this reason—to divide us, and in our desire to free Ben, momentarily let ourselves be distracted from his main purpose ... the possession of Morgana! If we all go hying off to London, we may be playing right into his hands!”
Royce's words were irrefutable, and the subject was closed. Walking over and putting his empty snifter on the tray, he said levelly, “I think for now we should all seek our beds for what is left of the night. Jacko, there are any number of guest bedrooms for you to choose from, so let's find you one and let you get some sleep.”
Jacko grimaced and looked down at his soiled and tattered garments. “I think I should find a hayloft—there is no telling what lives on my body and in these clothes.”
Royce smiled slightly. “I'm certain that our inimitable Chambers has already seen to it that there is some warm water and soap in one of the bedchambers, and he will have no doubt made arrangements to burn your clothing as soon as you are out of them! I suspect that he is patiently waiting outside this door to inform us of his actions. Would you like to place a wager on it?”
A huge yawn suddenly overtook Jacko, and covering his mouth hurriedly, he shook his head. “I'm not used to manners of the gentry—you would be sure to win.”
The four of them walked out of the salon, and as Royce had predicted, Chambers was waiting for them in the entryway. Bowing and looking not the least incongruous in his flannel night robe, Chambers intoned quietly, “Sir, I took the liberty of having some water heated and placed in the green bedroom, next to Master Zachary's room. After he has washed, if the young man would put his, er,
soiled
garments outside the door, I shall see to their disposal. I'm certain by tomorrow morning we will have found him something more appropriate to wear.”
“Did I not tell you that Chambers would see to everything?” Royce asked, smiling broadly.
Taking Jacko by the arm, in a friendly manner Zachary said, “Come with me; I shall show you to your room, and I think that as far as clothing is concerned, I have several garments that, with very little altering, would probably fit you. By tomorrow, we'll have you looking like a swell!”
It was as well that they all parted on that light note, because Royce's expression was decidedly grim as he restlessly paced the confines of his room just a few minutes later. He was far more worried than he had let on, and while he was positive that he could make arrangements for Ben's freedom, he rather doubted that it could be done in a relatively brief time. Which means, he thought darkly, Ben must remain in Newgate, where the one-eyed man's minions could reach him at any time ... and there was no longer any question of being able to get the Fowler brothers out of the country any time soon.
But it was Morgana's place in all of this that had him the most alarmed, and he cursed himself roundly for not having put her on the first ship leaving England weeks ago. If he hadn't allowed his own selfish desires to rule his head, she and her brothers would be safe now, somewhere on the high seas, halfway to America. Instead, he admitted with a fierce scowl, Ben is in Newgate and she is in increasingly more danger—and will be as long as she is within striking range of the one-eyed man ... or until the one-eyed man is dead!
Royce smiled, a tiger's smile, and there was a distinctly feral gleam in his tiger eyes as he considered the pleasure it would give him to kill the one-eyed man. If only, he thought savagely, there were some way to force the one-eyed man to break cover ... to have him strike at me, instead of Morgana and her brothers. A mirthless smile curved his handsome mouth. How foolish of him—the one-eyed man had already attacked him once, and he
still
didn't know what had provoked it ... or why the man had set Morgana and her brothers on him in the first place....
It was obvious that the one-eyed man had to be someone he knew, someone whom, in the beginning, he had inadvertently annoyed—that would explain the order to have Morgana pick his pocket. But that plan had gone wrong, and worse, from the other man's point of view, Royce realized even more clearly, Morgana had fallen into his hands and was no longer in the power of the one-eyed man. It was glaringly apparent, too, that Morgana was not just a minor member of his knot of thieves—Royce was certain that if it had been any other female member who had been caught by him, the one-eyed man would not have made any effort to free her, certainly would not have gone to the lengths to which he had so far. No. The sequence of events seemed to revolve around Morgana herself. Why? Because the one-eyed man had planned to make her his mistress? Or was it somehow connected to the fact that she was the bastard daughter of the Earl of St. Audries?
Lost in his own thoughts, Royce didn't hear Morgana enter the room until she was beside him and touched him on the arm. He spun around, catching her arm in a bruising grip, the expression on his face so dangerous that Morgana gasped and stepped back slightly.
Seeing who it was, he softened his expression and instantly let go of her arm. A crooked smile on his face, he muttered, “I'm sorry, I didn't realize that it was you.”
Smiling uncertainly up at him, she said thankfully, “I'm only glad that I am
not
the person you thought I was!”
Royce made some light reply, and then, the topaz eyes wary, he asked, “What are you doing here? I assumed that you would be in bed.”
Morgana's eyes gravely searched his features. When she had first learned of the planned departure of her brothers, she had been enraged—thoroughly enraged that Royce had not told her and just a little hurt that Jacko and Ben would abandon her so cavalierly. But she'd had time to think about it, and reluctantly she admitted that Royce's reasons made a great deal of sense. She hadn't totally forgiven him his deceit, but she was willing to listen to his explanation. Her face somber, she asked quietly, “When were you going to tell me about their sailing?”
Royce made a face, and aware that she was not overtly hostile, he risked putting his arms around her and pulling her next to him. Her slender body pressing confidingly against his, his chin resting on her curly black hair, he murmured, “Tonight. I came to your room with the intention of telling you... .” A husky note entered his voice. “But I'm afraid that I got, ah, distracted.”
Her cheek pressed warmly against his heart, Morgana tried to ignore the sudden heat that flooded her body and asked in a very small voice, “Royce, will you really be able to free Ben?”
He tipped up her chin, and his mouth teasingly brushed against hers. “Yes, I'll get him out. It's not difficult if you have money and position—which I do, so don't worry about it. I can't promise that I'll be able to free him tomorrow, but soon we'll have him here with us.”
Momentarily reassured, worry of the one-eyed man forgotten for now, she smiled mistily up at him, her gray eyes soft and unknowingly inviting.
With her breasts burning into his chest, her lips only inches from his, Royce instantly lost the train of his thought, and when she moved with unconscious seduction against him, Ben, the one-eyed man, flew from his mind, leaving only a blind, hungry desire to take her again. His arms convulsively tightened around her, and he crushed her next to him, deliberately making her aware of his suddenly rigid manhood. Thickly he said, “You're distracting me again.”
Caught in the same sensual trap that held Royce, Morgana smiled demurely, and as her lips touched his, she murmured, “Oh, I hope so... .”

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