by Vella, Wendy
“Evil,” Harry said. “I also.”
“Colors?” She’d heard them speak about this, but as yet did not understand it.
“Everyone has a different color,” Dev said. “Harry, Wolf, and I can see them when we change our vision. I know you are aware of what we are, Maddie, just not all the nuances of it.”
“No.” She still couldn’t grasp what she’d been told, and yet had seen the miracle of the Sinclairs for herself.
“Illness and near death weakens the color to white, and evil darkens it,” Dev added.
“It is almost more than I can believe, and yet I do not doubt what you say.” Maddie sneezed.
“Here.” Harry handed her a large handkerchief. “We need to get you home to Essie before your condition worsens.”
“It is only a sniffle. I shall be fine now I am out of there.”
“They come,” Warwick said. “James, Max, and Rory, I mean.”
“Is that hard? Hearing things that sometimes you don’t want to.”
The young man smiled at her and tapped his ear. “Those of us with strong hearing wear earplugs to mute everyday sounds.”
“Put them in now, Warwick,” Dev told him.
“We will take the other carriage,” James said from the doorway. “Gavell told us nothing of interest, only babbled about how they’d made a mistake. It took all my strength to pull Rory off him, as Max was urging him to pummel the sergeant. Luckily we escaped without any more charges being pressed against the Huntingtons.”
He closed the carriage door, and soon they were on their way. Maddie sat with Harry’s jacket wrapped around her and watched the darkening sky as the carriage took her home.
It was that and so much more for her now.
The Sinclairs talked, discussing what had happened. Maddie listened but did not say much, and every now and then her eyes caught and held Harry’s and she felt that little thrill travel through her.
She was a widow, a woman who had known the touch of a man, but not a touch like Harry’s. He would show her passion, and for the first time ever, Maddie wanted to know what that felt like.
“We are here. Prepare yourself, Maddie, everyone will be inside waiting,” Warwick said as the door opened.
“All of them?”
“It is our way. When one of us is hurting, in danger, or needing support, the others are there,” Dev said.
“All this is hard to accept when it has only ever been you and another to care for,” Harry said as they prepared to follow the others from the carriage.
“I fought against it.”
“And now?”
“Now I think I would be a fool not to take what is offered,” Maddie said. “I was guarded because that is always the way I had to be, but they don’t allow that.”
Harry’s laugh was a small huff of breath. “It is indeed hard to maintain distance when they don’t understand that concept.”
“Will you accept them, Harry?” Maddie took his hand and stepped down.
“I don’t want to. This is not my life, and I have no wish for it. But I must tell you something, Maddie. They know you sailed here on my ship. I had to tell them when they asked how my crewman recognized you. But that is all I told them.”
“I understand, and thank you again for today, and finding me.”
“Come.” Max was waving to them from the front door of his house.
“They are good people. Surely you can see that now, Harry?”
He didn’t answer, just placed a hand at her back and nudged her forward.
Would he stay for long? She wanted to ask him that, but it was not her place to do so.
Fleur saw her as she entered the parlor where the others waited and ran at her. Little legs pumping, wide smile on her face. Maddie dropped to her knees right there on the floor inside the doorway and scooped her daughter into her arms.
She felt hands on her head.
“Mama, I missed you,” Fleur whispered into her ear.
“I am here now, and will not leave you again, I promise.” Maddie rose with her daughter in her arms.
“Come, sit, you must feel terrible.” Essie waved her to a chair. “I will have a tisane prepared for your head, as I’m sure it aches.”
Several people moaned.
“I will add honey,” Essie added, glaring at them.
Food was brought, and the entire story recounted. Harry explained his part for those who had not heard it.
“Let me help you with that headache.” Lilly approached Maddie.
“I am well, Lilly, I promise.”
“I’m not sure how you can be, considering what you have endured.”
She felt Lilly’s hand pass over her head briefly, the touch light. She felt the heat, and then the pain had gone. It was bliss.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I always say there is little point in suffering unnecessarily.”
“But I have no wish to tire you also.”
“Oh, that doesn’t tire me; it’s saving lives that does that.” Lilly smiled at Harry, then went to sit next to Dev.
They loved, as did all the couples in the room. She saw it in the small gestures and looks. Maddie had never received such a look before. Her eyes went to Harry. His were on her.
“And now I must return to my ship,” Harry said.
“Stay, Harry, we are to take tea,” Cam said.
“I won’t, but thank you.” He nodded, his eyes settling on her and Fleur. She thought he’d approach, instead he nodded again, and then he was gone and she told herself that was all right, as she had all of this now.
Chapter 23
Harry threw cargo out of the hold and up into the hands of a crewman. He needed the manual labor. Needed the hard work to make him forget what had happened to Maddie and in that carriage two days ago.
Maddie had kissed him. She’d leaned in and placed her lips on his, and he felt as if she’d given him so much more. She’d trusted him and felt safe. She would never have kissed him otherwise. It had taken every ounce of his self-control not to pull her onto his thighs. He wanted her straddling him, wanted her body pressed to his.
She was a widow, and yet still an innocent. He hated that any man but he had touched her, and yet he knew that jealousy was unworthy of him. Fleur was the result of her marriage, and she was a blessing.
“A letter has arrived for you, Harry.” Faris’s face appeared above him.
“I’ll read it later.”
“What are you doing down there?”
“Knitting. What the hell does it look like?” Harry grabbed another barrel and threw it up, nearly hitting Faris, who pulled back just in time.
“Is your side up to such strenuous exercise?”
“Yes, thank you, Father.”
“Your stupidity knows no bounds.” Faris appeared again. “You took a bullet, and not that long ago, and yet you are down there hurling large objects around like an idiot!”
Faris was rarely angry, and usually it took a great deal to get him there. Harry had perfected the art over the years.
“Go play with your doll house.” Harry’s words had his crew snickering.
“Imbecile,” Faris muttered.
Harry made kissing noises and felt a great deal better for needling his friend, which was beneath him, but anything to improve his spirits.
He’d wanted to stay at the Huntington house after they’d returned with Maddie. Wanted to eat, then talk about what or who had had Maddie arrested. He’d wanted to sit and have Fleur climb into his lap. She would then kiss his cheek, as she had often done, and produce a book for him to read.
He’d wanted that so much, he’d left.
Hell of a mess, Harry. But the point was, what did he want to do about it? That he wanted to do something suggested there were changes happening inside him.
It was hard to break the habits and beliefs of a lifetime.
“My brothers have the same streak of foolish disregard for their well-being that you are curren
tly displaying, Harry.” A pretty face appeared above him this time, and then another, this one not so appealing. Both he knew well.
“All true, sadly, and it’s most definitely a Sinclair gene, and male dominant,” Cam added. “But I think Wolf, Dev, and Harry are the most stubborn.”
“Oh, I’m not sure about that. I think the Raven gene shows a strong streak of imbecilic behavior also,” Eden said.
“Duchess, you will end up covered in dirt if you kneel there.” Harry looked up at his cousins. Cam had that look that said he was mischief bound.
“Grime does not bother me, Harry. Idiocy, however, does.”
“I protest,” Harry gritted as he lifted another barrel. His side gave a vicious tug that had him dropping it.
“Get up here at once, you fool!” Eden snapped.
“Leave him, sister. We can watch him prove to us he is well, and then when he drops, say I told you so,” Cam drawled.
Harry glared up at them. “Is there a purpose to your visit? Or do you just wish to fire insults at me?”
“You were shot in the side,” Eden snapped. “Honestly, Harry, you are lucky it is Cam and I and not Essie, Wolf, or Dev. They would not have been so nice.”
“This is you being nice, is it?”
Harry knew his crewmen were watching avidly and enjoying the production.
“Of course. Were we not, you would be weeping piteously into your cargo,” Cam taunted.
“I have never wept piteously and have no plans to start now,” Harry gritted out. “Now get to the point before I throw some cargo at you.”
“Come up here, and we’ll tell you.” Cam’s nose wrinkled. “The smell is not pleasant.”
“No, really, that saddens me greatly,” Harry said with no sincerity at all.
“Harsh, cousin, but it pleases me that you are becoming one of us.” Cam smiled. “Insulting is an important part of Sinclair daily life. I have high hopes for you now.”
The man really was impossible to insult.
“Don’t you have a paper to run? The Bugler, I believe?” Harry needled him.
“Oh, I like that name!” Eden looked pleased.
“I’m thinking of doing a piece on sea captains, Harry. Can I interview you?” Cam said. “Apparently you’re a salty bunch.”
Harry picked up a smelly rag, balled it up, and lobbed it at him. Cam disappeared. What did it say about him that he felt happier than he had in days, seeing two of his cousins?
“Maddie is doing well, but…” Cam and Eden reappeared.
“But?” Harry prodded.
“But you will have to come up here, as my skirts are getting grimy, if you wish to hear the rest,” the duchess added.
Both Sinclairs then disappeared, and Harry gnashed his teeth. He wasn’t playing their games.
He lasted five minutes before climbing out. His cousins were standing by the railing. With them was James, holding their youngest daughter, Katherine. She had chubby cheeks, a sweet little smile, and a riot of brown curls.
“Hello, Harry,” James said.
“Duke.” He bowed deeply.
“He certainly understands his place better than you lot,” James drawled. “But family really don’t need to bow that low, Harry. Just so your nose is level with my waist.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever bowed to you,” Cam said.
“Shall we hug?” Harry moved closer to the Sinclairs, and as his smell at best could be termed rank, Eden hid behind her brother.
“Is the ship named after your mother, Harry?” Cam said, stepping to the right, thereby exposing Eden.
“She is.”
“Go and wash, old man—you stink—and we can talk,” Cam added, pinching his nose.
As he could smell himself, he did just that. Once inside his cabin, he stripped off his clothes, scrubbed his body, and washed his hair. When he was clean and dry, he pulled on clean clothes. Picking up the narrow, flat, rectangular stone off his desk that he’d found on a beach one day, Harry scrubbed it clean too.
Wandering back out on the deck, he found them where he’d left them, but talking to Faris. None seemed overly concerned to be speaking with a man far below them on the social ladder. Harry battled the swell of pride.
Pride for the fact that these people carried his blood and showed no bias. He didn’t want to feel himself softening toward them, but the simple fact was, he couldn’t not. They were part of him, the family he’d secretly always craved.
Not that he’d tell them that.
“There he is, our handsome and sweet-smelling cousin,” Eden said, moving to kiss Harry’s cheek.
“So now I’m worthy of your attention?”
“Of course. We are nothing if not fickle.”
Katherine was wailing when he arrived, and lunged at him, out of her father’s arms. Harry took her, settling her against his shoulder.
“Her teeth are sore. This will help.” Harry held the stone to Katherine’s mouth, and she began to chew on it.
“He’s always had a way with children”—Faris frowned—“and yet has none himself. It is the same with my siblings’ children. They crowd around him when he comes to visit. And when one is unwell or upset, it is he who can calm them.”
“I think it is because he communicates on their level,” Cam said. “Intellect wise.”
“Perhaps you’re right.” Faris laughed. “Now I must be off, as there is work to do.”
“That will make a change,” Harry muttered.
“We thought to bring you up to date on the matter of Maddie’s arrest,” Cam said.
He’d started making investigations of his own and gotten nowhere. No matter how much money he was willing to throw around, no one was talking about who’d laid those charges against her. Harry was not happy. Someone knew something.
“Mr. Brown from Bow Street and Mr. Spriggot, who runs an investigative service, have worked with our families before. It is they who are looking into the matter,” James said. “Thus far they have turned up nothing, which both are finding odd, as there is usually a way to gain information, if not through money then some other means.”
“Warwick, Dorrie, and Somer, are doing some of the investigative work for Mr. Spriggot also,” Cam added.
“You cannot be serious? Surely that is far too dangerous?”
“We would not allow that, Harry, you must trust us in this,” Cam said.
“I have been unsuccessful also,” Harry said.
“You? How interesting that you would want to investigate Maddie’s arrest also.” Cam wore that smile that had his hand itching to remove it.
“I did not like that entire situation. There was something off, and I thought to see what I could uncover,” Harry said calmly. He’d learned already not to show any weakness in front of a family member.
Family.
“Very well, we will leave that subject alone for now. We are going to Mr. Rolland’s Circus of Strange and Ridiculous Curiosities,” Cam said, looking excited. “The eldest of our children are at an age where we can now unleash them on poor Mr. Rolland, as we did when the twins and Warwick were small.”
“He must be quite an age now though, Cam? Perhaps he is no longer in charge?” Eden added. “I will be sad if that is the case.”
“I doubt Mr. Rolland will have retired. We burned down his theatre once, you know.” Cam smiled at the memory.
“And he allows you back?”
“He likes to have a duke and duchess in the place, so he forgave us. And the funds we gave him rebuilt the place entirely,” Cam added.
“Someone else who respects me more than you lot,” James added.
“Was there a particular purpose for your visit other than to yell insults to me from above the cargo hold?”
Katherine gnawed on the stone, her cries now eased to sniffles. The fingers of one of her little pudgy hands were wrapped around the lapel of his jacket.
“How did you know she was teething?” James asked.
“Sometimes I get a
twinge where the child’s pain is. It’s only mild with Katherine, but in more severe cases it can be quite painful.”
“Wonderful. We have plenty of children who need soothing from time to time.” Cam added, “You will be the one to tell us what is wrong with those that don’t speak. Now, let’s be off.”
“Off where?” Harry looked at Cam, completely at sea.
“To the circus, as I have just explained.”
“I shall pass on the joys of Mr. Rolland’s circus. However, I would like you to finish explaining what is happening with the events of the day Maddie was arrested. Has it been discovered who laid the charges?”
“We will tell you in the carriage,” Eden said as James opened his mouth to speak. “Come along.”
“You do know that outside our family, I’m quite well respected,” the duke muttered. “People even listen in awe when I speak at the House of Lords.”
“Of course they do, darling.” Eden patted his cheek, which had the duke’s eyes rolling.
“Tell me what I want to know or you don’t get your child back,” Harry said.
“We have two others.” Eden flicked her wrist. “Plus she is very weepy at the moment. I’m happy for her to stay with you.”
“Heartless wench,” James said. “But really, Harry, we would like your company.”
“Oh, all right,” Cam said as James nudged him. “We have missed you.”
“No, really, cousin? I had no idea how much you cared.” Katherine yawned in his arms, and he looked at her swollen gums. “Has Essie nothing you can give her?”
“She is making something today.”
Harry grunted his approval.
“So will you come?” Eden asked. “Please. Fleur asked to see you again this morning, the poor little girl, and of course she’s only just starting to recover—”
“From what?” Harry’s heart started thudding. “What’s wrong with Fleur?”
“Just a sniffle, but the poor wee thing, she’d been quite miserable,” Eden said.
James looked over the side of the railing, and Cam simply smiled. He was being played, he knew it, as did they, but the hell of it was, he really wanted to go with them.
