As happy as she was to visit with her brother, Iantha could not keep her mind on the discussion. Surely the matter that took Rob off on the run must have concerned Camille. While Vijaya, showing no sign of disquiet, calmly studied one of his old scrolls, John seemed to feel as restless as she did. He paced the room as they tried to maintain a desultory conversation.
Suddenly she heard a shout in the corridor, followed by the sounds of a scuffle. Casting his parchment aside, Vijaya came to his feet. John dashed for the door. Just as he reached it, she heard the crack of a shot, and he reeled back into the room.
Iantha shrieked. “John!”
A burly man she had never seen before charged through the door.
Blood soaking through his sleeve, John stumbled to his feet and dived at the intruder. As he grappled with the man, two more strangers ran in. Both of them carried knives.
One of them advanced on Iantha. She backed away, putting a chair between them. The man sidled around the chair, and Iantha bolted toward another one. Why did Camille have to take her pistol? Iantha needed it now as she never had before. She snatched a vase off a table and heaved it at her attacker. He sidestepped and flashed a gap-toothed grin at her as it crashed to the floor. Inexorably, he moved toward her again.
Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed the sparkle of jewels. Daring a quick peek as she moved toward the fireplace, she saw Vijaya, an impressively large jeweled knife in his hand, circling the third man. His opponent dwarfed the slender prince. John still struggled with the man who had shot him. Oh, God! Please don’t let him be badly wounded, Iantha prayed.
Not on her account.
A sob rose in her throat, but she kept edging toward the fire, always keeping behind some piece of furniture. After what seemed an eternity her hand closed over the handle of the poker. Her pursuer paused, a calculating gleam in his eye. She lifted her weapon threateningly. The man put his free hand up to ward off the blow.
Iantha could see clearly that if she swung at him, he would grab the poker and probably wrest it from her hands with ease. She drew it back, and he jumped for her. Bracing the shaft against the marble facing of the fireplace, she raised the point and prayed for incredible luck. For once, fortune favored her.
The man’s weight carried him into the end of the poker, which caught him just under the ribs. He doubled over and staggered back, gasping for breath. Iantha raised the implement and brought it down on his head. He slumped face first to the floor.
Raising her weapon again with fierce exultation, she looked about for another opponent.
The man fighting with John had thrown him to the floor and was trying to get a grip on his throat. Iantha had started in that direction when her brother got his feet into his opponent’s body and pitched him over his head. The man landed heavily, but rose to his knees and came up with a knife as John rolled to his feet. It seemed inevitable that he would thrust with the blade before John could rise.
At that moment there was another report of a gun. The knife sailed away as John’s assailant flung out his arms and collapsed on his face. Iantha looked up to see Rob standing in the doorway, a smoking pistol in his hand. In a flash he was beside her. She let the heavy poker sag to the floor, but did not release it.
Sam made for the knife-wielding man confronting Vijaya, but stopped at Rob’s warning shout. The brigand never let his gaze leave the prince, but continued to circle and feint. Vijaya did not respond, but turned slowly to keep his enemy in view. Suddenly the other man lunged, his blade aimed straight for Vijaya’s heart.
The Indian moved in one fluid motion, stepping aside almost casually. The intruder did not make a sound. He simply crumpled to the floor, the hilt of Vijaya’s knife protruding from the center of his chest.
Seeing that, Sam hurried to the man Iantha had clouted. Rolling him over, he felt for a pulse. He grinned at Rob. “He’s alive, but don’t ever let her hit you. This cove will be out for a while.”
Rob tightened his hold around Iantha’s waist. “I’ll keep that in mind. What about the other two?”
A quick examination assured them that the other intruders had breathed their last. Rob rang the bell for a footman and hastened into the corridor, John and Iantha following closely.
They found Harry coming groggily to his knees, a large lump on his jaw. “I’m sorry, Lord Duncan. They jumped me from out of that parlor there. They were on me before I knew it. Never expected no one from there.”
“At least you had time to shout a warning.” John pulled the footman to his feet with his right arm. His left arm hung at his side, dripping blood. “They didn’t take us completely unaware, although I rushed into that ball like the veriest cully.”
“How bad is it?” Rob turned to his brother-in-law, only to be interrupted as Gailsgill, Thursby and two other footmen came pounding up the stairs.
“My lord! What’s amiss? Was that shots?” The butler puffed to a stop.
“We have been invaded, Gailsgill. You and these lads see to Harry and truss up the survivor. Take that bastard below stairs and lock him up. I want to question him.” Rob took John’s good arm. “And send someone with warm water and bandages to Major Kethley’s bedchamber.” Suddenly he became aware of Iantha, standing wide-eyed beside him. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. Yes, I believe so. John…?” Her face was as white as her brother’s.
“It’s nothing, Annie. Don’t worry.”
Rob was not so sure. “I’ll take him up to his room and have a look.”
“I’m coming, too,” she stated.
One thing Rob had learned about his wife was that when she got that look on her face, there was no use in arguing. The two of them helped John up the stairs and into a chair in his chamber just as Rogers, his valet, hastened into the room. Together they eased his coat off, and Rob used his knife to cut away John’s shirt. “Ah.” He sighed in relief. “The ball just dug a furrow in your arm on its way past. This needs nothing but disinfecting and a bandage.”
“Thank God.” Iantha sighed and sank onto the footstool.
At that moment Mrs. Lamonby came in with the medical supplies. She advanced briskly on the patient and seized his arm in a competent grasp. John sucked in his breath sharply.
“Just some spirits to disinfect it,” the housekeeper confirmed. “And then bed for you, Major.”
Rebellion flared in John’s eyes. “Now, ma’am, this is naught to fuss over. I won’t be much use lolling in bed.”
“No, sir, and you won’t be much use out of your head with fever, either,” his valet asserted, going to the bed to turn down the covers.
“You listen to me, John Kethley!” Iantha rose and stood over him with eyes snapping. “You will do exactly as you are told, or I will put you into that bed myself. Don’t ever frighten me like that again!”
John tried to grin through the grimace occasioned by having brandy poured over the wound into a basin. “I am quivering in my boots, little sister.”
Rob laughed. “Well, she will have my help. Tonight you stay in bed. Tomorrow, if you have no fever, I’ll call off the watchdogs.”
Mrs. Lamonby expertly tied the bandage, and Rob made shooing gestures at her and Iantha. “Thank you, ladies. We’ll get him into bed.”
How fierce his formerly fragile wife had become!
And how precious.
For the moment he could not even think of what had almost befallen her.
So she thought their long association would cause him to forgive her failure. Fool woman and her milksop scruples.
Damn all women and their cozening ways.
She came offering pleasure to distract him, and she had provided it in full measure.
A thin smile curled his lips.
Though not entirely in the way she expected.
And she had whetted his appetite for the other one.
Chapter Eighteen
Once he saw his brother-in-law ensconced in bed, Rob wasted no time in getting himself back to Iantha’s sid
e. He left John to his valet and almost ran down the stairs in search of her. Rob had been so occupied since the fight, that he had not had the opportunity to give himself the reassurance of holding her in his arms. He found her in the morning room, under the protection of Sam and Vijaya.
Ignoring their interested stares, he walked straight to where Iantha sat on a sofa, and pulled her to her feet. He wrapped his arms around her and held her so tightly she gasped. Loosening his hold slightly, he looked down into her upturned face. “You have not been harmed? Are you terrified?”
She shook her head. “No, I am quite unhurt. As for being afraid…” She thought for a moment, head tilted to one side. “Not in the way I was before. In fact, I found it a pleasure to be able to fight back. Did you find Camille?”
Rob clutched her to his chest again, an icy ball in his gut. The idea that she might suffer the same fate as her maid almost brought him to a state of terror. His voice was rough when he answered. “Yes, we found her.”
“What—?” The question was muffled against his chest. Rob released her, and she tried again. “What happened to her?”
He brushed the hair back from her face, watching carefully for her reaction. “She is dead—murdered.”
Both Iantha’s hands came to her mouth. “Oh, no! No matter what she has done, I didn’t wish that.”
“Of course not. But I’m afraid she has done a great deal.” He finally brought himself to release her, and sat on the sofa beside her.
“She certainly has.” Sam stretched his legs out on the ottoman. “While you were tending John, Vijaya and I found horses sheltered in the old castle—good horses. Those brigands were well provided with a means of escape. And I had a little talk with our prisoner. Considering the humor you were in earlier, I thought I had better do it.”
Rob tightened his lips. “You are probably correct. I would like too much to beat someone to a bloody pulp, which, aside from lowering myself to their level, would most likely not have gained any more information. Besides, I doubt they are the ones who killed Camille.”
“No. According to what he told me—if it’s true—they could not have done it. He did not prove very talkative, of course. He hasn’t yet fully recovered his senses, but he was quick to tell me that he did not know his employer. He says a flash cove hired him in Carlisle. The worst of it is that they were in the house overnight. That is how they managed to work their way into that unused parlor without being detected. Says that they were let in and fed by a black-haired mort.”
Rob glanced at Iantha to see if she understood the cant phrase. Obviously, she did.
She grew pale. “Camille.”
Rob nodded glumly. “Aye. And I have little doubt that she is the party who enticed you out into the snow. Why she also arranged for your salvation remains a mystery. She even wept when we found you.”
“Crocodile tears.” Sam’s lip curled in a sneer. “She was a sly piece. Perhaps whoever is directing these attacks on Iantha does not want her dead.” His brow furrowed. “But I can’t fathom what the devil their true intention is.”
“Nor can I.” Rob slipped an arm around Iantha’s shoulders.
She stared solemnly at her hands resting in her lap. “I never knew betrayal was so painful.”
The next morning John insisted on coming down to breakfast. “I am not going to be laid up by the merest scratch,” he announced as he lifted the covers off the dishes and examined their contents. “My arm is only a bit stiff.”
Rob’s experience led him to believe that John’s arm was considerably more stiff than he indicated, and that the wound probably hurt like the devil, but he decided not to interfere. After all, his brother-in-law was a man grown and a soldier.
“If you are feeling sufficiently fit to help keep watch, I believe I will ride to Carlisle and talk to the employment agency in person.” Sam heaped a plate with roast beef and took a place at the table. “We need to know now where Camille came from—and why. Maybe that will tell us who else is involved.”
“That will be a very uncomfortable ride.” Rob looked at his cousin over the top of his coffee cup. “You will freeze your…” He glanced at Iantha. “You will freeze, and the roads are bound to be bad.”
“It isn’t snowing this morning. I wouldn’t try to get a carriage through the fells, but a horse should make it. I can stop for my carriage when I am down. There will be less snow at the lower levels.” Sam gazed out the window for a moment. “Besides, it will give me a chance to look in on Amelia.”
“Ah.” Rob took a long swallow.
Iantha glanced up from idly crumbling a scone onto her plate. “I thought we had connected Camille to Horace Raunds.”
John nodded. “He certainly brought her to that party, but that does not mean he is connected with the present skulduggery. I can’t think why he would be. Doesn’t seem that sort of fellow.”
“Perhaps I can pursue that.” Vijaya startled them all by walking into the breakfast parlor. Everyone laid down their cutlery and turned to look at him. “I had a letter from my elder brother recently. He is going to be in London for a few weeks, returning from the West Indies. He has traveled there on several occasions to research new methods of coffee planting for my father.” The Indian took a chair and accepted coffee from Iantha. “I would like to see him, of course, but in addition to that perhaps he and I might learn something about young Raunds. People often ignore foreigners when they are talking. Perhaps they believe we do not understand them. Of course, if you need me more here…”
Rob had to chuckle at the thought that a linguist of Vijaya’s stature might be believed not to speak English, but the proposal gave him pause. Could he protect Iantha with both Vijaya and Sam away and John with a bad arm? In the long run he must have the information they might garner. He would never be able to keep her safe until all of her enemies were made known.
A hard decision.
He turned to his brother-in-law. “What do you say, John? Can the two of us hold the castle?”
John grinned. “You mean the two of us, five footmen, several grooms and a pair of valets?”
A crack of laughter answered him. “When you put it that way, I believe we could hold off Bonaparte.” Rob turned to his cousin and his friend. “Very well. The information you bring back might be just what we need to put an end to this nightmare. Go, but be careful.”
“Certainly.” Vijaya stood. “I will take a horse to the nearest posting inn. Perhaps when I am out of the fells, the road will be open to a coach.”
“If you don’t die of the cold.” Iantha looked stricken.
He smiled. “But it is warmer in London, is it not?”
“Oh, yes. You will find it warmer. And I will give you a letter for my sister, Lady Rochland. I will ask her to include you in some entertainments where you might be able to eavesdrop.” She held out a hand to him. “Thank you so much, your highness.”
He clasped her fingers briefly. “It is my honor to serve you, my lady.”
A good enough plan, Rob thought.
So why couldn’t he shake off his uneasiness?
At bedtime his misgivings still dogged him. Rob tried to tell himself that his discomfit lingered from the previous day, but he could not believe that his enemy had given up on getting his bloodstained hands on Iantha. Although a thorough search of the whole stronghold revealed no further intruders, he knew he must not let his vigilance slip for a minute.
He sent Ellen away and unbuttoned Iantha’s dinner gown himself. Having got that far, he slid his hands inside the dress and cupped her breasts, resting his chin on the top of her head. Their image in the dressing mirror looked back at him, his broad shoulders outlining her delicate ones. “My lady, do you know how important you have become to me?”
She turned in his arms, letting the gown slide down to her elbows. “Truly?”
“Aye, truly.” He brushed her hair away from her upturned face and then let his hands rest on her slender waist. “I look forward to seeing you ev
ery time we are apart—even for a brief time. I enjoy your conversation and your talents. You have a very quick mind, goddess. You are a real companion to me—one I never expected to find. And…”
“And?” Iantha smiled into his eyes.
“I sometimes feel it should not be as important to me as it is, but our lovemaking… I don’t know quite how to say it, but it comforts me in a way that nothing else does. I feel then that I am no longer alone. I’ve heard Sam say something similar. Perhaps it is true for most men.”
“Yet you risked never having that comfort when you married me.” She gazed steadily into his eyes.
“Aye, and I feared at times I had asked too much of you. But I could not believe that a woman with your fire—even though you had kept it so carefully banked for years—would not eventually let it blaze.”
“I doubt that I ever would have been able to do that without your help and your patience. I don’t know how you saw that in me. I have never understood why you took the risk.”
“For all the reasons I gave at the time.” Rob smiled. “And a few more. The truth is, I was openmouthed at your beauty the whole two days you were here. I wanted nothing more than to see all of you—to hold you close in my arms.” He lowered his hands and pulled her hips against him, grinning at her. “I am also a bit of a cockscomb. I never believed you could withstand my siege forever.”
“And I am so grateful that I did not. Mama told me that lovemaking could be wonderful, and you have shown me the truth of that.” Iantha placed a hand on each side of his face, her own solemn. “You are a remarkable man, Robert Armstrong. And very important to me, also. I fear for your safety as much as my own. I couldn’t bear for anything to happen to you.”
“I will not allow it—I must be here to enjoy you.” He turned his head to kiss the inside of her wrist. “And I have proved to be very durable. Sometime you must ask Vijaya about the tiger.” Suddenly Rob grinned again and, turning his back to her, pulled his shirt over his head. “You see those scars on my shoulder? If I had not already shot it once, it would have bitten through my neck. Of course, it might still have done so if Vijaya had not walked calmly up to it and cut its throat.”
Patricia Frances Rowell Page 23
