The Wily Wastrel

by April Kihlstrom

  But Langford seemed to have no inkling of any possible trouble. He bowed. “Thank you. Then I shall take up no more of your time, sir.”

  The governor rose to his feet and watched him leave. A moment later his aide de camp entered the room. “Sir?” the younger man asked.

  “We are to withdraw all patrols from the area near the bell tower. We are to appear to notice nothing that goes on there,” the governor said, avoiding his aide’s fascinated gaze. “Apparently our visitor has an interest in such things and does not wish to be disturbed. He plans to come and go, it seems, at night and our patrols are to ignore him. No matter what they see.”

  “But sir, that would be unwise. Doesn’t he know about the smugglers hereabouts?”

  The governor smiled and it was not a pretty smile. “London allows one of society’s most notorious gamesters and wastrels to give me orders and I am to warn him? A Langford? A son of the late Lord Darton? No, I think not. If something did happen to the fellow, I assure you no one would be worse off for it. He would tell me nothing so I shall tell him nothing. Now, where is that troublemaking prisoner? We’ll deal with him, once and for all!”

  Chapter 18

  James found Juliet in the church where he had left her. The chaplain was showing her about and talking about the history of the church and castle. He breathed a sigh of relief that she seemed content and had stayed where she was supposed to stay.

  “I wonder if we might trouble you to show us the bell tower,” James said to the chaplain, shortly after he had joined them.

  The chaplain hesitated. He fluttered his hands. “I really don’t think you wish to go in there,” he said. “But if you insist, then perhaps my assistant could show you about. He should be around here somewhere.”

  In a bored, well-bred voice, James said, “Yes, I suppose that would be acceptable.”

  “Good, good. I am sure you will find him at the tower itself. He seems to have a fondness for towers, you see.”

  James bowed and escorted his wife out of the church. The assistant had a fondness for the tower? That could prove a problem, he thought. He wondered what Baines was going to say when he found out.

  Beside him, Juliet stirred restlessly and James made himself speak to her, almost at random. But his mind was focused on the tower. It was right where the governor had said it would be, next to the church and the closest point, save for the castle walls, to the top of the cliffs. Perfect for his purpose. If the assistant could be dealt with, that is.

  They came upon the assistant almost at once. He was moving about the base of the tower, talking absentmindedly to himself. James was rather taken aback until he recognized who the fellow was. It was very fortunate, he thought grimly, that Juliet had never met the man before so that she could not do so.

  The man stopped as he noticed them. He waved a hand at the tower. “Yes, yes, polish ‘er up, the bells. A nice tower, too. Tall she be.”

  James felt the greatest urge to laugh. He was, for a moment, too stunned by this display to even speak. But Juliet was not.

  “Er, excuse me?” she said brightly, as though determined to pretend not to have noticed the fellow’s eccentricity. “Could we please see the tower? The chaplain said you would show us about.”

  The fellow hesitated. He looked at Juliet and then he looked at James. Finally he nodded and opened the door for them into the tower.

  “I’ve an interest in astronomy,” James said in an offhand manner as they climbed upward toward the bells. “I don’t suppose I might be allowed to bring my telescope here some night?”

  The man rubbed his chin. “I s’pose it wouldn’t hurt none. A telescope, you say?”

  “Yes. My device for seeing the stars better.”

  “Hmmm, I’ve a fancy to see that for myself. If you tell me when you might like to do it, I’ll meet you here and help you with the contraption.”

  “Thank you,” James replied. He paused then added, even more carelessly than before, “Does anyone else, hereabouts, wonder about this tower? Anyone more curious than they ought to be?”

  The fellow snorted. “Not likely. Aside from it’s the bell tower for the church, no one wants nothing to do with the place now what they all know it’s haunted.”

  “Haunted?” Juliet asked, a hint of fear in her voice.

  James started to explain that there were no such things as ghosts when it occurred to him that it might be useful if she believed there were. So instead he patted her arm and said, soothingly, “Not during the day, I believe.”

  The man nodded. “That’s right, ma’am. Nighttime, that’s when you want to worry.”

  Juliet shivered. She distinctly shivered and James put a consoling arm about her. “Never fear,” he said, “I shall make certain nothing happens to you.”

  She glared at him but did not pull away. Their new friend nodded helpfully. “Aye, that’s the ticket, ma’am. You let your man here keep you safe. You don’t want to be mucking about this ‘ere tower anyways. Not with ghosts of Romans hanging about.”

  ———

  Juliet stared at the man climbing ahead of her and shivered again. It was not precisely that she actually believed him when he said the tower was haunted. After all, how could it be, dedicated to the church as it was, and yet there was something about it she intensely disliked.

  Still, she would not say so aloud. Nor regret her foolishness, not if it inclined James to put his arm around her waist. That was, after all a remarkably nice feeling. To know that he wished to reassure her.

  And she could see the wariness of the man before her melt away as he was now able to dismiss her as a foolish female. Her thoughts strayed to the clothing her mother had insisted she bring with her when she married. The dresses with frills and furbelows she had thus far refused to allow her maid to lay out for her. Perhaps that had been a mistake.

  Certainly when she had gone about dressed as her mother wished, others were far more inclined to underestimate Juliet. And her intelligence. Then it had enraged her but now, well, now she could begin to see the advantages of such a thing.

  Lost in thought, Juliet almost missed the look that passed between her husband and the other man. Almost. So they had secrets, did they? Well, she had secrets too. She said not a word as they talked with one another. Instead she allowed herself the luxury of pressing close to James and feeling his arm tightening in a comforting way about her waist.

  And when they were done and James led her away from the tower, she did not object. No, nor did she do so when he found a place to sit and pulled her onto his lap. She simply tucked her hand into his and allowed him to stroke her back reassuringly as he murmured comforting words into her ears.

  “I did not mean to distress you,” he said. “I had no notion the tower was haunted.”

  Juliet snuggled closer.

  “There truly is no danger during the day,” he added.

  She nodded.

  “But if you like, we could go back to the inn now.”

  “I should like that,” she agreed meekly.

  He set her on her feet and they started walking toward the castle walls. Only when they were outside and halfway back to the town did she say, “I don’t recall a telescope among the baggage we packed.”

  He colored up and avoided meeting her eyes. “I, er, it is with the luggage. It is still strapped to the traveling coach.”

  “I see. May I come with you when you bring it to the tower?”

  “No! That is, it will be dark and I do not like the notion of you out of doors so late and in such a place as this,” he said, all but stumbling over the words.

  Juliet had to bite back an angry reply. It would be the argument in London all over again if she did not.

  So instead of saying the things she wished to say, Juliet smiled a small, tight smile and nodded. On the surface it seemed she was all amiability. But underneath she was making her own plans for the evening.

  Juliet dressed in her frilliest frock for dinner and then dismissed
Margaret for the rest of the night. She let the maid draw her own, incorrect conclusions as to what that meant. As for the dress, it had precisely the effect she hoped it would have on James’s estimate of her intelligence. After dinner she went upstairs ahead of him. He came to visit her, tucked up into bed, and kiss her on the forehead as he promised not to be out too late.

  The moment he was gone, Juliet slipped from under the covers and pulled the nightgown over her head. How fortunate that its voluminous folds hid so well the shirt and breeches she had begged from the maid who worked at the inn. She also reached for her spectacles. She could not afford to trip over anything in the dark, and that was likely enough during the day if she did not wear them.

  As arranged, the girl was waiting for her on the back stairs. “Here’s the dagger you wished for, ma’am,” the girl said, handing over a wicked-looking thing.

  Juliet tucked the knife into the boots she had also borrowed from the servant. “Thank you. I am not so foolish as to go out tonight without some means of protecting myself. Were you able to find a horse for me?”

  The girl shook her head. “No, ma’am. But I found a donkey. Right reliable he’ll be. He’s tied out back now. I’ll be pleased to show you.”

  “Yes, that will do,” Juliet agreed.

  It was amazing, she thought, just how useful it could be to cultivate the acquaintance of servants. In minutes she was on her way, careful to take a more circuitous route out of the town than James would.

  It was also useful that she had memorized so thoroughly the route back from the tower. And the location of the small door in the castle walls that she was certain James intended to use to gain entrance.

  Juliet reached the castle not far behind James. He had his valet in tow, and the man who had spoken with them that afternoon was waiting at the little castle door to help carry things inside. The carriage was apparently to wait. She kept her distance until they were done and then she tied the donkey to the back of the carriage and slipped through the doorway.

  She moved silently toward the tower, hoping not to meet any patrols. It seemed absurd for James to set up his equipment here, inside the castle walls, but then he wasn’t truly interested in astronomy. His talk of lights and lenses had given away that much! He might think she had forgotten their discussions in London, but she had not.

  Juliet waited, hidden by the walls of the church, until she was certain the last trip had been made into the tower with James’s equipment and then she quietly slipped up to the door. She listened and all was silent. Above her she could hear voices and she decided it was safe to slip inside.

  Before she could do so, however, the door started to open and she had to hastily hide on the other side of the tower. She heard the valet come out, grumbling to himself about his employer’s odd fits and starts. And the weight of the equipment he was expected to help carry. The man wandered some distance away and sat down with his back to the castle walls to wait.

  Juliet had to wait until the man closed his eyes. Only when she heard the reassuring sound of snoring did she dare come out of her hiding place and slip inside the tower. One way or another, she was going to find out what was going on!

  Above her were low voices.

  “Fix the sheet so the light cannot be seen from the castle side.”

  “And how do you want the lantern set up?”

  “Here. And now the lenses. Yes, that one first.”

  The voices dropped lower so Juliet could not hear what they were saying. Astronomy indeed! she thought with a snort of disgust.

  Juliet slipped back outside the tower, where she would have a better view of what was going on. Flashes of light, then none, then the whole thing repeated over again. The experiment continued for some time and then it stopped abruptly.

  She could hear the sound of equipment being moved and voices coming down the stairs. Time to return to the inn, Juliet decided, and moved quickly, careful not to disturb the sleeping valet. She had to reach her donkey and be gone before they reached the castle walls.

  By the time James opened her door and came to check on her, Juliet was back in bed, this time her nightgown covering nothing but her bare body and her spectacles safely tucked away, out of sight. The bed creaked as James slid under the covers to join her and she pretended to roll away from him in her sleep. She heard his sigh of frustration.

  Well, it was just too bad, she decided. If he wished for a wife, then he ought to treat her as if she was one, not go gallivanting off in the middle of the night without her. No, nor keep such secrets.

  Still, she would have wagered neither of them slept much at all that night. Certainly Juliet knew that she did not, and judging by how often James tossed and turned as the hours wore on, neither did he. It would serve them both right, she thought with an inward growl, if they met over breakfast with foul tempers and red eyes from lack of sleep!

  Chapter 19

  James poured himself another cup of something the innkeeper called coffee in hopes of clearing the cobwebs of fatigue from his brain. He peered sleepily at Juliet and thought she looked a trifle peaked as well.

  But that made no sense. Juliet had no reason to look as though she hadn’t slept. Not when she was tucked up safe and warm in her bed every night while he was tramping up to the castle and back for Harry. He’d lost count but surely it was far too many nights in a row.

  How were they even to know if the experiment succeeded? James grumbled to himself. To be sure, Harry had said there would be a man in place to report back and he was merely to try different intensities of light and lengths of exposure, but still it seemed pointless if one could not know the outcome of the experiment.

  And James was not entirely certain Harry would tell him. Harry would ask for his notes and nod and thank him, but with Harry there was no knowing if he would ever tell James anything at all to the point! He was likely to find out only if there was total failure. He would know because Harry would ask him to try all over again. And what excuse he would give the next time, James could not imagine. He could not, after all, claim to need to go on a honeymoon twice with the same bride. If Juliet would even put up with such nonsense. She was looking at him right now as if she were distinctly displeased about something. James was not at all certain he wanted to know what it might be. Her first words confirmed his instincts.

  “You look tired, James,” she said in what he had come to recognize as her opening gambit. “Were you out very late again?”

  “Uh, somewhat,” he answered cautiously.

  “Were the stars very bright?”

  “Uh, yes.”

  “What constellations did you see?”

  Well, that was a new one. And James could answer that question in his sleep. Of course he could. He knew what constellations should have been visible. He just couldn’t think of any at the moment.

  The silence stretched on and Juliet’s smile stretched thinner. Her voice took on acid tones as she said, “I wish you had shown me your telescope. Last night or the night before or any of the nights before that. Perhaps I could have suggested some way to make it work better.”

  “It, uh, worked fine.”

  “You just can’t remember what you saw?”

  “I, uh, that’s right. I’m unaccountably tired this morning. Can’t explain it, but there it is.”

  “Of course it is,” she said in soothing tones he did not trust.

  Enough was enough. James was tired of being questioned this way every morning. He decided to go on the offensive. “You look a trifle tired yourself,” he said.

  Now she blushed. Then tilted up her chin. “You snore,” she said.

  He blinked. Peered closer at her. Was she roasting him? Insulting him? She seemed to be looking everywhere except at his face.

  “Should I request another room?” he asked stiffly.

  “No!”

  The cry, involuntary he was certain, reassured James. He smiled and decided to venture a small jest. “I shall try not to snore tonight,” he s
aid teasingly.

  That brought a smile to her face and James found himself giving a tiny sigh of relief. He reached over and took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together.

  “We could go back to bed,” he said. “There’s no one expecting us, nothing else we must do.”

  She blushed more deeply than before and he was afraid he had embarrassed her. He was cursing himself for being foolish beyond permission when she looked at him and he saw the joy in her eyes.

  Still, her voice was perfectly calm, perfectly cool, perfectly correct as she replied, “I think that might be permissible.”

  But he was not deceived. This blushing bride of his, for all her oddity, was a passionate woman. He really did want, James told himself, to savor that passion.

  ———

  Juliet wondered what her husband was thinking. He was looking at her in such an odd way. Had she sunk herself beneath reproach by her answer? And yet he had asked. And she did want to go back to bed with him.

  Mama would tell her she was behaving scandalously and would soon give James a disgust of her, at this rate. But James didn’t seem disgusted. Indeed, he was looking at her with distinct approval in his eyes.

  He took her hand and led her back to their bedchamber, where her maid and his valet were straightening the room. Both looked at the couple expectantly.

  “Er, you may go,” James said awkwardly.

  “Do you wish for your pelisse? Or your spencer?” the maid asked brightly.

  “Do you wish your overcoat, sir?” the valet chimed in. “It looks to be brewing up a nasty wind outside, sir. I could have it out for you in a trice.”

  James colored up and Juliet was charmed by the sight. She watched as he stammered. “N-No. That is, er, Mrs. Langford and I thought to rest a bit.”

  Sudden comprehension dawned on both their faces as well as grins that were hastily suppressed. Bowing, curtseying, the two backed out of the room.