“Here it is,” Luke said. “A church register. Kitty said it’s got important stuff. It even says Gilbride, right there. See.”
Reed couldn’t catch his breath. There it was staring right at him. Had Chastity had it all along?
“Where did you get this?”
“It was hidden, but I found it.”
“Does Chastity know you found it?”
He nodded. “She took it away, but I can read good.”
Reed ruffled his hair.
“Then Kitty wrote a letter and we went to town and—”
“Thanks, Luke. Go do your chores, now, all of you, so I can get dressed. And send Chastity up, will you?”
They left subdued. Hell, he had splashed disenchantment over them like hot wax, and they got burned, but not any worse than he did.
He dressed quickly. He would not be caught naked, not for this. He needed his wits, aye, and his armor about him too. He was angry. Damned angry. Mad. Furious.
And hurt. Achingly, painfully, hurt.
“Ah, there she is,” he said as Chastity walked into the room. “The savior of all children.”
She stopped, her brows furrowing.
“She who stands all-knowing, she who decides fates—the children’s, mine. Who else’s life have you destroyed, Chastity? Mr. Sennett’s? Mother Superior’s? William’s?”
Chastity paled but straightened her spine. Then she saw the parish register on the bed. “You found it,” she said. “I’m so happy for you.” She hesitated, aware how this must look. “I ... wanted to surprise you.”
“When were you going to give me this so-called surprise? You did not know I was returning.”
“I thought to surprise you this morning.”
“Did you? But you would do anything to keep this place for your children’s home. You said so, yourself.” Reed ran a hand through his sleep-mussed hair, feeling at a worse disadvantage now, which only added to his frustration. “I did worry a bit at first that you would withhold whatever evidence you found, but before long, I—you’ll laugh at this—I trusted you. Right now, I’m just plain disappointed in you. Mortally disappointed.”
Chastity stepped close, made to put her hands on his chest, but Reed stepped from her touch.
Tears filled her eyes, but she kept her chin up. “Whatever you believe, when I found that register, I was happy for you. Had you been here, I would have run to you with the news, I—”
“Forget the theatricals, Mrs. Somers. I have already seen Sennett to withdraw my claim. Sunnyledge is yours. I wish you joy of it. Knowing the solicitor’s fondness for you, the paperwork is likely done.”
“You’re willing to give up your heritage for the children?” Chastity asked, not certain she understood.
“For you, make no mistake. I did it for you. Noble of me was it not? And stupid, but it’s yours, as I said.”
“I do not want it.”
“What did you say?”
“Sunnyledge is yours, my lord.”
“My Lord?”
“You’re the Earl of Barrington.” Chastity curtseyed. “You said, yourself, you were noble.”
“God’s teeth, woman, you are the owner of Sunnyledge.”
Chastity shook her head in denial. “I hope you will be happy here, alone with your dead ancestors.”
“Oh, and whose heritage do you plan to steal to get a new place?”
“Mr. Sennett will give Sunnyledge to you,” she said.
“Mr. Sennett believes you own Sunnyledge. I just left him a few days ago.”
“Soon enough, he will know that I no longer want it.”
“What the devil do you want?”
You, she thought. “To open a children’s home, as ever, but not here.” Her head came up. “You did not tell Mr. Sennett I took the children? Oh, Reed, if you did—”
“You ungrateful wretch. What kind of cad do you take me for?”
Chastity wanted to weep. She wanted to crawl into a corner and disappear. He thought her a wretch who would make love with a man while stealing his identity. As mortally disappointed as he, she regarded him. “I take you for the kind of cad,” she whispered, “who seduces a woman when he knows what he’s doing, and she does not.”
Chastity turned from the guilt in Reed’s eyes to go to her room, closing the door between. She muffled her sobs in her pillow, almost wishing her pain were as mortal a wound as it felt. She cried so long, she lost track of time, and thought perhaps she slept.
She heard footsteps on the stairs. Running. Not the children’s. Reed burst into her room, knelt beside her and took her into his arms. “I’m sorry, so damned sorry.”
“It’s too late,” she said.
He shook his head. “They must have heard us. They must have followed you upstairs, and we were so angry.”
“If the children heard us arguing, they must be upset,” Chastity said. “Afraid of being homeless, again.”
“It’s worse. They don’t know who will care for them.”
“I will, of course. We did not argue over who would take them. We argued over Sunnyledge.”
“As if a house was more important,” he said. “But it wasn’t the house we argued about, was it?” he said. “It was honor, or the lack of it.”
“No, Reed. It was trust, or the lack of it.”
She saw that she had given him pause, but they did not have time to settle it now—as if they could settle it ever, she thought. “We’ve got to tell the children how much they mean to us, convince them that I will be there for as long as they need me. Come with me. It’ll take both of us to make them feel secure again. We handle them well when we do it together.”
Chastity was instantly sorry for saying the last. Neither of them needed reminding.
“It’s too late, Chastity.”
“I know. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
She examined his face. “What do you mean, too late?”
“They’re gone, Chastity. The children are gone.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“What do you mean? Where would they— Thea! Oh, God, Thea took them. I never trusted her, Reed, if she hurt—”
He grasped Chastity’s shoulders. “I have every reason to believe they ran away. They must have been upset after hearing us argue like that.” He, too, harbored reservations about their chaperone, but now was not the time to discuss it.
“What makes you think they left on their own?”
“Smokey’s missing, and there’s no food left anywhere, not even in the loft. Our brigands took the food.”
Chastity started up the stairs. “They are not ours, Reed. They’re mine.”
“They have parents,” he said as he followed her into her room.
“Damnation. Now is not—”
“Chastity Somers, watch your language!”
She stopped stripping the blankets from her bed.
He held up a hand. “Sorry. We never argued about who’ll take them, because we know you will, but they did not know that.” Daring to draw her near, touching her brow with his, Reed closed his eyes. “Ah, Chastity. If anything happens to them, I’ll never forgive myself. I’ll find them, I promise.”
“I’m going with you. Do not even try to argue. They need me, Reed. They’ll be frightened.”
He gave in with a sigh, still shaking his head. “Fine. I’ll go borrow a wagon. Finish gathering what you think we’ll need. I’ll be back shortly.”
Reed returned late to Sunnyledge, expecting to find Chastity frantic and furious, but she was not to be found. “Damnation, Chastity, where the devil are you?” She knew the children could be in danger, and they should hurry, except it must have seemed to her as if he had not.
She must have thought he left without her, which hurt, but there was no other explanation. If Chastity thought she was on her own, he knew what she would do. She would go looking for the children, herself. Exasperating notion, but he expected nothing less. Neither had he expe
cted her to hide the evidence of his birth. At one time, perhaps, but not now that he knew—
Realization hit Reed on the instant. She would not have hidden the evidence of his birth. He laughed aloud. As sure as he knew he loved her, he knew there was an explanation for the register.
He ran to the stable. Damn, the other draft horse was missing now, too. Foolish, idiotic, woman. She might have been gone an hour or more already. The wagon would slow him down, but he would need it when he found his brood.
His brood. If only. Reed stopped along the way to ask after them. People thought him daft, but he learned enough to keep to the Painswick road toward Gloucester.
About noon, for the second time that day, fear clutched him. By the side of a river stood Chastity’s horse. Abandoned. Hurt. Bleeding. Reed tore off his shoes and jumped in the water, searching until his lungs hurt. When he surfaced, he heard her laugh and treaded water until he saw her.
“Are you fishing?” She stood at the water’s edge wringing out her skirts.
He would like to do some wringing of his own—her neck—first chance he got. “Damnation, woman, I thought you drowned.” Water poured off him as he approached her.
For each of his steps forward, she took one back, until she came up against the wagon and he took her in his arms.
She pushed him away.
He could not blame her. “Chastity, I—”
With a sob, she threw herself into his embrace.
Holding her felt so good, but they dare not tarry. “You’re shivering. Come on.” He wrapped a blanket around her, tucked her up tight, and wiped droplets from her face with his fingertips. “Warmer now?”
“Some.”
“Good. What the blazes were you thinking of, to set out alone like that? Are you daft?”
She grabbed a blanket and tossed it at him. “The children are missing, and you taking your sweet time. Where the devil were you?”
“A gunshot spooked the wagon horses. They bolted, tipped the wagon, and I got caught beneath. Old man Kendrick and a couple of locals pulled me out. I thought they’d never find me.”
“Another accident?” She looked him over, ran her hands down his arms, pulled his blanket closed and laid her head against him. “You’re not hurt?”
“Bruised. Might have been worse, but for the way the wagon landed. My side hurts but it’s not bleeding.”
“I knew nothing less would keep you. I really did, but I couldn’t bear waiting.”
He got them underway. “What happened to you?”
“A fox chasing a rabbit crossed our path.”
“Our rabbit?”
Chastity shook her head. “Too small.” She touched his sleeve. “I’m really worried about the children.”
“They’re heading for Sennett. I’ve heard enough to know they’re fine and together.”
Chastity’s eyes filled with tears of relief, and he took her hand. “Sennett made an impression, saying he was their godfather and to go to him, if they needed anything.”
Chastity shivered and Reed sighed. “We’ve got to get you dry,” he said.
“I am not as wet as you. Just the back of my skirt and my feet, and the edges of my sleeves.”
“Oh, only there.” Reed drove faster. “There’s an inn up ahead. You can sit by the fire while I ask after the children. Morning fog’s burning off. The sun will dry us.”
“Who do you think is causing these accidents?”
“The real heir?” Reed chuckled, but it was not funny. “Damned if I know,” he said as he stopped at the inn.
The Pig and Whistle reeked of old ale and smoked ham, the furniture as scarred and beaten as the public room was warm and dry. Reed settled Chastity by the fire and spread her wet skirts to dry. “Just a minute, mind, until we get answers. Then we’re after the rascals.” He kissed her brow and set the blankets near the blaze. “We might need them for the children.”
He brought her brandy to warm her, and then went in search of the innkeeper. “Barmaid’s looking for him,” he said as he returned with a meat pie. She took a bite and pushed it away. He took two bites. They were too worried to eat, but needed strength to search.
The innkeeper’s scent arrived before he did. Chastity put her hand to her nose in a feigned cough. Judging by his apron, the man had been butchering chickens. “Here now, wot can I do for you?” he said, wiping his hands on the apron.
Reed moved Chastity downwind. “I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
“Ain’t of a mind to be answerin’ questions. Been pummeled by a pack ‘a brats.” He rubbed his leg. “One of ‘em bit me. Run off w’out so much as a thankee for the mutton chops and cabbage they snitched.”
Chastity bared her teeth. Reed was surprised she didn’t hiss. “How long ago did they leave?”
“More’n an hour gone now.”
“How many children?” Reed asked.
“Three boys and a witchling.”
Reed took the blankets and followed Chastity out.
“Here, wait now, be they your brats? You owe me for the food or I’ll be havin’ the magistrate on you.”
Reed threw the man a handful of coins.
“If she gets sick from biting you,” Chastity shouted, as the wagon left the yard, “I’ll have you put down.”
“I hope she bit him good,” Reed said, rubbing his thigh. “She can do it.”
* * *
Mr. Sennett had never been so entertained. The mite sat on his lap while her brothers told some tales.
“And Reed said, ‘You take Sunnyledge,’ and Chastity said, ‘No you take it.’”
“They didn’t argue over who would take us,” Mark said, arms crossed. “Only the house. To the devil with us.”
“You’re just mad ‘cause you think Reed’s a bastard.”
“Will you stop saying that,” Matt snapped.
Rebekah looked at Mr. Sennett. “Want Weed. Want Kitty.”
Sennett hugged her. “Eat your ginger cookie. There’s a lamb.”
“Poppet,” she said.
Sennett smiled. “Poppet. I stand corrected.” He held the dish of treats out to the boys.
Reed had given up his cherished quest to give Sunnyledge to Chastity for her children’s home. While she was willing to give up Sunnyledge, so Reed could have his heritage. They were both unselfish and loving. Too bad about that law.
“We never had cookies in the workhouse.”
“Eh?” said Sennett. “You were in the workhouse?”
Luke nodded. “Not long.”
“Luke,” Matt warned.
“What?”
Sennett burrowed into his big leather chair. “Matthew,” he said, holding the boy’s gaze. “Tell me about the workhouse, every detail.”
“First sir, I’d like to tell you how we got there, shall I?”
Sennett nodded and tucked a sleepy Rebekah into the crook of his arm, liking this godfather business. “Go on.”
Chastity rushed into Sennett’s office and came to a dead stop, bringing Reed up short at her back.
The oh-so-dignified Mr. Sennett was sitting on the floor with the children, Zeke on his lap, laughing so hard, he had to wipe his eyes.
Mark wore a kerchief draped over his head, the ends hanging to his shoulders.
Luke stood pointing at the headpiece in horror. “You’re a damned nun.”
“I certainly hope I won’t be damned,” Mark said in a high pitched voice.
Reed’s laugh gave them away.
The children got hugged while Chastity cried.
When Rebekah finished getting kisses from Chastity, she walked up to Reed, turned her back, folded her arms, and tapped her foot. “Weed?”
That was as close to a royal command as Reed could imagine. With a lump in his throat, he knelt to braid her hair, then turned her in his arms and picked her up.
Chastity’s tears were disconcerting. Reed led her to a chair by the fire. The boys climbed up with her, and he set Bekah square in her lap.
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Reed and Sennett regarded them. “Meant to be together,” Reed said, making certain, whatever the children revealed, that the solicitor understood.
“Perhaps,” was all the commitment Sennett made.
“I stole them,” Chastity wailed.
“Damn it, Chastity.”
“Mr. Gilbride, watch your language.”
“A bit late to be calling me Mr. Gilbride, don’t you think?”
Chastity’s eyes widened.
“Because we’re betrothed,” Reed said.
She groaned. “A bit late for a lot of things, I think. Mr. Sennett, I understand that I will not be allowed to open a children’s home, but could I keep these four, until their parents are found.”
Matt went to Sennett. “Please, sir. Let her keep us.”
Mark raised his chin, but said nothing, and Luke put an arm around her. “She did rescue us, and she cooks good.”
Rebekah scrambled off Chastity’s lap and went to Reed, raising her arms.
“Why don’t you marry Chastity and adopt us?” Luke asked him. “Then you can both have Sunnyledge, and us.”
“Mr. Sennett,” Reed said. “Since there’s no proof I’m the Barrington heir, how can that law apply?”
“I received the proof this morning,” Sennett said. “Chastity copied the register page she found and dispatched it to me immediately. Did you not tell him, Chastity?”
Chastity examined the toe of her wet boot.
Reed grimaced. “Chastity,” he said. “Look at me. I do not suppose you might accept an apology?”
“I do not suppose you consider that an apology?”
“Children, children,” Sennett said. “And I am not talking about the small ones.”
Reed knelt before Luke. “We cannot adopt you. You already have parents.”
Matt left Chastity and looked about. “I ... it’s that law, remember Luke.”
“Will somebody tell me what law, please,” Chastity said. “Not that I’d marry—”
Sennett regarded Reed. “You should have told her.”
“I did not have a chance.”
“What law?” Chastity repeated.
“Chastity, you were married to Reed’s twin. That makes you Reed’s sister-in-law. Under English law, a man cannot marry his sister-in-law.”
Unmistakable Rogue Page 24
