She nodded at the tall man standing by her dear friend's side. "Darling, this is Sarah Deveril, and her husband, er, Alexander, two of the other Rakehells I've mentioned."
Will and Parks blinked.
Will frowned. Then his face lit up. "Jason?" he gasped.
"Alexander Deveril, until I got my memory back and was able to recall that I'm actually Jason Alexander Davenport."
He shook their hands, and nodded to Elizabeth. He looked down at the beach with a look of horrified relief. "It appears my wife and I got here a bit too late. So who would care to tell me what on earth you've all been up to?"
Chapter Thirty-five
Safely home at Ellesmere Manor some time later, Will and Elizabeth gave everyone a considerably expurgated version of the events in the cave. They all sat in the drawing room nursing a brandy apiece as they eagerly awaited news on how Vevina was feeling after her collapse on the cliff.
Alexander was relieved that Ferncliffe, Agnes, and so many of their co-conspirators had perished.
"But there are still more of them out there," he warned. "I've been chasing them for months, thanks to the dispatchs Andre Olivier has been able to smuggle through."
"He's all right then?" Will asked eagerly.
"Yes, indeed. He and his brother and family."
"Thank God," said Monroe.
"Indeed. If not for Andre, I don't know what we would have done. They nearly gave us the slip. Not to mention the fact that we still haven't managed to clean out all of the London cell yet. But they'll do for a start. And Elizabeth here never has to worry about her niece or brother being harmed by Ferncliffe ever again."
"Or us," Sarah said, bestowing a relieved smile upon her husband. "We're safe too, for now. Even being out of the war for two years, there are plenty of people out for your blood."
Alexander kissed his wife's hand. "I knew the risks when I chose to be a spymaster. I'm only sorry it's put you in such danger, darling."
"It's not your fault. You had no memory of the past when you came to me in Brimley."
"But you remember now?" Will asked.
Alexander nodded. "Quite a lot. And the location of concealed caches of information for whatever I don't. We have scotched the snake, gentlemen, not killed it. As long as Napoleon is left alive, we're all in danger. But I'll do what I can to mop up the mess here, and clean out this rat's nest of treason once and for all."
Parks had been unusually silent as he listened to Alexander. He sipped the second fortifying glass of brandy he had been given, and looked utterly exhausted.
He was undoubtedly alive, with only a thin red line to mark where he had been injured. Yet as Elizabeth looked at the hard planes of his face, it was almost as though he had aged ten years. She could only hope the grim look would fade in time.
At the lull in the conversation, Sarah rose from the sofa. "I hope you don't mind if we retire now, Elizabeth. Alexander still gets worn out easily after-"
"No, not at all." She kissed her friend. "I'll see you tomorrow. Not too early," she added with a knowing smile.
"No, indeed." She winked. "He's a marvel, your Will. No wonder you seem to glow. I'm so happy for you."
Elizabeth managed a smile, and said good night.
Once they were alone, Will tried to apologize to his friends. "I hope you both know I didn't tell you about the cave because I wanted to protect you. I had the most awful premonition of disaster. You were all right, Monroe, but you, Parks. Hitting me on the head like that, charging in like a hero to save Elizabeth. It was damned foolish. But thank you."
"I wanted to make up for--"
Will shook his head. "Nothing to make up for. As it turned out, the shooting in the cave set off a chain reaction, and all the powder they had kept stored in barrels sparked off. The storm and the explosions in the cave caused the landslide.
"My premonition was right. I never wanted you to get involved in trying to clear my name, but you insisted. You're a good friend, Parks, but you can be dashed annoying at times. Do you both forgive me?"
Monroe shrugged. "Nothing to forgive so far as I'm concerned, old fellow." He offered his hand to shake.
Will gripped it with relief.
"That's true," Parks agreed. "I'd have done the same to try to protect you."
Will smiled in relief and shook Parks' hands as well, then threw one arm about each of their shoulders for a quick hug. "I've been so blessed in my friends, and triply so in my wife. I will thank all the gods in the heavens and on earth for them. And I suppose our son, when he is born, is going to have to be Geoffrey Duncan. Or Duncan Geoffrey?"
Parks and Monroe grinned with pleasure, and returned the hug.
Will poured another brandy each and settled down beside his wife once more.
"Geoffrey is rather distinguished, I think," Parks said with an innocent look.
"Duncan is a most noble name as well," Monroe retorted, grinning.
Will gazed down at his wife. "I shall let Elizabeth decide."
"It could be a girl, you know," she said with a smile.
"Or even twins," Monroe put in. "Look at Evelyn and Arthur."
Will and Elizabeth smiled at each other knowingly. "In that case," she said, "I shan't have to choose at all."
They all jumped to their feet as Doc Gallagher came in.
"How is she?" Will asked in a ragged tone as he saw his friend's face.
"Resting. She'll be fine in a few weeks. It was a rather early pregnancy. Stewart is taking it pretty hard, but Vevina seems, well, resigned. Perhaps after the hard time she had with the twins, she's just not fated to-"
"Can we see her?"
He nodded. "For a moment, no more. She will need to rest."
Will took Elizabeth's arm and they went up to the cream and gold room next to their own.
They both kissed Vevina, and Will sat on the bed beside her and took his sister's other hand.
Stewart clung onto her for dear life, as if he couldn't bear to let her go, and his cheeks were damp with tears.
The four of them looked at each other, and Stewart sighed. "I understand it all now."
"Thank you, Vevina, for the sacrifice. Thank you both," Will said, almost sobbing.
Vevina squeezed her brother's hand and nodded. "You told me to look after him and keep him safe. I kept my promise."
"Thank you."
"I love him too. Love you all."
Elizabeth reached out to touch her hand, and Vevina immediately began to improve in appearance, a light flush appearing on her deathly pale cheeks.
Stewart pulled up Elizabeth's sleeve and stared.
The bracelets blinked and nodded, and whispered a promise to he and his wife. One day soon….
He kissed Vevina, and at last she slept peacefully.
The first day of winter had begun, and with it came a season of peace instead of war. The oak trees whispered together of freedom, but now was not the time. In another century the golden age would arrive. For now, the gods had a different destiny for the guardians of the land.
Will and Elizabeth had fallen into bed exhausted, clinging to each other, and slept like the dead for hours, heedless of the comings and goings of their guests, who were up and down everywhere bringing the yule into every room in the house. They would need all the luck they could get in the coming year.
Of course they would celebrate the birth of Jesus with Church services and presents, such as the wise men had brought to mark the occasion so many hundreds of years before. But it would do no harm to propitiate the older gods of the ageless land who they felt sure had also given them so much to be thankful for.
At last Will lifted his head and dragged himself from the bed and ran the bath. He was soaking numbly when his wife entered and began to scrub his back.
"Thank you," he said, reaching around for one hand to kiss.
"You can return the favour in a moment. I feel like I can barely lift my arms."
"I know. I can't remember the last time I was so t
ired."
Once they were clean, however, and had breakfasted in their room on toast and tea, she patted her stomach contentedly. "Mmm, we're feeling much better."
"You're sure?" he asked worriedly.
She stroked his cheek. "I haven't seen that anguished expression since the times before I agreed to become your wife. I hope never to see it again. I'm fine. We're fine, I promise."
"And that man, he didn't-"
She shook her head. "No, Fitzsimmons never did. All is well, truly."
He gathered her close, with his head pressed against her belly. She held him and stroked his hair. "Trust me, dearest, I'm fine. I would tell you if aught were amiss."
He trembled with barely suppressed emotion. "I just can't stop thinking about how close I came to losing you yesterday."
"But you didn't. Or Parks either."
"Only because you saved him. Saved us all."
She hugged him hard. "We saved each other. And Vevina was very brave-"
He shook his head. "I can't believe she made such a sacrifice."
"We're bound together. Everything in balance, the wheel coming full circle. Parks is probably already drafting his dispatch to Horse Guards to clear your family of all charges in the past, and for a commendation for your service last night. He will even try to get you some compensation for Joyce Hall now that everything is gone, I'm sure."
"Nothing I care about, believe me." He stroked down her back and stomach. "I have everything I need right here."
"I'm glad to hear it, my love. Because you know what we're going to have to do."
He raised his head to stare at her and then shook his head. "Oh, no. I'm married now. We have a baby on the way."
"Vevina had the twins on the battlefield at Salamanca, for Heaven's sake. The least I can do is--"
"No. Out of the question," he maintained, shaking his head.
"It won't be forever," she said, stroking his shoulder soothingly. "Just until we're sure it's all over."
"Will it ever be, love?" he asked in an agonized whisper.
She considered his question for a moment. "Not yet. Not for any of us. But it will be soon. For us and for our generation. Perhaps for another century. There will be other madmen and tyrants in the future, but the flame of freedom burns too brightly to ever let their darkness last for long."
"Well, if you're sure you really want to--"
"I am."
"I suppose it's for the best." He dredged up a small smile. "I hate to think of the scrapes old Parky will get into without me."
"It won't be right away. There's still time." She rose and moved to the window, and looked out at the beach.
The militia were cleaning up all of the ordnance and bodies, and keeping watch in case the French ships tried to return.
Alexander was conducting a house to house search in the area to pick up any stragglers who might have made it inland, and any incriminating papers from the Fitzsimmons and Lynch houses. He worked with a steely determination to weed out the traitors once and for all, including the Fitzsimmons sisters, who had also been part of the spy network. Whether or not the authorities would be willing to execute women for treason remained to be seen.
"We have until spring, I think," she said softly.
"Then I'm not going to waste a minute of our time together here." He kissed her and brought her over to the bed.
"I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that," she said as she stripped off his dressing gown.
She fingered his gold circlet and saw the dent the musket ball had made. It had flattened the sword symbol.
"He who lives by the sword-"
"I think there's something about swords into ploughshares in the Bible too."
"One day soon, I'm sure."
He groaned. "Not that I'm not grateful for the miracles we've received, but I just want to be happy with you, my love. I don't want to be a hero."
She brushed his hair back from his brow. "It's fate. Your destiny. And mine is to be by your side."
He sighed. "When I think what other better fates you deserve, it makes me sick."
Elizabeth stroked her hand down his face and neck, then moved it even lower. "What on earth could be better than this heavenly bliss? Than the gift of your love, the paradise of you in my arms, the magic of you inside of me, my dearest husband?"
Will rolled with her into the bed and embraced her fiercely, moving between her thighs to unite them as one.
"I love you, Elizabeth. Scarred though I am in my body and heart, I am and always will be the man who loves you more than life itself."
"I know, darling. And I shall always be the woman who never wants to be anywhere but by your side, in your arms."
They melted into each other then. As their lips and souls mingled, they knew that no matter what their life had been like in the past, their future together would be a long and happy one with the light of their love to guide them through to an eternal bliss beyond.
AFTERWORD
This was one novel I obsessed over, and literally could not get out of my head once I started it. For once I decided to create a miniseries leading on from Scars Upon her Heart, (thank you, loyal readers who begged me to do it) I had to try to think about how all my favorite characters had grown and developed since we had seen them in December 1812 at the masquerade ball when they had saved the Duke of Wellington from assassination.
They had been all set to go home to Ireland, but knowing them as well as I did, I was pretty sure Vevina and Stewart, if not Will, would want to stay on in Spain and fight.
Looking back at Will in particular, he had all sorts of untapped potential: a young man who had been through hell, and proven exceptionally brave and talented, just the sort of stuff of which romantic heroes were made. An ordinary, well-brought up young man, whose whole world was torn apart by the accusation of treason against his father.
Then we had the larger than life Rakehells, and the lovely Elizabeth Eltham, just ripe for romance with a dash of intrigue. And quite a few loose ends left from Book Four of the Rakehell Regency Romance series, The Matchless Miss, with the mysterious Alexander Davenport.
I had already jotted down an extensive outline for continuing the Rakehell and the Scars series: after all, at this point, Napoleon still has yet to escape from Elba, and head to Waterloo.
But one novel at a time. Once I got the characters up the tree, so to speak, I had to get them down. I have to admit that they really came into their own and surprised even me at times. I hope I managed to keep the suspense going throughout the book, and kept you guessing with my more shadowy characters.
Finally, since the book had to be set in the south of Ireland for the invasion, and because it was where the Scars characters hailed from, I couldn't resist revisiting the scene of the magical cave featured in The Druid's Woman and The Wizard Woman. It has such a strong sense of place that you could say the cave is character in its own right.
As always, I write about all the places I know and love in Ireland. I also write about real historical events, inserting my characters into times of real historical crisis if possible. Napoleon always saw Ireland as the back door to England, and only the incredibly efficient Royal Navy helped prevent these two island nations from being successfully invaded during the 25 or so years that England was at war with France.
In my next Rakehell novel, Guardian of the Heart, we will be meeting Dr. Blake Sanderson, last heard from in The Matchless Miss. He is finally being demobilized after the war, and returning home with a shadowy Rakehell whom we will see more of later in the series.
Blake is looking forward to returning to his medical practice in London, and a quiet life. Then his world is turned upside down on the road one cold, snowy December night...
The Rakehell Regency Romance Series
Book 6
GUARDIAN OF THE HEART
Sorcha MacMurrough
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SYNOPSIS
REVIEWS
COPYRIGHT
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CAST OF CHARACTERS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
The Rakehell Regency Romance Collection Volume 2 Page 61
