Secrets In Savannah (Phantom Knights)

by Amalie Vantana

  Guinevere smiled, and I felt the relief that covered her. She knew that I would fight for her, as would Leo, but it became evident to me that I did not know the woman I loved. I still meant to marry her, but I now understood why she always ran from me. A battle was on the horizon, and all near her would be caught in the fray.

  The rest of the day passed in a cloud of consideration and planning. I was prepared to write to my sister and the other Phantoms, to call for their aid in the fight, but Leo convinced me to wait until we knew more. Once Guinevere’s sister was safe, then we would make plans to capture her uncle.

  That night as sleep eluded me, I pulled on my boots to go topside. With Leo guarding the women’s cabin, it was far too quiet for me in our own. Picking up my loaded pistol, I exited my cabin. Leo was not the only one with a lack of trust for a ship full of men, no matter how orderly the captain kept his vessel. In our line of work, one did not throw trust around to every kind soul that you met. We had to choose whom we trusted as we would choose a weapon. Who would best protect us should the need arise.

  As I climbed the ladder and pushed open the door to the deck, a blast of cool night air struck my face. The life of a sailor had never appealed to me, but it did fascinate me to be aboard such a mighty vessel. It appeared that I was not alone in my feelings.

  There were three others on the deck as I stepped into the moonlight.

  What stood out to me first was that there was no sailor at the helm. All three people were standing in the shadows near one of the rails. As I moved closer on silent feet, it became evident that something wicked was at play.

  “Do not be foolish, for it will get you killed,” one of the sailors was saying.

  “I am not the one who was foolish. You thought I would not recognize you? I see all.”

  The voice struck me a hard blow. What was she doing on deck with two sailors?

  “If you should reach Savannah, do be sure to give him my greeting.” Guinevere stepped back, and the man beside her picked up the sailor and tossed him overboard.

  My body burned with fury as I ran toward the man beside Guinevere, who would not be long for this world.

  Grabbing the sailor’s shoulder, I twisted him toward me and let my fist fly.

  “Jack!” Guinevere shrieked as my fist struck the corner of the man’s mouth.

  He stumbled back a step, a rope in his hands slipping out of his grasp. I grabbed his coat and brought him toward me again. My fist soared to do more damage.

  He caught my first in his palm, gripping my hand with painful strength. “You going to kill me, Jack?”

  “What the devil!” I swore as I released him. “Leo?”

  “One and the same,” he said as he felt where I punched him.

  “What are you doing up here?” I asked as I shook out my hand filled with pain.

  “Disposing of vermin.” He stepped away from Guinevere, who was gazing over the side of the ship. “Now that you are here I will return to my post.”

  Leo backed away then went below deck, and I shifted to Guinevere.

  “What in the name of all that is good did you think you were doing?” she demanded of me.

  “Rescuing you from a would-be attacker?” I mocked.

  She huffed. “When have you ever known me to require aid in escaping would be attackers?”

  “Oh, I do not know, last evening perhaps. Or was that a staged rehearsal of things to come?”

  “Do you mock me?” she asked, standing toe to toe with me as if she could best me in a fight.

  “Do you make a habit of throwing unsuspecting sailors over the side of ships?” I retorted.

  “He was far from unsuspecting. He was a royal guard, and it is not like we left him to drown. We gave him a boat.”

  Sure enough, she spoke the truth. There was a boat shifting with the waves and a wriggling figure fighting against ropes. Leo must have been lowering him down when I struck.

  “Do tell me the truth. If you are so capable of handling such things yourself why then did you beg for my assistance in rescuing your sister?”

  “I never begged!” Guinevere protested.

  “Implored, enticed, and revealed,” I assured her.

  “Never,” she retorted with vehemence.

  Her indignation melted my own. Leaning close to her face, she was scowling at me. “You wanted me for more than my aid alone. Admit it. You wanted me as much as I craved you.”

  She scoffed.

  “I know you, Guinevere. Seduction is not your strength. Subterfuge yes, manipulation without question, but not seduction.”

  Her anger disappeared like that of a wilting flower. “You are in the wrong, Jack. I do what I must to succeed in my ends.”

  “Denial will only make this journey all the longer, Guinevere.”

  Her anger snapped back into place. “So too will arrogance of which you have in abundance.”

  “Madam wife, let he who is without fault cast the first stone.”

  She shook her head, but a smile broke through her attempt at resistance. “My specious husband, you are peerless.”

  “Untrue, my darling,” I said as I took her hand and placed it on my arm. “You are my match and for that reason I mean to make you my wife.”

  “That reason alone?” she inquired.

  “Not at all, but some mysteries must be saved for marriage.” I ran my finger down her cheek to her lips. When they parted, I smiled. Her resistance was cracking, and no bogey from her past would stand in our way.

  CHAPTER 7

  Guinevere

  After a late night dealing with one of the men sent by my uncle, it was mid-morning before I left my cabin.

  Hannah had not been awake when Jack brought me back to my cabin, but she had known that I went out. When I had awakened, she asked if I enjoyed my late night stroll. She laughed when she heard about Jack hitting Leo.

  “Those Phantoms would perish if they could not fight with someone, which leads me to Elizabeth. She has done well for herself. Her Mr. Mason was divine,” Hannah said as she arranged my hair for the day.

  “Be thankful that you did not attempt a flirtation with him. Bess would have struck you down, and I do believe she would have enjoyed it.”

  “You prove my point. A violent bunch these spies. You should step warily when it comes to Jack. The leader is always the most precarious.”

  It almost made me smile that she did not know that Bess, and not Jack, had been the leader of the Phantoms.

  “I am not your competition, you know,” Hannah said abruptly. Her eyes were stayed on her task, but I could sense her awaiting my reply.

  “I never thought you were,” I replied, if not with complete honesty at least with a semblance of the truth.

  It was true that Jack had thought he was chasing Hannah as the white phantom, kissing Hannah, when in truth he was chasing me, and kissing me.

  “Your words say one thing but your eyes say another.”

  Staring at her for a full minute I did not know what she thought she was reading in my eyes, but whatever it was, it should not have been there. Perhaps Harvey was right, perhaps I was slipping in my duties. I had long since mastered the art of keeping all thoughts and emotions from my eyes unless I wanted them to be there. I was master of my emotions until Jack came into my life, and like a fool I fell for him. It was never his poetry, which was laughable, or his good looks, though those aided my traitorous feelings. It was the way he saved me. When he came to my rescue at the Inn in Philadelphia, I was shocked at the lightning bolts of excitement that coursed through me when he reached his hand down to me. I thought about little else for a long time, and when I saw him again in his mother’s house I knew that I was on a spiraling slope with nothing to hold on to.

  Hannah handed me my auburn wig, but did not move to help me put it on. “You need to know that I have no designs upon Jack. My affections are engaged elsewhere. So, I hope that you can come to trust me.”

  Seeing the earnestness in Hannah’s e
xpression, I felt myself softening just a mite. I may not have fully trusted her, but I did not fully trust anyone.

  “I know what it is to be separated from the one that you love. If you love Jack, you should not let anything stand in your way. The lord knows you deserve some happiness.”

  I said nothing while Hannah arranged my wig for me, for she had given me much to consider.

  When we reached the deck, it was a flurry of activity. Men were shouting and laughing as they huddled along the deck. The clang of sword against sword made my heart hurry, and my feet followed its lead.

  Leo was standing near the rail with his arms crossed and a look of interest on his face. There was a bruise on the corner of his mouth where Jack had hit him, but he appeared unruffled when he greeted us with a nod.

  Seeing what the bother was about, my steps faltered.

  Jack and Andrew were engaged in a battle of blades.

  “Leo...” I said as I stared, nonplussed.

  Leo took my arm and guided me to a barrel so I could sit. “There is no danger. That Madison fellow knows about the Phantoms and wanted to see what Jack can do.”

  The Jack Martin that I had first met in Philadelphia would never have participated in such sport, but he was different since moving to Charleston. The only word to explain the difference was free. Jack appeared to be free.

  The back and forth of thrust and parry delighted the crew, while Leo’s watchful eyes were waiting for something. Something spectacular.

  Their styles were quite different. Andrew relied on his strength while Jack relied on his quick and expert footwork. Andrew lunged with a quick thrust to what would have been his opponent’s heart on a man with lesser skill than Jack. Jack disengaged swiftly, but Andrew, not to be bested, lunged again. There was a clash of blades with Jack’s parry. He followed it with a riposte that had Hannah covering her mouth and a loud gasp. Forte struck foible and with a clang of steel against the deck; it was over. Jack lowered his point from Andrew, and the two bowed to each other as some of the sailors exchanged coins.

  Jack retrieved his coat, accepting the hearty compliments from some of the men. When he neared, I noticed the droplets of perspiration on his brow, the swirl of his windswept hair. He was breathtaking.

  “Do you mind me if I join you in all my disorder?”

  “A man who fights like you need never doubt his welcome. It was splendid, truly.” Looking around, Hannah and Leo had made themselves scarce. Jack settled on the barrel beside me.

  “Coming from you, I take that as the highest praise. I suspect that you have been dueling for years.”

  “Never like that,” I admitted. Pierre had taken the time to instruct me, but never to an expert’s level.

  Jack leaned toward me and motioned for me to lean in as if he had a secret to share. “I can teach you.” The mischief in his gaze made my heart swell. “For an exchange. Tell me a secret.” He smiled so intimately that I yearned to surrender everything and marry him, but I had to be rational, not selfish.

  “I do not mean some great life altering secret, but something that I do not know about you,” he added.

  Nearly every secret that I possessed was life altering, or would be for him. I wanted him to know everything about me and my life and my family, but I was afraid to tell him. Looking at him, at his light blue eyes full of the love that he had for me, he deserved to know, but I would begin with something simple. As my mind searched for what to share, a memory sprang up, and it was a perfect place to begin.

  “I have just the one,” I said as I shifted my body to face him on the barrel. “You were the first person I kissed.”

  Jack’s eyebrows creased. “Surely not.”

  He did not remember. Well, that was not a surprise as it happened four years ago.

  “You were. When I was fourteen.” Still he did not remember. “Baltimore, four years ago,” I said and waited.

  I was living in Baltimore and got separated from my guardian. As I was searching for him, I went down an alley behind a tavern and was accosted by a drunkard. A boy, with more guts than sense, or so I thought, rescued me.

  I did not get a good look at my warrior until we were many roads away from the alley. He pulled me into a house and it was instantly pressed upon me that we were the only ones there but that more were due to arrive for the house was well lit. I was able to get a good look at the young man who turned out to be extremely handsome. Black hair touching his shoulders in thick waves, and blue eyes that pierced my heart then like they could still do this day.

  He led me into a parlor and as I was shivering he grabbed a blanket and put it around my shoulders. He stared down at me for a few moments before asking me my name. I would not tell him. I can still remember the amusement in his eyes as I raised my chin in the air and refused to say a word.

  “I shall call you Duchess,” he had said and his voice soothed away my fear. “I am Jack.”

  The name did not mean to me then what it does today, but I had heard tales from my guardian. A group of children who ran around Baltimore doing good deeds and risking their lives. My guardian would have been furious if he discovered who had rescued me, as we were not to associate with the Phantoms. I had to get away. I had a knife on me, but I was no match for Jack, and I knew it. My guardian had taught me that the best way to get out of a precarious situation was to take my captor unaware.

  When Jack’s back was to me, I pulled the knife from my boot and stood, keeping the knife out of sight. When Jack turned toward me, I found myself looking up into his eyes.

  There was only one thing I could think to do, only one thing that I wanted to do. I raised up on the tips of my boots, pressed a hand against the back of his head, and drew his lips against mine.

  At the time, I was frightened and had no previous experience with kissing, but that did not stop me.

  He was stunned, to say the least, but I, too, was stunned by the shock that surged from his body to mine. Something echoed in my head, a voice I had never heard before, telling me that kissing Jack was right.

  His arm began to move around me, and the movement caused me to jolt back, raising the knife.

  He crossed his arms and his lips pursed, but I could tell he was trying not to laugh. “What do you mean to do with that?”

  “What I must.” I backed toward the door.

  He took a step toward me. I threw the knife. As Jack dodged the blade, I made my escape. I slammed the door behind me, but did not run far.

  Knowing that Jack would give chase, I hopped over the rail, dropping down behind a pair of bushes that were against the front of the house.

  That had been the last time I saw him until the day in Washington when he and Bess were standing on the threshold of the giant’s house, when they were trying to steal the first artifact.

  I never forgot him, and there were times that I begged my guardian to put me on an assignment in Philadelphia, just to catch a glimpse of Jack, but I was always refused. My guardian knew, somehow, that I felt things for Jack that I had never felt for anyone. Perhaps he had found my collection of newspaper clippings referencing unknown people who ran around doing good deeds.

  Jack’s hand entwined with mine as he moved closer, his leg brushing mine. “That girl was you? I thought about her that day at the Inn when I went to your rescue. You gave me my first kiss,” he said as he brought my hands up to his lips. The shock was still there, even in simplest of touches, the jolt that raced my heart and caused prickles to dance along my arms and spine.

  Someone whistled and broke us apart, but Jack did not let me move far.

  “We belong together. I have known it since that first kiss. That little girl who would kiss me and then throw a knife at my head. I knew if I ever found her again I would not let her go so easily.”

  He and I were of the same mind. Marrying Jack frightened me no small amount due to the danger that could, and had, come to him. My enemies discovered my feelings for him, and there was no hesitation. They had tried to kill
him, and if they ever received a second chance, they would not be so clumsy. Jack would die.

  That was why it was imperative that they never receive that chance. A strong guard over my emotions was required if we were to get through the looming battle alive, but my restraint would only go so far. It was becoming more evident with each passing day that the one thing I needed to make it through was Jack. There was only one thing stopping me from agreeing to marry him as soon as could be contrived. One thing that I may never receive. A blessing from my sister.

  CHAPTER 8

  JACK

  On the fourth morning of our journey, we reached Savannah. Leo and I were standing beside the captain and Andrew when Leo asked to use the captain’s spyglass. Instantly I was on my guard.

  Whatever Leo saw made him act as if nothing were amiss, until he thanked the captain and walked away.

  “Welcoming party. At least ten of them and they are armed,” he said when we were away from the captain.

  “Guards?” I asked, quickly scouting out the best means of escape.

  “Nay. Brute strength with little to no military training I would say.” He leaned against one of the rails as if at his ease. “Hand to hand combat, and they mean to take your lady, who will want to fight.”

  “Then we will not tell her. Have the captain secure us a carriage and an escort. If we are approached, we will put her in the carriage, and the two of us will stay behind to give her the time needed to get away.”

  “The three of us, if you do not mind,” came an amused voice from behind us.

  Standing behind us was not Hannah, but a man with shoulder length blond hair, a thin beard, and some sort of club in his hand.

  “What do you think you are doing?” I asked as I glanced around to see if anyone else recognized Hannah.

  Hannah had always been a bold woman when I knew her in Philadelphia. She did not mind dalliance to meet her ends, she had a vicious tongue when she chose to turn it against someone, and she was beautiful. A deadly combination in one trained by the man who taught Guinevere.

  “Preparing to fight. We men must join together,” Hannah said calmly.