Son of a Duke

by Jessie Clever

  "Why would he go to Dover?" Richard asked.

  "Because they told him to," Samuel replied.

  Nathan nodded, his grip on Nora's shoulder tightening so that she almost winced. "Wally's been placed as the barkeep at The Four of Clubs. He told me to go to Dover."

  Richard frowned. Deeply. "What's in Dover besides half the War Office?"

  Nathan shrugged.

  Nora pried his hand loose and wove her fingers through his, her shoulder throbbing with relief.

  "And why would someone who is shooting at Nora and kidnapping her son be telling us to go to Dover?" Jane asked.

  "Are they all connected?" Nathan countered.

  "I think so," Richard said.

  A different maid came in carrying more dishes to the sideboard, and Nora smiled again. This maid blanched and almost dropped the dishes before running out.

  Nora turned back to the conversation. "But how are they connected?"

  Nathan sat down, bringing a startled Samuel onto his lap. Nora watched Samuel's face register shock and squelch panic. And then he started to settle into Nathan's lap, and Nora wanted to smile.

  "Let's start at the beginning," Nathan said. "I shoot the wrong man."

  Richard shook his head, "It started before that. It started with the conversation Nora overheard."

  Nora felt the bile rise in her throat as she stared at her son. "It may have started before that."

  Everyone looked at her, and Nathan's fingers clenched in her grip.

  "What haven't you told us?" Richard's voice had gotten smoother, fatally smoother.

  Nora swallowed. She could do this. She looked at her son. She had to do this.

  Nora looked at Nathan and said, "The Duke of Chesterfield."

  ~

  Nathan had been shot once. It had hurt. Tremendously. But the white hot fire that was the pain of being shot was not anything he could compare to the feeling he got just then.

  He was scorched in half by a blazing fire iron.

  And only Nora's strong grip on his fingers kept the halves from falling to the floor.

  "The Duke of Chesterfield?" Richard asked.

  "The Duke of Chesterfield," Jane said, her mouth hanging slightly open.

  Samuel burrowed deeper into Nathan, and Nathan pulled him closer. Samuel's heart beat rapidly against Nathan's chest, and he felt the two burnt halves of himself meld back together.

  Now he was ready to the kill the man who had raped the woman Nathan feared he was starting to love.

  "You have reason for revenge," Nathan said.

  Nora nodded.

  "Reason enough to tattle. To spy, even," Jane said.

  Nora nodded.

  Richard sat down.

  "I think I am missing something," he said.

  Nathan turned Samuel to look at him.

  "Cover your ears," he said.

  Samuel looked at him.

  "Just do it," Nathan said.

  Samuel responded almost immediately, his look of wonderment casting about the room. Nathan nodded to Nora.

  "Almost ten years ago, the Duke of Chesterfield raped me at Gregenden House," she said, and for the first time in almost ten years, saying it out loud left her feeling...nothing.

  Richard looked at her.

  "He thinks you're the snitch."

  Nora nodded. Nathan poked Samuel in the ribs, and Samuel lowered his hands.

  "All's good now, son," he said and smiled.

  Samuel returned his smile with an equally bright one, and Nora wondered if it was at Nathan's use of the word son.

  "So out of revenge, you spy on Chesterfield and tell the War Office what you hear," Nathan said, "Chesterfield is at the ball and sees Archer's brother get shot. He then takes a shot at you, hoping to get rid of you."

  "But he misses," Jane picked up the story, "And has to steal your son?"

  Richard jumped in, "He kidnaps Samuel because his plans have changed. He missed Nora because Nathan got her out of the way. So if he was waiting to shoot Nora till then, then he-"

  "He heard us talking about shooting the wrong man," Nathan finished.

  "Has to change his plans now because there are more players," Richard continued. "And he wants all of those players in Dover. So why?"

  Nora stood up and went over to the sideboard. The first time she tried to pick up a plate it rattled because of her shaking hands, so she had to set it back down to take a breath. The second time she picked it up it was steady. She put eggs and sausages on the plate and brought them back to the table. She set it in front of her son, who obediently picked up his fork and poked at it. He did not take any bites as he continued to listen to the story about him.

  Nora sat back down.

  "Why would the Duke of Chesterfield spy for the French?"

  Every head in the room swung to the door.

  Sarah stood calmly with her hands folded in front of her. Her hair was clumped, half up and half down. Her eyes were red, and she had not bothered to wipe her cheeks so her skin was stripes of shiny and pale skin where the tears had dried on her face.

  Nora stood up and filled another plate, pushing Sarah into a chair before setting the plate in front of her.

  "What do we know about Chesterfield?" Nora said, sitting back down.

  "He actually is wealthy," Jane said getting up and filling two plates. She returned setting one plate in front of Richard.

  "While Archer spies for the money," Nathan said, starting to poke Samuel to get him to eat something.

  "Gambling," Nora murmured, thinking of the well-known reason why Archer would need money.

  Sarah took a bite and chewed. Nora waited for her to swallow. It came eventually. Nora felt the sudden urge to brush Sarah's hair.

  And then she forgot that.

  And could not really think of anything else.

  "She has red hair," she said.

  "What?" Richard asked, spearing a kipper and looking up.

  "She has red hair," she repeated louder, turning to Jane.

  Jane's fork stopped mid-air. "She does have red hair."

  "Who has red hair?" Samuel asked, swallowing his eggs.

  "The Duchess of Chesterfield," Sarah said, looking brighter than she had all morning.

  "What do we know about the Duchess of Chesterfield?" Nora asked Jane.

  Jane lowered her fork and thought. "Almost nothing. She is some Scottish girl. I do not even recall her family name," Jane finished with a shake of her head.

  "Jacobite Scottish?" Richard raised an eyebrow.

  "Jacobite? You think someone would still hold a grudge over that?" Sarah asked.

  "Why not?" Nathan shrugged and stole a sausage off of Samuel's plate.

  "How are we going to find out more about the Duchess of Chesterfield?" Richard pushed his plate away.

  "We cannot pay a social visit," Jane smirked, "She probably knows who I am now."

  Richard nodded in agreement.

  "We could follow her," Nora said.

  "She's going to be at Temple Church today at noon," Samuel said into his eggs.

  Nora and everyone else looked at the boy.

  "What?" Samuel said when he finally looked up and saw everyone was looking at him.

  "Temple Church? On Fleet Street?" Richard asked.

  Samuel answered, "By the river. She's meeting someone there about a man named Franklin."

  Nora went to ask how her son could possibly know this, but she was interrupted.

  "Which one of us is going to be there as well?" Sarah asked reaching for the teapot on the table.

  "I am," Nora and Nathan said together.

  They looked at each other.

  Nora thought she should feel like sticking her tongue out, but she felt oddly tingly instead.

  "You will both go," Richard said, standing up. "And I am going to figure out what the hell we are going to do after that."

  Sarah picked up her head. "What about Alec?"

  Nora paused, half sitting, half standing. Samuel
was hanging onto Nathan's neck so he did not fall on the floor, as Nathan was about to stand up as well. Jane sipped her tea.

  "I'll find him," Richard said and stomped from the room.

  ~

  Nathan tore his mouth from Nora's and moved to the opposite seat.

  "No," he barked, when she went to move next to him or onto him as it appeared. "We are on assignment, and if you keep doing what you're doing, I won't be able to pay attention to what I'm supposed to be paying attention to."

  The hack dipped into a rut, and Nora bounced against his knees, frowning.

  "All right," she said and looked out the window.

  Nathan felt his stomach tighten at her casual manner.

  "Well, maybe you can sit next to me," he heard himself say, "but no touching."

  She jumped to the other seat, smiling.

  This was not the Nora he was familiar with, but considering the circumstances, he rather liked her.

  "What's gotten into you?" he asked.

  And she smiled even more broadly. "I slept."

  "You slept? That's it?"

  "That's...part of it."

  Her hand was reaching for him, and he batted it away.

  "No touching."

  "Nathan, I have not slept like I slept last night in years. Years, Nathan. That is a long time. And I spend one night, half of one night really, with you, and I sleep like it is my only purpose in the world. Excuse me for being excited." She turned sharply away to look out the window.

  The hack bounced again sending her against him.

  "I'm sorry, Nora. I didn't realized-"

  "No, you didn't realize. I have spent every night for the past nine years in a chair. A chair, Nathan. Dozing if I'm lucky. Staring at a stove if I'm not. And last night, I slept in a bed. Full out slept. Slept so hard I woke up confused, and the only thing that made sense was you. You were the first thing I remembered. And that makes me very happy."

  The last sentence ended on a choked sob, and Nathan felt his stomach roll over. Nora started to cry. She put her face in her hands and bent over, as if hiding from him. Why were all the females in his life suddenly so weepy? She had gone through an entire kidnapping ordeal without so much as a whimper and now she was crying? He was afraid he would have to touch her.

  Nathan hauled her upright and onto his lap. Her head fell to his chest as she kept crying. It was not a loud cry, just a slow, soft release of anger, frustration and grief. The wetness penetrated to his chest, and he held her tighter as the hack bounced along.

  "It makes me very happy as well," Nathan whispered.

  Nora shook one more time and fell silent.

  Nathan waited, feeling his heart beating against his ribs, wondering if Nora felt it.

  "Nathan?"

  "Yes?"

  "Don't...leave...me. Ever."

  "I won't. Ever."

  And with a sigh he felt down to his toes, Nora sat up in his lap.

  "I feel better now," she said, "I think I may just have needed to get that out."

  Nathan smiled at her. The hack took one more roll and stopped.

  Nathan leaned forward, gripping Nora, and looked out the window.

  Temple Church was partly visible through the other traffic on the street. People of questionable hygienic standards strolled the sidewalks. Women shouted their wares for sale. Men spit on the ground at their feet. Nathan reluctantly let Nora slide off his lap onto the bench. Nora kept one hand in his.

  Hacks passed by, the rare carriage filtered in between. A woman hocked the sad looking flowers in her arms.

  And then a hack rolled up in front of the church, and a short person jumped out and ran into the Chancel.

  Nora reached for the door and was out before Nathan could get off the bench to follow her. They crossed the street carefully and went through the door moments after their short prey.

  The organ loomed up far in the distant gloom. Rows of pillars lined up like slightly intoxicated soldiers, leaning outward. There were no people scattered throughout the pews. The Duchess of Chesterfield was nowhere to be seen.

  Nora walked brazenly to the front and spun a circle. Nathan ran after her.

  "You don't spy by walking out into the open. You get shot by doing that," he whispered harshly to her.

  "There's no one here, Nathan," Nora pursed her lips at him.

  The happy Nora of the hack was apparently gone for the time being, and the infallible Miss Quinton had returned.

  "Well, where did she go?" Nathan whispered.

  He swung his head in all directions, but there was literally nothing that should not be in a church. Candles, pews, marble, stained glass windows. It was a church without a single parishioner.

  Until one stepped out from behind a pillar and looked right at him.

  The muscles in Nathan's midsection unraveled.

  Nora turned behind him, and he knew the moment when she saw the big figure in the distant gloom staring at them. She went absolutely rigid.

  It was a man, a large one, and Nathan felt all his bruises start to throb in response. He also took a minuscule step in front of Nora. The man watched them. His trousers and boots were muddy and looked too big for him, where as his coat was just a touch too snug and too fine. Like it had just been removed from the original, smaller owner.

  Nathan took another step in front of Nora.

  The man watched them as he made his way to the back of the Chancel, slipping something into an inner pocket of the fine coat.

  The man stopped.

  Nora moved in front of Nathan, and he reached to get her out of the way.

  "You must be the happy couple then?"

  Nathan and Nora spun in the other direction staring up at the altar where the voice had originated. A priest was coming out from behind the pulpit carrying a Bible.

  "Happy couple?" Nora asked.

  "Aye, the pair who wished to be wed today at noon. I was afraid you were going to be late, but here you are. Prompt as prompt can be." The priest's bushy eyebrows rose and fell with his smile. There was more hair in his eyebrows than on his head.

  "Shall we get started then? The special license arrived just as you said it would. You must only fill in the names." He extended a roll of parchment. "Shall we sign it then and see you two married?"

  Nora looked around Nathan back at the large man by the door. Nathan looked as well. The man watched them, assessing and then settled a hip against the furthest pew as if getting ready for the show.

  Nora turned back to the priest, Nathan following her movement.

  "Yes, we shall," Nora said and grabbed the special license.

  ~

  Richard had no idea where his son was.

  His valet was gone. Some of his clothes were gone.

  And the servants knew he was gone.

  But no one in the house knew where he had gone.

  Richard was getting angry.

  He stormed up the steps to his house and nearly collided with Jane in the foyer. Which was rather sad, since he liked colliding with Jane normally. But Jane looked worried, so he controlled himself. Mostly.

  "What is it now?" he asked.

  Jane frowned, and Richard was chastised.

  "Sarah."

  "Sarah?"

  "She's gone after him."

  "Sarah's gone after him where? We don't know where he is!" Richard slammed his hat and gloves down on the hall table so hard the mirror hanging above it jumped.

  Jane put her hands on his face and tilted his head down to look at her.

  Her brown eyes were soft and drew him in. He felt his blood cooling almost immediately.

  "She left me a note. I didn't see her leave, so I couldn't stop her to ask her where she was going, but I'm sure she will find him. She's smart, Richard. She will find him."

  Richard brought his hands up to Jane's and drew them away.

  "Is your son all right?"

  Richard jumped as if he'd been caught with his hand up Jane's skirt and looked up the stairs
where Samuel stood.

  "I don't know," Richard answered him truthfully.

  Samuel came down the stairs. "I am certain he is. He is a very resourceful man. He knows what he is doing."

  Samuel stopped at the bottom of the stairs but would not come any closer to them.

  Richard still held Jane's hands in his and suddenly released them. He did not miss the smirk Jane gave him. He just chose to ignore it.

  "And how do you come about that conclusion?" he asked the boy.

  "He found me, did he not?"

  "Yes, but he had Nathan's help. And yours."

  Samuel shook his head. "That does not make a difference."

  "I'm still afraid he's going to do something extremely stupid."

  "He won't," Samuel was quick to say, "He is too afraid of disappointing you."

  Richard looked at the boy, how shyly he stood with his hands behind his back and his shoulder not quite out from behind the newel post. And Richard suddenly had an idea.

  "Do you know how to play poker, Samuel?" Richard asked.

  Samuel grinned hugely. "Yes, I do, sir."

  It was hours later when Jane swept the pot toward her and declared, "Full house, gentlemen."

  Samuel frowned and threw his cards into the pile.

  "I told you we shouldn't let her play," Richard said from the side of his mouth.

  Samuel shrugged. "But you did not tell me to listen to you."

  Richard laughed, and Samuel felt his cheeks turn slightly pink. He did not really make people laugh. It was getting to be a nice experience. One he would not mind repeating.

  And he liked the Duke of Lofton. He had a voice that made Samuel feel safe. He knew that sounded silly, but that was how he felt. The duchess was still a little scary, but he was starting to not shake when he first saw her. And he liked the little wrinkles around her eyes when she smiled. She must smile a lot to get those wrinkles, he figured.

  Jane dealt the new hand, sliding the cards across the table at him. He scooped them up and tried not to react. Nathan had told him to put his emotions in his pocket when he sat down at the card table. So that is what Samuel did. He had two nines, an ace, a four and a jack. Not too bad to start.

  He went to toss in his bet.

  "Playing poker, again?"

  Samuel jumped, and the chip went flying. The Duke of Lofton caught it deftly and winked. Samuel turned to his mother who had suddenly appeared at the library door and became immediately alarmed.