The Rebels Promise
Page 22
The moment Rosie had come to believe would never happen, had arrived at last. Feeling that her heart might just burst with joy, she tugged at Jack’s shoulder and nodded her acceptance as he rose and, careful of her injured arm, he clasped her to him once more.
Harry, rounding the corner in a bound, paused and - correctly interpreting the scene - hurled himself upon them with a whoop of delight. Staggering slightly from the impact of his exuberance, Jack lifted him off his feet in a crushing bear hug. Then, presenting one arm to Rosie and the other to Harry, the Earl of St Anton led his family into the house.
“Why did you go back to London, Jack?” Tom asked later, as they drank a toast.
Jack produced a document from his coat pocket and handed it to Rosie. “To get this,” she scanned it quickly and raised shining eyes to his face, “’Tis your blasted confession, scamp, and you have Lady Harpenden’s intervention to thank for its retrieval. I could not persuade the damned lawyer to part with it. Before he died, Sheridan told me he had left instructions that, should he meet an untimely end, it was to be published. The lawyer had the document ready to send to the Gazette and a letter to the king. I was on the verge of breaking into the little worm’s offices at night to steal it when her ladyship stepped in. Lord, you should have seen his face when she called him a ‘jumped up, snivelling, little clerk’!”
“Break into the lawyer’s offices?” Harry’s voice was tinged with envy, “By Jove, I wish I’d thought of that. How much I would have enjoyed it!”
“Heaven help us all, we’ll have the lad turning into a housebreaker next! Throw that blasted thing onto the fire!” Jack commanded and Harry, with a delighted grin, rushed to do his bidding. They watched in silence as the paper blackened, curled and then caught light before vanishing into the flames.
Rosie hid her face against Jack’s shoulder, saying, in muffled accents.
“I thought you had gone to see Lady Cavendish.”
Jack took hold of her chin and tilted her face up to him.
“You would appear to have the self-confidence of a gnat … and a very poor opinion of my fidelity, sweetheart.” He said, dropping a kiss onto the end of her upturned nose. “The only remedy will be to make you Lady St Anton as soon as I can and devote the rest of my life to convincing you of my love for you. Besides, Bella and Perry appear to have discovered a certain pleasure in each other’s company … which would appear to me to be a match made in heaven ... or between the pages of a farce. I confess, I neither know nor care which.”
“When will your wedding day be?” Tom enquired.
“Next week, if not sooner,” Jack reached into his other pocket and produced another piece of paper. “I also took the time, whilst in London, to procure a special licence. Why do you ask?”
“No particular reason.” Jack and Rosie exchanged an astonished glance. Was Tom actually blushing? “I thought that I might travel to Scotland again, once you are wed … perhaps pay another visit to Kilcroath … and stay a little longer this time …