by Amy Atwell
Reed shook his head. “I feel so silly. Fencing at this hour, and you in a dress. You’re a very headstrong female, my lady, and I must say it’s not very becoming. I’m so glad Olivia doesn’t share these obstinate tendencies. Now, I’ll do my best not to harm you. Please take care.”
Johanna closed her eyes for a brief moment to fully experience the perspective of his devotion to Olivia. Only a blind man could be ignorant of her willful ways, and then he’d have to be deaf as well. She opened her eyes to see him saluting her, and she looked forward to wiping the condescending smile from his face.
Her first pass, she concentrated on the feel of the rapier in her hand—its weight, its balance, its resiliency. Confident of her weapon, she noted the feel of the floor, the play of the muscles in her arm and thighs, and the rate of her own heart and breathing. The dress was awkward with its rustling silk skirt and the tight sleeves that didn’t allow free movement for her shoulders. She longed for her boots, for the thin-shod slippers she wore offered no protection from the uneven floorboards, and she’d stubbed her toe on her first lunge.
Reed met her parries competently but without ingenuity or flair. Johanna suspected his lessons followed the same routine day in and out, and he was most effective if attacked in the precise order of moves he always practiced. He made no aggressive advances, but defended his position with dogged determination. With so little force behind either of their swords, only a soft clink and slide sounded each time the blades touched. In one deft motion, Johanna pierced through his guard, and tapped him on the upper arm with the side of the rapier blade.
“Touché,” Reed acknowledged. He grinned at her as if she’d done a parlor trick.
They both stepped back to begin anew. Johanna’s pulse quickened, and her muscles felt warm and loose. If not for the frustrating fact she was stuck in Dover, she might have enjoyed this—the throbbing toe notwithstanding. “You’re being too generous with me, Reed. If you’re not careful, I’ll tear your shirt.”
He scoffed at the implausibility of such a statement.
Johanna couldn’t resist baiting him. “You think it impossible? Perhaps you’d care to place a wager upon it—say twenty pounds?”
Reed considered this. “Twenty pounds it is. I can buy Olivia a new outfit once we’re wed.”
Johanna thought it unlikely twenty pounds would purchase more than a hat for Olivia with her expensive tastes, but it would secure her a way home.
She saluted her captor again, and immediately started her advance. He parried right, and she feinted left. She tried to get past his guard, but he was quicker than she’d credited. Perspiration trickled between her breasts by the time she saw the opening she needed. She swirled the tip of her blade right before his face, stepped forward with her right foot, and as Reed leaned to his left to stop her advance, she flicked her wrist and went directly for his sword arm. The sound of rending fabric was music to her ears as she pierced his sleeve but never scratched his skin.
She stepped back and lowered her blade while hiding her satisfaction. “Do you acknowledge the hit?” Reed was getting just what his foolishness deserved. She felt she’d earned this privilege to teach him a lesson.
“Aye, you tore it neatly, and my best damn shirt—oh, excuse me, my lady. I didn’t mean to curse before you.”
“Don’t give it a thought. My husband has used that word often enough before me. Are you ready for round three?”
He wiped his brow with the back of his wrist and nodded without comment.
Johanna noted a look of determination in his eye. She understood its full meaning when they saluted each other, and Reed launched an attack on her. She retreated neatly, and parried his thrusts. Obviously, it had occurred to him that as long as she defended her position, she couldn’t advance on him. She warded off his attack with cool-headed parries. Even pushed against a table, she refused to let him ruffle her. Instead, she tried to make him think she flagged. Her dress clung to her damp skin, and she made no effort to control her panting. Ever the gentleman, Reed pulled back. “Tiring, Lady Ambersley? Are you prepared to give in?”
“No, there’s yet one more thing I must do. I’m sorry, but you’ve given me no choice.” Johanna steeled herself, and advanced on him like a whirlwind. Her wrist ached fiercely, but she was determined to make a stand here and now. Aiming directly for his right shoulder, she pierced his shirt and then flesh.
Reed gasped in shock and pain as a brilliant bloom of blood stained his shirt.
Her stomach turned queasy at the sight, but she dropped her sword and rushed forward to help him take a chair. “Here, let me get your coat to staunch the blood.” She wadded his superfine coat into a ball.
“You stabbed me! You purposely stabbed me!”
“You forced me. I warned you I wouldn’t remain here. Put this against the wound.” She held the coat out to him,
His eyes grew round with horror. “That coat’s by Weston—do you know what it cost me?”
“It could cost you your arm if we don’t stop the bleeding,” Johanna said with cruel candor.
It worked. With closed eyes, he motioned her to place the treasured coat over the wound.
She did so gently, but asked with firm persistence, “Reed, I’m sorry you became involved in all of this. You must tell me now, what was planned for me? And who made you do this?”
His eyelids fluttered, and Johanna feared he would faint without giving her the information she sought. “Reed, Reed!” His skin color turned papery white, and she cursed herself for allowing frustration to overcome her common sense. She shouldn’t have wounded him. She climbed to her feet intent on calling for help when she heard the door open. She spun around ready to beg the innkeeper for aid.
Lady Vaughan stood in the doorway.
Johanna’s shock gave way to dread as her eyes caught sight of a small pistol in the woman’s hand. It was the exact mate of Reed’s pistol lying on the table.
Reed seemed to recover himself sufficiently to greet his patroness. “Lady Vaughan, I did it. I kept her here.”
“So you did, Mr. Barlow, a very good job. It appears you took an injury, and for that I’m sorry. We’ll see to it as soon as this business is finished.” Lady Vaughan prowled into the room with the rustle of blue silk.
Johanna smoothed the creases from the front of her dress, faintly aware she was no longer the only one overdressed for this hour of the morning. She raised her chin but always kept the gun in the periphery of her vision. “Lady Vaughan, I’ve been trying to get some answers. What’s the meaning of all this? Why have I been brought to Dover?”
The raven-haired woman smiled. “You’ve been brought to Dover, my dear, because you are taking a special journey, and I couldn’t let you go without coming myself to bid you farewell.”
A chill ran down Johanna’s spine.
Her lips turned a loathsome smile. “You were so good to go into the garden with Worthing. It was the perfect opening to my little play. Now you’ve even been good enough to injure Reed. I hope you’ll like your new life in America.”
Johanna raised shaky fingers to her brow. After a long night with almost no food and all the excitement of this morning, she couldn’t have heard Lady Vaughan right. “America? What do you mean?”
With a chuckle, Lady Vaughan took stage in the center of the room. “Did Reed not mention it? How kind of him to save the best for me. Johanna, you’ve left your husband because of your passion for Reed Barlow, and the two of you are sailing for Boston this afternoon. I have your tickets with me right here.” She patted her reticule without once letting the gun waver.
“Lady Vaughan,” Reed interrupted, “there must be some mistake. I’m not going to America. I’m going back to London to marry Olivia as you promised.” He tried to sit up but only succeeded in bringing Johanna back to his side to check his wound.
Lady Vaughan shook her head with mock sorrow. “I’m sorry to say, Reed, that you’ve become enamored with Johanna, or more likely her money
, and you’ve cast caution aside to have her. Olivia will be heartbroken, of course, but she’ll recover. And one day she’ll marry the Marquess of Worthing, as befits her station.”
Johanna felt Reed’s shock at the older woman’s duplicity. She wasn’t surprised. She turned her head to glare at Lady Vaughan. “You cannot force me to board a ship. I won’t go.”
“My dear, the innkeeper believes you’re the prisoner of a Bow Street Runner. I’ve confirmed the story, telling him you’ve been masquerading the streets of London claiming to be nobility only to rob helpless men. Now you’ve wounded the man who apprehended you. Lud, Johanna, you’ve made this too easy for me. If you don’t board the ship, I’ll see you put in jail.”
Staring at the vermin-covered floor, Johanna pictured Derek arriving home to hear she’d left with Reed Barlow. Missing without a trace. He already believed she loved another. He would assume the worst and go on with his life, happy to finally be rid of his faithless wife. All she had wanted was to set things right with him. They loved each other, she knew. She wouldn’t relinquish this newly discovered purpose without a fight.
She looked again at Reed, but his head was lolled back and his eyes closed, from pain or anguish at his burst dreams, she didn’t know. How foolish she’d been, believing him to be the enemy she needed to defeat. If she hadn’t wounded him, he might have been of some use to her now. She spied Reed’s gun still lying beside his breakfast plate. Lady Vaughan hadn’t seemed to notice it as yet.
Hope pushed her to regain her feet. She knew not what she would say when she found her way back to Derek, but she’d return to him. “You’ve gone to all this trouble. It begs me to ask why you hate me so? What have I ever done to you?”
“You exist,” Lady Vaughan spat. “You with your generations of Vaughan blood and all your money, you’ve ruined Olivia’s chances this Season. Now, if you provide Derek with an heir, you’ll cut Curtis out of his inheritance. You took money from our pockets and food off our table, and you will never take away from me again.”
A catlike smile played about her lips as she appraised Johanna. “You even did your best to turn Olivia against me. I saw your plan. You encouraged her to think this imbecile was worthy of her. Now you see what I’ve had to do to prove to Olivia I was right all along.”
Johanna had been frustrated by Reed’s abduction, but now gooseflesh spread up her arms as she tasted the bitterness of fear. She longed to challenge the woman, but needed to proceed with caution. Unlike Reed, her new opponent was crafty and made her own rules. Once joined in battle, the struggle could easily turn to the death. She needed a weapon and a diversion.
“You wanted Johnny out of your lives forever.” Johanna sidled across to Reed’s other side to check his forehead for signs of fever. She now stood three feet closer to his gun. “You must have hated it when I reappeared.”
Eyes narrowed, the woman nodded. “Curtis and I had celebrated destroying Johnny. Not an hour after Curtis dragged you to the barn, Olivia came to me crying that she’d wronged you. I told her the price of going to London for her Season was for her to stand by her story before Derek. She was so distraught, but that only made it more plausible to him. I was positive he’d secretly murdered Johnny and disposed of the body, and I was glad.”
A wave of compassion filled Johanna when she recalled those days with Derek. “But he’d always protected me. Even that furious, he couldn’t kill me.” She braved another step toward the weapon.
“Yes, and when he married you, he thought he could make you happy. Ha! The Vaughan men aren’t known for making their wives happy. Reggie made Alicia hateful, and he made me bitter. Oh yes, I fancied myself in love with Reggie when I married him. But there was no room in Reggie’s heart for anyone but Derek. He spared no regard for Curtis or even me. The sun rose and set for Derek as far as Reggie was concerned. Derek, the precious son of his precious love, Deborah.”
Johanna paused inching forward at these words. “You told me Derek wasn’t Reggie’s son, but Alicia’s—”
Lady Vaughan’s laugh had the stark sound of a mockingbird at midnight. “He still believes that. It was my finest moment. I had to find a way to drive a wedge between them and make Reggie love me. But even after Derek left for India, Reggie made no room in his heart for me.”
Johanna understood the pain of unrequited love, but not the way Lady Vaughan interpreted it. “Derek went to India, and you hoped he would never return.”
“He fought with Wellesley at the battle of Assaye. He had every opportunity to get killed. Instead, he returned and took everything. Everything.”
“He inherited an estate on the brink of financial ruin, and he rebuilt it with his own hands,” Johanna argued.
“Indeed. The first few years were difficult for all of us. I tried to get rid of him once, you know.” Lady Vaughan’s eyes had an almost wild gleam in them, and her smile broadened into a mockery.
Johanna felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. “The barn fire,” she whispered.
Lady Vaughan nodded with smug satisfaction. “No one ever guessed. He was so engrossed with that horse, he never saw me. I hit him with a pitchfork handle. I hoped the stallion would trample him to death, but the horse escaped.”
“You locked me in the harness room.”
“Yes, but you escaped. You rescued Derek. To think I could have been rid of you both.”
Johanna swallowed. “All this time, I was sure it was Curtis. He and I had such a rivalry then.”
“Yes, he showed such promise,” Lady Vaughan said with pride. “I thought about seeking his help in bringing you to Dover, but he wouldn’t tolerate this kind of interference in Derek’s life. Oh yes, he’s become quite fond of both you and Derek.”
Johanna’s eyebrow lifted in disbelief, but she had other more pressing difficulties. “It was never my intention to harm you or your family in any way, Lady Vaughan, you know that.”
“Ever noble.” Her eyes narrowed to slits. “Yes, I know. You’re just damnably in the way. That’s why we must put you on the boat for America.”
“I’ll only come back. It may take months or years, but I’ll return,” Johanna warned.
Lady Vaughan chuckled. “I count on it. That’s the beauty of the plan. Johanna, you’re worth much more to me alive than dead right now. Derek is smitten with you, there’s no denying that. Now, he’ll be convinced you’ve betrayed him. He’ll never forgive you, never let you come back. He’ll also never divorce you. Derek will never have a legitimate heir. Ambersley will fall to Curtis sooner or later.”
Johanna followed the far-fetched logic, and wondered if she were talking to Reed. “Possibly it will, but that could be years.”
“It could be. Perhaps it will be much sooner than you think.”
Any fear Johanna spared for herself washed away in the storm of protectiveness she felt for Derek. She was to be sent to America—undoubtedly, during her absence, Derek would meet with an “accident.” She had to make a stand, here and now, even if it cost her everything.
Johanna lunged toward Reed’s pistol on the table and grasped it between clammy fingers. She turned and aimed it at her adversary. “I’ll not leave here without a fight. I’ve already bested Reed. Are you willing to meet my challenge?”
Lady Vaughan wavered when she first saw the pistol leveled at her, then she chuckled softly. “You won’t kill me, Johanna. I don’t think you have it in you to do it.”
“Lady Ambersley!” Reed whispered loudly from behind her.
Johanna didn’t dare turn to see what he needed. “Not now, Reed,” she cautioned. She kept her full attention trained on Lady Vaughan. “You’ve told me I’m more valuable to you alive than dead. You won’t kill me.”
“I’d hate to, but then, it might be much simpler to get you on that ship if I wounded you.”
“Can you trust your aim is true?”
“Can you?” Lady Vaughan countered.
Johanna smiled. “I’ve handled guns since childhood. I s
ay we count to three and each take our best shot. I’m willing to live or die with the consequences.” She expected the older woman to balk at her ploy.
Lady Vaughan considered her and seemed to measure the distance between them. Finally, she spoke. “Very well, my dear. I believe I’m more than up to your noble challenge.”
Reed interrupted again. “Lady Ambersley, I must—”
“In a moment, Reed,” Johanna said, cutting him off sharply. The clock over the unlit fireplace started to chime the hour, and Johanna tilted her head toward it. “On the fifth chime, Lady Vaughan?”
The older woman nodded assent.
Johanna heard nothing but the clock chimes as she concentrated on her aim. Even if she killed Lady Vaughan and hung for murder, at least Derek would be safe.
The hour chimes began. One. Two. Three. Four. As soon as the fifth one began, Johanna pulled the trigger. She felt the click of the hammer, but nothing else. The clock continued to chime.
