***
When we arrived at the Harvey’s house for a dinner party, Andrew greeted me warmly, bringing relief to my troubled mind. I had not been able to put the startling and unfortunate events of the day out of my thoughts until I was standing beside him. Edith had said it would be a small party, but the table was set for twenty persons; not as small as I had thought.
A few minutes later, Guinevere entered with Richard, and as soon as they separated, I watched Jack go to her. Even from across the room, I could see her shake her head and turn her back to him, speaking instead with Thomas and Dudley.
Jack looked so hurt that I wanted to claw Guinevere’s eyes out for treating him like that. But, when Jack moved away, Guinevere turned, and her eyes followed him with so much hurt and longing that I knew it had all been Richard’s doing. She loved Jack as much as he loved her.
At dinner, they were seated beside each other, much to Richard’s chagrin, but from my place across the table between Dudley and Thomas, I noted that they did not exchange above twenty words throughout the meal. Jack would try to speak to her. Her eyes would move immediately to Richard, and she would say something or shake her head and turn to the man to her left.
The entire day had been almost too much for me, with the run-in I had had at George’s, and then seeing my brother’s anguish and knowing there was nothing I could do, I needed a reprieve. When they women left the dining parlor, I did not join them in the drawing room but walked up the stairs to the large, elegant landing. I sat upon a red settee in the small alcove with my thoughts moving a thousand miles a minute.
“Elizabeth,” a smooth, deep voice said, and I started, nearly leaping off the settee.
Andrew smiled. “I do apologize for startling you. May one hope to have been the cause of such deep contemplation?” It was meant as a light jest, but it carried the needed jolt. I stood reaching out and took Andrew’s hand. Without thinking of anything but needing some air and a moment of quiet, I lead him up the stairs to the third floor. Andrew followed without a word until we were passing the maid’s bedchambers. He asked where I was taking him.
“You shall see,” was all I replied as I lead the way into the attic.
“My dear Elizabeth, should I be worried?”
I laughed though it sounded rather overwrought to my ears. In the attic, there was a ladder that led up a few steps to a door. I pushed open the door and climbed through.
Edith and I had spent many evenings on the roof stargazing when we were younger, but it was not for that that I taken Andrew up there. I truly did not have a reason other than needing air and not being able to get it by standing on the front steps of the house. The air was cleaner on the roof, and the view was magnificent. The roof was flat, so it was easy to walk, and when we were both standing at the edge breathing in the crisp night air, I spoke.
“Edith and I used to come up here before she left for the seminary, before the war,” I told Andrew as I stared at the lights that could be seen of the city from illuminated houses or street lamps. Even the Delaware River could be seen in the distance.
“Yes, the seminary.” He turned to look at me. “The place where we first met.”
“Twice you have rescued me from intended capture,” I replied, thoughtfully. I still was not sure about the second attack on me. We had captured the men of the black carriage, but that did not mean that Richard would not send out more. But, if that were so, I would have to consider the possibility that Richard knew my identity. It was unfathomable. Surely he would have struck against me if he did know. He had had ample opportunities.
“I would do so again though I pray that the need will never arise,” Andrew assured me.
With Andrew staring at me and the world feeling miles away, I could envision my life with him. Comfort and protection. The security that I had desired for years. To be loved and valued. To be a wife and one day a mother. I would give up everything else for it to come true. Jack could carry on the Phantoms, or if not him, one of the others. Married to Andrew, freedom would be mine.
Andrew’s head lowered a fraction, but paused, hovering over my lips. “May I?” he asked huskily.
Slowly, intimately, I nodded. As Andrew eliminated the distance between us and our lips met, anticipation danced in my belly. His arm wrapped around my waist, and my hands moved to his shoulders. His mouth was roving over mine, his hands moving along my waist, when a horrible comparison sprang to mind.
No!
I did not want to think about that, but it was too late. The comparison had come, and what I discovered I did not like. Andrew went on kissing me, but I was doing nothing but standing there. He broke the kiss for a moment before capturing my mouth again in a heated, hard, wet kiss. I shoved everything else from my mind and wrapped my arms around his neck. There.
Ten minutes later, when Andrew and I were making our way down the stairs, he stopped me with a hand on my arm. “Elizabeth, I want you to know that I do not take what has transpired between us lightly. I await only a reply from my family before I approach your brother for his blessing.”
He had said it. It was out there, and I knew I could ask for no better man. He left me in the hall so I could go down the main stairs alone with all propriety intact, while he went down the back stairs.
When Mother, Jack, and I left the Harvey’s, I was sure of my feelings. I wanted to marry Andrew.
We arrived home, and Arnaud was there to greet us. “Miss Elizabeth, there was a gentleman here to see you.” I looked around, but Arnaud told me that the visitor had left an hour earlier. “He asked that I give you this. He would not give his name; insisted that you would know.”
“Of course. Thank you, Arnaud.” I took the heavy brown paper parcel that he held out to me, bid my mother and Jack a good night, and ran up the stairs to my bedchamber.
Seated before my desk, I tore away brown paper to reveal a box. As I lifted the lid, my heart jumped, and all my happy feelings fell away. There was a sealed letter lying atop a pistol. My pistol! Grabbing my letter opener, I tore through the wax seal.
My dear Raven, the letter began, and my heart started to beat an untimely rhythm.
My apologies for not introducing myself earlier, but as you were trying to put a period to my existence, introductions seemed the least of my worries. If I had known that you have such spirit, I would have come to Philadelphia much sooner. I regret, and oh, how I do regret it, that we shall not be able to meet again, for, by the time you receive this message, I will be on my way home. Know that I enjoyed our little interlude, and I look forward to when our paths should cross again.
Ever your faithful chevalier,
Joutaine
As I lowered the letter, my face was aflame in indignation and remembrance. That dog! I crushed the letter into a ball. That roguish dog was none other than a Phantom leader; George’s nephew Samuel Mason.
Instead of throwing the letter across the room as I longed to do, I unlocked my desk and placed the letter in a book. I would keep it, and when the time came, if it ever did that I met with Samuel Mason again, I would give him the letter along with a resounding slap for his audacity. He knew that I was Raven, and yet he still behaved atrociously. Not at all as a leader should.
I did not know why Samuel Mason had been searching George’s house, but at the moment, it did not matter. I had more important thoughts to occupy my mind, and I would not waste another moment upon an up-to-no-good rogue––no matter how well he could kiss.
Chapter 22
Jack
Phantoms In Philadelphia (Phantom Knights Book 1) Page 35
