Kilgannon (38 page)

"It's a different place than it was, Alex," Robert said.

"Lord Campbell has done quite well with the new regime," Edmund said, and smiled, looking to see both men's reaction. Robert had the grace to look embarrassed. Alex laughed.

"Are ye hoping for a sword fight in the middle of yer
parents’ party
, Bartlett?" Alex asked lightly. "If so, ye'll be disappointed. I only wish Robert Campbell well, and there's naught to report in that, is there?" Edmund tilted his head to study Alex, then chuckled and batted Alex's shoulder.

"Kilgannon," Edmund began, but Alex interrupted him.

"Good for ye," he said to Robert. "I'm glad some Scots are prospering in these times. And I canna say I'm surprised." Robert flushed but smiled.

"Doesn't Lady Kilgannon look well?" Rowena asked Robert.

Robert met my eyes briefly. "Lady Kilgannon," he said to Rowena, "looks beautiful. Lady Kilgannon has always looked beautiful. Some things don't change." He smiled at Rowena and turned to Alex. "And how are you, Alex?"

Alex pulled me to him. "Grand," he said. "It's been a fine year and we're looking forward to a hundred more together."

"Glad to hear it," Robert said smoothly. "But, Alex, be careful while you're here. No doubt you've heard of the problems down at the docks. I assume you came on one of your ships?"

Alex nodded. "Yer talking about the effigy burnings? I've heard some of it." Robert nodded and Alex turned to me. "There have been burnings of figures meant to represent James Stewart, Mary," he said, unruffled. I had heard nothing of the burnings.

Edmund Bartlett nodded. "Several," he said.

"And some Scots have been attacked," Robert said. "Mind your back while you're here. Will you stay long?"

Alex's eyes narrowed slightly. "As long as my wife wishes. I thank ye for the warning." Robert nodded and Edmund's mother joined us then, mercifully interrupting the conversation.

That night as we prepared for bed I asked Alex if it bothered him seeing Robert again. He shook his head. "No, lass, I thought we might see him. Ye seemed taken aback, though."

"It was awkward. I thought he might be angry."

"Why should he be? He had his chance, Mary Rose. It's his own fault yer not with him now." He climbed into bed and blew out the candle. "His Miss Buchanan looks a bit like ye."

"Did you think so?" I asked as I joined him, feeling his naked warmth. I nestled close to him.

He put a hand on my waist and pulled me closer. "Aye. A poor man's Mary Lowell," he said, and kissed my shoulder as his hands roamed over me. I turned to meet his caresses and forgot all about Robert. His lovemaking that night was impassioned and fierce, and I met him in kind. Afterward, when we lay in quiet satiation, he kissed my shoulder again.

"Yer mine, Mary Rose," he said. "Robert Campbell was a fool and he kens it. Tell me ye love me, lass."

"I love you, Alex," I said as he pulled me to him.

"Mine," he said to the dark.

We had come to London for three reasons: to see my family, a doctor, and Alex's shipping agent. The doctor, one of Dr. Sutter's colleagues, had examined me and pronounced me fit, saying he'd found nothing to prevent me from carrying a child. He had tried to be very tactful, suggesting that we refrain from activity, as he expressed it, for three months. Alex had been delighted at the lack of long-range problems but sighed over the timing. Three months was a long time, I'd thought as I watched my husband. I wondered if I could endure it. I would have to be inventive.

Alex's news was not so pleasing. William Burton had confirmed what I suspected and had given Alex letters from Malcolm and the captain of the Diana that clearly showed their plot. Alex read them over and over, as though they would say something different if he studied them often enough. Both the captain and the Diana were in the Caribbean now but were expected to return sometime in the autumn. Alex and Angus discussed it at length, while Matthew and I avoided the subject and talked mostly about his first term at university. I knew Angus's views, which mirrored mine, but Alex would not talk about it to me. All he would say was that he was going to see Malcolm after the Games. But he brooded.

I had come to terms with what I suspected Malcolm of doing long ago, and my contempt for him could grow no larger, but I felt no satisfaction at having been right all along. What Alex felt about having the written proof of his brother's perfidious behavior he never said, and I did not press him, content to have the mysteries that had haunted us for two years solved.

But I was saddened, for the flashes of what Malcolm could have been haunted me. I remembered happy evenings at Kilgannon when we were all together, and I sighed. The night we had pored over Alex's sketches had been one of my favorite memories, now tainted by what came after. What must Alex be feeling, I wondered, if I, who had known Malcolm for such a short time, was saddened and bereft? How sad to lose your brother and have him still be alive.

Queen Anne's condition worsened and London seethed with apprehension. When I suggested that I needed to shop for gifts for the boys and Ellen and to bring back goods for Kilgannon, I was met with cries of protest from Louisa and Randolph. Angus agreed with them, but I was firm that I could not return home empty-handed. I argued that they'd exaggerated the dangers, that an Englishwoman with a reasonable escort could be safe on the streets of London. Louisa reluctantly admitted that she'd not curtailed her activities, and after much discussion, during which Alex sat quietly watching us, it was at last agreed that we would go shopping—Alex, Angus, Matthew, me, and two of Randolph's footmen. I thought it ridiculous.

The day was bright and we did well, buying the sweets and tea and other foods that Mrs. M. had requested from London and gifts for the boys. I bought Ellen perfume. Pleased with my purchases, I told the five men who had trailed behind me through the shops that their ordeal was over. Before returning to Louisa's we stopped at the Mary Rose to drop off my bundles and to check on the ship. All was well on board, but the men were nervous and told of remarks that been thrown at them. The Scots were too visible, it was decided, and with the agitation in London it seemed wiser to move her across the river. Calum, Angus, and Alex talked of where we'd find the Mary Rose berthed, then Calum, with a lighter expression, told us that a runner had come just before we did, looking for Alex. The MacDonald, it seemed, was in London and had just discovered we were. He asked Alex to go to a nearby inn.

"The runner said Donald asks ye to come immediately when ye get the message, for he's leaving in a few hours. Apparently they tried to find ye at Lord Randolph's and were told ye were coming here. The inn is
no ‘far
, Alex," Calum said. "The lad said ye could walk it. Do ye ken where it is?"

Alex nodded. "Have ye seen MacDonald's men or his ships?" Calum shook his head and Alex looked over the river behind us. "Wonder what he's doing here?" He exchanged a look with Angus, and I knew he was thinking of the rumors of an uprising. Then he looked at me. "Mary Rose," he began, and I laughed.

"Yes, I'll go home, Alex," I said, but Alex frowned.

"I'm thinking ye should come with us, lass. Calum and the men need to be off to get a berth across the river before dark, and I dinna think ye should go home with just the footmen."

"And he kens we'd
no’ let
him go alone," Angus laughed.

"The inn's
no ‘a
bad sort of place, Mary," Alex said. "We'll only stay long enough to ask Donald to join us elsewhere." He frowned again and gave Angus a glance.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Alex shrugged and frowned to himself. "I dinna ken. Just a. ... it's nothing. We'll see ye home and then return," he said.

I shook my head. "You'll miss Donald if you do. Either I'll go home with the footmen or I'll come with you. This is silly."

"Matthew could take Mary home," Angus said, his mood darkening with Alex's obvious uneasiness. Matthew nodded his willingness.

"Alex, what is wrong?" I asked. "Is the inn a dangerous place for me?"

Alex shook his head again. "No, it's actually a decent place, even if it's close to the docks. Lots of travelers stay there."

"Then let's go. Just don't plan to stay long," I said. "The Duchess expects us for dinner."

Alex told the driver to stay with the coach, and we set off on foot through a labyrinth of shops and stalls. Alex led the way, then Matthew, then Angus and me, and finally the footmen. We had no difficulty wending through the crowds. At first.

We'd gone two blocks when I saw two men come from the side alleys and walk next to Alex. They did not: look at him but matched him step for step. He turned to look at first one, then the other, and his hand moved to his sword hilt as he glanced back at us. Behind me Angus cursed and pushed forward, the footmen with him. He grabbed Matthew's arm and mine and, with a nod at the intruders, whispered hoarsely to us to wait in the butcher shop we were passing. Matthew pulled me into the stall, ducking between the sides of beef, ignoring the sharp looks of the shopkeeper. We stood next to the hanging meat and watched as Angus reached Alex. And then, as if from nowhere, the street was full of armed men, shouting and raising weapons. I saw Alex draw his sword and Angus do the same. We lost them as the street became a battleground.

Matthew pushed me into the back of the stall while the shopkeeper called his helpers and then shoved us toward his back door, shouting at us to get out. Matthew took my hand and we ran through the alley, away from the noise behind us. At the corner I dragged him to a stop. "Matthew, we have to go back," I panted. "We cannot leave Alex and your father there."

His eyes widened. "Mary, ye canna mean it. I have to get ye away from here," he shouted, and yanked my arm as he ran forward again. I had no chance to argue. We ran the two blocks back to the ship, where, shouting and cursing, Matthew got the attention of the crew. Throwing me at Calum, he called for the men to help him, and within moments Calum and I stood alone on the dock, watching the men disappear around the corner, Matthew in their lead.

Fifteen minutes later some of the crew returned. The battle was over. I stood with my hand to my throat as they explained that they did not know where Alex was. Angus and Matthew and the footmen were searching with the rest of the Kilgannon men. Four of the attackers were dead and more had limped off bleeding, but there was no sign of Alex. The shopkeepers had cursed them and thrown things, shouting foul words about Scots and Jacobites. Angus had questioned one of the wounded attackers, discovering only that they'd been paid to wait for Alex and Angus and waylay them. By an Englishman who had paid them well and who was not concerned whether Alex and Angus lived through the attack.

Calum returned me to Louisa's house, riding with me and four armed men in Louisa's coach. Bronson received us with a horrified expression and hurried us into the house, where I explained what had happened. Calum and more of Randolph's men returned to the ship with the coach, and I waited with my aunt and uncle. By seven I was frantic. At almost nine, still light on this summer's evening, Bronson came to us and said my husband was in the yard. We raced to the back of the house.

Alex stood just outside the kitchen door, his clothes and hair covered with filth, his face grim. But he was alive. The two footmen, in better condition, stood behind him, Alex's shirt and jacket were torn and bloodstained, his face and arms covered with dried muck. Louisa and I exclaimed and Randolph muttered a curse.

I threw myself at Alex. "What happened? Are you hurt?"

Alex stepped out of my reach. "Dinna touch me, Mary, I am foul, but I'm not hurt, lass. And neither are Angus and Matthew." He looked over my head at Randolph. "I thank ye for yer good men here, sir," he said, gesturing to the footmen. "They were in the thick of it and dinna flinch. But for them and Angus I wouldna be here." He turned to the two men. "I thank ye again, sirs. I'm in yer debt. I'll send ye the whisky I told ye of." The footmen nodded, pleased and apparently uninjured. Alex turned back to us. "Louisa, I'm afraid yer coach will need a bit of cleaning."

We all exclaimed and asked for the story. It was, Alex said, simple. Someone had planned the assault on us, but it had not gone as devised. He and Angus and the footmen might have fended off the attackers if the crowd the fray had attracted had not gotten involved. Alex had seen Matthew pull me into the butcher shop, and when he found himself at the edge of the fracas, he'd battled his way to the shop to find us. Once there he'd been accosted by the shopkeeper and had fought his way out the back door. And then faced the mob of townspeople that had gathered.

"Yer right, sir," he told Randolph. "London does not welcome Scots these days. They thought I was leading an invasion." When we all asked him what had happened, he shrugged. "They pelted me with things and dumped chamber pots on me. But Angus and the crew and yer men here found me, else I would have been dead in the gutter tonight. Calum told me he'd brought ye home, Mary Rose." He gestured to himself. "I need to get out of these clothes and I need a bath. But not in yer house in this condition."

In the end two tubs of water were brought to the stables, where Alex stripped off his clothes in silence and stood in his bare feet while the men set up the tubs. He wrapped the filthy clothing inside out and handed them to one of the men. "Burn them," he said, his accent thick, and the man nodded as he left, holding the reeking clothes away from him. Alex would not let me near him until his body and hair had been washed twice. At last he stood in the tub, the water reaching mid-calf and foul now, and he stepped into the second tub of water with a sigh as I stepped forward to wash his back and hair again.