Lords of Honor (61 page)

“I will just get my nightclothes and
retire
to Micah’s
chamber
,” Sophia offered.

“Let us kno
w when you are safely in the chamber
,
Lady Amesbury
,
”
Owen said.

She smiled
and n
odded.

“Rowena, I’ll be
back
up in a bit
.
I’m going to check on everything
.”
Harry escorted his wife to
their bedchamber
then
made his way
downstairs.

Gabriel, Wyldhurst,
Lachlan
,
and
Matthias
joined Harry in the library for a brandy
.

“You saw the Angel?” Harry asked.

“We all did
.
He
followed
Owen
, Libby
and Charlie all the way down the hill
.
Since
Owen carried
Libby
with him
, we left
.
We guessed since Archangel Michael brought Libby to us, we were not meant to attack,” Lach
lan
said.

Harry nodded
.
“
That’s how I would have
perceived
the
situation
.
No one saw Percy Davitt?”

“
Only Owen and Charlie
saw him
.
We saw n
othing but the
Angel and the
Light,” Gabriel said
.
“And the strange thing was, Harry, none of their men sa
w the Light or us
.
It seemed
we were invisible
, even p
rotected
.
None of them,
not
even the
ir
watch
on the hillside
noticed
t
he Light
, which was huge and brilliant, radiating all around
.
It was the strangest thing.”

“I’m just glad Arc
hangel Michael is on our side,” Harry
sighed
then
produced a half-hearted smile
.

The others agreed with smiles and nods.

“The
y’ll come back with a vengeance,
”
Gabriel commented.

“So will Micah when he’s better
.
That’s a nasty scar Davitt
left Libby with,
”
Wyldhurst said pointedly
.
“You all know Micah is a gentle man, unless you mess with one of his
,
a woman
, or a
child
.
At
those
times
he can
become
as nasty as me
or
Trevan
!
Davitt harmed
his
woman.
”

Lachlan
added, “Wyldhurst and I could hardly keep
Micah down
with both of us holding him
w
hile the
Brown Coats
held
his wife
.
Together we are damn near invincible.”

“I saw it
.
He fought me some too,” Gabriel agreed.

Harry rubbed h
is unshaven jaw
.
“I doubt
Micah
will
go
after Davitt
on his own
.
Since
Libby’s
back
,
he
won’t want to leave her side
, I’m thinking
,
o
r should I say hoping
.
Besides, he can’t even walk
on his own
at present
.
We won’t have to worry about him for a few days at least.
”

He sighed and continued,
“
Be prepared for an attack tonight
.
At dawn, we’ll watch them on Cadbury with the
spyglass
.
W
e’ll have a pretty good idea of what we’re facing
when we know
what they are doing
.
If they surround us and still watch us, we’ll try the night raiding parties
again
.
They worked in Cornwall
, and we took out ten in a very short amount of time the night Micah was shot
.
If they leave
Cadbury
Hill
, we can’t just go back to normal again
.
They’ll come back
.
We should hear from Lyon as early as tomorrow
a
nd Sir John in at least two days time
.
We’ll have a better idea of how far reaching this is
.
As soon as Micah
is
feel
ing
better
, we can see if he has ever heard of this
Knights of the
Brown
Order
.
If anyone of us ha
s
knowledge of such a group, he
will
.”

Harry rose
.
“Wake me before dawn
.
Be at the ready
.
Since we took
Libby
from under their noses they will hit us harder
next time
.
Until further notice, the ladies shall stay in the room with Micah and Libby with a guard during the day
.
The safe room is right there if we are attacked
.”

Matthias nodded
.
“I have watch from two till six
.
I’ll come for you at five
.”
He rose also
.
“Lachlan, wake me at two
, which is just two hours away
.”
Matthias shook his head
.
He sighed wearily.

Lachlan and Wyldhurst settled in for
the remainder of
their watch
.

Sophia was summoned to help
with Micah during the night
.
His fever rose,
but not dangerously so
.
He was partially lucid
.
Micah
would
fret when Libby stirred
.
Libby’s stomach
was
unsettled
;
whether
from the laudanum
or
the concus
sion
they did not know
.
Owen held
his sister
while she
retched
.
Charlie
h
e
ld Micah down
while Libby was ill
.
Sophia would try and keep Micah calm, and sponge him with cool water
to help his fever break
.

Once
Owen returned Libby to the bed
, Micah would calm down the moment he held his lady in his arms
.

It went on like that the entire night
.

Harry checked
on
them at five
.
He p
romised
others would relieve them at
dawn
.

Rowena,
Gabriel
and Jack sat with
Micah and Libby until noon, when Owen and Charlie came
back
to relieve the gentlemen.

“Both quiet,” Owen noted
with a hopeful smile,
as he took the chair close to Libby’s side of the bed
.
His fingers lightly traced the large scar on his sister’s cheek
.

“
Both quiet f
or the last several hours
.
I applied some of Sophia’s salve to Libby’s cheek
.
She said it would help it heal, in addition to guarding it against infection
.”

Owen nodded
.
“Thank you
, Lady Glaston
.”

Rowena felt Micah’s forehead
.
“He’s had no fever in three hours
.
A good sign.”

“
A v
ery good
sign
.”
Owen let go a relieved sigh. “
Charlie, take the chaise
.
Have a nap
.
Y
ou can si
t with Libby while I
rest
in a couple of h
ours,
”
Owen suggested.

Charlie happily obliged
and plopped himself upon the chaise
.

“I can stay with
you
the entire day, Owen,” Rowena said
.
   “I sent for Cook to heat some broth and tea for them
.
It will be easier if Micah woke and took it on his own, rather than having it forced down him.”

“Micah is awake
.
He
will take his broth on his own,” Micah croaked
.
He opened his eyes
.
“Are you
implying
Micah
is
not a good patient, Rowena
?”
The corners of his mouth turned up.

“Yes, Micah
.
For it took four men
at times
to hold you down
, two of them being Lachlan and
Wyldhurst
!
Y
ou were forever trying to get up
from your bed
.
You were constantly
pulling your stitches
.
Sophia re-stitch
ed
your wounds
four different times
, you know.”

“I won’t be trying to go anywhere now that Libby is back
, Rowena
.
I promise
.
Thank you
for
bringing
Libby
back
, Owen
.”
Micah
turned his head and
looked
to
Owen.

“I did not do much, Micah
.
You’ve an angel to thank for her being returned to you.”

“Michael?” Micah asked
.
He
smiled
weakly
.

“Yes
.
I’ll tell you about it later, when you
feel
better.”

“I wish to hear it later
.”
Micah
turned once again
to
Rowena
and
reached out his hand
to her
.
Rowena accepted his hand
with a happy smile
.
“I consider myself fortunate to have such a gentle
nurse
and a good friend
here with me
.
Thank you, Rowena
.”
Micah squeezed her hand and released it
.

Rowena’s eyes
became
teary
.
“Consider yourself fortunate
I’m stil
l your friend after all of this
!
You wouldn’t listen to a word I said the whole time
.
You can be quite
headstrong
when you set your mind to it, Micah
.
I
am
quite surprised
by
your stubbornness
.
”

“
I listened
to you
, Rowena
.
I
appreciated your concern.”