The Notorious Bridegroom (28 page)

“Do you not remember? You wrote my words. The innocent are always hurt. It is the price of war and victory.” Colette’s voice was calm and distant.

Patience placed her trembling hands behind her back. She must keep her composure. With a blank look on her face, she disagreed with Colette’s statement. “No, it is the price of hatred they pay with their blood.” Perhaps if she could keep Colette talking, Bryce would return. But then Colette might kill him.

Colette waved her pistol in the direction of the door. “We have a long journey ahead of us. We should get started.”

That was when Patience noticed the cold, unfeeling light in the depths of Colette’s eyes trained apathetically on her. She had never noticed it before.

Patience would go with Colette, but somehow she would find a way to return to Bryce. Her former fury with him seemed insignificant compared with the danger she faced now.

Standing on the stoop Lem, Sally, and Stone all watched in silence as Patience waved farewell from her friend’s carriage, her face pale white but still smiling. Stone went about his business, but the children lingered on the stoop.

Sally’s eyes filled with tears. “Is Aunt Patience coming back to us?”

Lem looked worried. “I dunno. I thought I ’eard the coachman mention Winchelsea, yet Patience said they were only going for a drive.”

Sally tugged on the older boy’s sleeve. “Lem, would you help me find Spring, my dolly? I put ’er outside the parlor, but she isn’t there.”

Lem sighed, knowing if he didn’t help the girl, she would have another reason to cry.

But even though the children scoured the ground floor and first floor, Spring had simply disappeared. Sally crumpled into a tiny ball on the floor of the parlor, losing two loved ones in a day was too much for the child. Lem was thankful when Martha returned from her shopping expedition. Perhaps she would know what to do.

Had there ever been a more glorious day?
Bryce could hardly contain himself in his eagerness to see Patience and hold her in his arms. He wondered what she thought of his present from this morning, and wanted to shower her with more gifts only to see her lovely smile. The urgent meeting with the PM and the secretary had lasted far longer than any of them had planned, but there was no help for it when the security of their country was at stake.

The next few weeks would be difficult for them. He envisioned sending Patience to Lady Elverston to stay before their wedding. This, he told himself, would be as soon as earthly possible. Knowing Patience was to be his brought a certain lightness to his step and a grin that stopped most of the lords and MPs in their shoes, unaccustomed as they were to seeing the Earl of Londringham with anything but a dark, shadowed look on his face.

Was it his imagination or was his carriage slowing down even though he had instructed the driver to hurry? He knocked his cane on the roof and called out to Lucky in his impatience. His coachman replied that there was too much traffic on the roads, and he could do naught to speed their journey. Bryce resigned himself good-humoredly and leaned comfortably back against his seat.

He wondered what her answer would be to his marriage proposal. Hell, Patience better respond in the affirmative. He smiled, too overwhelmed with his euphoric feeling to contemplate any obstacles in their way because he knew Patience loved him. Perhaps her words had only been whispered in her sleep, but it was enough to plant hope where only despair had once lain.

Finally the carriage drew abreast of his town house. Up the steps he went and through the door. Had he ever been this close to happiness before? Stone greeted him at the door and relieved him of his hat, coat, and cane. Bryce’s warm greeting jolted his butler’s formal composure until he asked, “Would you happen to know where I might find Miss Mandeley?”

Stone hesitated, then cleared his throat. “My lord, ah…she is not at home at present.”

Bryce remained evenly calm, not yet concerned. “I suppose Miss Mandeley left with Miss Krebs for calling or shopping. Any notion on when we might expect their return?” He patted his left pocket, gratified to hear the crackle of the marriage license. He was already briskly walking up the stairs to the parlor for his port when Stone’s reply brought him to an abrupt halt.

“Miss Krebs is in the parlor waiting for you, my lord. Miss Mandeley left earlier this morning with, I believe she said an old friend, a woman by the name of Colette d’Acoeur.” Stone watched his master dash back down the stairs.

How could this be? This was presumably the same woman that Patience had gone to help last night. What more could she want with Patience? Remembering what transpired the night prior, Bryce flinched. He walked over to the butler. With his hands on his hips, his voice composed, he asked, “How long ago did you say they left?”

“This morning, around ten o’clock.”

Bryce stood silent, thinking quickly. Where could they have gone and why had Patience left with the maid? His brow furrowed, he glanced at his watch. “It is nearly twelve. Why has no one searched for them? Was no one alarmed? Why was I not notified?”

Stone nary blinked, his lordship’s anger justified. “Miss Mandeley accompanied her friend, and we saw no cause for concern. We have been expecting her imminent return.”

His butler was right, of course. Perhaps he worried needlessly, something Bryce never did. He nodded briefly at Stone’s explanation, then headed for the stairs with the hope that Martha might be able to enlighten him further.

The parlor doors flew open, causing the woman sitting on the settee to jump to her feet. Nervously, she stood waiting for his lordship to enter the room.

“Miss Krebs, do you know anything about Miss Mandeley’s disappearance?” He hoped the concern he felt didn’t reflect in his voice, for he didn’t want to frighten the poor woman. He stood in the middle of the room, waiting for answers, hoping for answers, praying for good news, if he could remember how to pray.

“I…we don’t know, my lord. Miss Mandeley had already left with her friend when I returned home from my errands. We are all very worried, even Sally and Lem. This is so unlike Miss Mandeley.”

Bryce could easily detect the distress in Patience’s companion and wanted to comfort her but knew not how. With a calmness he was far from feeling, he motioned to the settee. “Please sit down. Perhaps there is no reason for my apprehension. I’m only anxious to see her. Do you have any clue as to where she went?”

A voice from the opened doorway drew their startled attention. “Perhaps planning the denouement of England,” drawled Keegan dramatically from the edge of the room.

Bryce jumped up and crossed the room to his friend and welcomed him in. “I had not learned of your return. What has happened to you and what say you about Miss Mandeley?”

Keegan slumped into a nearby wing chair and brushed his forehead wearily. “I have been one step behind you all day, trying to find you. A most difficult task I am relieved to see completed.” He looked up at Bryce standing near the settee, watching him closely. “We need to talk. Alone.” He pointedly stared in Martha’s direction.

“Miss Krebs, would you please have Stone send up some brandy?”

The solemn woman nodded to Bryce before quickly quitting the room, silent across the Oriental rug.

After she had closed the doors, enveloping the men in privacy, Bryce turned his attention on his friend. “We were not expecting you for some time. You have a lot of explaining to do. I don’t care where you start, just make it brief, and tell me what has happened to you and what you know about Miss Mandeley.” He began pacing the room as Keegan delved into his tale.

With a sigh, the captain told Bryce, “To begin with, when I stayed at Paddock Green earlier this summer, I received my latest orders, coded, of course, for my next run on the
Valiant.
It was not until I had made it to port that I discovered my papers were missing. I wasn’t too alarmed, thinking I had thrown them in the fire with other documents that needed to be destroyed. Also, like a sapscull, I believed that if anyone did happen on these papers, that the code was virtually unbreakable. To my gravest shock, I learned differently.” He held up his bandaged hand.

Bryce stared in shock. “What happened?”

“After a week of sailing along the coast, we were in position near Bologne. We hoped to learn more about Napoleon’s flotilla and a possible timeframe of his invasion. Suddenly, we were bombarded with cannon fire as if they were anticipating our arrival. Although we returned their gunfire, we were easily outgunned by the French ships. We managed to escape in the dark hours before morning, but not until after we had sustained many losses, and I injured my hand.”

Bryce’s eyes darkened hearing his friend’s misfortune, and he shook his head. Unfortunately, his experience in the earlier war with France had prepared him for this type of news.

“You think someone at Paddock Green obtained your papers, broke the code, and warned the French?”

Keegan nodded slowly and moved uncomfortably in his seat. “I do.”

“Who?” his tone quiet and authoritative.

A brief pause. “Someone who calls herself Miss Patience Mandeley.” Bryce froze, his features hardened into a statue, his breath held, his heart barely beating.

He shook his head. “I don’t believe you.”

“I knew you wouldn’t. But I discovered, while on this last mission, that the French woman spy you had dealings with, the one you suspect lured your brother to his death, left France several months ago. In fact, not long after the incident last November. My sources told me that she had traveled to Storrington before arriving at the Mop Fair in Winchelsea seeking a position in a certain Englishman’s household.”

Bryce collapsed onto the settee. “I simply don’t believe it. You must have made a mistake. Your sources must have made an error. I tell you it is not the same woman.” He thrust his fingers through his hair, grief showing clearly on his face.

“Who of your acquaintances may I speak to? Something is terribly wrong. I am telling you that the French spy who killed my brother is
not
Miss Mandeley, who should be home directly. I prefer to hear from her before I make my judgment.”

Stone entered the room carrying glasses and a brandy decanter on a silver tray, which he placed on the sideboard before he was dismissed.

Bryce rose and strode across the room to pour himself and Keegan each a glass of brandy. After handing Keegan his glass, Bryce walked over to the fireplace, staring at the dying embers. When he looked up, he discovered the letter on the mantelpiece addressed to him, and quickly broke the seal. After skimming the few lines, he let the vellum drop to the floor. Gone was the renewed hope he had known ever so briefly. What further proof did he need of Patience’s clever duplicity and his own imprudence?

My Dear,

Honored as I am at your attentions, I cannot reciprocate your affections. I do not love you. After I am gone, you will know this was for the best. You understand in war, the innocent are always hurt. But you are not innocent and neither am I. What I have done and am about to do, I did for my country. I return to France, my home. Someday you will learn the truth and be surprised. I will have surprised everyone at my success. Do not follow me, for I cannot be found. Be content that in time I am sure I will pay for my sins.

Patience Grundy

His face pale, he felt the grave wound to his heart, greater than his mother’s betrayal and even more than his brother’s death. A few words had consigned him to a hell of his own making. This damnation seared the remembrance in his heart that it would always be a dark, interminable winter. He would never again know the warming light that once saved his soul in surrender or the healing cure of love. His once-treasured marriage license now burned swiftly among the greedy flames.

He threw himself into a nearby chair, trying to make sense of these latest events, knowing he had to put aside his emotions. But—something didn’t quite fit. Why had she signed herself “Patience Grundy”? She knew that he knew her real name to be Patience Mandeley.

Before he could think more on it, Keegan rose from his chair and retrieved the discarded piece of paper. He could only shake his head. It was obvious Bryce was in love with the girl and her treachery had been a terrible blow.

“What do we do now?” he asked Bryce, after silence had reigned for several minutes.

Bryce told his friend quietly and determinedly, “We find her. We find
them.
”

A gentle knock on the door broke the tension between the two friends. When Bryce granted permission, both men had to wait until Sally slowly swung open the door, and then remained standing in the doorway, looking lost and forlorn. Bryce beckoned her into the room, hoping this would not take long. His only thought was to find Patience.

She stared at the captain for a moment, before braving the storm and toddled over to Bryce, now sitting on the settee. She climbed into his lap, unaware of the swirling emotions filling the room like a blustery wind, and took Bryce’s chin in her little hand so that he would look at her.

“When is me Aunt Patience coming ’ome?” Her little voice was filled with anguish.

Bryce started, not ready to disappoint the child about yet another person in her young life deserting her. “Soon, I hope.”

Sally shook her head. “But ye sent her away. I heard ’er.”

Startled, he placed his big hands lightly on Sally’s thin arms and looked warmly on the child. “What did she tell you?” he asked, trying not to frighten the child with his anxiousness.

Sally stared solemnly into Bryce’s face. “She was crying this morning, all morning until the witch came.”

He sighed, knowing he would have to be patient to hear and fully understand what the child had to tell him. What was that part about the witch? “Did the witch make her cry?”

Sally shook her head, her little mouth in a frown, growing a little impatient with her newly christened uncle.

“No, she was cryin’ because ye gave ’er the necklace.” She paused thoughtfully. “If ye give me a present, will I ’ave to leave?”

“You will never have to leave here.” He hugged her little form tightly against his, offering the child his assurance. Patience had cried over the necklace, obviously not in joy, as he would have believed. He tried a different tact with the child. “Who is the witch?”

Sally’s blue eyes grew round as saucers. “She is the one who took Aunt Patience away. Will ye bring Aunt Patience back? Lem and Aunt Melenroy and me misses her.”

He patted her hand. “Yes, I’ll bring her back for all of you.”
And for myself,
he added silently.

Keegan cleared his throat. “We have other rather urgent things to discuss.”

Bryce ushered Sally out the door as Keegan stood to stretch his legs. Keegan said, “I think her note means that the invasion is happening quite soon. How long does it take to get to Winchelsea from here?”