Brazen Temptress (28 page)

"Until?"

"Until about two years after we'd all made captain. We'd been in a squabble with the Dutch, and it turned out bad. The way Peter told the story, it made it look like your father had committed treason. At first I didn't believe him, but then he brought me evidence — other men who'd seen what Peter claimed — like a fool I went along with him. I didn't realize until then that Peter hated your father."

"But why? Why would the Lord Admiral hate my father so?"

"Because Ethan had a title, and Peter didn't."

"I never knew about the title until recently," Maureen told him. "Why should the Lord Admiral care if my father had a title?"

"Your father was a baron in his own right, and Peter had nothing. It gave him a leg up on promotions and connections, or that's what Peter believed. Didn't matter to him that Ethan was a good captain, a fine leader, just that he was being earmarked for a promotion Peter wanted." The Captain closed his eyes for a moment, as if recollecting all those events. "And then there was your mother."

"My mother?" Maureen looked up in surprise. "What did she have to do with all this?"

"Ethan and Peter had been vying for her affections for over a year. By gad, we were all in love with Ellen. She was pretty as a picture. But any fool could see she loved your father to distraction. Peter had himself convinced it was the title she wanted, not the man, and that if he had a title or superior rank, she would forget Ethan."

Maureen bristled at this notion. "She didn't. They were married."

"Aye. They weren't just married, they eloped. Peter was beyond furious. He thought your father had disgraced her by carting her off to Scotland. It didn't help that her family agreed with Peter. They were a bunch of high sticklers; hadn't paid much heed to any of us courting Ellen, because they thought she would never take anything less than an earl as a husband. Her sister had eloped six months earlier — bad business, it was — and they just assumed your mother wouldn't be so foolish."

"In the meantime, Peter Cottwell set out to have his revenge."

"Yes, revenge." William paused, glancing down at the pistol in his hand. Hastily, he set it aside. "He falsified evidence, though I didn't know it at the time. From the looks of it, your father had let Peter and another captain go into a skirmish unaided. Treason, it was, and a hanging offense. He convinced Porter and me to join him in testifying against Ethan. To bring honor back to the Admiralty, he told us." He laughed bitterly. "Like a fool I went along with his plans." Captain Johnston turned his head, but Maureen could see the single tear glistening in his eye.

"Then what happened?" she prompted.

"There was a court-martial. I'll never forget your father's eyes on me as I testified. The accusations behind them nearly tore me apart." He looked over at her. "You've got his eyes, lass. Shook me right back nearly thirty years when I saw you that day in Porter's court." He looked away and then continued. "After I was done testifying and saw the disappointment in your father's eyes, I knew that Peter had been wrong all along. Oh, it wasn't anything definite, but Ethan's expression just told me — I was on the wrong side."

"But it was too late."

He nodded. "At least for your father's career. They sentenced him to life on a prison hulk. Again Peter was furious. He wanted your father dead."

"So he could marry my mother," Maureen whispered.

"Aye, that and other reasons. But I couldn't be part of it anymore. Your mother came to me and begged for my help. She was a bold lass, like you, full of spirit and fire. Afraid of nothing. She never believed Peter's lies. She stood steadfast by your father, no matter how damning the evidence."

Maureen glanced away. A lesson she might have taken to heart if only she'd known.

What had Julien said to her that fateful day on the
Destiny
as it appeared he was moving to join the British lines?

There's still a chance ... but I need your help.

Please don't jump. Let me explain.

What if she had been more like her mother and trusted with her heart? What if she hadn't jumped and instead let Julien explain?

The Captain cleared his throat, bringing Maureen back to the present. "Aye, Ellen could be quite convincing when she put her mind to it."

"What did my mother want you to do?"

"She had a plan to get your father off that hulk and out of the country. It would mean that they would never be able to set foot on English soil again, but she didn't care. All she wanted was your father's freedom, so they could be together. And so I agreed to help. 'Twas the least I could do."

Maureen looked at the Captain with a new measure of respect. "And you succeeded."

"Yes. It was a bold plan, one your mother carefully plotted. Right down to the last detail. She knew Peter Cottwell would never rest until he had what he wanted most — your father's death. So she went as far as to bring along a body." William shuddered. "I never asked her where she got it. It was unthinkable — a lady like her, carting a body around, the dirt still clinging to it as if she'd dug it herself. She'd even found a poor bugger that was about your father's height and coloring."

The Captain shuddered. "After we got Ethan out, the guards began firing down on us as we made our way to shore. In the darkness and confusion, we set the poor stiff afloat."

"Wouldn't someone realize it wasn't my father?"

William cringed. "Have you ever seen a body after it's been in the water for a few days?"

She nodded. After the slaughter of the Alliance, the bodies had floated ashore for days.

"Well, then you know there isn't much left to identify. That poor fellow could have been the Prince of Wales for all the authorities could tell. Your mother had even gone so far as to shoot a few bullets into it to make it look like the fellow had died in the escape."

"And when they found the body, they assumed it was my father."

"Aye. He was declared dead. After that he and your mother slipped away, free to start their new life."

For a moment they both sat in silence, each considering this extraordinary tale.

Maureen gave the man's hand a gentle squeeze. "Thank you, Captain Johnston. Thank you for telling me the truth." She rose from the steps. "Now I know what I am up against."

"He'll stop you, lass. He'll not rest until he does."

"I know. But I have to face him. He's taken my son, and I can't leave without my child."

"Your son?"
William shook his head. "The lad's in grave danger then."

"I know. But I have de Ryes on my side. And I'm off to join him. We'll get our son back and see to it that Peter Cottwell never harms another Hawthorne for as long as he lives."

"But, lass, there's more. You need to know —"

She expected his protests and that he would try to stop her. Before he could utter another word, she snatched up his pistol and clouted him over the head. As he slumped forward she caught him and laid him gently down on the steps.

"Are you coming, Maureen?" Charles called from the street.

"Yes." Maureen looked down at the prone figure at her feet and hoped she could repair her life in better fashion than Captain Johnston had tried to do with his.

For the past, she now knew, was a traitorous mistress. One best forgiven and left behind.

Lady Mary had watched the Lord Admiral follow Maureen and Lord Hawksbury out of the ballroom and could only pray they would escape. And when they did, she knew full well, Peter Cottwell would be back to question her as to Maureen's whereabouts.

Instead of remaining at the Traherns', where he could easily find her, Lady Mary slipped out through the crush and waved down a hackney to take her home. William would protect her, or at least he'd know a place where they could hide until the Lord Admiral's wrath subsided.

As she entered the house, to her horror she found her husband slumped at the base of the stairs.

Could it be that the Lord Admiral had beaten her home?

"William, oh, William, what has that monster done to you?"

She cradled his head in her lap and began to cry over and over, "Oh, what has he done to you?"

After what seemed like forever, William stirred. He sat up slowly, blinking his eyes and rubbing his head.

"It wasn't Cottwell who hit me, Mary," he said sharply, "but that damnable niece of ours."

Lady Mary sat back and stared at her husband. "Our niece?"

"Yes, you heard me say it. Our niece."

She stared at her husband. "Maureen did this to you?"

"Aye, Maureen."

"Why would she hit you if you finally told her the truth? I can't see how knowing that Ellen was my sister would be cause for violence. I thought she would be happy to find out she is our niece."

Much to Mary's distress, he shook his head. "No, the lass still doesn't know. She didn't give me time. Not that I should have told her anyway; it will just put her in greater danger."

"How can knowing that we are her family put her in danger?"

"Because then she could unravel the rest of this sorry business."

Lady Mary hardly saw the sense of that. She rose to her feet and glared at her husband. "Well, where is she? I will tell her myself!"

"If I knew that, Mary girl, I wouldn't be lying here on the floor with a lump on my head the size of a goose egg." He tenderly touched the swollen flesh. "She packs a wallop, that one. She's got Ellen's spirit, all right, as well as her father's foolishness. Thinks she can stop Peter Cottwell." He shook his head sadly.

"Oh, no, William. You have to stop her. You have to tell her the truth. Then she'll see the sense of it."

William snorted. "If I tell her the truth, it will only drive her harder."

What a vexing muddle, Lady Mary thought. Why, none of what William told her made any sense. Maureen had left the ball to elope with Lord Hawksbury, not to go after the Lord Admiral.

"I thought the Earl would protect her," Lady Mary said aloud.

"What earl?" he asked.

"The Earl of Hawksbury."

"That young cub?"

"He's not so young," Lady Mary told him. "He's quite eligible. I think he will make a splendid husband for our niece."

"A husband?" William shook his head. "Mary girl, I would remind you that Maureen is already married. The girl has enough problems without adding another husband to the mix."

Lady Mary had quite forgotten that. Oh, how terrible for her to be still married to that wretched pirate when Lord Hawksbury seemed so interested in her welfare.

William rubbed his head again. "I don't know anything about this Lord Hawksbury you think she's run off with, for she claimed to be joining up with de Ryes."

"De Ryes? Why, he's a villain. See what we've driven her to with all our secrets." Lady Mary sat back down, tears rolling down her cheeks. Oh, this was a sorry, sorry mess. "But William, why would Maureen tell me she is eloping with Lord Hawksbury and tell you something entirely different?"

"Aye, it seems odd," William said, rubbing his head again. "Perhaps there is some connection between this Earl of Hawksbury and de Ryes. Has she shown any preference to any other man? Were any of them suspicious or capable of being de Ryes?"

Lady Mary considered all the swains who had flocked to Maureen's side, but only one stood out.

"Mr. D'Artiers," she whispered. Could it be?

"D'Artiers, eh? Is he connected to Lord Hawksbury?"

"Yes," Lady Mary said. "The Earl is his nephew."

William let out a low whistle. "Isn't that D'Artiers fellow supposed to be rich as Midas? And rather mysterious?"

She nodded, afraid of the truth that now seemed to stare them both in the face.

"Mary, I think we've found de Ryes."

"How can this be? She said she was eloping with the Earl. That they were going to Vauxhall Gardens to take his yacht to Scotland."

"If that isn't the finest tale I've ever heard. She may be going to Vauxhall Gardens for a yacht, but I doubt she is on her way to Scotland." He rose to his feet and looked around the base of the stairs.

"What are you doing?" she asked when he let out a frustrated sigh.

"Your niece is a thief."

"William! Ellen's daughter is no such thing."

His bushy eyebrows cocked with a wry humor that was hardly appropriate at a time like this. "Madame, she took my best pistol. Now I'll have to make do with those fancy dueling pieces your brother gave me." He strode down the hall toward his office.

Lady Mary followed him and caught his sleeve. "What are you planning on doing?"

"What I should have done years ago."

"Charles, you cannot come with me," Maureen told her honor-bound nephew as they pulled up alongside the fence at Vauxhall.

"I cannot let you enter that place unescorted. It would be unseemly and ungentlemanly of me."

Maureen gazed upward and wondered why she had to find the one relative of Julien's who had more honor than sense. "I have been alone in far worse places than this, let me assure you."

Charles looked unimpressed. His team pranced uneasily in their traces, and he steadied them with a firm hand.

"I think you should listen to his lordship, Miss Maureen," Mrs. Landon piped in. "I've 'eard terrible things about them gardens. A wicked place they can be."

"You see," he told her. "Even Mrs. Landon agrees with me." Charles started to get down out of the phaeton.

"Yes, certainly, Charles. By all means, come with me," Maureen said. "But then you would be leaving poor Mrs. Landon here unprotected."

Charles paused and then settled back into his seat.

He looked as if every noble intention he possessed was about to tear him in half.

Perhaps his honor would work to her advantage, she thought.

Maureen grinned at her poor nephew and hopped down from the carriage.

"And where do you think you are going?" he asked. "You are just as unescorted and unprotected as Mrs. Landon would be."

"Yes, but I doubt Mrs. Landon can do this," Maureen told him. She knelt quickly, snatched out the dagger concealed in her boot, and threw it at a nearby tree, striking it in the middle of a large knot.