Countess of Scandal (36 page)

"Agus has in Eirinn."
He took a deep swallow of the fiery, fortifying liquid. "Not very good, is it?"

"Ungrateful wretch," Eliza said, lightly kicking him on the leg. "One of the Killinan tenants makes it in his own still It's healthy for you."

Will sighed, knocking back the last of the "healthy" brew. "Why are so many things that are good for us so bloody unpleasant?"

"Are you going to tell me what happened, then?"

"The Castle is in an uproar. Camden is being replaced as Lord Lieutenant by Lord Cornwallis, who will be arriving any day now."

"Indeed?" Eliza said, surprised. "Well. Who would have thought one could change horsemen in the midst of Apocalypse?"

"They think Camden has been too soft, that a firm
hand
is needed to bring the heathen Irish to heel once and for all."

"They think the United army is defeated, then?"

"Not entirely. No one is a more fiery, or more stubborn, warrior than an Irishman—or woman. But General Lake is hacking his way brutally through Wexford, and McCracken was captured in Antrim. It's only a matter of time. Then they will set to pacifying the country any way they can."

Eliza stared down into her glass. "And you, Will? Where will they send you now?"

"Nowhere at all. I have resigned my commission."

"What?" She sat straight up in shock. Whatever she expected, whatever she braced herself to face—separation, arguments, parting forever, Deirdre's sorrows—it was not that. He held his duty much too highly. "You left the Army?"

"I had a very good reason." He carefully set his empty glass on the table, giving her a terribly gentle smile.

Eliza did not trust that smile. It was the way one person looked at another just before they delivered terrible news. She folded her hands tightly together, bracing herself. Had Billy been intercepted as he left, smuggled out in a France-bound boat?

But, no. Will could not know of that She took a deep breath, waiting.

"When I arrived at the Castle, I was taken to that office where I found you at the birthday ball."

"Indeed?" she said carefully. "That was most careless of them."

"But most fortunate for me. I was there for only a few moments, but I did learn from your example."

"You looked at the papers there?" she said. She could scarcely believe it! Will, snooping? She almost laughed aloud.

"Of course. And I found one I did not like at all." He reached for her cold hand, cradling it between his.

Eliza swallowed hard. "What sort of paper?"

"A list of people to be watched, questioned. Arrested."

"And I was on it, yes?" Or... no. It could not be Anna. No one could know what happened there in the heat of battle.

Will just nodded.

"I should not be surprised," she murmured. "I've long known I was suspected, of course, but, damn it all!"

How could she help anyone now, go on with her work, if she was watched and followed at every moment? Everyone she talked to would be suspected along with her, even her family.

Even Will.

"Eliza," he said firmly, his hands tightening on hers, not letting her go. "Eliza, listen to me now. I have a plan."

"A plan?" Plans so often came to naught; she knew that now.

"Yes. You must know now it is not safe for you to stay here. I say we leave "

"Leave?" she cried. She had not expected him to say that. To leave Ireland? How could she? But then again, how could she stay when she could no longer do anyone any good? "But... where would I go?"

Will laughed. "Not just you, my dear. We. We should leave for the time being, as soon as possible."

"You will go with me?" She stared up at him, a tiny, fearful hope just barely touching her heart. Will loved her enough
to leave Ireland again, to stay with her? Even with everything he knew about her? Everything that had happened?

"I hardly think you could be trusted abroad alone. You would get involved in a revolution in Turkey or something like that"

"Very well, then. If not Turkey, where?"

He sat back, watching her carefully as if to gauge her reaction to his words, to forestall protests. "I have thought about it, and I say it should be Hamburg. It is a free port; there will be no passport troubles there. I heard Pamela Fitzgerald went there after her husband's arrest There will be friends to welcome you. And from there, we can go wherever you like."

Her head spun wildly. After the endless day of waiting, now all this at once. Danger, imminent arrest, questioning. The possibility of giving away her United friends. Will declaring they had to run away together. "It seems you have considered everything."

"It does not have to be Hamburg, if that doesn't appeal. We can go anywhere you like. Vienna, Venice, Bonaparte's armies be damned! Or America." He crooked his finger gentry under her chin, raising her gaze to his as he smiled at her coaxingly. "I am quite sure we could find some Indian tribes to live with there. You could teach them of Voltaire and Paine, and I could fish for our supper."

She laughed despite herself, catching his hand in hers. "I'm sure Hamburg is quite far enough; I do not need to go to the American frontier. Not yet But my family—how can I leave them?" But even as she spoke, she knew she had to. Her presence put them in danger. If she was gone, the Angel of Killinan could hold them off. They would never find out about Anna and the soldier she killed.

"It won't be forever, my love. Only until things calm down here at home."

"Will they ever be calm?"

"Not for a Blacknall, perhaps. You all do seem to have a knack for finding trouble. But I am sure your mother would urge us to go as well It's not safe here. Once they finish with the United military leaders..."

"They will look to others ruthlessly" Eliza whispered. "Yes, I am sure that is so."

She rose from the settee on unsteady legs, going to stare out the window. The whole city was blanketed again in night, in silence that seemed to wait and watch and fear. This was her home, everything she knew. Her work was here, or had been. It seemed she could help no one now.

Will came up behind her, his reflection wavy in the glass. He gently touched her shoulder, drawing her back against him. Eliza sighed and leaned into him, feeling his kiss on her hair.

"We
will
come back to Ireland," he said. "And while we are gone, perhaps you could write."

"Write what?" she said with a laugh. "One of Anna's romances?"

He chuckled. "I think you would be an excellent author of horrid novels. But perhaps you would prefer a memoir of 1798, a treatise on all that has happened and the ideals of freedom. You can tell the world what happened here, what it was all for."

Tell the world what happened.
Yes, that was one way her work could go on. And there would be others, if she could stay alive to find them. "I could write about freedom, the rights of all people. One day."

"When you are ready, I will be here to help you. If
you
will do something for
me."

Eliza smiled. "Of course. There is always a price."

His hand slid in front of her eyes, holding up an emerald ring. "Before we leave, you must marry me. Tonight Will you, Eliza? I know it will be difficult to give up the title of countess to be mere Mrs. Denton...."

Eliza stared at the ring, at the way it gleamed, as fresh and green as an Irish summer against the endless night For the first time in that dark day, she saw a glint of hope. "I might be persuaded to the demotion, if the offer was tempting enough."

"I offer you my heart—but you have had that for years. I offer you love and devotion for as long as I live. I will never leave you again, Elizabeth Blacknall.
You
are my family now, my duty, my life. If you will have me."

If she would have him? She had dreamed of such a thing, of having Will for her husband, since she was fifteen. Even when they were apart, when she thought never to see him again, she had never forgotten. Their coming together now was not entirely as she imagined. It was flawed by the past, by war, by the end of ideals.

But it was wondrously sweet nonetheless. Perhaps even sweeter for all the obstacles they had faced, all they overcame to be together. And she would grab on to their love, their life together, with all her might. She would never leave him again.

"I will marry you, then," she said, holding out her hand to let him slip the ring over her finger. A bit of green she would carry with her as a reminder of home, until they could come back again.

Will laughed, lifting her in his arms as he twirled her
around and around. "At last! I have been waiting for this for years and years. You will not escape me now, Eliza."

"Will, your shoulder!" Eliza cried dizzily, holding on to him tightly as the room blurred. She wasn't sure if she laughed or cried, or both all at once.

"I feel no pain at all," he said, but he did lower her to her feet, the two of them swaying with the giddiness. The one transcendently happy moment born of all the chaos. The one thing that stayed strong and lasted—love. "I will be much happier when we are safely away."

"But do you really know what you are getting into?" she warned. "Even if we are on the Continent, you will still be part of my family. They won't ever let you forget that."

"And I always wanted sisters. We'll be as one family, Eliza, as we should have been a long time ago...."

As if to prove his words, the drawing room door flew open to reveal Catherine, Anna, and Caroline, poised there in anticipation.

"Well, William?" Katherine said sternly. "What have you to say for yourself?"

"Lady Killinan," Will said, turning to her with a formal bow. "May I have the honor to ask your permission to marry your daughter?"

"It seems my daughters have never needed permission for anything at all." Katherine came to him and kissed his cheek, smiling up at him. "But I give my blessing, most heartily. It takes a special man, indeed, to deserve one of my daughters, and I think you may prove worthy after all."

"Let me see your ring!" Anna cried, the first sign of emotion she had shown since the battle. She rushed for
ward, grabbing up Eliza's hand to examine the emerald 'It is lovely, indeed. Just like you, Eliza."

"I am glad you approve," Eliza said, laughing.

"How can I not? He is a fine man. I only hope I may find such a man someday."

"I thought you were set on marrying a prince, Anna," said Eliza.

"Princes are rare. But even rarer, I fear, is true love," Anna said sadly.

"Not so rare as all that," said Will, sliding his arm around Eliza's waist and pulling her close for a soft kiss. "Sometimes love is right before you all the time."

Author's Note

I've wanted to write a book with an Irish setting for a very long time! My own family is of Irish descent, and I grew up with tales of "the green shamrock shore" (as well as stories of all the magical creatures, like faeries, gods, and gnomes, who live there). But I always knew it would have to be just the right story, with the right characters. It took a while for me to "01661" the three Blacknall sisters and their heroes, but as soon as I did, I fell in love with them and had to discover what would happen to them.

I also found just the right setting for them, the tumultuous year of 1798 and its aftermath (which goes on to this day in Ireland). I read Stella Tillyard's great book
Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox, 1740-1832
(and watched the lush Masterpiece Theater adaptation) and was hooked on the story of these beautiful, intelligent, headstrong sisters, two of whom married Anglo-Irish noblemen and spent their adult lives in Ireland. One of them, Emily, Duchess of Leinster, was the mother of twenty-two children, among them Edward

Fitzgerald, whose story led me to look deeper into the 1798 rebellion.

I loved doing the research for this time period. Be sure and visit my website,
http://www.laurelmckee.net