Emerald Desire (Emerald Trilogy) (26 page)

"What is this oath?"

"He must swear loyalty to Spain. The general requests this of every merchant. The oath provides amnesty and freedom from reprisals. His part in the plot will be forgiven."

"Dominick will never do that."

"True, he has made it plain enough that he prefers imprisonment. Is there any reason why I should advise O'Reilly to drop the charges and be merciful?"

Dera's voice shook and she refused to look at him. "Dominick isn't well ... and we have a son who needs a father."

Surprise crossed Quint's face. "I didn't know that." He became wistful, contemplative and remembered how lonely his life had been without his own father. He looked at her. "I have the authority to release Monsieur Saucier. Consider the deed done."

Dera's eyes sparkled with gratitude and relief. She jumped up. "Thank you, Quint. I'm grateful to you."

Her beauty overwhelmed him. He longed to kiss her sweet, soft lips but remembered she belonged to someone else. He spoke coldly to her. "I may expect repayment for this favor, Dera."

The soft, pink color of excitement drained from her cheeks. "What sort of repayment?"

"When the time comes, you'll know. Your treachery won't go unpunished."

"I didn't betray you!"

"Quiet!" he ordered. "Do you wish all to know? How would you explain yourself to your beloved husband if he overheard you?"

She lowered her voice, but anger overtook her. "I wish you would stop condemning me for something I didn’t do.”

He smirked. "Your outrage is touching, but I know the truth, and all of your lies can't change my mind." He walked to the door and held it open for her. "Now, I shall arrange for your husband's release, madame."

She swallowed her anger and preceded Quint into the anteroom where Rosette waited. When Rosette saw them, she stood as Dera made the introductions.

"Colonel Flanders is releasing Dominick," Dera advised her.

Quint bowed and kissed Rosette's hand. She reddened a bit because Quint was the soldier she had seen that morning; she was uncertain how he would regard her. At close view, she found him even more handsome than she had first thought.

Quint surveyed her in one swift glance and recalled her lovely face at the window and the little boy beside her. Dera’s child. He thought she was attractive and could turn a man’s head with her lush curves. A warm smile spread across his mouth and he purposely kept his gaze on her, not because he found her overly desirable but because he wished to taunt Dera further. "Very charming," he murmured.

Rosette accepted his compliment in stride, accustomed to men's leers.

Dera grew annoyed at Quint for ogling the girl, but hated to admit she was jealous. "Please, colonel, my husband," she reminded him.

"Is my brother all right?" asked Rosette. "Has he been abused in any way?"

"Mademoiselle, I assure you that he has been treated with respect. No one has laid a finger on him. Wait and I shall bring him to you for your own inspection."

Rosettes eyes followed Quint as he walked away. She took in every aspect of his muscular build and sighed. "He is the most handsome man I've ever seen."

"Don't be taken in by him, Rosette. He's a trifler." Even to Dera, her words sounded petty and jealous; she was sorry for saying them.

Rosette lifted an eyebrow and sniffed, "You know nothing about him. I think he's very attractive and I believe he likes me."

Dera made no reply, her eyes were riveted on the doorway that Dominick would walk through momentarily. But it wasn't her husband she searched for, it was Quint. She felt ashamed.

Within minutes, Dominick was released, looking unharmed by the experience. He encircled Dera and Rosette in his arms. "I'm free to go, but I don't understand why Colonel Flanders ordered my release." He looked at Quint and his eyes hardened. "I shall never accept the Spanish, sir. Perhaps I should remain here."

"Dominick!" Rosette was horrified that her brother would say such a thing. "The colonel has been most kind."

"My friends have been condemned to death. I cannot feel anything but hatred."

"Monsieur, return home with your family. Our business is finished." Quint stood firm in his decision, determined to set Dominick free despite his patriotic prattle. A part of himself respected Dominick Saucier for the stand he had taken, but another part detested him for the way he possessively held Dera around the waist.

"Dominick, please let's go home." Dera touched his cheek and he softened.

He took his sister's hand and guided the two women from the barracks. Before stepping onto the street, Rosette looked back and smiled invitingly at Quint. He bowed, but the corners of his mouth refused to turn upwards.

Quint returned to his office and watched from the window as the Saucier carriage departed. He was tired and lonely. After leaving Ireland, there had been plenty of women to share his bed, but the army offered him a different type of life from any he had ever known. It was in Madrid, during a riot, that he had saved O’Reilly’s life by taking a bullet meant for the older man. The wound was not life threatening and Quint recovered quickly. O’Reilly, who was military man in every sense of the word, was so impressed by this courageous act that he appointed Quint to the rank of colonel and put him in charge of his affairs.

Despite the commendations and the women who threw themselves at him, Quint felt there was something missing. Until tonight he hadn't realized what was wrong, but now he did: Dera was no longer a part of his existence.

He thought he was over her, the past firmly behind him, but he had lied to himself. She was more than just a beautiful woman. She had meant the world to him, then she had destroyed that world. Clearly she was devoted to her husband, and it hurt him to think she was in love with any man, but Dominick Saucier was no Avery Fairfax and most certainly not impotent. They had a son. He hated the way she had looked with love at Saucier and not given him a backward glance on the way out.

Damn! He banged his hand upon the desk in anger. He must forget her, but he couldn't. Somehow, someway, she would pay for destroying his love.

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

A stillness hung over the Place d'Armes, broken only by the low murmurs of the crowd. People pressed into the open square in front of the church, waiting for the condemned prisoners to make their appearance. Under French rule, the square was used for military ceremonies; only recently it had been the scene for the exchange of power from French to Spanish hands. Now, it was to be used for a public execution.

Dera waited beside Dominick. Since his release the previous night he had been silent. She had wakened to find him sitting dejectedly in the garden and sat beside him. "How can I help you?" she asked.

He barely glanced at her but looked straight ahead. "No one can help; not even God, can help my friends."

"Don't lose hope. Perhaps General O'Reilly will change his mind."

"Dera, you know how stubborn the Irish can be. Have you ever known an Irishman to change his mind?"

In the moonlight her face reddened, and she turned away as her thoughts strayed to Quint. "Let me do something to help you."

"I know you mean well, but, please, let me alone."

In silence she made her way into the bedroom and slept for the rest of the night by herself. Towards dawn, he had returned, but made no effort to slip beneath the sheets beside her. Instead he had dressed and left, not able to unburden himself of the horrible ache in his soul.

Now, as Dera waited in the warm fall sun with her hand in his, she sensed that Dominick would never again be the same.

At three o'clock, a wrinkled old man, wearing rust colored robes, walked out of the barracks and was followed by the five condemned men. First, came Nicholas Chauvin de Lafreniere, the former Attorney General of Louisiana and the ring leader of the group. His eyes showed little expression, but a half grin touched his mouth. He and three of the others blinked in the glaring sunlight. Last appeared Jean Baptiste Noyan, looking younger and more vulnerable than Dera remembered. She experienced a wave of compassion for the young man who was barely older than Dominic. She remembered the pleasant evenings when he had joined them for supper and they had been entertained by his wit and intelligence. She didn't know how his family could stand by so quietly as he took his place before the firing squad.

Dominick squeezed her hand tightly. "We played together as children. I can't bear this abomination."

Dera's eyes skirted the crowd, and she saw Quint leaving the barracks with the general. O'Reilly took his position with other public officials; Quint stopped near the soldiers with loaded muskets. He nodded to the old man in the robe who moved forward and shouted in a surprisingly loud voice: "His Excellency Don Alexander O'Reilly has decreed Jean Baptiste Noyan be spared execution because of his youth!"

Stunned silence was broken by the sobs of weeping women in the Noyan family and mutterings among the crowd.

"No!" Dominick breathed fiercely as Dera regarded him in bafflement.

Jean Baptiste lifted his handsome head high and in a loud voice, he cried, "I fought with my comrades. I will die with them!" Cheers rang through the Place d' Armes at the patriotic display.

“
I knew he wouldn't give in to them," Dominick said with pride. His gaze settled on Quint who stood a few feet away from him and Dera. "Why is O'Reilly not with the firing squad?" he asked in a loud voice so Quint could hear. "The man is surely a coward to allow his lackey to do all the dirty work for him."

Quint looked behind him and saw Dera with her husband. He remained silent and refused to be baited by Dominick.

Dera watched as blindfolds were offered the condemned men. Each one refused and waited for the inevitable. A sickening sensation clawed at Dera's stomach when Quint raised his hand. Quickly he dropped it; the roar of the muskets deafened her. All five men fell to the ground with gaping wounds in their chests. "Dear God," she breathed aloud and turned away in horror, not only from the bloody sight before her, but because Quint had signaled the command for the executions.

"Swine!" Dominick muttered in a broken voice.

After the initial horror subsided, the families moved forward to claim their dead, and the rest of the crowd dispersed. "Let's go home," Dera begged Dominick.

He stared unseeing, not moving a muscle. Then a nerve twitched in his cheek. “Not yet. I must offer my assistance to the Noyans.”

“
Are you all right?”

"Go home, Dera. I shall meet you there later."

"I'll wait for you," she said, but she didn't think he had heard her. Withdrawing his hand from hers, he headed off in the direction of the Noyans who were transporting Jean Baptiste's body to a waiting carriage.

"'Tis a mighty unpleasant business to have to carry out," Quint said. Standing beside her; his hair ruffled in the hot breeze which blew from the river.

“
Did you enjoy it?" she asked.

He frowned. "If you believe that of me, then whatever I say won't change your opinion. However, I have some advice you can relay to your husband. Tell him to follow the wise course and take the oath, otherwise, his family will lose everything. O'Reilly has already confiscated the property and belongings of the five dead and some of the other rebels who were imprisoned. Also, those who had any part in the revolt, no matter how small, will be watched until he feels they are no longer a threat to the government. Your husband's name is on his list.”

"But I thought you could help Dominick."

"Aye, I did help him or you'd be carting him off to the cemetery this minute. I didn't promise freedom from other reprisals."

"I should have learned long ago not to trust you," she responded icily.

He grimaced. "You'll never understand me, Dera."

"I admit I can't comprehend you. In Ireland you refused to take the oath, yet you advise Dominick to sacrifice his principles. What a hypocrite you are!"

"And you're a foolish woman. How long do you think your precious Dominick can survive on nothing? Do you believe his friends will come to his aid when all of this is over? Nay, they must look out for their own necks. Things are different here than in Ireland. He has a wife and family. I had no one."