Exile's Return (37 page)

‘Are they asleep?' he asked in a low voice.

She looked up and started as she saw him. ‘How long have you been there?'

‘Long enough,' he said.

He crossed to the narrow cot shared by the two children and looked at them, all care and trouble now banished from their soft, round faces. Something stirred within him. They were not his children, but as he had held Henry's small, trembling body in his arms, he knew he would have killed Tobias Ashby and even Leah Turner without a second thought if it meant keeping the children safe.

Sarah Truscott came into the room, carrying a tray. She set it down on the table. ‘Some broth, mistress. You've not eaten all day.'

Agnes nodded, and picking up the bowl carried it across to the fire. She sat down on the stool as Sarah busied herself tidying up scattered clothing before excusing herself and leaving them alone together.

Daniel crouched down beside Agnes, poking the fire into life. It gave him something to do, something to keep his hands busy.

‘Kit and Jonathan?' Agnes asked.

‘Kit's asleep. Doctor gave him some sort of draught that knocked him out in minutes. Jonathan's reading a book.'

‘I keep thinking, if Turner hadn't turned on Ashby we would all be dead,' Agnes said. ‘Why did he do it?'

‘For completely base reasons. Jonathan bribed him.'

‘When?'

‘Jonathan let himself be captured and demanded an interview with Turner. He put a business proposition to Turner and the man agreed. I do think Turner could see that there was no future tied to a man like Ashby, or he would not have acquiesced quite so readily.'

‘I'm almost sorry he's dead,' Agnes said.

Daniel shrugged. ‘We're here, we're safe, we have the gold, and you have the children. Turner's death was the price we had to pay.'

She set the wooden bowl down. ‘You're right, Daniel. We're here. What now?'

Daniel straightened and leaned his hands on the mantle.

Aboard the
Archangel
his plans had been quite simple. Return to England, find his brother, seek out Tobias Ashby, kill him, return to Eveleigh, and pick up the threads of his life. The reality had proved more complex. Yes, he had found Kit, but the price Kit had paid for his freedom was more than he could ever repay. Yes, he had found Tobias Ashby, but killing the man in cold blood would have reduced him to Ashby's level.

He shook his head. ‘I don't know, Agnes.'

He turned to look at her. The firelight bathed her in gold and shadows. She had not slept in over twenty-four hours and her eyes seemed lost in dark circles of absolute exhaustion. A meeting of mutual convenience had become so much more. He couldn't imagine his life without her, but the children had always come first with Agnes, and, rightly, always would.

He wondered if there was still a small part of Agnes that had room for someone else.

‘What are you thinking?' she asked.

‘I am thinking that is a foolish question that women always ask. A man's thoughts are very simple.'

Her mouth quirked into a smile. ‘Food, and … ' she lowered her eyes, ‘How to get the next woman they meet into bed?'

He shook his head. ‘No, that's not what I was thinking. There is only one woman I want to share my bed with.'

She looked up sharply. ‘What do you mean?'

He had fought a battle, survived imprisonment, torture, and death, and sailed the seas as a French privateer. And yet a fear such as he had never experienced before clutched his heart. He did not want to lose this woman. He just had to find the courage to say a few simple words.

He cleared his throat. ‘That night at Seven Ways when you came to me … was it because you just felt sorry for me?'

Agnes shook her head. ‘No. I said that because … ' she bit her lip, ‘maybe I wanted to push you away. You had found Kit and I thought you wouldn't need me anymore. It was easier to hurt than be hurt.' She took a breath. ‘I love you, Daniel. I probably have from the moment you rescued me on that street in London, however base your motives were.'

Daniel sucked in his breath and looked away. ‘I have to admit, my motives were less than pure, and there has been precious little time for love or tenderness or even affection in my life in the last years. I don't deserve your love.'

She rose to her feet to face him. ‘I do understand … I come with two children and a tarnished reputation, and … '

She didn't finish. He seized her and wrapped her in his arms, silencing her with a kiss. She responded in kind, joined in a desperate passion that took his breath away. As they broke apart they leaned into each other, forehead to forehead, nose to nose, her very breath his breath. He found her hands, twining his fingers with hers.

‘Marry me, Agnes,' he said.

Her fingers tightened on his. ‘Daniel … I … ”

‘I understand that the children are a part of you and, God willing, there will be more children.' A thought welled inside him and he allowed it to spill over in a deep-throated laugh of pure joy. ‘I want to grow old with you by my side, surrounded by our children and our children's children, Agnes. We can rebuild Eveleigh … ' He stopped and straightened. ‘You haven't given me an answer.'

‘You haven't told me why you want to marry me, Daniel.'

He had to think about that one for a long moment. When it dawned on him, he smiled and gathered her hands in his own, pressing them to his heart. ‘I love you, Agnes Fletcher.'

‘And I very much want to marry you, Daniel Lovell.'

He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

‘As soon as this matter is settled,' he said. ‘For now, you are dead on your feet, Agnes.'

He swept her up in his arms and carried her over to the bed, laying her between the covers.

‘Will you stay?' she murmured.

He shook his head as he bent to kiss her. ‘Not tonight. Like you, I need my own bed and a good night's rest.'

***

Agnes woke to a large, slobbery kiss from Henry. She rolled him over and tickled him until he begged for mercy, with Lizzie joining in until they were one giggly knot. Sarah Truscott entered the bedchamber bearing a tray with fresh bread, jam, and frumenty for the children's breakfast. She set the tray down on the table and extricated the children from the tangle of bed linen.

‘Sir Jonathan asks that you join them,' she said as Agnes tumbled from the bed. ‘I'll help you dress.'

‘You're cheerful this morning,' Sarah went on to remark, as Agnes hummed to herself while she drew a comb through her tangled hair.

Agnes laid the comb down and looked at her reflection in the mildewed mirror provided by the inn. ‘I have good reason to be,' she said.

Coiling Agnes's wayward hair into a knot, Sarah smiled. ‘Many good reasons,' she said, adding with a cheeky grin, ‘but mostly to do with an ‘andsome man with a scar on his face?'

‘Maybe,' Agnes replied.

She all but bounced into the private parlour with a cheery ‘Good morning.'

The three men seated around the table looked up, but Agnes had eyes for only one man. Daniel's smile warmed her as he held out his hand. She placed her hand in his and he raised it to his lips, never once looking away. His grey eyes, soft and smoky and no longer the icy grey of a winter stream, drew her in, and she leaned toward him, kissing him as if they were the only two people in the room.

Jonathan coughed. ‘I see. That is how the land lies, does it?'

‘About time,' Kit commented. ‘We've been watching you two pretending indifference for weeks now. It was getting very tiresome.'

Daniel laughed, drawing Agnes down onto his knee. ‘In that case you will be relieved to know Mistress Fletcher has consented to be my wife,' he said. ‘We'll be married as soon as it can be arranged.'

After the acclamations of good will died down, Daniel turned to Jonathan. ‘How does one get married these days?'

‘There is a registrar in the parish,' Jonathan said. ‘If you wish to be married at Seven Ways, I know the man. A wedding,' he nodded approval. ‘A good excuse for some merriment, if any of us can remember how.'

Daniel glanced at Agnes. ‘Seven Ways will suit us. We have nowhere else. My own home is a ruin and I – we – couldn't impose on Kit.'

Agnes glanced at Kit. Although he carried his right arm in an untidy sling, the night's sleep appeared to have restored him and he had some colour back in his face.

Kit's left eyebrow quirked. ‘Why ever not? We have a palace of a house that is only half used. But it is in Hampshire, and if you are anxious to settle the matter, and the Thorntons are willing to put up with you, then Seven Ways it will be.'

Jonathan straightened, and Agnes rose from Daniel's knee and took the fourth chair.

‘There is still business to be concluded,' Jonathan's long fingers tapped the table. ‘What are we to do with the gold now we have it?'

Daniel shook his head. ‘My orders were vague. I was to send word to a man called Mordaunt in London and await further instructions.'

‘Mordaunt?' Jonathan frowned. ‘Do I know him?'

Kit shrugged. ‘I had some dealings with him back in the uprising of '48. He is a conspirator of the first order. I'm not surprised he is in on this.'

Jonathan's mouth tightened. ‘Typical. I'll send the message this morning and in the meantime I suggest we return to Seven Ways. We probably have more priest holes than Charvaley and the gold can be secured there until we hear from this Mordaunt. By the time the message has been sent and instructions received there should be ample time to organize a wedding.'

Kit stretched his good arm above his head. ‘An excellent plan, Colonel. I have a yen for your soft beds and good food. I am too old for this rackety life.'

Seven Ways, Worcestershire
4 December 1659

At the Black Cross in Bromsgrove Jonathan arranged for a message to go on to Seven Ways ahead of them, so Daniel should not have been surprised at the crowd that gathered in the forecourt for the arrival of the black Elmhurst coach, with Jonathan and himself following on horseback.

As they turned the corner and the house came in view, he drew rein to consider the size of the waiting crowd. He could identify the Thornton clan, but there seemed to be another three women waiting with them.

‘Who are all these people?' he asked Jonathan.

Kit peered out of the window of the coach.

He groaned. ‘It's Thamsine,' he said, ‘and she's brought the whole household with her.'

Daniel could see them now – his mother, his sister – and a band tightened around his chest. He had been recognized. Frances, a young woman now, not the girl he had left behind, broke ranks and ran toward him. He all but threw himself out of the saddle and into the arms of his sister, burying his face in her hair to stop the tears.

‘Daniel Lovell, do you have any idea of what I have been through?'

Daniel looked up.

An older woman, her hair grey now, crossed the gravelled forecourt toward him. The years had not been kind to Margaret Lovell, but as soon as she spoke, Daniel could see that they had not mellowed her and her tongue was as sharp as ever.

Daniel broke from his sister's embrace and covered the distance between them, sweeping her up into his arms. ‘Mother, I am so sorry.'

‘Put me down, you foolish boy,' Margaret protested without anger. He set her on her feet and she looked up at him, her finger tracing the scar across his cheekbone. ‘I had given up hope … ' she began and burst into tears. Frances flung her arms around both of them, also crying.

‘When you have quite finished,' Kit's voice broke through the circle. ‘I have someone else for you to meet.'

Daniel straightened, hoping that the tears that had been wrung from him did not show.

A tall, elegant woman, with her chestnut hair dressed in fashionable ringlets, stood beside Kit, surveying him with her head tilted to one side.

‘Daniel, my beloved wife, Thamsine.'

Daniel swept into a low bow, a gesture that lost its impact as Thamsine stepped forward and gathered him into a close embrace.

‘You have no idea of how long I have waited to do that,' she said at last, stepping back with tears in her eyes.

Kit turned to his wife.

‘Thamsine, my darling, are you going to explain what you are all doing here … ' Kit began. ‘Don't tell me you brought the children as well?'

‘No. They are at home.' His wife's lips tightened. ‘I get a few lines scrawled in a message to say you have found Daniel and the two of you are going on a secret mission?' She tapped his injured arm, causing him to wince. ‘And look, you managed to get yourself hurt again! Don't expect me to pat your fevered brow.'

Kit threw his head back and laughed. ‘That is the last thing I expect of you, Tham.'

In the uproar of reunion, Daniel had lost someone, and he looked around searching for Agnes among the crowd of Lovells and Thorntons.

She stood in the shadow of the coach, holding the two children by the hand, a small, lonely island in the midst of the joyful reunions. He ran across to her, sweeping Henry into his arms and taking Agnes by the hand, all but dragging her across to where his family waited.

‘Please allow me to present Mistress Agnes Fletcher,' he said.

Agnes sank into a curtsey.

His mother's eyes flicked from Agnes to the children. ‘And whose children are these?'

A spot of colour appeared on Agnes's cheeks. ‘My sister's children, Lady Elizabeth Ashby and Henry, the Earl of Elmhurst.'

‘Earl or not,' Kate hurried across, ‘these look like two children who have had enough of being confined to a coach. Come inside, all of you. There are refreshments in the parlour.'

‘Wait!' Daniel said and gathered Agnes in to him. ‘Before we go any further, I want you all to know that Agnes and I will be wed as soon as it can be arranged.'