Lords of Honor (76 page)

Lyon whooped loudly and
a
ctually grinned
at him
.

Harry looked at
Lyon
questioningly,
as if he
had suddenly gone insane
.

Trevan Chynoweth held
up
his hand when he and his men came around the bend
.
They stopped in Devon after leaving Cornwall to add Harry’s
and
Lyon’s
families
, along with his brother
, Tristan
,
and his
men who
were
at Eveleigh Park
to their party. They were
three hours
later than they planned to be
.
He saw th
e hill filled with Brown Coats
.
T
he sounds of gunfire
coming from the rise
above the road
were
almost deafening
.

Trevan
noted
t
wo carriages
with horses still attached s
itting
unattended further up the road
.
He immediately
recognized the crests upon the conveyances
.
“Those are Wincanton’s carriages
!
The hill is crawling with damned Brown Coats, which means Micah, Harry and the others must be at the top of the hill
.
They must have come at them from both sides.
Let’s go
!
Not one of the
Brown Coats
ha
ve
notice
d
us
thus far
down here on the road.
T
he element of surprise
is
in our favor
!
Tristan
!
Julyan
!
K
eep five men and stay with the ladies
.
Pull the carriage off the road and into the t
rees if you can
.
The rest of you,
come with me
.
It’s
time to
hunt Brown Coat
s
!”
Trevan led his men up the rise.

“
Thank God for the Cornish
!
Trevan an
d his family
have arrived
!” Lyon grinned and pointed out the window.

Harry
gave a
sigh
of genuine relief
.
He g
rinned back at Lyon
as he recognized the new group of
approaching
riders as allies
.
“Fire like hell on the Brown Coats men so
our
Cornish
friends
can get up the hill!”
Harry roared.

“
Perhaps it will be over soon, ladies,
” Micah
spoke in a calm voice
.
T
he gunfire above intensified
a quarter of an hour
before
and hadn
’
t stopped
.
He wondered
if
Harry and the others
were winning or losing the battle.

Rowena, Sophia
, Grace
and his beautiful Libby sat upon their chairs,
still tightly clasping
one another’s hands
.
The ladies
had
remained
silent for a good twenty minutes
.

Micah felt
a
change in
the
energy at that moment
.
It began as s
omething not unlike a breath of fresh air
.
Energy
moved,
skittered and crackled across his shoulders
.
Unlike a warning, this energy was intense but loving
.
He felt
a
strong, serene
pre
sence behind him
.
One could not
mistak
e
the feel of an angelic being
.
He smiled
.
“I
believe
we must be winning, Ladies
.
The gunfire
is slowing
above us
.
I think I hear cheering
from somewhere
above
us
.
”

A few minutes later
the door to the cellar opened
.
Micah jumped to attention and raised his
rifle
.
He aimed
toward
the stairs
.

“Don’t shoot, Wincanton!” It was Lyon
.
He held up both hands and
grinn
ed
as he came
quickly
down the stairs
, despite his pronounced limp
.
“We are fortunate
the Cornish contingent
came upon your carriages in the road
!
They stopped in Devon
first
to join with Tristan and
collect
mine and Harry’s families.
They arrived just in time and it is over
.”
Lyon opened his arms as Sophia rushed to him
.
He hugged her tightly to him
, twirled her around
and
placed a loud
kiss
to
her temple.

Sophia laughed and
beamed
a
s
her husband
kissed her
.

“
The Cornish have p
erfect timing
, as usual
.”
As do angels
!
Micah let go a sigh of relief.

“There
are
a few things we need to take care of befo
re the ladies come above stairs,
”
Lyon said pointedly.

Micah nodded
his understanding
.
There must be casualties to remove
.

“Did we lose anyone
?
Any hurt?” Micah asked.

“No.” Lyon shook his head
.
“I don’t think Trevan lost any either
.
We
are
very
fortunate
.”

“Thank heavens!
”
Rowena said
.
She exhaled loudly
.
S
he became teary again
.
“Heavens, I never cry so
!
What is the matter with me?”

“It is the
babe
, Rowena
.”
Gr
ace assured her
with a smile
.
“We
become more emotional
when we’re carrying a child
.
” Grace rubbed her arm.
“
Don’t worry about it, dear.”

Micah stood above stairs just on the other side of the cellar door
.
The ladies were taking care of necessities before coming up
stairs
.
He was to make certain they were not disturbed
.

“George!” Micah extended his hand to Harry’s younger brother as he walked past
.

“Micah!
Good to see you.
”
A
younger
and lighter-haired
version of Harry
stopped to shake Micah’s hand
.

“Where is my wife?” Harry asked Micah as he joined them
.
“She and the other ladies will be up momentarily, Harry.”

“She is well
?
She’s not ill again is she?”

“She’s fe
e
ling well, Harry
.
”

“George
!
We just found out this very day,
Rowena
is
expecting
our
child
.
You will be an uncle
!”
Harry beamed
.
He clapped his brother’s shoulder
.

“That’s wonderful news, Harry
!
Mother will be beside herself
.
She’s talked of nothing else but an heir since she arrived at Eveleigh Park.”

“I suppose mother’
s here somewhere?” Harry looked about
.

“
Yes, she’s d
own at the bottom of the hill in the carriage with the other ladies and Viscount Weatherham
.
A very nice young man he is, Weatherham.”

Harry groaned inwardly
.
He
scowled
.
Yet he f
orgot about
Tristan Chynoweth,
Viscount Weatherham
,
entirely when he saw his Angel coming toward him
.
His angel
who now carried
his babe
inside her
!

“Harry!” Rowena rushed through the door
Micah held open
and into her husband’s arms
.

Harry hugged her to him
.
“Rowena, this is my brother, George.”

“
It’s a pleasure
to
finally
meet you, my Lady
.
Mother and Caroline have been singing your praises since they arrived in Devon.
”

“You two resemble one another a great deal…”
Rowena walked off between Harry and his brother George.

Sophia
rushed into
Lyon’s
open arms, a relieved smile on her face
.

Micah
wondered where his wife was
.
He
went downstairs
.
“Libby?”

His wife held the basket of food in her hand
.
Grace walked by him and went up the stairs
.

Micah took
the basket from Libby
.
He d
rew her into his arms and kissed her
.
He let his forehead rest against hers
.
“Are you
well
, sweetheart?”

“Yes
, n
ow I am, Micah
.
I
must confess
I
was worried.”

“I was
worried
too, sweetheart
.
Come on
,
Trevan is here, he’s been asking for you
.
He wants to see his favorite adopted sister!
”

Libby
smiled as she
entwined her fingers in Micah’s
.
They walked ups
tairs
side by side
.

“Lady Wincanton!”

Trevan was speaking to Harry
and Rowena
when Libby and Micah
entered
the
large
st
room of the old farmhous
e
.
As soon as he saw Libby, the Duke
left
his party
and headed straight
toward
her
.

Feeling
suddenly
self-conscious about her wound,
Libby lowered her face.

Trevan slipped his large hand beneath her chin and
tilted
her face
upward
.
“Now
I’ll have
none of that, Elizabeth
.
Your face is far too beautiful to hide away,” Trevan whispered
.
He studied her wound
intently
.
“’Tis healing nicely,
Libby
. D
on’t you worry
, that scar
will fade away to nothing very soon
.
The important thing is you are alive and back with your husband as you should be
.
And there still is not a more beautiful woman in all of Devon and now Somerset than y
ou
!”
Trevan gave her a wink.
He continued,
“
Mother, Tamsin and Tressa bade me to give you their love and their congratulations on your marriage
.
They are anxious for you
and your husband
to return to Cornwall
for a visit
.”