Secrets In Savannah (Phantom Knights) (22 page)

Leo was engaged in fisticuffs with
two men, while Hannah bashed her stick against the men who came close to her.
Bess pulled a pistol from her belt, grabbed my hand, and we ran along the edge
of the fight. We were pursuing a man who had Charlotte, attempting to drag her
toward the door. She fought against his grip, and when she kicked him, he
punched her face.

Sucking in a quick, furious
breath, I grabbed Bess’s pistol, aimed it, and fired. As the ball struck him,
Charlotte grabbed a pistol from his belt, rose, and fired it, barely missing
Leo’s head as the shot struck his opponent.

Guinevere came up behind Char and
plucked the pistol from her hand. She tossed it away, saying something, but
Char threw her fist into Guinevere’s stomach.

“What is Charlotte about?” Bess
demanded as Char grabbed a handful of Guinevere’s hair.

There was not time to explain as
Char pulled back her arm, making a fist. When it flew toward my wife’s face,
Guinevere grabbed Char’s wrist. The way she twisted Char’s arm behind her back,
she could have broken it if she had so chosen.

When I looked toward my sister,
she was gone, as was Frederick.

Knowing my sister all too well, I
ran for the antechamber behind the dais. If Bess thought Frederick a traitor, I
knew what she would do, and nothing anyone said would stop her.

Bess had Frederick cornered in the
antechamber, but they were both still alive and well.

“A traitor is a traitor, Freddy, I
care not for your excuses,” Bess was saying.

“Is that not a little prejudice,
Bess, considering that you have welcomed a traitor to sister?”

“She did not have a choice in whom
she served. You did. I should end you right now,” Bess released the hammer on
her pistol and lowered it, “but I will not, for two reasons. One, because I am
not a murderer, and two, because you now owe me a debt.”

Frederick’s stiff shoulders
relaxed and an amused smile drifted across his lips. “Indeed?”

“When I send word that we need
you, you will come, and you will fight. If you try to run, I will hunt you
down, and you know that I can,” Bess said without heat. It was not a threat but
a promise, one that both Frederick and I knew that she could accomplish if she
tried. Bess was an accomplished tracker.

Frederick and I were both smiling
as we exchanged an amused glance. It was like we had stepped back a year, and
Bess was still the leader of the Phantoms.

Frederick held out his hand, which
Bess shook. “It will be my pleasure to serve with you again, darling Bess.”

“Do I shoot him now, or will he
step away from my wife on his own accord?” Sam asked loudly as he held his gun
aimed at Frederick.

“You must be the great Samuel
Mason,” Frederick said as he released Bess’s hand.

Sam did not lower his gun as he
retorted, “And you are the insolent Frederick Nolan.”

Frederick chortled. “I see that
someone has been singing my praises. Bess, darling, was it you?”

“Enough of the nonsense,” Bess
said, stepping between the two. “Tell us what you are doing here, Freddy, and
no lies.”

Frederick laid his hand over his
heart. “Would I lie to you, my dear heart?”

“Yes,” Sam replied before Bess
could say a word, “but dead men cannot, rogue, which is what you will be if you
touch my wife again.”

“I will be a rogue?” Frederick
asked with an air of innocence. “Bess could not have been the one to tell you
of me if you do not know of my reputation.”

Sam advanced toward Frederick.
Bess stepped in his way. “Freddy is not the enemy, Sam.”

“He could be deceiving us, Bess.”
Sam was in the right on that.

“Why do you think him not the
enemy?” I asked, looking first at my sister, then Sam, and finally Guinevere, who
was standing just inside the room.

It was on their faces, in their
eyes. They all knew something that I did not, and they were all working
together.

“If you are not the enemy then
what are you doing here?” I demanded, and everyone looked to Frederick for his
response.

His lip curled as mischief covered
his face. “Being a Phantom.”

GUINEVERE

W
hen Frederick sent his summons to
us, he also sent a letter to Bess explaining his situation. He was not a part
of the Holy Order as we had thought, but working as a Phantom. He requested Sam
and Bess’s aid in ridding his court of some men that Harvey had sent to watch
and report on Frederick’s doings.

After speaking with Bess, she
decided it would be best not to tell Jack anything about that. She said that
one of us at least should appear natural when we went before the court.

A worse plan could not have been
made. It worked, but the cost to me was nigh unbearable. Bess wanted the court
to believe that I was still the white phantom, so I had acted the part ... and
Jack believed it.

“When President Monroe disbanded
the Phantoms, I knew Jack would need all of the help that he could acquire in
capturing the Holy Order. When Harvey came to me, issuing me this position, I
took it,” Frederick explained.

“The part about being a Phantom,
where does it come to play?” Jack asked.

“I saw a way to draw Harvey in so
that we, the true Phantoms, could put an end to him,” Frederick replied,
standing taller, and appearing as proud as a rooster.

Hearing that Harvey was whom I had
to thank for Frederick being in Savannah and putting his long nose in things
that did not concern him, I could have spit, or thrown something. Instead of
accepting me as an ally, Frederick thought to make me his servant by his
threats that he masked as bargains. I was no fool; I had been trained by a
master in manipulation, and I knew when men were playing games with me.

Jack was astonished, but not
silent. He demanded to know what aid Sam and Bess had rendered Frederick.

Frederick told him about the
letter and that all of us, except Jack apparently, were privy to the plan. “I
could not have Harvey’s lackeys running to him with the truth after all.”
Frederick watched me with scrutiny. “My personal guards, loyal to me alone,
were seated upon the thrones.”

“Harvey is not a fool, Frederick.
He has to know that you are using him, and he is playing you instead. He is a
master at chess.” Jack’s voice held fire, and I sighed.

Hannah and Charlotte came to the
door, and Sam, seeing his sister, announced that the rest would be discussed at
a later date. When they had left the antechamber, I stepped in Jack’s path.

“So all of that before was you
playacting? You did not mean to leave Charlotte here?” Jack asked without
looking at me. His jaw was taut, his face rigid.

“No matter what she has done or
means to do, I would never condemn her to such a fate,” I said as softly as I
could. “You truly believed that I could be so callous?”

Jack did look at me then, but the
anger was still in his face. “I do not know what to think when you continue to
keep secrets from me. I had thought we were past that when you allowed me to
give you my name as well as everything else.”

His words stung, but they were the
truth. I was keeping secrets from him, but it was for him. His life would
change, and he would never forgive me if he knew all.

“What would you have me do?” I
pleaded with him, taking his hand. He did not return the pressure of my hand.

“I would have you be honest.” Jack
pulled away, leaving me in the antechamber.

The wedding bliss had lasted all
of thirteen hours. Even the joy of my wedding was overshadowed by Harvey. The
man lived to control my life, even from afar.

“Why so glum?” Frederick asked as
he came up beside me. “I thought you would be pleased that I was showing Jack
the little minx’s true stripes.”

Perhaps I would have if it had not
put a fresh strain on our relationship.

We stepped into the throne room to
see Jack standing beside Charlotte with his thumb beneath her chin, inspecting
her face. The worshipful expression on her face made my stomach sour. Even if
it was Lucas that she loved, she was playing my husband like an instrument, and
he missed it all.

“Be wary of that one, my dear,”
Frederick said with a faint grin. “She appears as a lamb, but she has the claws
of a cat, and the tongue of a serpent.”

Charlotte’s gaze met mine across
the room, and she smirked before feigning a stumble. As Jack caught her in his
arms, I knew that she also had my husband on a string, one which I intended to
burn.

òòò

Jack and I spoke once during the
remainder of the day, and that was him asking me if I was ready to tell him
everything. When I said I was not, he told me to let him know when I was, and
that was that.

It was maddening that he was outwardly
showing disappointment in me when he was the one refusing to see Charlotte’s
true character even after her confession.

When I went up to my chamber for
the night, I waited for him to come to me, but he never did. It was past twelve
strikes of the clock when I decided that I would not put up with this
pettiness.   He could be angry at me, but he would not ignore me.

Rising, I pulled on my dressing
gown, then left my chamber to pad across the hall to his. I opened the door and
let myself in, but when I reached his bed, he was not there. Leaving his
chamber, I made my way down the stairs toward the dining parlor where light was
coming from the half open door.

“Do you still believe that you can
trust her?” Sam asked, and I halted in the shadows of the darkened foyer.

“It was not her fault, and you
know that,” Jack’s voice chided. “Though I must confess that the same thought
did flash through my mind. Can you trust a woman who would so effortlessly
choose others above the man she claims to love? She has made a habit of
running. What is to say that she will not do so again when she has what she
wants? A woman like that is not to be trusted.”

The pain that sliced through me
made me nearly double over. My hand pressed against the wall was all that was
holding me upright. The sound of glass scraping against the table did nothing
to lessen the pain. Even if Jack was in his cups, that knowledge could not
erase the words from my mind.

Forcing my back straight, I moved
on silent feet back up the stairs and into my chamber. As I sat on my bed, I
fought against the burning in my nose and eyes. I would not cry; I would not!

Perhaps it was for the best. I had
always done better on my own. When you were accountable to yourself alone, no
one else could be disappointed when you failed. Harvey believed that I was
accountable to him, but he was wrong. My loyalty belonged elsewhere. My reasons
for fighting were never the Holy Order.

I made my own rules, accepted my
successes and spurned my failures.

If Lucas saw that Jack and I were
at daggers with one another, he might focus all of his attention on me and
forget about Jack. It was a small glimmer of hope, but hope it was, and the
Lord knew that I had little enough of it in my life.

Lucas needed to be dealt with, and
as a plan formed in my mind, I knew that there was only one person I could
trust to help me see it through.

òòò

My husband and the rest of the
house were still asleep when I rose before the sun. It was nearly six as I
pulled on a pair of breeches, one of Jack’s shirts, and tucked my natural hair
into a cap. After pulling on my boots, tucking a knife into each boot, and
loading my pistols, I crossed the chamber and eased open the door.

Going down the hall to the last
door on the left, I knocked softly. When the door opened, a disheveled Leo
stood before me. Having seen him thus a score of times, I was not in the least
embarrassed. I pushed him out of the way and walked into his chamber, closing
the door behind me.

“Get dressed, I need you to come
with me,” I demanded, picking up his shirt and tossing it to him.

“Have you run mad, milady? Did
anyone see you come in here?” There was an exasperated tone to his voice that
was not natural for him. He was usually so calm. I supposed that forcing my way
into his chamber had something to do with that.

“Of course not,” I snapped at him.
“Now, are you coming with me or do you want me to journey alone into the den of
Lucas and his guards?”

Leo stared at me, and I held his
gaze, at least where I thought his eyes were. I could not see his face in the
dark chamber. He sighed audibly. “Give me a few moments to dress.”

Smiling, I went into the hall to
wait. When he joined me, we moved down the stairs. The front door was bolted,
so I let Leo work his skill and open the door without any hint of sound.