The Wild Rose of Kilgannon (32 page)

I blinked at her, mystified. "What, Your Grace?"

She interrupted as though I had not spoken. "This morning the court reconvened to discuss it, and even the king has been told. What shall we do? What shall we do?" She fluttered her hands before her face and pulled her gloves off with jerky motions. "Oh, this is dreadful! Oh dear."

"Your Grace, please, what is it you mean? What has happened?"

"DeBroun asked you to marry him! Or be his mistress! What a villain! What a to-do this has caused! The Duke is most distressed! And your uncle Harry has challenged him to a duel!"

I leapt to my feet. "Harry has challenged the Duke to a duel?"

She shook her head
violently
. "No, child, not the Duke. Harry has challenged DeBroun to a duel."

I stared at her, incredulous. "Tell me this is not true!"

"You had not heard?"

"No, Your Grace. No one visits us now but you and Becca's mother. Oh, where is Louisa?" I ran for the door.

A few moments later we'd found Louisa and Randolph, and the Duchess told her story, punctuating it with her comments. Harry and Angus, she said, had gone to DeBroun's house on Friday night, where they had burst into his dinner party. With Angus holding pistols at the ready, Harry had delivered his challenge before the stunned assembly and then left as DeBroun raged at them.

Randolph departed at once to find Harry. Louisa sat with me, pale and worried, as the Duchess argued for me to leave London. I refused. At last, defeated, she sat back against the cushions and looked at me with displeasure, announcing that she had asked her husband to plead with Harry and DeBroun to reconsider. I nodded and asked her to thank the Duke for me. Privately I did not think he'd be successful. My faith was with Randolph. I was sure he would find Harry, and when he did, Randolph, and I, would be able to talk Harry out of this harebrained scheme, But Randolph returned without having found

Harry, and we discussed what to do in a growing mood of gloom. We had few options. Duke John joined us and, with the Duchess, tried again to convince me to retreat to Mountgarden. I only shook my head and once again braved the displeasure of the Barringtons.

On Monday we were told, with all of London, that Alex's trial would be postponed indefinitely. I wrote to the boys and told them some of what had happened. The days dragged and while I was grateful that, to our knowledge, no duel had taken place, it was difficult to keep our spirits up with no news. And no Alex.

Will wrote that Dr. Sutter had visited and said Betty would recover. I read his joyous letter, finding solace in his relief, and spent the afternoon lighter of heart than in weeks. But when night came again my own worries returned. I tried to care for myself for the sake of the baby, who was growing despite all, but it was exhausting. And on Thursday the soldiers came.

I was alone that cold snowy afternoon, standing by the fire in the library, when Bronson burst in, bringing a gust of icy air with him. How appropriate, I thought, and lifted my head from the eagle stone, the talisman against pregnancy Alex had given me which I held in my hand. I gave Bronson a cold look of my own. My eyes widened as I saw his face and the red uniforms behind him.

"Yes, Bronson?" I asked, as though it were my habit to find soldiers in my aunt's house e
very
day.

"Madam," he said, his distress obvious, "this officer would have a word with you. I did ask them to wait, but..."

"Won't you come in, sir?" I asked, summoning a goddess look as the soldier filled the doorway. I folded my hands before me, hoping that my shaking knees would not give my fear away.

"No, thank you, madam," the soldier answered, his tone stiffly polite. "We are not here to visit. We are searching the house."

"Oh? An exercise, perhaps?" In the room above us we could hear booted feet moving about. He gave me a cold glance. "Sir," I said. "Do you have my uncle's permission to search his house?" "I have the court's permission and the Crown's. That is sufficient. We are searching for Edgar DeBroun, madam."

"Edgar DeBroun? Surely, sir, he would not be here. Of all people who would not be welcome in this house, he is among the foremost."

"DeBroun is missing, madam, and his staff says he was kidnapped by Scots. Big blond Scots. And your uncle."

"Randolph? That's ridiculous. He's been here with me."

"The Duke of Grafton, madam."

I felt my eyes widen. "Harry? My uncle Harry? Kidnap Edgar DeBroun? Why on earth would he do that?"

"Why on earth would he challenge DeBroun to a duel, madam? I think we both know the answer." He watched me impassively. "Where are your husband's relations, Mistress MacGannon?"

"I do not know where they are, sir," I said coolly, refusing to acknowledge his rudeness. "They are not here."

"We shall soon see," he said.

I nodded as though I were calm, and sank to the chair behind me. My knees had given out. "Shall I order tea?" I asked.

"No, thank you, madam," he said, and watched me while his men searched every room, including the servants' quarters and the storerooms. Eventually they left, leaving half the rooms in disarray and me with a shaken staff and a
brother
who was apologizing yet again to me.

"I know it's not your fault, Bronson," I said for the tenth time. "There was nothing else you could have done. Now go and set this house in order before my aunt returns."

"Yes, madam. Thank you, Lady
Mary
. I am so
very
sorry...."

I waved him away and tried to gather my thoughts. Randolph and Louisa arrived before long and the staff told them of the soldiers' visit before I did. Randolph was furious and it was all Louisa and I could do to keep him from calling on the captain of the Guard that moment. We reminded him that it was the Guard who had searched the house, and he assuaged his anger by writing to the king and the court, complaining about the soldier's treatment of us. But I knew it would do nothing.

The next day Louisa and I were in the library when Randolph abruptly entered the room, grinning, leading Angus behind him.

"Angus, what have you done?" I cried shrilly.

"We've been busy,"
he said, settl
ing himself into a chair and accepting whisky from Randolph while Louisa and I watched him.

"Did you kidnap DeBroun?" I demanded.

He nodded. "Aye, we have the bas ... him. Sorry, ladies, I've no' been in polite company for some days now." I waved his apology aside. "We've got Matthew and Gilbey and a handful of others laying false trails all over London. That should keep the soldiers busy for a bit." He looked at me as he sipped the whisky.

"Angus, what were you thinking? Let DeBroun go. Let him go!"

Angus paused and watched me with frosty eyes. "Revenge, Mary. We were thinking about revenge."

"You must let him go! For God's sake, Angus, release him!"

"No." The word hung in the air with something that I could not identify, something that chilled me. Next to me Louisa stiffened.

"Then at least tell us what happened," I said as frostily.

Angus nodded and told about going to DeBroun's house to deliver Harry's challenge, his expression lightening as he talked. DeBroun, he said, had been enraged. "Of course," Angus said, grinning, "perhaps I should have stopped yer uncle from issuing a challenge at a dinner party. What do ye think, Randolph, were we rude?"

Randolph laughed. "I'm sure DeBroun was delighted to see you."

"It'll be an evening not soon forgotten," Angus continued. "One of
your
favourite
people was there, Mary, that Rowena woman. She's a powerful gossip, so it's all over London by now. It's a pity that yer Duchess could no' have been there as well. We could have used her abilities." He took a sip of whisky. "When we left DeBroun's, we went to Harry's house to discuss it. We were thinking that maybe we'd just take DeBroun when he showed up for the duel and then we thought, well, why not the now? He might not show up for the duel at all. So back we went to his house in the wee hours with the Macleans

and our own men." He took another sip and sighed appreciatively. "When we got there DeBroun was gone. Left in the night, just flown away. He's brave with women and a coward with men."

Randolph and Angus shared a laugh and Angus continued-his story. After returning to DeBroun's house and finding him gone, Angus, Harry, the Macleans, and the Kilgannon men had separated, determined to find DeBroun. It was Harry who eventually captured him, on the road headed north from London, and Harry who told the others where to hide him in a small cottage he owned just north of there. They deposited DeBroun at the cottage, under Duncan's heavy guard, and Angus and Harry had returned to Harry's town house only to find it full of soldiers.

"We went out the back door as they went in the front," Angus said. "They dinna see us. It must have been the day before they came here."

"And what now?" I asked.

Angus shrugged. "Now we wait. We've sent word from me, of course, not from Harry, who cannot be involved in such dealings, that DeBroun will be held captive until Alex is released."

"And if they won't release Alex?"

Angus's expression darkened. "Then we'll send them one piece of DeBroun at a time until they do."

I stared at him, horrified. "Surely you don't mean that."

Blue eyes met mine. "Surely I do."

"Why are you doing this? You are risking Alex's life!"

"Mary," he said in a low voice, "Alex's life has been forfeit for quite a while, lass. I'm not a fool, but De-Broun's been one. He's given us an opportunity we canna ignore, and he deserves whatever happens to him. Surely ye can understand that? Ye dinna expect me to sit on my hands? What did ye think was going to happen? Ye were there when Gilbey brought the maps and the charts. I thought ye kent we'd try to free him any way we could."

"But this, Angus!" I struggled to my feet. "Why can you not all leave DeBroun alone? Let the man be." Something flashed in Angus's eyes that I'd never seen before and I moved backward, holding my hands at my heart as Angus rose to stand before me.

"Are ye defending DeBroun? Do ye believe he's a right to revenge himself and we dinna?"

"What does that mean?" I demanded. Randolph moved to stand next to me and we faced Angus together. Angus glowered at me.

"It means DeBroun wants his revenge on Alex to be complete and yer part of it," he said.

"Why?" I whispered. "Why does DeBroun want revenge?"

"For something that happened a long time ago."

"And you think DeBroun still remembers?"

"Oh, aye, I ken he does. That's why he hates Alex."

"Please, Angus, let DeBroun go. Now. Let him go.
For me
."

"Are ye asking me to spare him for ye?" he roared. "Is it him ye want alive instead of Alex?" His eyes blazed with outrage and Randolph stepped between us. I lifted my chin, as angry as Angus.

"I will ignore that, you damn fool," I said coldly. "How can you ask me that? Don't you see what you're risking? DeBroun is one of the men in control of Alex's fate. If DeBroun is killed or injured, Alex will pay the price, not you, not Harry not Duncan! How can you gamble with Alex's life for your damn pride?"

"It's no' pride, Mary. Something must be done."

"Oh yes, and killing DeBroun is just what the other judges need to persuade them to be lenient," I sneered. "Alex wall pay the price for this folly. Why could you not leave DeBroun alone?"

"If we did nothing they'd hang Alex,
Mary
. Or worse."

"You don't seem to understand how delicate this balance is!" I cried. "You've put Alex at risk with this scheme. I don't care for DeBroun, only for Alex, and you have played dice with his life.
I'll
pay if you're wrong! I am trying to keep him alive and you've just made my task much more difficult! How could you do this? Angus, how could you do this?" We glared at each other and in the silence that stretched between us I could hear the slow ticking of the clock in the corner. I don't know what he had intended to answer, but the baby moved just then and I put my hand on my middle. Angus's gaze followed

it, and I watched his anger fade and his expression soften. He took a deep breath.

"I dinna play dice with Alex's life," he said slowly. "I love the man, as ye do." He looked at the ceiling and then back at me. "Mary, I beg yer pardon for doubting ye even for a second. Forgive me, lass, please. But with or without yer permission, we have done this and we will see it through. We had to do something."

"What if it doesn't work? What will they do to Alex?" I whispered. "What if something happens to you as well? Do you not see that you have put all of you at risk with this? If something were to happen to you, or
Harry
, or Matthew, or Gilbey, I could not bear it. Angus, I could not bear it." I wiped the tears from my cheeks and Angus leaned to wrap his arms around me.

"Nothing will happen to us, lass. Nothing will happen."

"It already has," I said to
my
chest. "Angus, I'm so afraid. Please. Please, let DeBroun go."