Chapter 49
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 goodwill 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 on 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.’