Chapter 2 #2
“He what!’’ Jonathan shouted, and this time he did come to a sitting position though he winced in the process at the pain that shot through him.
“Calm down,” Elizabeth said as she patted his hand and braced her body next to his so he wouldn’t fall over. She knew Jonathan couldn’t handle the whole story.
“I hope you shot that bloody bastard. We should have done so in England. When he threatened to take Jewel. I remember how he claimed to be her uncle, but all that bloody bastard wanted was the treasure map that Jewel possessed.” Jonathan took a deep breath, and looked at Elizabeth. “Sorry, love.”
“I would love to have killed Lee, but I’m afraid I was too late, which I’ll explain in a moment,” Adam said.
The carriage hit a rock and Jonathan moaned. “I hope there are not many of those bumps,” Adam said, before continuing. “Anyway, Captain Lee wanted Jewel all along. Elizabeth was merely bait. He exchanged Elizabeth for Jewel.”
Jonathan looked at Elizabeth with concern deep in his eyes. “He didn’t hurt you, love? Did he?” he asked, taking her hand in his.
Elizabeth felt her face grow cold as the blood rapidly drained, leaving her chilled. She couldn’t tell Jonathan what had happened. It had been hard enough telling Adam.
Maybe later, when Jonathan was well. Then she could explain everything, and hope he’d understand. With a great deal of effort, she calmly said, “No.”
Adam quickly cut in and Elizabeth knew it was to save her from answering any more questions.
“I had to find Lafitte to see where Lee had taken Jewel. All I knew is that they had sailed in search of the treasure that only Jewel and Jean knew about. What I didn’t take into account was the raging fever I had developed from this bloody wound.
” He motioned to his arm. “I was so dazed by the fever when I arrived at Grand Terre that Pierre put me out of my misery with a good right fist to the jaw.” Adam rubbed the bruise on his jaw.
Elizabeth looked at him with sympathy, but her concerns turned back to her sister-in-law. “What about Jewel?”
“Jean and his crew arrived at the Bay of Pirates, but not soon enough to save Jewel from being shot.”
“Shot!” Elizabeth frowned. “How badly?”
“She was shot in the back of her shoulder. But she’ll be fine,” Adam said. “The doctor said she’d need plenty of rest.”
Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief. “Where is she?”
“At Four Oaks.”
“What about Captain Lee?” Jonathan asked.
“Though Jean didn’t personally see the blackguard die, Jewel told him that Lee had drowned in the inlet trying to save his precious treasure chest.”
“Good riddance,” Jonathan said, trying to ignore the rocking of the carriage.
“Yes, you could say that,” Adam said with a nod as he shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position. “There was a long line of people who wanted to kill that bloody bastard!” Adam propped his arm on the window and looked out. “I beg your pardon, Elizabeth.”
“You could probably put me on that list, too,” Elizabeth murmured, more to herself than to anyone.
Jonathan managed to put his arm around her. “That’s my tigress.” He chuckled. “Do you realize, my love, that out of the four of us, you are the only one who hasn’t been shot? I guess I can be thankful that you were not hurt.”
Elizabeth forced a smile, but when she glanced at Adam she saw the compassion in the eyes that were so much like her own.
Seeing the sympathy brought moisture to her eyes.
She didn’t want Jonathan to see, so she turned to gaze out the carriage window.
The past would be something she’d have to live with for the rest of her life.
She glanced at Jonathan. “Yes, I was the lucky one,” she whispered. “Now put your head on my shoulder.” She gave him a small smile. “You need to rest.”
Turning back to the window, she stared out at the trees stripped bare by chilly winter winds. Gray puddles dotted the road. At least it had stopped raining, but it was cold—just like she felt inside. Yes, she was the lucky one. She’d not been shot, but she had been wounded.
Deeply.
Elizabeth sighed. She wasn’t a meek little lamb who would run and hide. She was a fighter like her brother.
She would lick her wounds. And she would survive.
But she could not bring herself to tell Jonathan ... at least not yet.
Finally, the carriage swung into the lane that led up to Four Oaks.
A row of live oaks lined both sides of the road, lacing their branches together in an overhead canopy.
The carriage topped the rise and the white mansion, surrounded by four huge oak trees draped in Spanish moss, appeared before them.
Elizabeth had come to think of Four Oaks as home. It wasn’t as large as their childhood home, Briercliff, in Cornwall, but it was warm and inviting with its stately beauty.
Eight Corinthian pillars graced the front of the house, and wisteria vines draped the two at the ends. On a warm, sunny day you could hear the constant hum of bees darting from flower to flower. But the cold winter days of the present season left the vines bare and the bees quiet.
Elizabeth missed Briercliff, where she and Adam had grown up playing in those castle halls.
Briercliff sat on the gray cliffs of Cornwall, and Elizabeth had always thought of the magnificent estate fondly, because that was where she remembered her parents.
If she shut her eyes, she could picture her mother’s beautiful face and her breathtaking, laughing blue eyes.
Elizabeth and Adam had taken after both their parents and ended up with unusual slate-gray eyes.
She supposed it was a mixture of their father’s black eyes and their mother’s blue ones.
She wished her parents had lived long enough to see how she and Adam had grown up.
She hoped they would have been proud of their children, and she wished she could have asked her mother’s advice about how to handle her present situation.
The carriage lumbered to a stop, halting Elizabeth’s daydreaming. She noticed Jonathan had fallen asleep on her shoulder.
“Sit still, Elizabeth. I’ll get someone to help me get Jonathan to a room,” Adam said. “He’s going to need plenty of rest before he’s back to his old self.” Her brother swung down out of the carriage.
Elizabeth watched her brother march up the front steps of Four Oaks. She glanced down at the face of the man she loved.
She and Jonathan had grown up together in England. But back then she was nothing more than an annoyance to him. He’d always called her Adam’s little sister even though she and Adam were the same age.
However, over the years her place in his life had changed to something else .
.. something more. She smiled. She had noticed how Jonathan had stared at her when she’d left England to come to America.
It was a peculiar stare... as if he’d wanted to say something, but couldn’t.
That in itself was unusual for Jonathan.
He was devilish in every way and never at a loss for words.
She’d heard the stories about him in England—the ocean wasn’t that big! Jonathan Scott Winston Hird, Earl of Longdale, had become a rake. She wondered just how many hearts he had broken. Of course, Jonathan would let them down easy, but their hearts would be broken all the same.
She hadn’t known what to expect when Jonathan had come home this last time. Did he remember her? Would he care?
Lifting her hand, she gently brushed a stray lock of sandy brown hair from his forehead. The warmth of his soft flesh was intoxicating, and she longed to have him hold her.
Elizabeth had loved Jonathan all her life.
At first the love she felt had been the love of a child, but it had endured over the years and had grown stronger.
When Jonathan followed Adam across the ocean, and she’d finally seen him again as a man, from the perspective of a woman, she knew.
For a brief moment before Jonathan had hidden it, she had seen his love.
He had looked at her with such a yearning, it had made her heart ache with longing, and she’d made up her mind then and there that Jonathan’s bachelor days were numbered.
Adam leaned in the carriage door and grabbed Jonathan’s good arm. “You’ve had enough time with my sister. Let’s get you upstairs.”
Groggily, Jonathan pushed to a sitting position and blinked several times. “Bloody hell, ol’ boy. I’m not a sack of potatoes. Do be careful.”
“No, a sack of potatoes would be easier to handle,” Adam said matter-of-factly. “Here. Put your feet on the ground and Marvin will grab your other side so you don’t end up flat on your face.”
“I’m perfectly capable of walki—” Jonathan’s voice trailed off as he stumbled. The servant and Adam grabbed him. “On second thought, ol’ boy, some assistance would be most appreciated,” Jonathan joked as he draped his good arm around Adam’s neck.
Elizabeth was glad to hear Jonathan’s easy sense of humor return. “Do be careful, Adam,” Elizabeth pleaded, following them up the front steps. “He’s been wounded, after all.”
Adam turned his head a fraction to give his twin an incredulous look. “And I haven’t?”
Elizabeth felt the heat of a blush as she trailed behind them up the stairway to a room directly across from hers. By the time they got Jonathan into bed, he’d passed out.
Annie, Elizabeth and Adam’s old nanny and housekeeper, swept into the room. ‘‘Adam, ye need tae be in bed. Have ye forgotten yer wounded?”
Annie was a plump little Scotswoman, small in size but with the feisty determination of a much bigger woman. Her brown hair was streaked with gray and pulled back into a loose bun; her apple cheeks always glowed with good cheer.
“No, I haven’t,” Adam said curtly. “But I think Elizabeth has.”
“Jonathan’s hurt, too.” Elizabeth touched Annie’s arm, ignoring her brother completely.
“Saints above! Have ye all lost yer ever-lovin’ minds? I should have locked all o’ ye in yer rooms. Then ye wouldn’t have these gapin’ holes in ye.” Annie clapped her hands and looked toward heaven, then back at them. “Now all o’ ye out! The lad needs his rest.”
“But Annie,” Elizabeth protested.
“Ye not be doin’ him any good if ye keel over from exhaustion. Now, shoo, all o’ ye.”
Reluctantly, Elizabeth left. She knew Annie was taking care of her, too, and Elizabeth had to admit she was exhausted.
When she entered her room, the bed looked very inviting with its fluffy pink goose down comforter and the eight white pillows piled up against the headboard. But she resisted the pull of the finely dressed four poster bed and tugged instead on the silken bell cord.
In a few minutes, Sally, her maid, appeared in the doorway. “Yes, ma’am.”
Sally was an older black woman who’d run the kitchen until she’d hurt her back. Then Elizabeth had suggested Sally might like to have the easier job of lady’s maid.
Sally had been so grateful that she took to caring for Elizabeth like a mother hen. Now Elizabeth had two mothers—Annie and Sally.
“Sally, can you help me with these hooks? I want to take a nap.”
“Yes’um. You’ve not been takin’ care of yourself, Miz Elizabeth. Just look at those dark circles under your eyes. Master Jonathan will be lookin’ elsewhere ifen you keep it up.”
Elizabeth swung around. “Do you really think so?”
Sally laughed. “Only if he’s a fool. Ain’t none to compare with you, Miz Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth smiled and then climbed under the fluffy pink comforters. “I’ll just sleep a little while,” she murmured. She heard the click of the door then Sally slid from the room and Elizabeth drifted to sleep.
The afternoon turned into night.
She slept peacefully until the wee hours of morning.
That’s when the demons slipped in....