Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
She looked down at the man, who was now staring up at the ceiling of the ramshackle hut.
He was dead.
She flung herself into his arms, crying. Her whole body was shaking.
“You are all right now,” Tony soothed. “I am here, my beautiful, brave Lucinda.” She shivered in his arms, and Tony wrapped his coat around her and sat her down in the chair from which they had recently untied her.
“You are in shock,” he told her. “A perfectly normal response to this unnormal situation.”
“There is so much blood. Is he really… dead?”
“I’m afraid so,” Dunstan said as he crouched over Stafford’s body.
Lucinda looked up at Tony. “Are you angry with me for throwing the formula away?”
He shook his head. “No. I could not be prouder.” He took her back into his arms and kissed her. “You were right about Stafford. You were right about no one having it. I should have listened to you.”
“You trusted him. You both did, and he betrayed you,” she said.
Dunstan dropped to his knee in front of her. “I’m sorry for my part in this sorry mess. He promised me this would be an open and shut job. I never meant to hurt you or lead you on to think…” He looked around. “We better get out of here.”
As they shuffled out of the shack, Lucinda said, “I am sorry too. I was never going to marry you. So, I guess I led you on as well. You taught me a good lesson. I should always trust my heart.” She looked at Tony.
Dunstan shook his head. “I should have known. Shall I stay here with Stafford? You should take Lucinda home.”
“No, we will leave him here for now and send some of the runners to collect him. We need to speak to my brother.”
“You should distance yourself from this, Ashton. I shot him after all.”
“You were defending us. You had to shoot him,” Tony said.
Lucinda, still shaking, simply said, “Can we please leave this place now?”
“Yes, let’s go before the locals come to see what all the noise was about.” Tony led her out and to their waiting horses. They rode back to London in silence, Lucinda secure in Tony’s arms.
Dunstan handed her something small wrapped in wax paper. “A lemon drop. Something sweet will help with the shock.”
“Thank you,” was all she said as she unwrapped the candy and put it in her mouth. He was right. The sweet and sour combination was comforting and soon her trembling stopped.
As they rode back towards town, Tony was lost in thought, not sure how he should process the betrayal and ultimately the death of the man he had so admired.
The man who he had looked up to as a father figure.
The person who had given him back his sense of purpose when he had lost all hope.
It had all been for nothing. What else had he done for their enemies in exchange for money?
It felt wrong. It was wrong. The problem now was, who else knew about this other side of Stafford?
Who else in the Ring could he truly trust?
“Are you awake?” he asked Lucinda.
“Yes. Are you all right?”
“I think so. When I got to the safe house, and you were gone… I have never been so afraid.” He buried his head in her neck as he held her in front of him on his horse.
Lucinda’s heart twisted in her chest. It could have all gone so wrong.
She had feared for her life, yes, but she was more worried about Tony and those she had come to love.
How upset they would have been had Stafford’s plan for her to disappear gone ahead.
“Me either. I hated that the last time we saw each other we quarreled.”
“I was wrong.”
“You trusted him. I understand that.”
“As soon as we knew what it was, we should have destroyed it.”
“I still would have fought to keep it, because my father gave it to me. But now I see it was not the token of love I thought it was. It was simply a hiding place for his dirty deeds.”
“You did the right thing, throwing it somewhere no one will ever find it. I am very proud of you.” He kissed her neck, and she leaned back into his embrace.
Warmed by his jacket and his love, she started to drift off to sleep, but then a thought came that made her wide awake again. “With Stafford gone what will happen to the Ring? Your position?”
“It will most likely be disbanded, and in any case I was an idiot. A position does not make a man. How he conducts himself is more important. I will find my way because I will have you with me.”
Everything that the man had told her when he was tying her up to the chair came to her in a rush. “Stafford said there is anger brewing between the Prussians and the Austrians. I guess we will never know who really wanted the formula.”
“It does not matter. We may not know what the future holds but we can be safe in the knowledge that we did not contribute to it.” Tony hugged her close “He may have killed your father for it, but now at least your father’s sacrifice was not for nothing. No one can be hurt by it now.”
They had reached Warrington House. The family came rushing out to meet them. Marianne was crying, as was her mother, and Edward looked weary too. Once ensconced once more in the safety and warmth of the parlor, Lord Dunstan produced something from his pocket.
“I found this on the table in the shack.”
“What does it say?” Marianne asked as they all milled around Lucinda as she broke the seal.
“It is a letter. It says that I have been a burden to you all and that I wanted to make my own way in the world. It says I thank you for your help, but I need a fresh start. It ends with please do not look for me.” She looked at Tony. “This proves he was going to make me disappear.”
At one time, she may have thought this, but Stafford did not know her heart.
He did not know how much she loved Tony and his family.
To abandon them in such a way would have been unforgivable and unlike her.
She was sure that Tony would have figured it out quickly enough and would have searched for her.
She knew deep within her he would always protect her with everything he had.
They spent the next hour telling them all what had happened at the shack by the Thames. How Dunstan had tried to warn them through the painting. “I will, of course, repaint over the letter behind his back,” he had said.
“No. You should leave it,” Lucinda said. “It will make a great story one day to tell our future children.”
“I will file an official report tomorrow, though who I would give it to is up for grabs it seems.”
“You can give it to me. I will make sure it reaches the right people,” said the duke.
“The Ring will be no more, surely,” said Dunstan.
“Oh, I would not say that. Someone will step up to take over.” The duke sat by his mother, who smiled at him with pride.
“You?” Tony asked.
“Good Lord, no. I have enough on my plate. I am sure a good candidate will show up sooner rather than later.”
Dunstan laughed. “Well, it will not be me. I have had my fill of this life. I loved it once but now… I think I will stick to painting. I do hope, Miss Sterling, you will forgive me for my part in this sorry tale.”
She nodded. But she was simply too weary to know how she felt about Dunstan right now.
Tony walked Dunstan to the door just as dawn was breaking over the London skyline. “I should thank you for your help.”
“It was the least I could do for my part in this mess. I wanted to come to you directly as soon as I found out, but I knew Stafford was watching the safe house intently. I knew if I just put enough clues in the painting, that you would confront me. I was unaware at the time you were at the safe house.”
“I wish you had told me when I came to your house.”
“I did not know then.”
“It does not matter now. It is over. Go home, Dunstan.”
They shook hands, and Dunstan left Tony shaking his head on the stairs. What an ungodly mess this had turned out to be. He should see Lucinda. She was his priority now.
Tony hovered while May tittered and fussed over Lucinda, adding salve to the bruise on her cheek and around her wrists where the rope had chafed her skin. “Everyone has gone to bed, and so must you.” He kissed her softly on her lips before moving away.
“I wish you could stay. I want your arms around me.”
“It will not be long, my love. I will go and see about a special license as soon as I can. Mother will be distraught, but I cannot be far from your side from now on.” He sat on the bed and took her hand, bare now of her father’s legacy. “What if I lie beside you until you fall asleep?”
“Yes, please. I will not sleep a wink otherwise. I just know it.”
He smiled and got onto the bed next to her and took her into his arms. She sighed and snuggled her head onto his chest, their fingers intertwined. “I love you so much,” Tony began. “When I thought I might lose you I…”
“You did not lose me. You saved me. It seems you have done so since the day we met. I see now that every action you have taken was to show me the love you had for me but could not voice it.” She looked up at him, into those summer eyes she adored.
“I see it so clearly now. I still have the flower you gave me in the garden that first day. It is pressed into my poetry book.”
“I had forgotten about that. There is not a flower in the world that can compare to you.”
She laughed. “I wanted so hard to believe that I could have my dream of a husband, of a family of my own. I had not realized until last night that I had a husband, in all but name, in you. I had a family who loved me. Your family. I do not need anything else.” She kissed him and he held her, murmuring words of love to her until her eyelids could no longer stay open.
When Lucinda woke later that afternoon, she found the family at luncheon.
Marianne had hugged her so tightly she thought she might break a rib, but she hugged her friend back just as tightly.
Sasha was at their feet wiggling her whole body in excitement that something was going on. The two of them laughed.
“Do not ever scare me like that again,” Marianne said as she guided Lucinda to a seat at the table.
“I have no intention of seeking any further adventures, I assure you.” She sat while they served her wine and soup; everyone talked and laughed, and she realized something.
She no longer felt out of place here. It was strange, this feeling of belonging.
To think she had become important to not just Tony, but his whole family.
Her heart swelled with the knowledge, and she did not think she would ever be tired of it.
The duke stood and tapped his glass. “A toast to our Lucinda and Tony. Thank goodness you are all back safe and sound.”
Cheers were loudly exclaimed, and Lucinda was giddy with happiness as she sipped her wine. Everything around her seemed brighter, more in focus and familiar. And there was Tony, sitting across from her in the middle of all the mayhem that was the Ashton family, smiling at her.
This was where she belonged.
Later that night, Edward pulled Tony aside. “The king wants a full report of what happened. I doubt he will do anything legal about it, since it was clandestine in nature and a young lady was in danger. Dunstan has already made his statement about his involvement in it. You must do the same.”
Tony shook his head. He knew there would be consequences for what he had done. “The man is dead; that cannot be swept under the rug.”
“They went through his office today and they found Stafford had links to the Prussians, the French, and the Austrians. It seems he was being paid quite handsomely by all of them.”
Tony’s shoulders slumped. “I still find it hard to believe.” He really had betrayed them.
He wondered how much other information the members of the Ring had given Stafford that had been used against the very country they were spying for.
“Why did I not see it? Surely, I would have known if he had lied to me?”
“I am just as shaken by this news as you are. He was a master at subterfuge, used to hiding this other side of himself. Perhaps, he did not need to lie to you in the beginning but with the increasing pressure to get the stolen formula due to Lucinda’s introduction back into society, well, I guess he got desperate. ”
Tony was grateful to his brother for trying to make him feel better about the situation, but it still stung.
“It gets worse,” his brother said. “They also seem to think he had something to do with the disappearance of Captain Markham. That he may have tipped off the French as to his last known whereabouts. There was nothing to suggest he had sent anyone to find him either. They still do not know if he is alive, but Liverpool wants to know if you want to be involved.”
“The Prime Minister? Of course, but Lucinda. I cannot leave her now.”
“Ask her; she may surprise you.”
“I could be away for months.”
“Yes, you could but just think, when you return as the next Spymaster of the Ring, you will never have to leave England again.”
“Spymaster? Me?”
“It was Dunstan’s recommendation to Liverpool. Think about it.”
“I guess that would make you happy. Is it true? Did you deliberately ask Stafford to give me no overseas missions? To keep me close?”
“I am ashamed to say it is.”
“Damn you, Edward.”
“I did it for Mother. She had almost lost you once when you were shot. I could not bear her going through that again. It seemed like a good compromise at the time. I am sorry.”
This was all too much. He did not want to argue with his brother on an issue that no longer mattered.
He had reconciled himself to a different life path; however, he was now being offered the post of Spymaster in place of Stafford.
He needed to weigh up how that would work, especially now he had Lucinda to consider.
“You do not need to accept right away. In the meantime, why not concentrate on marrying Lucinda as soon as possible without making Mother lose her mind. We need to make her an official Ashton. If nothing else, it will distract everyone and replace this episode with something more in keeping with their usual talents.”
“Thank you for your support, Edward. In fact, thank you for all that you do for us. I know it is not an easy position to hold. Keeping us all in line must be a nightmare.”
The duke laughed. “You do not know the half of it, dear brother. Go to your betrothed. You have much to discuss.”
Tony stopped in the doorway. “You do not know the half of it, dear brother.”