Chapter 21
“Wherein the truth and a lie hurt just the same.”
Led by one of the earl’s men, Henri was taken down into the dark and cramped confines of the hold.
A makeshift cell had been formed using the hull and an arrangement of crates and barrels.
A metal hoop protruded from an overhead beam, and from this draped a long line of chain.
The chain then ran to metal cuffs, and Henri felt her heart contract as she looked upon Lawrence.
He sat with his back against the hull on a thin pallet, his head bowed.
He looked up as he heard them approach and his smile made her breath hitch as his blue eyes caught the lamp light.
“Hello, Miss Morton, how very kind of you to call on me,” he said, all politeness and good manners, just as though she was calling on an old friend at home.
She swallowed hard and waited for the man who had brought her here to withdraw as Alex had promised he would. Once he was out of sight, and earshot, she hurried to Lawrence’s side.
“Are you well?” she asked, looking him over for signs of abuse, still a little uneasy at putting her trust in Alex.
He chuckled and nodded. “Aye, don’t fret on my account.
My brother’s men are all terrified of incurring his wrath and they have been instructed to treat me with respect.
Do not let the chains trouble you. I have been well fed and handled with kid gloves I assure you.
These …” he added, lifting his hands and rattling the chains.
“Are just for show, and to keep the crew from becoming too suspicious.”
She sighed, feeling a little more secure in the earl’s desire to help his brother.
“You see,” he said, his voice quiet. “I told you he was a good man.”
Henri looked down, frowning. She knew she had to play the part as Alex had instructed but she wasn’t quite sure how to go about it. She decided the truth was the easiest path to take.
“He certainly seems to care for you very much,” she said, looking up and smiling. “Though, I still find it hard to trust him, he ... he seems such a cold man.”
“Truly?” Lawrence replied, obviously surprised.
“I cannot see what you do at all. I know when I was a boy people thought him terribly proud and high-handed, but he was never so with me.” He shrugged.
“Alex was always a stickler for the rules and propriety it’s true but then, that’s what our father made him.
He was always conscious of his inheritance and the importance of being a good earl. ”
Henri worried at her lip and wondered if she should tell him the truth. He’d find out sooner or later and perhaps it was better he heard it from her.
“What?” he demanded.
“Lawrence,” she began, trying to find words that would not anger him unduly.
“What I said to you before, about your brother. I know it made you angry and I can see now why that is but ... But those things I said were true. He has a truly dark reputation. He is known as a rake and a scoundrel, he has been named an adulterer and there are rumours about ... well, all sorts of things. I think when he believed you dead, he fell into despair, and he could no longer be the person he was. He is no longer the man of honour you remember,” she rushed on, seeing his face darken with anger.
“Perhaps he is, in truth, but it is no longer what people believe him to be.”
She watched him and held her breath, waiting for his outburst but he said nothing.
“He told me much the same thing,” he said, frowning.
“And I care not what people believe of him. I have spoken with him, and I find him to be the same as he ever was.” He looked up at her and reached out, taking her hand and squeezing it gently.
“Don’t you see, Henri, it is just as it was before.
He is doing everything in his power to save me, despite the fact that he is courting great danger in doing so.
If the truth of who I am was to get out, if they knew he helped me escape .
.. If he has as many enemies as you’ve led me to believe then there is every chance he could hang alongside me if they discover us. ”
Henri frowned and looked down, his big hand still holding hers and she drew comfort from the contact.
She hadn’t really considered how big a risk the earl was taking but now she saw he was right.
He was putting himself in danger to free his brother.
He rose in her estimation considerably for that despite his wretched manners.
“And so you must see ...” he continued, and he reached out his other hand, his knuckle touching her gently under her chin to raise her head towards him. “You must see that I can do nothing more to put him in harm’s way?”
She knew he was alluding to the plan Alex had made and frowned with annoyance. “He wants to help you, Lawrence. He wants his brother back.”
Lawrence let go of her hand and she heard a heavy sigh and the chink of chains as he moved to sit back against the hull of the ship. “His brother died ten years ago, and there is no saving him now.”
Henri folded her arms, scowling at the floor. She didn’t have to feign annoyance to go along with Alex’s plan. She was damned angry. If Alex wanted to help him why couldn’t he just accept it? Alex was a grown man too - he knew the risks.
“He’s agreed to marry you as arranged,” he said, and she looked at him sharply. He sounded so nonchalant, did he really not care at all? She could see nothing in his eyes to suggest that he did. She blinked hard and turned away.
“Well, I don’t agree to marry him.”
“Henri,” he said, the word spoken on a sigh, as though he was addressing a troublesome child. Perhaps that was all she was to him? A nuisance, something to be arranged safe passage through life in order to keep his conscience clear.
“Don’t Henri me!” she snapped. “You gave me the diamonds so that I didn’t have to marry. Well there, I shan’t.”
She glared at him and crossed her arms, only too aware that she did sound like a troublesome child now, but finding she didn’t care.
How dare he act as though arranging for her marrying his brother was of no consequence.
Had she really meant so little to him? If so he was as much a rake and a scoundrel as the earl for taking advantage of her.
How could he have kissed her with such .
.. Such feeling, if she meant nothing to him? It was too much.
“It’s for the best,” he said, and his voice was harder now, colder.
“The best for whom?” she demanded, her voice breaking.
She got to her feet, too angry to sit beside him any longer “The best for you, you mean?” she said, turning on him in fury.
“Then you can walk away and leave us and not feel guilty about it, is that right? No matter that I don’t love him, or even like him?
No matter that he needs you to stay because losing you broke his heart and changed him irrevocably?
No, no.” She waved her hand, as though such words were trifles to him.
“No, you run along and leave and never give us another thought. Go off and find your men and raid and plunder until you’re caught again and hanged, alone with none to care for you! ”
She discovered that she was shouting and on the verge of tears, so she stopped abruptly and turned her back on him, fighting to keep her composure.
The silence seemed to fill the gloomy space, eating up the noise of the ship, the creak of wood and slap of waves, and the muffled shouts and thuds from the men working above them.
“If you think I would never give you another thought, then you are far from the truth.”
His voice was bleak and full of hurt and she turned to see the sorrow in his eyes. Her fierce, burning anger dispersed, as frail as a soap bubble in the face of such misery.
“Oh, Lawrence,” she said, choking on his name and running to him. She buried her face against his shoulder and felt his arms come around her, holding her close as she gave in to tears. “Please, please don’t go,” she begged. “Don’t leave us. I can’t bear it. I’ll never see you again.”
He was silent, one hand stroking her hair, and she knew she would never change his mind. He was too afraid of putting them in danger, and so he would leave, and they would never see him again. There was only one thing left she could do.
“Please, Henri. I want to know you’re safe, and I want Alex to be happy.
He’s the only man in the world I trust to look after you, the .
.. the only one I can bear the idea of you being with at all,” he said, and by now his voice was rough and her heart was soothed a little, to know this was hurting him as much as it was her.
“And I know you are extraordinary enough to make him happy. You are the best two people in the world, and it would comfort me to know you are content together.”
Henri closed her eyes, feeling hot tears stream down her face. Alex had better be right about this, she thought fiercely. Because if this didn’t work ... She swallowed hard and raised her head.
“Alright, Lawrence, if it means so much to you, I’ll do it. I’ll marry your brother.”