Chapter 45 #2
His jaw tensed. “If I had not ruined my life entirely, I should like to think yours would have been much different. Both of ours might have been.” He pressed his eyes closed, but hers remained fixed on him. “That night at the masquerade ought to have been the beginning for us. Not an end.”
The masquerade. The revelation that Henry had been the man she’d thought of for years felt like it had been a month ago, not a few hours. She should have known if the man from years before was the very man she’d been falling in love with. How could she not have known?
Softly, she brushed fingers against his jaw.
His eyes opened. He seemed braced for something. Her set down?
“Henry, your father died. I would never judge you for reacting as you did. We can pose a thousand what-might-have-beens regarding our pasts, but that does not change where we stand today, nor where we will go in the future. And I know you, Henry. I know the man you are. The future you will create will be incredible.”
He swallowed, shaking his head, but it seemed more in wonder than disagreement. But then he tensed.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I don’t know if James has arrived.” He jumped to his feet. “He lent me his horse after saving me.”
“If you didn’t find Jennings, what happened?”
Henry scrubbed a hand down his cheek. “A hired man thought to drag me back to London for Hastings. He had me tied up awaiting a boat.”
“Gracious—and here I’d planned to come after you myself.”
“You would have been more welcome a sight than Lucas or James . . . but do you have much skill in pugilism?”
“Not a bit.”
“Hmm, my friends may have been the better option, then. Marginally, at least.” A slow smile spread across his face with the remark, sending warmth tumbling through her.
“I should see to James, but I do not want to leave you alone. Come with me?” He held out a hand which she took, allowing him to pull her to her feet.
Before she could answer, a shadowy figure appeared in the garden some fifteen paces away. Henry turned, blocking her.
“Declare yourself,” he called.
The figure paused half a moment, palms lifted. “Lieutenant Carruthers.”
The tension in Henry’s arm lessened, but he did not step aside. “Do you intend to explain your part in all of this?”
“Similar to yours, I imagine, though my employer is the Crown rather than whomever yours might be.” He stopped a few paces away.
“Smuggling has grown out of hand since the ending of the war. The Royal Navy intends to do something about it, and I have attempted to follow the chain of command to the top. I never expected it to have been my own friends.” Disgust colored his tone, but he shook his head as if to physically repel it.
“Mrs. Seymour, you have my greatest apologies that you were entangled in it all. Are you well?”
Alice stepped around Henry; his hand tightened. “Well enough.”
Carruthers nodded, then shifted his focus to Henry. “I would like to speak with you, Sir Henry. Alone?”
Henry shook his head. “I will not leave Alice after everything. I want her near me.”
The man’s brows lifted in the shadowed night, gaze swinging between the two of them. “I think I understand. Might I assume you would be fine with her hearing my questions?”
Henry nodded. “Yes. So long as you are quick. I apologize, but I need to ensure my friend returned safely.”
“The earl?”
Henry nodded again.
“He is here. Inside with Lord Berkeley. But I will be quick nonetheless. I should like to explore the option of employment for you.”
Henry frowned.
“As I said, the Royal Navy is looking to end smuggling in England. We could use men with your background. You’re good, Sir Henry.
Took me weeks to realize you were suspicious, and that was only because my man overheard you in discussion with Trumble, who I knew to be on the smuggling side of things.
I wrongfully assumed you were working with the housekeeper, or you and I might have joined forces . . . Perhaps now we can.”
“You have informants in the house?” Henry asked.
“Indeed.” His eyes turned to Alice again. “There are a number on Shelbourne’s side. I will give you all their names. Those that have had a direct hand in the smuggling, though, I will be obliged to take with me.”
Alice nodded, the earlier pain of betrayal cutting again.
All that time spent trying to win her staff over, to impress them and keep them from the smuggling with only logic and pleas to aid her, and they had really been working for another.
She glanced at Henry to find him watching her, an empathetic look in his eye as he squeezed her hand.
“My cook as well?”
Carruthers’s eyes squinted, then he shook his head. “No. Not that one.”
Relief coursed through her, and Henry released her fingers to slip his hand around her waist. She fit rather perfectly against his side.
Carruthers paid the action no mind, directing his next words again to Henry. “I should like to recommend you for a position here on the island. It is fairly unorthodox, but as Windvale was the center of smuggling, I do believe it will make a good center for resistance.”
“You want him to capture the smugglers?” Alice asked.
“If needed, yes, but also to keep an eye on the situation, pass on information. The same that you’ve been doing now, though hopefully without as much danger. Even still, I can make no promises about that, you understand.”
“Won’t the operation just die out now that Shelbourne has been captured? And once I track down Jennings?”
Carruthers shook his head. “Another man will rise up. They always do. Hopefully it will quell them for a time, but not forever. Until then, we could use your help tracking down Jennings.”
Henry nodded. “I will need to think on it. How long do I have?”
“I leave at first light. I would prefer to have your answer before then.”
“I will find you.”