Chapter 40
Her hands trembled. She had done it. She had actually done it.
She had been standing out in the hall for several minutes, listening to the conversation through the partly open door.
She had known what she had to do from the moment she had seen Heath dragging Arabella into the room.
She had only needed the right opening. Julian had had a firm hold on Sebastian.
The man who had earlier bundled her into the carriage now lay on the floor at her feet, and Arabella was leaning against the desk, gasping from shock.
She stared at her friend. She was here. She had actually come. Devereau had been right after all. Arabella had come for her son and for the people she loved.
“Arabella,” she whispered.
“Clara. Oh, my goodness.”
They flew across the room and fell into one another’s arms.
“I thought I would never see you again,” Clara said, tears springing to her eyes.
“Nonsense. You cannot rid yourself of me so easily as that. Oh, the way you brought that vase down on his head. I cannot believe it.”
“I had to. I had been waiting for the right moment, and if you had not tripped him—”
“Clara.” Julian’s voice came from across the room, and it carried a tremble she had never heard from him before. She turned to him and was unsure what to say.
This was the man whom she had overheard, only that morning, telling his friend he would say he did not love her.
That all of this had been a mistake and meant nothing.
And he was also the man she had just heard say he would hound Devereau to the very end of the earth if he took her to Italy.
The way he looked at her now, shaken and unsteady and somehow strong and valiant all at the same time as he held a hold on their tormentor, made it impossible to know how to read him.
They stood staring at one another until David’s wail broke the silence.
“Horatio.” Arabella looked round at once. “Where is he?”
“I put him in a drawer in the hall. I could not very well run with the baby in my arms. But he has been perfectly all right. He has been a perfect angel.”
Arabella darted from the room and returned a moment later with the baby. He did not cry. Clara had been afraid he might not recognize Arabella after so long, but he gurgled at once and reached up and grabbed her face with one little fist.
“My sweet love,” she said. “Oh, my sweet love. I have missed you so very much. I cried every night thinking of you, and yet every morning I rose because thinking of you gave me strength.” She kissed his small face and then hugged Clara again. “Thank you. Thank you for looking after him.”
What followed was absolute chaos as footsteps sounded in the hall and Lucian stumbled in, followed by Charles, the valet, and a couple of the other men.
“What in the world—” Lucian began.
“There you are at long last,” Julian said, shaking his head. “Clara and Arabella and I had to handle these two ourselves.”
“We were below stairs fighting off two of his men,” Lucian reported.
“They were lookouts. Not very good ones, mind. They were sitting in one of the downstairs rooms drinking and playing cards. They put up some fight when they heard us, but they are properly bundled away now. They will not be going anywhere.”
“Good,” Julian said. “Take these two off, then.”
“This will not stand,” Devereau spluttered through the hand at his nose. “In my own home, invaded by a confederacy of black-hearted brutes—”
“Invaded by a confederacy of gentlemen of the highest order, come to free those you abducted,” Julian said, pushing the man towards Rhys. “Do not try to spin tales. We all know exactly what you are.”
“I cannot believe you,” Arabella said, looking at Sebastian with an expression closer to wonder than to anger.
“What a pig you are. I cannot believe I ever thought you handsome or valiant or charming. You are nothing but a pathetic creature, desperate for his uncle’s approval, willing to steal my child and force me to admit to things I never did. You will pay for your crimes.”
“You were stupid enough to fall for me, Bella.”
“Yes. I was. But thanks to you, I shall never be fooled again. Thanks to you, I have grown. I have learned I can rely on myself. I escaped you on the continent and made my own way back to England. I kept my son safe. And when you came for us, my loved ones and I defeated you. You are going to prison, and I rather hope they will throw away the key.”
“Here, here,” Lucian said, and clapped. “I am beginning to think we ought to make you an honorary Langley wife. You certainly have the constitution for it.”
The men took hold of Devereau, who continued to shout all manner of insults, and his fallen brute, who was already grunting his way back to consciousness.
“Lucian,” Julian called, “someone ought to let James and Gideon out and see to Nathaniel. The three of them got themselves rather thoroughly ambushed by this fellow’s man.”
“Of course, they did.” Lucian grinned. “We shall make certain they are unharmed. And once we know they are, we shall hold this over them for the rest of the year.”
“The rest of the year?” Rhys said. “For all eternity. I can already think of a dozen jests we can turn their misfortune into.” They chuckled and walked out.
“I will go with them and show them where they are being held,” Arabella said.
They were all leaving. Clara realized, with a jolt, that in another moment she would be alone with Julian. She tensed and tried to follow them, but Arabella turned, and with the one free hand not holding Horatio, she gently pushed her back.
“You need to listen to my cousin,” Arabella said.
“He is an utter fool, as we both know, and he said things he should never have said, but you also acted upon hearing only part of it. The two of you rather deserve one another, for neither of you has the patience or foresight to confront the other properly. Now, you will stay in this room until matters are sorted.”
And with that she swept out and followed the men down the hall.
“I do not understand,” Clara said.
“Neither do I.” Julian shook his head then collected himself. “That is to say, I do. I can only imagine what you heard.”
“I heard you say you did not love me. That this was all an arrangement. That our involvement was what caused you to be distracted from keeping David safe. Or Horatio, I suppose we ought to call him by his proper name again now.”
“I did say those things. But that is not what I meant. I said what I thought I ought to say because I was frustrated and angry at myself because there was nothing I could do and because I could not bear that I had failed to keep him safe. If you had stayed only a few moments longer, you would have heard me say none of it was true. That I do love you. You should have seen me these last hours after I knew you were gone. I thought my life had ended. I had never wanted to love anyone again. And then I met you again, properly this time, and you opened my eyes, and you opened my heart.” He walked towards her and took her hand.
Her first instinct was to pull away. She did not because she knew, in her bones that he was right. She had heard a snippet of a conversation and let it confirm her worst fears, and she had acted on those fears rather than confronting him with them. He had spoken recklessly, but she had run.
“I could think of nothing but finding you,” he said. “You were not at the inn when we arrived, but the innkeeper had your letter. And there was a woman who saw you knocking at the carriage windows to be let out. I came here as fast as I could. I heard him threatening to take you to Italy and…”
“I heard. I also heard you say you would hound him to the very end of the earth.”
He dipped his head slightly. “I would have. I meant every word of that.”
“Yes. I know. I was standing in the hall for quite some while with that vase raised above my head, only waiting for the right moment.”
“How did you find your way here? Where did you come from?”
“I did not think anybody would find me. Devereau was quite clear he expected Arabella to come once word spread that I had disappeared and equally clear he was not opposed to either of us meeting an unfortunate end. I knew I had to get out. I found a jib door behind an armoire in the chamber where they kept me. It had a hidden passage with another door. I made my way through several covered rooms, and I had been planning to go through the house with the baby and out the front door.” She took a breath.
“I heard footsteps in the house and naturally thought it was Devereau and his men, so I hid upstairs in a closet and listened, waiting for them to pass. Then I recognized Gideon and James’ voices.
I was about to come out of my hiding place when this brute—I do not know his name… ”
“Heath,” Julian said.
“Yes. Heath. I had just stepped out when I saw he had followed them and locked the door behind them. I hid myself again until he had passed. Then I followed him at a distance, only to know which way to go to avoid him. I saw him go down the secondary hallway, open a door, and return a moment later with Arabella. I followed them as far as I dared. That was when I saw the light from this study and heard your voice. I hid Horatio in a drawer and crept up to the door. I saw the whole exchange. When Arabella tripped him, I knew it was my chance.”
Julian smiled. “You really are quite handy with assorted household items. This is the second time you have felled a man considerably larger than you. Well, Arabella set it up for you rather nicely, I suppose.”
“I suppose you did not know I had it in me.”
“Oh, I knew. I have known for some time you are not the timid girl you once were. You are rather formidable in fact. In more ways than one.”
“As you said. I saw you take down Devereau yourself.”
He shrugged. “It had to be done.”
“I agree.” She paused. “What do you think will happen now?”
“We’ll rejoin the others. We’ll send for the constables.
As I said, he kidnapped you, a peer’s wife.
He held Arabella prisoner. He had his men assault three peers of the realm.
He will go away for a very long time, and we shall be safe.
I doubt even his uncle would care to assist him after a failure of this magnitude. ”
“Good,” she said. Then, more quietly, “And us? After all, it is all over now.”
He nodded. “We will have to tell everyone the truth. But I do not think it will go badly. After all, we have done society something of a favor by exposing him.”
She shook her head, gathering all her courage. “No. I did not mean that. Though having to tell my mother she does not have a grandchild after all will be difficult enough on its own.”
“I will be at your side,” he said in a low voice that sent a shiver through her. “I will be at your side. Do not fret.”
“Will you be?”
“I will. Please, Clara. Believe me when I say that what you overheard was spoken foolishly, out of frustration with myself and not out of any feeling I have for you.
I love you. I have loved you for some time.
I simply allowed my own foolishness to get in my way.
I tripped myself up time and again, rather the way Arabella tripped up our would-be captor just now.
“I was afraid to fall in love because of Josephine. I did not even truly love her, but I had been humiliated, and I did not think I could bear another humiliation of that sort. And then when David was taken, I felt like a failure because I had not protected him, and I had not protected you, and I could not find Arabella. I felt I was no good to anyone. I thought you deserved better.”
“Oh, Julian. You must stop tormenting yourself so.”
“I know. I know it. And after today, more than ever. Arabella is safe. She is back with her son, and her son will never be taken from her again. Devereau will be brought to justice. But all of that means nothing if I walk out of this house tonight without you by my side.”
Clara smiled and let go of his hand, only to wrap her arms around his waist instead.
“Well then. It is rather fortunate that will not happen. For tonight, the two of us will walk out of this house together as husband and wife. I love you, Julian. I have for some while now.”
He beamed at her and pressed his lips to hers, and the kiss was sweet and warm and full of promise all at once. Just as she knew their future together would be.