The Archer's Paradox (The Heart of a Hero Book 8) Page 8
Beatrice shot him a brilliant smile. “Are you trying to scandalize the matrons? Lady Jefferson does not look pleased by the lack of space between us.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m not seeking her approval.”
“What’s gotten into you tonight?” she asked.
Before he could respond, Beatrice narrowed her eyes.
“Did you see that?”
He had been staring at her. “See what?”
“A man just walked down the staircase into the garden.”
He shrugged. “He’s probably meeting up with his lady.”
“Perhaps, but most women tend to avoid going out in the rain while wearing a silk gown.”
“It’s raining?” To punctuate his remark, a boom of thunder sounded. “As much as I would like to finish this dance with you, I’m going to investigate outside. If I don’t return within ten minutes, send reinforcements.”
“Don’t be silly. I’m coming with you.”
He stopped and turned back toward her. “No, it’s not safe.”
“It never is, and every moment we waste arguing is making it more and more unlikely that we’ll find him at all.”
He was not pleased, but they could talk about it later. This might be their only chance to discover what Delacroix was planning. Or they might simply interrupt a clandestine assignation.
“At least stay behind me, please.” They slipped out the door to the terrace into moderate rain. He increased his pace, wiping his eyes and attempting to determine which way to go. The rain came down harder and he stopped halfway to the fountain. There was no point in continuing to search. Even if they were able to find someone out there, they wouldn’t be able to hear what was being said, and it would be unwise to interrupt without any knowledge of the situation.
The downpour continued, soaking through his waistcoat and his shirt underneath. Beatrice wore even fewer layers than he did and would soon grow cold. They would have to go straight to the carriage. They couldn’t even call for it to be brought around since there was no way they could enter the house when they were drenched. He scooped her up in his arms and began the long walk to the carriage.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I should think it would be obvious that I’m carrying you to the carriage.”
“I can walk.”
“Perhaps, but we’ll both be warmer this way.” He moved around the outside of the house, being careful not to get close enough to be seen in the light. If anyone saw them in their current condition, it would be a scandal.
She kissed his neck and he groaned.
“You mustn’t distract me or I might drop you.” She shivered and he moved faster. Finally, he could make out the carriages lined up along the drive. Unfortunately, his was toward the end of the line.
“Are you cold?” he asked.
“Only the parts of me that aren’t touching you.”
That was a provocative statement if he had ever heard one. He reached the carriage and called to his driver to open the door.
“Why didn’t you summon the carriage, sir?”
He climbed in and placed Beatrice on the forward-facing seat. “We were caught outside in the rain. The downpour came on so quickly we were soaked through so we couldn’t go into the house.”
“There’s a blanket under the forward seat, sir.”
“Thank you, James.”
He grabbed the blanket then pulled Beatrice onto his lap and wrapped it around her. “Are you still cold?”
She shivered. “I’ll be fine.”
He pulled her tight against him and pressed his lips to hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. His stomach tightened and he deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue between her lips. She met him stroke for stroke, igniting a fire within him. He ran his fingers through her silky hair then pulled back and pressed soft kisses against her neck. Unable to stop himself, licked the hollow above her clavicle, then slid down to press kisses against the soft skin along the edge of her bodice.
She moaned and he was nearly undone. He lifted his head, but she guided him back to her chest. “Don’t stop,” she whispered.
He kissed along her bodice again, then flicked his tongue over the fabric covering her nipple. She arched against him and he laved her through the fabric, her moans making him wish he could strip her gown off entirely. The carriage came to a stop and he pulled away from her. Luckily her gown had already been wet, so there was no outward sign of their ardor.
The moment the door opened, he swept her into his arms and carried her into the house and straight to her bedchamber. He set her gently on her bed and kissed her again, then turned to leave.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“I’m leaving before I lose my self-control.”
“But I want you to stay.”
“Beatrice, I don’t think you understand what you’re asking of me.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I know exactly what I’m asking of you. Come here.”
His heart thundered in his chest and his resolve wavered. “Are you certain this is what you want?”
She nodded and walked over to him, then turned so he could help her undress.
His fingers shook, but he managed to undo her gown and corset. He turned away and removed his clothes and placed them on a chair in the corner. By the time he turned around she was under the covers, her glorious hair spread over the pillow. He slid under the covers and wrapped a lock of her hair around his finger.
She rolled to her side and slid her arms around him and he held her tight. He was content stay like that forever, enjoying the touch of her soft, silky skin against him.
“I want to feel you inside me,” she whispered, and he obliged. She was his now and he would do whatever it took to keep her happy and safe. As soon as they settled everything at the school, they would marry and go home to Romney Marsh, and he would finally have the family he had always longed for.
Chapter Twelve
Beatrice attempted to pay attention to what Elizabeth was saying, but her mind kept drifting to Colin. She wanted to spend every moment with him, but they had to see things through with the school and neutralize Delacroix before they could marry.
Elizabeth had summoned her to help decipher a packet of documents that had been intercepted. Beatrice was able to read and translate several languages, whereas Elizabeth was known for being able to break any type of code. These documents were a mix of both, which made them twice as difficult to unravel.
What they had been able to determine so far was that the documents seemed to be copies of the same message in different languages and with different symbols, which meant they only had to decipher one of them to read the message.
Elizabeth held yet another paper above a candle, but the heat did not change what appeared on the document. There was no invisible ink. She turned the paper again, then flipped it over and held it up to the light.
“Beatrice, what do you see here?”
She took the paper from Elizabeth and studied the jumbled letters and symbols. They were both missing something. There didn’t seem to be any pattern to the code. Closing her eyes, she counted to ten, then refocused on the paper. Her heart leaped. “Every seventh symbol is a Russian letter. Do we have any blank paper?”
Elizabeth shoved a piece of vellum toward Beatrice and she located and wrote each letter, then sounded out the word. Ice flowed to her heart. “Offensive.”
Grabbing the paper from her, Elizabeth studied it, then paled. “I see the pattern now. Offensive. Romney Marsh. Tuesday.”
~~~
Despite their best efforts, no one was able to determine the size of the French forces or why they had chosen to land at Romney Marsh. Granted, it was a logical place to enter Britain. It might be a small group of spies landing, or a large scale invasion. Was the choice of landing site simply a matter of logistics, or were they targeting Colin or Beatrice? He had no doubt Delacroix would like to see them both dead. C
olin massaged his temples. They were to leave for Kent in the morning on horseback. He’d already sent a messenger to inform his staff to be prepared and to warn his contacts in the village, and the Royal Navy had been notified and would have a ship in place if one was available.
He finished gathering his provisions and set out for the school to say goodbye to Beatrice.
Morgan let him in the front door, and he climbed the staircase and knocked on Beatrice’s bedchamber door.
“Come in,” she said.
He opened the door and stopped abruptly. She was stuffing clothing and a small magnifying glass into a satchel.
“What are you doing?”
She looked at him as if he had spoken a language she didn’t understand. “Err…preparing for the ride to Romney Marsh.”
“It is my understanding that you’re staying here with Elizabeth and Captain Grant in case Delacroix is trying to trick us into leaving so he can get into this house.”
“My plans have changed. I am going to Romney. My father is there.”
“No.” It was a command, not a suggestion. “It’s too dangerous for you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “The level of danger is the same for me as it is for you.”
He took a step toward her. “Beatrice, I will not allow you to ride into peril.”
She turned away and continued stuffing items into her bag. “It’s not your decision to make. I am an adult and I will decide where I will or will not go.”
“Beatrice,” he said softly, and she finally looked up and met his eyes. “I won’t be able to live with myself if anything were to happen to you.”
She shrugged. “It’s a risk we all accepted when we decided to join the Legion or work for the Home Office. You know that. I am needed to translate. No one else comes close to knowing as many languages as I do.”
“I don’t care how many languages you know. I will not let you go.”
Her face filled with heat. “I want to be your partner, Colin, not your possession. If you don’t understand that, then we have no future together.”
His heart clenched. “Beatrice.”
She picked up her bag and stormed out the door.
Chapter Thirteen
It was only a day’s ride from London to Romney Marsh, but it felt more like a fortnight. Beatrice still couldn’t fathom that Colin didn’t think she was capable of participating in their mission. Colin didn’t seem to think anything of Elizabeth working, and Grant certainly had never tried to stop her from accepting missions despite the fact that they were married.
She shifted her weight. Being the only one riding aside meant that she was by far the most uncomfortable person on the trip, but it was a small price to pay to be able to do her job and help her country. She was proud of her work and she would not let Colin diminish her value. It was a relief to not be thinking about marrying him all the time when there we so many other, more important things she could be doing. Besides, she couldn’t abandon the girls at the school anyway. They needed her, and they believed in her abilities. Perhaps she could even recruit a few of them to join the Legion when they were a little older. She and Elizabeth could teach them how to decipher coded messages.
They had been blessed with sunshine and dry roads and the trip took less time than they had anticipated. Because he apparently felt that he had the authority to tell everyone else what to do, Colin insisted that everyone stay at his house. She wished to stay in her own home, but despite the fact that Colin wasn’t an official member of the Legion, Lord Fynes had designated him as the leader of their mission so she had to follow his orders.
After they took care of the horses, the men in their party—which was everyone except her—went up to Colin’s watchtower. She chose to visit her father first.
Beatrice climbed to the second floor with the happy company of Sampson. At least he was glad to see her even if no one else wanted her there. They stopped at the threshold of her father’s bedchamber. He looked much better than he had the last time she’d seen him.
“Papa, you look well.” She kissed his cheek and sat in the chair across from him.
“My darling, I’m so happy to see you. I’m feeling better than I have for a very long time.”
“To what do we owe this change?”
“I don’t know, but now that you’re back, I’d like to move back home.”
“Oh, Papa, I’m not going to be staying. I have to go back to London and run the school now that Madame is gone.”
He shook his head. “I don’t understand. Colin wrote to me and asked for permission to marry you. I thought you were going to live here, not in London.”
“Papa, I’m afraid I’m not going to marry Colin.”
“Why not?”
“Our lives are moving in different directions.”
Her father frowned and open his mouth to speak, but she cut him off. She didn’t want to talk about Colin anymore. “Papa, I need do some work, but I’ll be back soon.”
She took her leave and headed up to the watchtower. Though it was welcome, her father’s recovery was a mystery to her. She would talk to Cook later and find out what he had been eating. Her father had lived alone for a long time and may not have been eating well.
The sounds of the men carried down the staircase. She had hoped they’d already be gone. When she reached the top, her mouth dropped open. She could see for miles in every direction. A Royal Navy ship was anchored off shore, and she wondered if it alone would be enough to deter an invasion. Though the sun had set, there was still enough light to see the breathtaking view. The sound of hoofbeats caught her attention and she saw the outline of a rider coming full speed toward the manor house. Everyone filed down from the roof to the first floor.
John Long had arrived, one of the younger members of the Legion. Beatrice stepped forward.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, ma’am. We caught Monsieur Delacroix coming into the school not long after you left. He had been stealing valuables for some time and hiding them in the cellar.”
Colin moved closer. “Did you find out if Delacroix wrote the coded message to draw us away from the school?”
“He claimed that he didn’t, sir, but his word isn’t worth much.”
“Then it looks like we need to divide up and take turns on watch tonight. We’ll continue until there’s either an invasion, or we can be reasonably sure that it was Delacroix’s doing. Beatrice and I will take the first watch while the rest of you have dinner.”
She narrowed her eyes but did not object because she didn’t want to undermine his authority, despite the fact that it was exactly what he had tried to do to her. Reluctantly, she followed him back up to the watchtower. The night was bright with starlight and the light of a half-moon. It seemed like an odd time for the French to attempt an invasion. It probably had been a trick employed by Delacroix.
“Beatrice, I need to say something to you.”
She sighed. “Go ahead.”
“I’m sorry I tried to stop you from coming on this mission. It’s just that I love you, and I can’t stand the idea of losing you. He moved closer to her. “You grew up with sisters and both of your parents, but I never had a family, and I want to marry you more than anything, but I’m afraid you’ll leave me, too.”
She strode over to him and put her hands on his face. “Colin, I would never leave you.”
“Maybe not on purpose, but you can’t guarantee that nothing will happen to you while you’re working for the Legion.”
“I also can’t guarantee that I won’t fall off of a horse or catch a fatal disease. That’s how life works. You have to live it to the fullest and hope for the best. But I know that I’d rather have a perfect few months with you than a lifetime without you.”
He crushed her against him and kissed her until she was dizzy and had to hold onto him to stay upright. A loud boom sounded and Colin shoved her behind him. Something was burning on the water. He pulled out a telescope.
“It lo
oks like the invasion is over.” He handed the telescope to her.
“Oh, my.” A small wooden boat had been blown apart by the Navy ship. Voices could be heard down below as the others poured out of the house and ran over the marsh to the beach.
“Colin? There’s something I’ve been wondering about. Can I ask you a question?”
He took her hands in his. “Anything.”
“I’m not complaining, but how can you afford this land and the manor house?”
“After I left the circus at Mr. Astley’s insistence, I worked as a mercenary. Some of my assignments paid very well.”
“Who did you work for?”
“I’m not at liberty to say.”
“We’re not even married yet and you’re already keeping secrets from me.”
“You have secrets that pertain to your work as well.”
“True. Shall we call it even?”
He nodded, and then he kissed her.
The Heart of a Hero Series
No Rest for the Wicked by Cora Lee (prequel novella)
Only A Hero Will Do by Alanna Lucas
Once Bitten by Aileen Fish
Lightning Strikes Twice by Jillian Chantal
No Hiding for the Guilty by Vanessa Riley
The Marquis of Thunder by Susan Gee Heino
The Good, The Bad, And The Scandalous by Cora Lee
The Archer’s Paradox by Ally Broadfield
The Missing Duke by Heather King
The Mercenary Pirate by Katherine Bone
Prologue and Chapter One Excerpt from:
The Missing Duke
The Heart of a Hero Series
Copyright © 2017 Heather King
Buy The Missing Duke:
Amazon.com
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Amazon CA
Amazon AU
Prologue