Page 47 of Hastings (Brothers in Arms #15)

CHAPTER 47

T hey followed the coach through London on foot. It was traveling slowly down the congested streets, so it was easier than trying to hail a carriage. They went down Charing Cross to Tottenham Court. All the bookshops they passed made Hastings think about The Modern Prometheus , and he got mad all over again. More than once since he’d left Ashton on the Green the memory of Maddy comparing herself to Frankenstein’s creature had haunted him. He was the creature, not her. Here he was again, killing on command. Killing for revenge. He’d gone right back to his old life, because the truth was, he wasn’t fit for a life with them.

The coach finally came to a stop in front of a pub on Tottenham Court Road. The pub was strangely quiet for this time of day, which was perfect. The Honourable Harold Pinter, middle son of the Earl of Wembley, emerged from the coach and looked around furtively. The bodyguard from the back had come around and opened the door for him. He was followed out by the second bodyguard.

Just then another coach pulled up behind Pinter’s. He looked surprised. The coach was quite grand and had a black cloth obscuring the coat of arms.

“I don’t think that’s who he’s supposed to be meeting here,” Essie whispered.

“No, I don’t think so,” Hastings agreed. “Whoever it is has terrible timing.”

A figure stepped down out of the coach and they all reeled back in shock.

“What the devil is Freddy doing here?” Simon asked.

Hastings had a very bad feeling about this. When a second figure emerged from the coach, he knew he was right. Stephen put his hat on and then turned and offered a hand to whoever was still in there. Hastings knew even before he saw her that it was Maddy.

“Oh, Lord,” Essie said with a sigh. “Here we go.”

Hastings was about to march across the street and gut Pinter before he had a chance to say a word to any of them when Simon and Manderley each grabbed him by an arm.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Simon said. “No rushing in gun firing, remember?”

“He’s trying to have her killed!” Hastings told him. “None of them have a clue how this works.”

“If it was just him, I’d say Maddy could take him,” Essie mused. “But those guards, I don’t know. Hastings might be right on this one.”

“On this one?” he asked. “I don’t need your help, thanks.”

Essie shrugged and turned and started to walk away. “Suit yourself. Tell Mads I’ll be around to see her soon.” She strolled off and was lost in the crowd.

“I think Barnabas is ready to give up on that one,” Simon said. “She’s far too independent.”

“We are all far too independent for Sir Barnabas,” Manderley said. “Can we let go now?”

Hastings nodded curtly. He couldn’t tell what was being said, but no one had drawn any weapons, and the bodyguards had taken several steps back. Pinter began gesturing at them. It looked as if he was trying to get them to intervene and they both shook their heads. Freddy spoke to them, and they nodded and faded back into the crowd and were soon gone.

“Freddy still has the ability to surprise me,” Simon said softly. “We could have used him in the service.”

“If I promise not to fire my gun, can I go and see what the hell is going on?” Hastings asked. He looked pointedly at Simon’s hand still on his arm.

“No killing?” Simon asked.

“No killing indiscriminately,” Hastings amended.

“Fair enough.” Simon let him go.

Maddy stepped forward after Freddy sent the guards away. How on earth he’d managed to bribe them before they arrived, she had no idea. She didn’t let it trouble her. He had insisted on helping, and she was very grateful. She wasn’t sure how she and Stephen would have managed it without him. The irony was not lost on Maddy. Here she’d grown up as part of London’s underworld, and a duke had to help her take down her nemesis.

“Pinter,” she said, her voice curt.

“I don’t know you,” he lied. He was looking over his shoulders, not meeting her eyes.

“No, you don’t,” she agreed. The Madelyn Hyde he’d met was not who she was, not then and certainly not now. She shuddered to think she’d let this odious man grope her in order for her father to make a deal with him. She knew now the difference between someone like him and a real gentleman. “I’m here to offer you a deal.” She waited for his attention.

“I have nothing to say to a person like you,” he said with a supercilious sniff. “Begone and sell your wares elsewhere.”

Stephen bristled with anger at her side. “Watch yourself,” he growled. “That is my fiancée you are speaking to.”

“If that is indeed the case, then I should call the watch,” Pinter said. “I shan’t be accosted on the street by criminal scum.”

At that the duke took his walking stick and poked Pinter in the stomach hard enough to make him gag and double over.

“Watch your tone,” the duke said mildly. “You are speaking to my parson and his intended. And I assure you, should you call the watch I have more influence than you in who gets hauled away.”

“I’d heard the Duke of Ashland was a strange sort of fellow, and a ruffian,” Pinter said breathlessly, standing straight again. “I see the rumors are true. You may be a duke, but my father has a great deal of influence at court. Be careful or you may find your title in jeopardy.”

“If you read your Debrett’s you’d know that that is impossible,” Freddy told him. “Without an act of Parliament, it can’t be done, and no such act will be forthcoming.”

“Are you ready to hear my offer?” Maddy asked. She was not intimidated in the least by this toad. Facing him again she realized she’d never been intimidated by him. She’d gone to Ashton on the Green because she wanted out of her life, not because she feared for it. He’d inadvertently given her the keys to her cage, but now he was jeopardizing everything, and she wouldn’t allow that. She couldn’t just kill him. Well, she could, but Stephen didn’t want that, and she was trying to leave all that behind. And she didn’t want Hastings to kill him, either. That would hang over their heads. No, this was the best way.

While he’d been posturing and trying to decide what to do, the duke’s footmen had moved in behind him. When he turned and tried to bolt, they grabbed him and turned him back around and set him in front of her. He was all bluster and outrage, but she could see the fear in his eyes.

“I’m not going to kill you,” Maddy said. “That’s part of the deal.”

He had the stones to laugh. “You, kill me? Well, I daresay not.”

“Why? Because I’m a woman?” she asked, irritated. “Yes, you just keep on being an idiot. It may not be me, but some woman will get you.”

“Focus,” Stephen said quietly.

“Right, right,” she agreed, nodding. “The deal is, there is a position waiting for you in Canada. You can take it, and leave England, and never return. Or you can die.”

“Canada? What are you prattling on about?” he said with a frown. “I work in the Colonial Office. I don’t need a position in Canada.”

Maddy turned to the duke with a shrug. “Well, I tried. Let’s leave him to Hastings.” She started to walk away, but Stephen took her arm.

“Maddy,” he said with an arched brow. She tapped her foot impatiently.

“Fine,” she said. She turned back to Pinter.

“The duke,” she pointed at the duke, “has pulled some strings to get this position for you. He has also told certain individuals about your criminal enterprise skimming money from the Colonial Office and taking bribes for contracts and goods.”

“I have done no such thing!” he blustered, his face turning red.

“Save your outrage,” she told him. “I was there when you brokered the deal with Bleecker, remember?”

“One of those individuals I have had a conversation with is the Earl of Wembley,” the duke said. “Your father, I believe? Yes, well, he agreed this position was a very good opportunity for you. You’ll find your bags packed and already loaded on a ship heading to Nova Scotia.”

Pinter’s face had gone from red to pale. “My father?” he said weakly.

“You can go to Canada, or you can die here,” Stephen said firmly. “Trust me when I tell you we will not be the ones to do the deed, but things have already been set in motion. We are simply trying to intercept before those plans can come to fruition.”

“Personally, I think you should die,” Freddy said in a calm, conversational way. “After all, you attempted to take Miss Hyde’s life, so it is only fair play that you suffer the same fate. But alas, the good parson and his lady have decided to be the better people, as it were, and so I helped broker this deal. Rest assured, I am also willing to rescind the deal at any moment, so I wouldn’t take too long to decide.” He pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time. “I have accepted an invitation for this evening at Carleton House, so the longer you delay the more perilous your situation.”

“Do I get a vote?” Hastings appeared from around Pinter’s carriage, glowering at them. “You are interfering with my job, after all.”

“Hastings!” she cried, and ran over to him. “I knew we’d find you if we followed Pinter.” She hugged him tightly and ignored the fact he didn’t hug her back. He was angry. She understood that. She pulled away and looked up at his lovely face, disregarding his scowl as she gave him a bright smile. “I’ve missed you terribly, and so has Stephen.” Surely he could feel her heart pounding and see the truth of it in her face.

“I’m sure you have,” he said sarcastically. He brushed her hands off his arms and looked at Pinter. “He’s mine.”

“Who, sir, are you?” Pinter asked in a querulous voice. Maddy got the impression he already knew.

“I’m the one whose job it is to kill you,” Hastings told him with a nasty smile. “I got assigned the job, but honestly? It’s going to be my pleasure.”

“Assigned?” Pinter asked in horror. “By whom?”

Hastings shook his head and put his finger to his lips. Pinter’s color had turned ashen.

“I’m a case for him, am I?” he asked. He turned to Freddy. “I’ll take it. I’ll take the deal.” He held out his hand.

The duke looked at it with distaste. “I prefer not to,” he said, turning away. He motioned and the two bodyguards appeared out of the shadows. “Take him to the Imperial ,” he told them. “Dock 352.”

“Yes, Your Grace,” one of the men said. He grabbed Pinter’s arm and shoved him toward the carriage. Both bodyguards climbed in with him.

“See here,” Hastings said angrily.

“You still work for me,” the duke told him. “And I am telling you he leaves for Canada.” He and Hastings stared at one another until Hastings swore and turned away.

“Pinter,” the duke said before the door of the coach was closed. “You are never to return. Should you do so, the warrant for your death with immediately be reinstated. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” he said. One of the footmen closed the door in his face.

“Make sure he gets on that ship,” the duke told him. The footman nodded and climbed onto the back of the coach.

“Now,” the duke said gaily, rubbing his hands together, “I shall make my dinner plans, and you three can work this out. Yes?” He waved at his coachman, and he pulled the coach over to where they stood. “I’m taking the coach, naturally. I expect you all at the Park for luncheon on Thursday next to report on what you have decided.”

“I’m not working for you anymore,” Hastings told him. “I’m not the sheriff. I quit. I have a job here. In London.”

“Yes, yes,” the duke said as he climbed into his carriage. “Oh, is that Simon and Manderley?” He waved from the doorway of the coach. “Oh, do let me give you a ride home, gentlemen. We must catch up.”

“Freddy, what have you done?” a blond-haired gentleman asked him.

“What needed to be done, of course,” the duke told him blithely. “Come, come. I must be on my way. Good afternoon,” he said with a little bow of his head to Maddy and Stephen and Hastings as the two men who came from across the street got into his coach.

“You must be Miss Hyde,” the blond man said through the window. “Simon Gantry. By the way, Stephen,” he said with a grin. “You’re welcome.”

The coach pulled away, leaving the three of them on the walkway in front of a pub.

Hastings started to turn away and in desperation Maddy blurted, “I love you. Don’t leave. We want you to come home.”

Hastings didn’t turn around, just stopped long enough to say, “I don’t believe that. If it were true, I wouldn’t have had to find out about your engagement from Sir Barnabas.” He started walking again.

“That was my fault,” Stephen called out. Hastings stopped again, his back still to them. “I just couldn’t wait on the way to Tuck’s. Maddy was talking about leaving and I had to make her stay. If you don’t want us to get married, Hastings, we won’t.”

At that Hastings turned around. “Don’t do that on my account,” he said. “I’m back in London to stay. It’s a good thing you found each other, then, isn’t it? So just run along back to Ashton on the Green and quit messing up my assignments.”

“Do you want to marry her instead?” Stephen asked. Maddy was surprised. They’d talked it about and decided it made more sense for her to marry Stephen. Since Hastings already lived there, it shouldn’t be too unusual for him to stay, and people would simply get used to it. But Hastings and Maddy, if they married, it would be unusual for a newly married couple to live at the parsonage. And it wouldn’t be possible for Stephen to leave the parsonage and live with them.

Hastings looked right at her and met her gaze. “No,” he said flatly. “I can’t marry her.”

It was like a knife to her heart. Had they destroyed his love by not waiting for him to declare theirs?

“What can we say, what can we do, to prove how sorry we are?” she cried. “Forgive us. You must realize how we feel. Truly, we love you.”

“We do love you, Hastings,” Stephen said solemnly. “We are not complete without you.”

“I think you think you love me,” he said, and he sounded more tired than anything else. “Which is not the same thing.” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his coat. “Take her home, Stephen. She belongs there with you. I told you all along, that life was never meant for me.”

“We both belong there,” Maddy said, giving up any pretense of not crying. “It isn’t home without you there.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine after the wedding,” Hastings said. He glanced across the street. “Just drop me a note every now and then.”

“We will not marry until you come home,” Stephen declared, and Maddy knew in her heart it was the right thing to do.

Hastings looked at them and then turned and crossed the street, losing himself in the crowd.