Page 22 of The Rebellious Countess (The Ruined Duchess #2)

Nine

Hag,

Your assistance is most welcome and appreciated,

Elias

—A numeric coded letter written to Hag in Le Conquet, France, April 1812—The numerals are the only indication of the decipher.

“16 trunks” represents the 1st sentence, 6th word—EARLY, “last 29 or 28 years” represents inverting 9th and 8th words of the second sentence—ASTIER LELAND, “312 Clarke Street” represents the 3rd sentence 12th word—Simone, and ‘6600 francs” represents the 6th sentence 6th word—CLARKE.

The “2 of us will split in 1/2” represents the second sentence decipher words will be split in 1/2—ASTier-LEland=AST—LE.

From there Hag must decipher on her own the words: EARLY AST-LE SIMONE CLARKE—Earl of Astley Simon Clark is the missing shipment last seen in Le Conquet.

S he laughed. What else was there to do.

She didn’t believe Hag was her husband’s mother any more than Elias was her legal husband—except according to him, he was, and according to the looks on both of their faces, and their identical deep, mossy-green eyes, Hag was indeed Elias’s mother.

Yet he’d told her his mother was dead. Another lie mounting up on top of the others.

How could Hag be here in this tavern that wasn’t fit for a lady?

Holy demons. She’d been calling her mother-in-law Hag . Hag. Surely that wasn’t her real name, yet Máira had been insulting her this entire time.

She curtseyed. What else was there to do when one has realized how disparaging she’d been to her mother-in-law—to her face, no less. Had she called Hag a cold-blooded killer to Elias? Oh, but she had.

And she had slapped her.

There was a special place for women who insulted their husband’s mother.

The woman who bore him, nursed him, and made life worth living for him after his father had died.

Elias had spoken of that, but never deigned to tell her his mother’s name was Hag, despite referring to her as Hag since he’d entered the tavern.

Who would be so utterly rude to one’s mother?

“You didn’t think it pertinent to tell me of your mother’s identity?”

“I haven’t told anyone of her identity.”

That gave her pause. “No one?”

Elias shook his head. “For her safety, I’d appreciate it if it didn’t leave this room.”

His mother laughed. “I’m the reason you’re in this mess.”

His smile was sad, sadder than she’d ever seen him, and it was as if in that moment she wasn’t there with them. Mother and son bonded over a shared grief. “Father is the reason we are in this mess. You only did his bidding because you loved both of us.”

Hag’s eyes watered and Máira thought she was seeing another person. The woman she knew as Hag did not cry—she murdered people.

“I can’t call you Hag.”

Her mother-by-marriage blinked away her tears and cleared her throat. “You can, and you will.”

“But—”

“It keeps both of you safe as well,” Hag interrupted.

“Hag insists, and I find myself agreeing with her for the first time since she started going by the ridiculous name.”

“I don’t understand,” she confessed. A week ago, when she’d said her vows, she had expected a quiet marriage in the country.

Since then, she’d found herself drunk, kidnapped, transported to enemy territory, abandoned with nothing, married to a man she did not know, attacked by a stranger in a tavern, witness to that man’s murder, and somehow beholden to the woman who committed the murder, who, it seemed, was actually her dead mother-in-law—now most certainly alive.

She nearly laughed. The ton had thought her childhood was full of scandal.

Being the bastard to dead parents, who had lived as husband and wife until they died, hardly seemed like it was gossip-worthy compared to this.

Her parents had believed they were legally married and had lived in the country while her father traveled to Edinburgh and Carlisle on a regular basis.

Her mother had died giving birth to their sixth daughter, and her father had died of drink and a broken heart four years later.

Debt had taken their home, and the girls had gone to live with their nursemaid until their mother’s godfather, the Duke of Nithesdale, had taken Máira’s oldest sister under his wing with plans to sponsor her.

He ended up marrying her and making her a duchess on his deathbed.

And then somehow, after giving birth to the duke’s son, Iseabail had met another duke and married him.

Dukes were rare. One woman marrying two, an impossibility. The gossip had been understandable, but this? This would knock the ton on its ears—if she ever made it home.

“I think we should return home at once,” she mused.

“I agree. Things have become far too complicated,” Hag added.

“I would love to accommodate the two of you, but that is impossible,” her husband interjected.

“Why?”

“The Earl of Astley? Remember?”

No, she actually had forgotten about him, which made her feel horrible.

If it hadn’t been for Simon, who knows what would have happened to her sister Caillen.

He’d saved her life when she’d eloped to Gretna Green with her husband William, only to have William gunned down by highwaymen on their way back to London.

It was Simon who came across them and saved Caillen from certain death.

The highwaymen, however, had escaped, and Caillen had been recuperating at Simon’s mother’s house in the country for the past eight months.

It was horrendous of her to forget Simon’s plight. “Of course. Let us be off. Simon needs our help.”

Elias frowned. “Not our help. My help. You will return to the Maribelle immediately.”

Máira stood up straight, thrusting her shoulders back and ignoring the way Elias’s gaze strayed to her breasts. “I will not.”

Elias, however, dismissed her objection. “Yes, you will. I will head out to find Astley on my own.”

It was his mother who disagreed next. “No. You will not go alone.”

Elias’s brow puckered. “Fine. I’ll take your henchman.”

“Tomás is not a henchman. He works for me.”

“He’s your guard dog.”

“A more loyal breed I’ve never found.”

“Not even in Father?” Anger tinged his words, but Elias didn’t back down.

“Especially not your father,” Hag agreed.

Elias flinched but didn’t argue.

“If Tomás disappeared there would be talk. I cannot allow him to go. Not now.” Then she did the unexpected and nodded in Máira’s direction. “She should go with you.”

Elias spit out his answer before Máira could agree. “No.”

“Yes,” she and Hag said as one, and smiled at each other. God help him if they could actually agree.

“She could be useful,” Hag said at the same time Máira said, “I can help.”

“How can she possibly help?” Elias plopped down into a chair as if all the fight in him escaped. Then he closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, his elbow resting on the table. He sighed and rolled his neck before looking at his mother.

“Traveling as a couple is better than traveling alone.” Hag’s argument made him stiffen further.

“We are at war. It is not safe—I can make faster time traveling alone.” He rubbed the back of his neck as if it hurt, and Máira took over the massage.

He stiffened at first, but then relaxed and melted into her touch.

She tried not to think about how her hands were moving across his bare skin and every part of her was coming alive with the feel of his smooth, tight muscles flexing and relaxing underneath her touch.

She leaned into him, her nipples growing hard at the feel of his bare back against her front, and asked, “Do you know what Simon looks like?”

His muscles tensed under her fingers and his lips thinned into a straight line as she peered around his shoulder.

“That would be a resounding no .” Hag responded, and Elias’s eyes snapped in her direction with daggers in their depths. He was not happy with his mother. She, however, was grateful.

“Besides, how can I trust Peter?” she added. “He abandoned me on land without any money to my name.”

“She could have ended up working on her back,” his mother added.

Máira blushed, and she could have sworn she saw Elias launch those daggers of his in his mother’s direction as he shrugged away from Máira’s touch and stomped toward the door.

“Where are you going?” She asked.

“To the Maribelle . It’s time I find out once and for all just exactly where Peter stands.”

“Don’t you think clothes might help?” Hag asked.

Elias stopped just short of the door and Máira covered her mouth, but a strangled giggle split the seams of her fingers.

“Are you telling me that now you magically have clothes for me, Hag?” His voice held back his temper remarkably well.

“As a matter of fact, I do. It seems my beloved husband was about the same height and weight as you are.”

“I cannot take?—”

Hag refused to accept his excuses. “I insist. He would have wanted it this way.”

Elias didn’t turn around but he nodded just the same. “Then I would be grateful and honored.”

“Tomás?” Hag didn’t need to yell—her ever-present shadow stood to face the three of them.

“Yes, Hag.” There was no hesitation in the way he addressed Hag. It was as if he had accepted it a long time ago.

“If you could fetch my husband’s clothes for Elias, I would appreciate it. He and his wife will be leaving at once.”

“Of course, Hag.” Tomás bowed and left the room as the three of them watched him go, with very different thoughts on their minds.