Dawn on a Distant Shore (59 page)

"My lord Earl. My
husband is not in."

He inclined his head.
"Aye, I can see that."

"Then perhaps you
would care to call again in the morning."

The earl walked to the
windows and looked down into the square. "He's aff lookin' for his faither,
I take it."

Elizabeth chose not to
reply.

"How lang has he
been awa'?"

She did not answer.

Carryck turned. She
could no longer make out his face where he stood in shadow.

"Ye understan'
Scots, d'ye no'?"

"I understand you
well enough, my lord."

He made a deep sound
in his throat; it might have been amusement, or derision.

"He willna find
his faither, nor MacLachlan. The
Jackdaw
came intae the firth
yestere'en, but they werena on board."

And still he studied
her, as if he had set her a test and was curious how she would meet the challenge.
In the coolest tone she could muster, she said, "The exciseman lied, then.
I suppose I should not be surprised. I gather that Mr. Pickering and Mr.
Moncrieff knew about the
Jackdaw
, but chose to keep that information
from us."

"Aye. He's
owercautious at times, is Angus."

She could not help but
laugh: a short, sharp sound. "His cautiousness, as you put it, has sent my
husband out on a futile search. Let us hope that Mr. Moncrieff has wasted only his
time."

If Carryck was worried
about Nathaniel's welfare, he hid it well.

Elizabeth's throat was
tight with anger. "Do you know where my father-in-law and his friend are,
if they are not with Mac Stoker?"

He nodded. "A
navy frigate boarded the
Jackdaw
ten days syne."

She dug her nails into
the palm of her hand and forced herself to focus on the candle flame
. Pressed
into the service of the Royal Navy.
When she had control of her voice she
said, "The entire crew?"

The Earl of Carryck
glanced out the window again. "Just Bonner and MacLachlan. The rest o' Stoker's
crew sits in yon tollbooth for smugglin'."

Elizabeth's thoughts
raced so frantically that she must turn her face away so that Carryck could not
see her distress. Nathaniel had gone out to find word of Stoker and his ship.
He had taken enough coin with him to buy that information, and more. If he had learned
that the dragoons had arrested the whole crew of the
Jackdaw
, he might
well believe Hawkeye and Robbie to be in gaol. Again.

In his current state
of mind, he would risk everything to free them. A small sound escaped her, and
she pressed her hand to her mouth.

The earl was watching
her. Elizabeth raised her head and swallowed.

"And the
frigate?" Her voice came hoarse.

"I've made
inquiries, but there's nae word o' her as yet." Carryck stood with his
arms crossed, at his ease.

If they are dead, it
is your doing.
She did not speak the words; could not say out loud what she feared most, even
to make clear to this man what he must know and acknowledge.

She drew herself up as
tall as she could. "Sir, I will ask you again to leave and return in the
morning."

"That I canna do,
and should ye ask a hundred times. We must awa' tae Carryckcastle, for ye're in
danger here."

"There is nothing
new in that," Elizabeth said. "We have been in one kind of danger or
another these many weeks."

"For the bairns'
sake, then."

Elizabeth closed her
eyes to rein in her temper. "If you were truly worried about my children, my
lord, then they would be safe at home in New-York."

He rubbed a thumb
alongside his mouth as he considered. "Ye dinna trust me."

"And does that
surprise you?"

"No' in the
least," said Carryck. "A sensible woman wad nivver entrust hersel'
and her bairns tae a stranger."

"I see. You
intrude in the middle of the night to test not only my composure, but also my
character."

"I came tae see
ye safely hame," he corrected her. "Moncrieff has been celebratin' aa
night and canna be trusted wi' the job. Ma men are waitin' on the green wi' fresh
horses."

Elizabeth crossed her
arms. "And if a thousand men waited with a thousand horses, it would make
no difference to me. Once again I will tell you, my lord. I will not leave this
place without my husband. Have I not made myself clear?"

"Och, aye,
woman." Carryck came away from the window. "Ye talk weel enough in
yer strange English way, but ye canna hear." And he pointed with his chin
to the hall.

Elizabeth spun around.
The sound of a familiar step and then the door flew open, and Nathaniel came
through with a pistol cocked and aimed at the Earl of Carryck.

"Nathaniel!"
Elizabeth stepped toward him, her hands raised. "I'm in no danger. This is
Carryck."

There was a shimmer of
sweat on his brow, and something in his expression, something that struck such
fear in her that her voice broke as she tried to speak. "Nathaniel, did
you not hear me? This is the earl."

He blinked at her.
"I heard you. My father and Robbie were pressed onto a frigate, Boots. I'd
say my lord earl here has caused enough trouble." He lurched toward her.
"But you'll have to shoot the man yourself."

Nathaniel grabbed her
arm, his grip so fierce that she cried out as he pressed the pistol into her
hand. His breath was warm on her face.

"The
dragoons," he whispered, and collapsed at her feet.

Carryck forgotten,
Elizabeth fell to her knees next to her husband. In the candlelight he was milk
white, and his breath came shallow and fast. She had seen him this way before;
God, yes, and on that day had hoped never to see him thus again.

"He's been
shot." Carryck crouched down next to her, but all his attention was on Nathaniel's
face.

"Yes. Here in the
left leg." She peeled away the cloak to get a better look, ran her hands
over him and then stopped when her fingers came away red-stained. "And in
the shoulder, as well."

Rage swept through her
so that her hands began to shake even as she pressed her palms to the wound and
leaned in hard to stop the flow of blood. When she raised her head, the earl's
face was only inches from her own, and a wariness came into his eyes.

"He's bleedin'
tae death," he said gruffly. "Shootin' me will ha' tae wait."

"I hope not for
long," Elizabeth snapped.

There was a startled
cry at the door to the adjoining room. Hannah stood there with both fists
clenched at her chest.

"He's
alive." Elizabeth spoke as calmly and as clearly as she could. "Get Curiosity,
right now. Can you do that?"

"No need."
Curiosity appeared out of the shadows, her nightdress floating along behind
her. "Now hold down your voices unless you want those babies wailin',
too."

Blood was seeping up
through Elizabeth's fingers. The muscles in her lower arms quivered and jumped
as she put more of her weight on the wound. Nathaniel groaned, and his eyelids
fluttered weakly.

"You see,"
Elizabeth said fiercely, seeking out Hannah's gaze. "He is alive."

"And spoutin'
like a geyser." Curiosity sent a pointed look at Elizabeth's nightdress, already
streaked with blood. She knelt on Nathaniel's other side and put a hand to his neck.

"How bad is
it?" Hannah asked, stepping closer.

Curiosity made a sound
deep in her throat. "The man got a heart like a wheel, it just roll right
on."

Hannah's breath hissed
out through her clenched teeth, and Curiosity looked up at her sharply.
"We fixed your daddy up before, and we can do it again."

Carryck had been
following all of this silently, but now Elizabeth felt him jerk in surprise.
His gaze swung first toward Curiosity, and then up to Hannah. Against the stark
white of her nightdress her hands and face shone bronze in the candlelight.
Tears sparked in her eyes, as dark as obsidian. When he looked away again the
truth was written on his face.

Moncrieff had not told
him about Hannah.
Elizabeth flushed with a bitter satisfaction. If the earl had not known that Hawkeye's
oldest grandchild was half Mohawk, what else had been kept from him?

Curiosity ripped
Nathaniel's breeches to the knee in order to get a better look at the wound in
his leg.

"This ain't too
bad," she said. "Missed the bone, and passed clean through. Let me
see that shoulder, Elizabeth."

Hannah said,
"We'll need linen for binding."

"He needs a
surgeon," said the earl to Elizabeth. "Pickering's Hakim is still at Carryckcastle."

This brought Hannah up
short, but Curiosity's mouth thinned. "I take it this here is the
earl," she said without even looking at him. "Tellin' us how to look
after our own."

"But
Curiosity--" Hannah began, but the older woman shook her head sharply.

"I'd be mighty
pleased to see the Hakim, but he ain't here, and this bleedin' has got to stop
right now. Skip and get that medicine basket of yours, child. Elizabeth, I need
more light, and most of all I need Nathaniel up on the bed where I can work on
him. If the earl here care to make hisself useful he'll help with the liftin'. Now
move aside, both of you, and let me do what I can for him."

Elizabeth wondered
when Carryck had last been given a command by anyone, much less a woman. And
yet he looked more preoccupied than aggrieved as he stepped away.

She said, "There
is no time for civilities, sir. Will you not assist us?"

Carryck exhaled
strongly through his nose. "It's no' the civilities that concern me. Do ye
trust this woman?"

"I trust her with
his life, and with my own."

He crossed the room in
a few strides. In a single movement he threw open the casement and whistled,
one high piercing note followed by a falling tone. The last of it was still in
the air when quick steps sounded on the stairs.

Three men appeared at
the open door, young and well built, and all heavily armed. The tallest of them
was black-haired, the other two fair and balding and as like to each other as
boiled eggs. One of the twins carried a lantern that filled the room with
swaying light, and showed up the widening red circle under Nathaniel's
shoulders.

"Dugald,
Ewen." Carryck's tone was short. "See him ontae the bed."

"That's more like
it," Curiosity said. "You, there. Come over here and take him by the
legs."

"Christ,"
breathed the tallest of them, staring openly at Nathaniel as the twins went to
work. "It's aye true. Look at him."

"Lucas,"
Carryck barked.

The young man's jaw
snapped shut, and he came to attention. "Aye, my lord."

"Walter's men are
behind this. Send Davie tae take five men and see tae it."

Lucas left reluctantly,
with a long look over his shoulder.

Nathaniel groaned as
the twins deposited him onto the bed and his eyelids cracked open. "I can
sit a horse."

"And ride it
straight to the pearly gates while you at it," Curiosity snorted,
stanching blood with the corner of the bedsheet. "This shoulder is a sorry
sight."

"Nathaniel."
Elizabeth leaned over him. "You have lost a great deal of blood. Surely Carryckcastle
can wait one more day."

His hand sought out
hers, and he grasped it hard. "Bind me up good and tie me to the saddle,
if that's what it takes. But let's get out of Dumfries."

"There, ye
see," said Carryck, spreading out his arms toward the women, as if to
welcome them to his point of view. "If ye willna take my word, then I
trust ye'll take his."

"I see, all
right," Curiosity said, her brow furled down low as she turned back to
tending Nathaniel's shoulder. "I see torn-up flesh and shattered bone. I
see a man stubborn as rock."

"Aye," said
Carryck, and he smiled for the first time since he had come into the room.
"Exactly."

It was not the idea of
traveling on horseback that bothered Hannah so much as the fact that she had to
share a saddle with one of the earl's men. His name was Thomas Ballentyne; he
was as large and dark and hairy as a bear, and he had a pistol in one boot and
a long knife in the other. He took her up on the saddle before him with a
resigned shrug.

"This is
Meg." He gestured to his mare with a very horselike toss of his own head.
"She's no' verra talkative, and no mair am I."

At least there would
be no questions she did not care to answer. And he was a good horseman, as were
all of Carryck's men. Hannah counted some twenty of them as they moved along
the winding road at a sharp pace with the rest of her family hidden inside their
ranks.