“That fool.” He cursed again and shot an angry glance up toward Freddie. “Did I not tell you to check them for knives?”
“What is it?”
“Jameson and his dog. They have escaped. The ropes were cut through. And they took the horses. Must have led them away like the sneaky little . . . it will leave us to hunt them again. Garrett’s not going to be pleased when he wakes.”
He cast a worried glance toward the coach’s interior.
“I . . . I . . . have nothing to say. I obviously did not do a thorough job. I am sorry.”
“Follow me.” He tossed the command to Freddie. “Do not make me listen to those last three words from you again tonight.”
“Aye.”
The coach began to rumble along again with just the slightest change in direction. Maura leaned over Garrett and held his hand in hers. His fingers were so cold. The crude bandage Sean had fastened using Freddie’s cravat was seeping blood through the tightness of the binding. They couldn’t reach this farm fast enough. She wanted him tended and mended. And then she had some questions for Mr. Garrett Lynch.
Linen seemed to coat Garrett’s mouth in thick wads—not the most inspiring experience, to be sure. His eyelids felt fastened shut, his head thick. He tried to move. Pain burned his side. Familiar pain. A knife wound. Not overly deep if he judged the pain correctly.
“Oh, ye’re awake. They’ll be so pleased.” The warm motherly tone poured over him, soothing and soft.
“They?” The word croaked out of him, coated in the same linen that lined his mouth.
“Oh dear, do have a drink.”
A cup touched his mouth and he sipped gratefully. Ale. He smiled.
“That’s better. We’ve not seen such from ye since ye arrived a few days ago.”
Another touch of the cup and more sips of the cool liquid slid down his throat.
“I cannot open my eyes.” His voice sounded almost normal.
“Hold on.” In moments a moist warm cloth wiped his face. His eyelids came unfastened, and he opened them to see Maeve Clancy bending over him with a smile.
“Much better,” he told her. “You’ve a way about you, Maeve darlin’. I have always said so.” He always enjoyed teasing a smile from her after that night long ago when they’d rescued the Clancy family from fire and destruction at the hands of some overzealous Orangemen. Young Bridget’s family had proven a strong ally over the years since.
“Go on with ye.” Maeve protested, but her smile broadened. “Ye’ve a full set of company downstairs. Waiting and pacing. Two women, one lovely and warm, the other a wee scrap of a thing. Sean’s come and gone and come back again. And there’s another, keeps ta himself but eager ta please if not more than a bit awkward.”
“The first would be Maura?” He was not sure how long he’d lain here but he knew she had never been far from his side. Or his thoughts.
“Aye. She’s most devoted ta ye. Hard ta convince her ta lay down herself.”
“And Miss Jane Fuller,” he continued. “The young man is Baron Stanhope.”
“A baron!” She crossed herself quickly and her face paled as she sat with a thump on the chair beside the bed. “And me sending him ta sleep in the barn with our lads so the ladies could have their bed. No wonder he didn’t seem too thrilled with the idea.”
Garrett couldn’t hold back a chuckle, even though it pained his side. She’d be even more horrified if she discovered the guest in her hayloft was the
Ard Tiarna’
s heir.
“Don’t ye laugh, Garrett Lynch.” She shook a finger at him. “Ye’ll bust yer side open again and then where would we be? Besides, it would have been nice of that Sean ta warn me ahead of time I was playin’ hostess ta a . . . well, almost to royalty.”
“A baron is far from royalty, Maeve. Don’t worry your head about that.”
“Aye, well.” She didn’t look convinced. “Did ye want me to fetch them?”
“No.” Garrett pushed upright in the bed, gritting his teeth against the burn in his side.
“Ach! Don’t move. Ye’ll pull the sewin’ I just did all ta pieces.”
“Surely it wasn’t that bad.”
“Aye, well, perhaps not as bad as that. But I’d like to see ye rest a wee bit longer.”
“I’ll rest soon enough.” He pushed to his feet and swayed, grateful for the shoulder she offered him. His breath hitched and blackness threatened. “Perhaps you are right, Maeve. Ask them to come here.”
“Aye.” She helped him settle back against the pillows and disappeared out the door.
In moments, Sean’s face peered around the door frame. Not the first face he’d hoped to see, but welcome just the same.
“Still abed? I thought you would be fighting to get back into the saddle a half hour ago. You must be getting old.”
“It is the injuries that get old. I believe this is my third carving.”
“Old and slow, too, eh?” Sean sauntered into the room his pace belying the anxiety in his gaze. He gave Garrett a quick once-over. “You do look better than you did when we first brought you here. I guess that will settle for improvement. I had faith in Maeve’s skills as a healer.”
“Aye.” Garrett nodded. His side felt raw. Breathing hurt, and he was weary beyond measure. He could not afford to waste his conversation in banter right now. He had many concerns and very limited reserves of strength. “Tell me what I missed.”
“Well, there you are then. Enough recovery time. Jump right back into the fray. You would think you could not trust anyone else to see to things.” A shadow passed over his friend’s face.
“What is it, Sean? What happened? Is Maura all right? And Jane?” He tried to reassure himself that Maeve had said the two women were in her kitchen just now, but he knew guilt and worry when he saw it and Sean was full of both.
Sean scrubbed a hand over his face and sat on the edge of the mattress. The motion jarred his side, but Garrett tried not to grimace as his alarm mounted.
“We lost them.” Sean sighed.
“What?” Garrett pried himself off the pillows and struggled to free himself from the coverings.
Sean shook his head. “Not Maura and Jane. They are below stairs trying to piece together a decent wardrobe for Jane. Jameson and his bear of a bodyguard escaped. We bundled you into the carriage, leaving them trussed next to the horses. When I went to retrieve them, their bonds were cut and they’d made off with two of the horses. He has the devil’s own luck that one.”
“So it would seem.” Garrett panted as he settled onto the pillows once more. He’d not feel really settled until he saw Maura. He thought he might recall her sitting and holding his hand or wiping his brow, but he was not sure when or for how long.
“I should have kept a closer eye. I should have checked their pockets myself.”
“Don’t judge yourself or the lad too harshly. It was a night fraught with the possibility of far worse outcomes than we had. The rest of the rescue went all right, I take it.”
Sean nodded. Garrett shifted his position searching for a better way to breathe. “We know enough about Harold Jameson to bring him down. We will find him.”
“Aye.” Sean was quiet for a long moment. Garrett knew him well enough to know he had something to say that did not sit well with him. Sean was his closest friend since he’d come to Dublin all those years ago, since the earl had brought him to his estate and begun both their training to be the Green Dragon.
“Garrett, I . . . well . . . I have to talk to you about Jane.”
“Indeed?”
“Aye.” Instead of launching into his speech, Sean scrubbed his face again.
Garrett pondered the nuances of what was said and not said by Sean’s reluctance. An end to all they planned and experienced hung in the air between them. Life seldom turned out exactly as one would wish.
“Sean, say what you need to say. I suspect I will agree with you long before you reach the end.”
“I wish such agreement was as easily mine.” Sean ran his hand over the back of his neck and paced to the window that gazed out over the simple Clancy farm.
Garrett waited, in part to give his friend time and also to gather some scraps of his own strength.
Sean pulled in a deep breath. “Jane had been missing for too long. Her father, and those familiar with her status, already suspect me as being the culprit in her disappearance.” He paused, then blew out a long breath. “I cannot see how she can face disgrace alone. I . . . owe . . . her more than that. We owe her father more than that.”
Garrett dropped his head back against the pillows and eyed the long shadows striping the walls and ceiling. The burdens and responsibilities seemed too much at times.
“When I take her home to her father, I suspect the answer will be all too clear to both of them at that point.”
Garrett met his friend’s gaze. “As clear as it is to the two of us at this moment.”
Sean nodded. “Better the scandal of a runaway match than the truth of what actually occurred. I expect to wed Miss Jane Fuller within the next fortnight.”
“Aye.”
Sean was to have been his successor, the next man to wear the Green Dragon’s ring, to carry the burden of leadership along with the dragon sword. Sean’s marriage would put paid to that plan, as it had for members of the Green Dragon’s faithful band for the three hundred years they had been in existence.
He would be obligated, as they all were, to provide shelter and supplies when called upon. But the main core of activity would no longer involve Sean Talbot in any manner. This was the understanding held by their oath of fealty. Single men took the risks, those with families provided the support.
“There are more things twixt heaven and earth . . .” The rest of the quote eluded Garrett at the moment, but it seemed appropriate. “Your decision is truly the only one you can make. And truth be told, she just might not accept your proposal.”
Sean shot him a narrowed glance, then chuckled. “Aye, you are quite correct. It is entirely possible for her to reject my suit out of hand.
“Or the admiral may well string you up from the highest yardarm.”
Sean nodded, the edges of his brows edging up at the suggestion. “Better and better.”
“Somehow I do not think the admiral will choose that course,” Garrett continued. “He is an intelligent man. You may not be an eldest son, but your family is well respected. He could do much worse for his daughter, even without the breath of scandal blowing hot on her heels.”
Sean shook his head. “This is not what I planned.”
“Ask Maeve for materials so I can write him announcing your return.”
“Really? What will you write?”
“The lost is found. Sean and Jane are on their way to you.”
Sean paled ever so slightly. “A bit bald, is it not?”
“The admiral is a military man.” Garrett chuckled. “He will appreciate the opportunity to prepare for battle.”
With far less certainty of Garrett’s jest, Sean left to do his bidding. In moments, he returned with paper and ink. One of the younger Clancy boys would be dispatched to deliver the missive posthaste while Sean made preparations to take Jane home at an easier pace.
Garrett sighed back against the pillows and turned his head to see Maura silhouetted in the doorway. Light and shadow. He would have known her in the dark. When had she become so important to him?
“Mrs. Fitzgerald.” His throat tightened.
“Mr. Lynch,” she offered back softly as she entered the room in a graceful swish of skirts. “I am gratified to find you returned to the living.”
“Indeed? I would not have known. I have felt positively deserted this past half hour or more.” He took her hand as she sat beside the bed and laced her fingers with his own.
She smiled, pleased with the recovery evidenced in his humor. “You had business with Sean. I was never far away.”
“I know.” Just holding her hand was soothing. It hit him suddenly that she was more than just important to him. He loved her. An emotion he’d never expected, found in a most exceptional woman. Warmth spread through his chest, and he pressed the back of her hand to his lips.
She pulled away from him and fussed with the set of his pillows. She wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“I am going with Sean as he returns Jane to her father. It will not be right for them to travel alone, regardless of her recent circumstances. Freddie will also join us. Then I’ll go to Dublin.”
She was leaving him. With Stanhope.
“To Dublin,” he repeated dumbly. Why was she talking with such stilted politeness? Why wouldn’t she look directly at him? “Maura, what is wrong?”
“Naught that cannot be made right,” she answered softly. “You need to rest, to recover. Jane needs to go home to her father. Freddie has his own responsibilities, and I am long overdue at my school. All of those young women rescued so fortuitously along with Jane will need support and compassion in the coming months. That is where I fit in. I failed to meet them as they were first rescued. I would like to be available to them now.”
She crossed to the window, taking the same steps Sean had taken such a short time ago. Farewell hovered in the very air between them.
She was leaving him.
“Maura—”
“Thank you for all of your help, Garrett.” She looked at him at last, but her gaze was flat. “I am quite certain I would never have been able to rescue anyone. But then I had no idea I was hiring the Green Dragon to prevail on their behalf. Had I known I would have felt more certain all the way.”
She smiled bravely, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She walked back to him with quick no nonsense steps that echoed hollow against the bare wood floor.
“Thank you for everything.” She bent over him and brushed her lips very softly against his own.
He gripped her shoulders before she could turn away. “Maura—”
“Let me go, Garrett.” Her gaze held his. Pain shimmered in the deep gray depths, along with a chilling resolve that shook him.