Of Noble Birth (48 page)

“Our clothes are here,” he
said, foreboding raising the hackles on his neck.

“Perhaps she was hungry.”
Trenton’s words sounded hollow, as though even he didn’t believe
them, and Nathaniel strove to keep his face a mask. He was hesitant
to show the emotion coursing through his body, to reveal his fear
of the truth. Even if Alexandra had left him, there was no need to
let his friend know how much she meant to him. He couldn’t have her
regardless. His father had taken her away from him just as
effectively as he had taken Martha. Succumbing to his selfish
desires to keep her with him would risk her life. He had no right
to do that. And while he was finally willing to give up the
personal battle he had waged against his father if it meant a life
with Alexandra, the duke’s traitorous actions made even that
impossible. The welfare of England was more important than the
desires of one man—the lives of thousands of English troops worth
more than his own. But what would happen to her?

Nathaniel remembered
Gunther and his filthy brothel, and felt sick. Alexandra was so
beautiful, so innocent. He loved her as he had never loved another
woman, and he wanted more than her body; he knew that now. He had
refused the temptation of taking her, though she had slept next to
him for almost a week. Why? It certainly wasn’t a lack of desire.
The mere brush of her hand on his arm was enough to excite him. The
truth was that he cared more about her welfare: her heart and her
mind.

Could he live without her?
Did he want to?

Duty.
Nathaniel measured the word in his mind. He had served in his
country’s navy. He had fought in her wars. He had a duty to England
and to his fellow countrymen. But if life had ever offered him a
crumb of happiness, it was Alexandra.

Suddenly Nathaniel spun on
his heel and left the room, leaving Trenton gaping after him. He
had to find her. He had to find Alexandra now before he lost her
forever.

* * *

Alexandra walked quickly,
ignoring the men who stopped to gape at her. She didn’t care for
their whistles or murmurs of approval. She knew only that her heart
was breaking.

Biting her trembling lip,
she forced back the tears despite the painful lump that had lodged
itself, permanently it seemed, in her throat.

I won’t
cry...
I won’t
cry...
at least, not
now.

She had thought of leaving
Nathaniel a note, but in the end, had left without doing so. She
hadn’t been able to think of anything to say. That he was the most
incredible man she had ever known was certain, but she doubted the
pirate captain would take such a statement seriously. That she
loved him was undeniable. Again, a truth that couldn’t change
anything. Besides, he already knew. She could tell by the way he
looked at her, as though he would take her inside himself and hold
her there and protect her forever, if he could.

Tears streamed down
Alexandra’s face despite her best efforts to avoid them.
I won’t cry,
she
sobbed.
I won’t cry.

“Mum, why’s that lady
cryin’?” she heard a young boy ask.

“Perhaps she’s lost
something important,” his mother said.

Alexandra wiped at her wet
cheeks. She had lost something important—the most important thing
in her life.

She didn’t hear the horse
approach her from behind. She was too immersed in her own pain. She
stared at the ground in front of her as she walked, until she heard
a voice that stopped her cold.

“I know I promised to let
you go when we reached London, but I’m not quite through with you
yet.”

Alexandra’s heart leaped.
She stopped and turned to see Nathaniel bearing down on her on a
large bay gelding, wearing a wry grin.

She tried to keep the joy
she felt at seeing him from her face, but allowed herself a shy
smile.

“You shouldn’t be on a
horse, not with your injury.”

His expression grew
intent. “It’s my heart that won’t mend. Not if you leave
me.”

Alexandra swallowed hard.
“But what about—”

“Marry me, Alexandra.
Marry me and come away with me to the States. We’ll be safe in
Virginia. It’s beautiful country. I visited there three years ago.
We could buy a tract of land, have a house full of
chil
dren....”

“You’d become a farmer?”
she scoffed playfully.

“No. Trenton would captain
the
Royal Vengeance
for me, and together we’d build a shipping enterprise to
rival my father’s.”

Alexandra’s heart took
flight as she listened. Marry him, he said. Marry him! To have and
to hold... till death do us part. She’d live in a hovel if it meant
she could have Nathaniel.

“Could you ever leave
England?” he asked hesitantly.

“Much easier than I could
leave you,” she admitted, and he swung down to hold her
close.

“I love you,” she
whispered as the band of his arm closed around her.

“Aye. And we’ll survive,
my love. I just have to turn the guns over to the authorities. Then
it’s up to them to get to the truth of it. We’ll sail to Virginia
as soon as we can.”

Alexandra’s heart reached
for the hope he offered her, but she knew turning the guns over to
the authorities would not be so easy. Nathaniel could be caught and
imprisoned. He could be hanged or shot. Or his father could always
surprise them with something else entirely.

She winced. “I’m going
with you. I can’t bear the thought of you there without me, knowing
that you might never come back.”

“No, you must stay here—”
Alexandra silenced him with a kiss. “I go where you go, now and
forever,” she vowed.

“Now and forever,” he
murmured, and the kiss he gave her sealed his promise.

They traveled to Bristol
by train. Alexandra had never taken the train before. She was
enthralled with the scenery that flew past her window and the
crowds of people who waited on the platform of each new station
along the way.

An older woman and her
young daughter shared their car, and Alexandra couldn’t help but
take exception to the way the daughter’s eyes darted back to
Nathaniel every few moments. The mother, a Mrs. Haws, glanced
sharply at the girl each time she giggled in response to something
Nathaniel said, but the daughter seemed oblivious to her mother’s
censure.

If Nathaniel noticed
Bessie Haws’s interest, he did not give himself away as he talked
to Trenton about the Clifton Suspension Bridge currently being
built across the Severn.

“Oh, we’ve seen it,
haven’t we, Mother?” the girl interrupted, blushing to the roots of
her hair when Nathaniel looked up.

He smiled politely. “It’ll
take a while to finish yet.”

“Bessie, perhaps you
should rest,” her mother suggested, tapping her daughter on the
knee with her fan. “You’re looking a bit peaked.”

Flushed
would be a better word, Alexandra thought
irritably.

Bessie opened her mouth to
refute this charge when the train stopped in Farringdon and several
new passengers boarded. A man near Nathaniel’s age joined them in
the compartment.

“The train’s nearly full.”
He showed white teeth beneath a brown mustache as he smiled. “I
hope you don’t mind me joining you.”

“Not at all.” Nathaniel
and Trenton moved their legs to make more room as the man took a
seat on the other side of Bessie Haws.

“I’m Thomas Madsen,” he
said, nodding as they each introduced themselves in turn. Alexandra
thought him rather handsome with his brown eyes, brown hair, long
sideburns, and mustache. Smile lines around his eyes indicated he
laughed often, and he had an air about him that was pleasantly
appealing.

He struck up a
conversation with Alexandra while Nathaniel responded to a question
put to him by Bessie about the hot springs at Bath.

“Do you live in
Bristol?”

“No, I was born in London,
but we moved to Manchester when I was so small that I don’t
remember it.”

“I see.”

“And you? Are you
returning from holiday, by chance?”

Madsen shook his head.
“No. My work brings me to Bristol. I’m an inspector with Scotland
Yard.”

“But you got on at
Farringdon.”

He smiled sheepishly. “The
motion of the train makes me sick. I had to get off the last
one.”

“I’m sorry. I hope you’re
feeling better.”

“I’m fine as long as I
keep myself well enough occupied and don’t make the mistake of
trying to read.”

“Ah,” Alexandra nodded
knowingly, but never having suffered from motion sickness herself,
she didn’t truly understand. “Do you enjoy your work?” She caught a
subtle glance from Nathaniel and noted a wry smile on Trenton’s
face. Bessie continued to ply them both with questions, but it was
Trenton who elaborated. Nathaniel was too busy keeping her and Mr.
Madsen under close regard.

“Sometimes. Other times I
find it can get quite drab, usually when I’m filling out the
reports.” Madsen laughed. “Are you and your husband on
holiday?”

“No.” Alexandra shook her
head, taking the opportunity to avenge herself for Bessie’s fawning
interest by adding, “We’re not married.”

“Yet,” Nathaniel inserted,
staring pointedly at Mr. Madsen. “We’re on our way.”

“To be married?” This time
Bessie spoke, and the disappointment that rang in her voice brought
Mrs. Haws’s brows into thundercloud position.

“‘
Tis none of your
business, my dear.”

Evidently, Bessie heard
the steel edge in her mother’s voice, because her gaze dropped to
her lap. “I was simply asking,” she mumbled.

Mr. Madsen smiled
genially. “You are very lucky to have found such a lovely bride,”
he told Nathaniel. Turning back to Alexandra, he continued, “There
is no better place than Bristol in which to be married. I was born
there and sorely miss it. I wish you both all the happiness in the
world.”

“Thank you.” Alexandra
felt Nathaniel take her hand in his own and smiled sweetly at
Bessie Haws.

* * *

They arrived in Bristol in
a little more than two hours. Alexandra, Nathaniel, and Trenton bid
good-bye to the now silent Bessie and her mother, and waved to Mr.
Madsen.

With Nathaniel’s help,
Alexandra descended from the platform while Trenton rented a cab.
They had no bags, and were therefore able to move quickly. They
wove through the throng, loaded up, and started down the paved road
ahead of the other passengers.

Bristol was more crowded
than when Alexandra had seen it last. As July approached and the
heat of London became unbearable, many of the capital’s citizens
fled to Bath or Bristol for a reprieve. Alexandra watched the
assorted carriages, carts, and wagons that clogged the street as
they moved, snail-like, through the melee.

“I wrote back to the Lord
High Admiral and told him I am bringing the guns to London,”
Trenton told Nathaniel. “He’s expecting me Monday week. I think it
best if I handle it, just in case they believe the duke and the
magistrate who sentenced you to the hulks and send you back—or hang
you.”

Nathaniel frowned. “What
about your own neck?”

“I haven’t gained
sufficient notoriety to be too concerned. Even if they charge me
with piracy, it’s unlikely they’ll hang me.”

Nathaniel considered his
words. “Newgate is not a pleasant fate.”

“So you are the only
patriot among us?”

Nathaniel shook his head.
“Evidently not.”

“Besides, the guns will
take center stage.”

“I think you’re right
there.” Nathaniel’s voice was decidedly neutral, but Alexandra knew
he worried still the same, and she couldn’t help saying a silent
prayer for them all.

* * *

It was raining by the time
they reached the docks, large drops that splattered when they hit
the ground. Nathaniel peered out of the carriage at the darkening
sky and cursed the weather. They’d be soaked to the skin by the
time they finished unloading the entire warehouse, even if they
hired help.