Silver Moon (18 page)

Standing just inside the doorway, Elyse took in the ornate chamber. Gilt fixtures abounded; hand-painted silk covered the walls. An oval oriental carpet of mixed blues covered the polished wooden floor that separated her from the governor.

Even as her eyes registered the opulence of the office, she studied the man sitting behind the large mahogany desk. Above his shoulder hung a portrait of William the Fourth, King of England.

The acting governor was a small, compact man with a full gray mustache and a thinning head of matching gray hair. As acting governor, he did not wear the formal wig of office. His eyes were a pale blue, and when Elyse looked into them, she saw nothing at all.

Off to one side, at another desk, the governor’s clerk and scribe turned at their entrance to stare at Elyse with open curiosity.

“Well, my lord,” the governor said in a low voice to Hollingsby, “it seems you have found your errant fiancée.” He turned his gaze onto Elizabeth. “Lady Sorrel, you have the documents?”

“Yes, Your Excellency.” She gave a fawning head bow before turning to her husband. “Carl.”

Carl opened the case he carried. After removing several sheets of paper, he brought them to the governor and placed them on his desk. Then he returned to his wife’s side.

Through it all, Elyse continued to watch everything that happened with a sense of unreality. When the governor picked up the papers and started to read them, Elyse could no longer stand still. Stepping forward quickly, she spoke, hoping against hope that not everything she had overheard from her captors about the acting governor was true.

“Your Excellency,” she called.

Albright looked up at her.

“Whatever documents my aunt has given you, they are false! I have been abducted from my home by these three, and they are trying to take away everything that I own.”

“You are saying that these good people kidnapped you?”

“Yes, Excellency.”

“Yet no word of such an act has reached us here. Would not the ...” he paused for a moment as if in thought. “The Denhams, I believe, are the people who oversee your plantation. They are responsible people, even if they are debtors. Wouldn’t they have sent immediate word to us?”

“It happened the night before last; there has not been time enough.”

“How did you come here? By ship?”

“Over land,” she replied.

The governor raised his eyebrows and then glanced at his two assistants. “How long would it take a carriage to reach here from Montego Bay?”

The first clerk shook his head. “At least three days. The passage through the mountains is slow.”

“I think, Lady Louden, that perhaps you are mistaken.”

“I tell you they kidnapped me!” she shouted, unable to maintain the level tones of her voice any longer. “They have no right!”

“Please try to restrain yourself,” the acting governor advised in a high-handed manner. “At least until I’ve finished reading the warrant issued by the high judge.”

Elyse wanted to scream, to yell at him that he was a fool, but she didn’t, she knew now that he was in full league with the others. Lowering her eyes, Elyse stepped back, her last futile hope crushed beneath the weight of her knowledge.

The acting governor paused in his reading to look at the Sorrels and Hollingsby. “I must read the entire document aloud so that my clerk can record it properly.”

Reading aloud, he spoke in a sonorous monotone that threatened to make Elyse scream. However, she did not; rather, she listened intently to the warrant, which charged her with being an unstable, incompetent person, unable to care for herself, her lands, or her money.

He read over the incidents, which supported the charges, and then referred to another document that was the sworn affidavit of two doctors.

When the acting governor paused for a breath, Elyse took a deep one of her own. “It’s a lie. All of it!”

“Of course,” the mustached man said.

“It’s a lie,” Elyse said again, her voice barely above a whisper. At her side, her aunt smiled in victory.

The acting governor ignored Elyse’s words and continued. “Based on the evidence of the affidavits of Doctors Lewis and Goldbrick, I, on this twentieth day of March, 1837, do hereby declare Carl and Elizabeth Sorrel, Lord and Lady of Chatsworth, to be named legal guardians of Lady Elyse Louden. They are directed to oversee, protect, and manage all properties and monies until such time as Lady Elyse Louden recovers her full mental abilities.”

Albright looked up. “This document was signed by the high judge, and it is legal and binding.”

They had won, Elyse realized. She knew she had to find a way to stop what was happening. Grasping desperately for anything, she pushed herself to think. In a few moments, the acting governor would sign the orders that his clerk was finishing, and he would then bind her over to her aunt’s custody, and her life, as well as Devonairre’s would be over.
No!
In a calm moment of desperation, she knew what she must do.

I love you
, Brace, she said to herself.
I love you and know you will understand why I have to do this.

She looked around the chamber, frantically seeking a weapon, a means to end her own life, for if she did that now—before she was married to Hollingsby, and the state of her inheritance forever changed—she would be able to thwart her aunt. The terms of her father’s will had been very specific, and legally binding, even now. If she died before marrying, Devonairre would revert to Charles Denham.

On the wall behind her, were several ornamental daggers. Taking a deep breath, she willed her muscles to obey and moved quickly. Reaching the wall before anyone could react, she grabbed one of the daggers and pulled it from its sheath.

Turning back, she stared at the faces fixed upon her.

“That won’t help you, Lady Louden,” the governor said. “There is no way for you to escape. The soldiers will disarm you. Please, put the dagger down.”

Elyse looked first at Hollingsby, and then at Elizabeth. “Escape?” she echoed. Her bitter tones were more eloquent than the single word. “No, Excellency that is not at all what I have in mind.”

She looked at her aunt. “Did you think I would let you take all that my father worked for? And you!” she said, her eyes going to Hollingsby, who was trying to edge nearer to her.

He froze when she turned to him, his eyes raking across her face even as her voice, cold and hard, struck out at him. “You will never put a hand on me again, never!”

Hollingsby started toward her again, but Elyse shook her head and turned the dagger’s blade toward herself. She rested the tip over her heart, and felt the cool metal touch the edge of her breasts.

She looked at each of them very carefully, and then tightened her grip on the blade.

Brace stood transfixed as he listened to the governor read the damning warrant of the high judge, but even as the foppish man finished, his words struck a chord in Brace’s memory.

Then, Brace opened the door a little wider as Elyse took the dagger from the wall. He heard her defiance against her captors. A cold chill washed through him when he realized what she intended.

Moving fast, he stepped into the governor’s chamber, even as footsteps echoed in the hallway behind him. His blood raced through his body. His eyes flicked over the tableau until they came to a halt on Elyse, the long dagger in her hand, standing against the wall.

Seeing the determination on her face, his anger and rage exploded. His hands trembled as he fought to suppress it. “Elyse,” he shouted out to her. He saw her deep green eyes widen, and the stiff lines of her face ease. His love for her swelled within him, and he knew that no powers in this world would keep them apart any longer.

When Elyse had started to press the blade into her chest, the commotion outside the door grew louder. The door burst open behind her, but she refused to take her eyes from her captors. Then she heard her name. Her breath exploded in her chest, her heart pounded, and as she heard Brace’s voice, her hands loosened around the dagger’s handle.

“Brace,” she whispered. She closed her eyes for a moment as the emotions of a lifetime raced through her. When she opened them, he was still there.

“What is the meaning of this?” the acting governor demanded. “Guards!”

Will spun, his musket at the ready as two more guards entered the chamber. Both men froze when they saw the barrel pointing at them. “Outside! Close the doors,” he ordered them. The guards backed out and followed Will’s instructions. When the door closed, he went to it and locked it.

Brace looked at the governor, and as he did, Elyse started toward him. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Hollingsby launch himself at Elyse, grab her arm, and spin her to him. Even as the dagger flew from her hand, a red rage filmed his eyes.

Yanked around by Hollingsby’s grip, the blade slipped from Elyse’s hand as she fought to escape. Pulling away, and twisting her arm as she did, she felt rather than saw the blur of Brace’s arm go past her eyes.

She heard, as did everyone else in the chamber, the sound of Brace’s fist meeting Hollingsby’s jaw. An instant later, she was free.

The jar of his blow raced along his arm. Even before Hollingsby hit the floor, Brace caught him and hauled him to his feet. Without a second thought, he drew his arm back and let go with another blow. This time the sound was louder than the first.

Brace released Hollingsby’s shirt, and the earl crumpled to the floor, a shapeless lump. Only then did he turn to look at Elyse.

She gazed up at him, tears welling in her eyes. “You’re safe now, my love,” he said as she went to him. Then, with one arm around Elyse’s narrow waist, he looked at the acting governor.

“Excellency, whatever claim these people have pleaded to you is false. They have taken Lady Louden against her will.”

“How dare you break into these chambers? How dare you strike a nobleman? Who are you to speak such slanderous things!” he demanded, looking at the scandalous scene between Brace and Elyse Louden.

Elizabeth Sorrel, her face drawn into an ugly mask of hatred, knew exactly whom he must be. “The man is obviously in consort with her. Denham, I believe is his name. A debtor. Can you not see how unstable she is, accepting his touch so willingly? We saved her just in time.”

Albright looked back at Brace, and then nodded his head. “You are Charles Denham’s son?”

“I am,” Brace said.

“I command you to release Lady Louden. And you,” he shouted at Will, pointing a shaky index finger at him, “put down that weapon instantly.”

Will smiled and looked at Brace. “Does he think we’re stupid?”

The governor’s face flushed. “By what rights do you dare interfere with the governor’s business?”

“By the right of decency!” Brace stated. Releasing Elyse’s waist, Brace started toward the governor. Halfway there, he stopped, his arm sweeping out to encompass the Sorrels. “These people have conspired to steal the estate of the Earl of Chatsworth.”

“Lies!” Elizabeth cried desperately. “You have all the proof you need in your hands, Excellency. Would you take the word of such lowborn scum over ours?”

“Have your companion put down his weapon. You are under arrest, Denham. Submit now and don’t make matters worse,” the acting governor bluffed.

Brace was surprised that Albright was standing up to him. He had thought the man would cave in under the threat of violence. Brace shook his head, a slow smile spreading across his face as the acting governor continued to speak.

“You are a fool, Denham! Do you not think that I don’t know who you are? Do you think that because of an inheritance from the earl, it makes you our equal? Did you think that by buying land and starting a plantation you can rise above your station? Worse, you are using a simple-minded woman, a noblewoman, to try to rise higher. You are the son of a debtor, nothing more. And now you are a criminal in your own right.”

“I think not, Excellency.” Brace glanced at Elyse and saw her eyes filled with love, even after Albright’s damning words.

“Get out!” the governor ordered. “Let us finish the Crown’s business. Arrest them!” Albright shouted.

“Hold!” Brace called. The guards did not move, for neither wanted to take the ball Will would fire. “If it is the Crown’s business,” Brace said in a level voice, “then I must insist on witnessing it. If it is the underhanded dealing that I know it to be, then it is my duty to stop it.”

“Your duty? Who do you think you are?”

“Go on! But be warned, if you are in league with these three, you, too, will pay for what is happening to Lady Louden.”

“Are you threatening me?” Albright demanded.

Brace smiled again. When he spoke, his eyes narrowed dangerously, and his voice was as cold as steel. “No, Excellency, you have my word that what I speak is not threat but a promise.”

“And one that shall put you into prison!”

Behind him, Brace heard more guards come to the door. Turning, he saw a full dozen men fill the doorway, their muskets all held at the ready. Yet, Brace was certain they wouldn’t fire for fear of hitting Albright and the others.