Valiant Soldier, Beautiful Enemy (31 page)

Even the tragic death of the English princess could not mar the happiness that had built between them over the past two months. After a quiet and private wedding, Gabriel had taken Emmaline for a tour of the Lake District and then to Manchester to meet his parents, brothers, sisters and countless nieces and nephews. It seemed to Emmaline that she was accepted into Gabriel’s family as merely one of the crowd, which delighted her. After that visit, she and Gabriel had spent a few weeks at their new home, the hill farm which had been busy with the breeding season and Gabriel’s efforts to return it to its former productivity.

Back in London for Gabriel to complete some business related to the farm, Allan and Marian Landon had insisted upon hosting a dinner to celebrate their marriage. Included as guests were Jack and Ariana Vernon.

Both the Landons and Vernons greeted them as old friends, and Allan opened a bottle of French champagne and poured for everyone.

He offered a toast. “To your happiness!”

“To us all,” Gabriel had countered, looking so handsome in his black coat, white linen and cream breeches that he took Emmaline’s breath away.

As they all drank, Emmaline glanced around, remembering her anxiety the last time she had been in this room and her wonder at the willingness of these good people to help her find Claude, her surprise that they had all been connected by Badajoz.

“Tell us about your wedding and your trip!” Ariana insisted. The actress looked even more beautiful than usual. Her August performance in David Garrick’s
Katharine and Petruchio
had been a great success, but now she was working on a different sort of production. Her second child.

Emmaline allowed Gabriel to describe the wedding and the trip, adding only a few details he’d omitted. Like some of the wonderful things he’d done for her while they travelled.

The Landons’ butler, a huge former soldier, appeared at the door. “Beg pardon,” he said.

“What is it, Reilly?” Marian asked.

He looked from Marian to her husband. “Lady Tranville is here. She wishes a moment to speak to you.”

Lady Tranville? She was married to Edwin Tranville’s father. She was also Jack’s mother.

“Have her come in.” Allan waved a welcoming hand. “She may meet our guests and say hello to her son and daughter-in-law.”

Reilly’s expression turned firm. “You had best speak with her first.”

With anxious looks, Allan and Marian excused themselves; Ariana attempted to dispel the aura of worry that had suddenly filled the room. “Proceed, please! Tell us all about your farm.”

A few minutes later, a grim-faced Allan and a red-eyed Marian returned, accompanied by an older woman Emmaline presumed was Lady Tranville. Gabriel and Jack rose to their feet and Jack crossed the room. It was clear Lady Tranville had delivered some sort of dreadful news.

“Hello, Mother.” He kissed her on the cheek and put an arm around her. “What has happened? Is it Lord Tranville?”

She shook her head. “Edwin.”

Emmaline’s heart rose into her throat.

Allan quickly made introductions. “I told Lady Tranville that everyone here would wish to hear this news.” He held fast to his wife’s hand and looked from one to the other, his gaze resting on Emmaline. “Edwin Tranville is dead.”

“Dead!” Gabriel cried.

Emmaline felt afraid to breathe. “How?”

Lady Tranville answered, “From a liver ailment. He has been ill for many weeks.” She patted her son’s arm and looked sympathetically at Marian, who had been Edwin’s cousin. “I did not wish to send a messenger. It is only a short walk.” She backed to the door. “But I really need to return to my husband. He is shattered, as you might imagine.” She glanced away. “He is sick with regrets.”

After she left, Ariana crossed the room to Marian and embraced her. “How hard this must be for you.”

Marian’s eyes filled with tears. “I did care about him. In spite of all the bad things he did to us and to everyone here.” She directed her gaze at Emmaline. “I knew him as a very sad little boy.”

Allan guided Marian to a sofa. He sat beside her and she leaned against him.

Jack surveyed them all, as if memorising the scene they presented. “He died of drink. That is what a liver ailment means, does it not?”

They all seemed lost in their own thoughts.

Gabriel glanced away. “He connected us. He and his father. We would not be here, together, if not for what Edwin did to Emmaline.” He shook his head and faced Allan and Marian. “Perhaps we should go.”

Emmaline immediately stood. Emotions swirled inside her, none of them the sort of sadness one ought to feel at a man’s death. She was relieved that Edwin was dead. She was grateful that Claude had not killed him. Most of all she was still angry at all the suffering he’d caused. “Yes, we intrude.”

Marian straightened. “No, do not leave. I will recover in a moment. Gabe is right. Edwin did connect us all, in a strange way. I want us to be together.”

So they stayed and had a more subdued dinner than originally planned, even though they quickly changed the subject from Edwin and the past to all their plans for the future.

It looked bright for all of them. Jack’s reputation and fortune as an artist was growing all the time, as was Ariana’s fame in the theatre. Allan and Marian were determined that Allan would win a seat in Parliament, and none of them doubted that he would indeed be successful. And there was Gabriel’s hill farm. His plan might be more modest, but it was dearest to her heart.

Later, when Emmaline lay with Gabriel in the bed they shared in Grillon’s Hotel, Gabriel mentioned Edwin again. “Hearing of Edwin’s death must have affected you. Has it upset you?”

She thought before answering. “I am not unaffected. I do not have any grief for him,” she admitted. “But if he died of drink, he killed himself, did he not? That seems a sort of justice. He destroyed himself as he tried to destroy us.”

He nodded in understanding.

She nestled beside him. “We are all of us alive and happy. The Landons. The Vernons. You and me. Maybe some day even Claude. We survived and Edwin did not.”

Gabriel held her tighter. “One thing I know is he can no longer hurt you or Claude or anyone else. We can look to the future and know he will never appear in it.”

She kissed him. “I treasure our future, Gabriel. I feel very lucky.”

He returned her kiss and cradled her next to him. Warmed by his bare skin, she soon heard him slipping into sleep. As she also drifted off, Edwin appeared in her dream, fading like a fog when the sun begins to shine. Into the sunlight appeared Gabriel, smiling at her.

Yes, she thought, waking again. She had found happiness. She was very, very lucky.

ISBN: 978-1-4592-1240-4

VALIANT SOLDIER, BEAUTIFUL ENEMY

Copyright © 2011 by Diane Perkins

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Three Soldiers