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He took her face between his hands. “You couldn’t have known. As for helping me, you can do so by remaining safe and bearing us a healthy son or daughter. As long as I know you and our child are safe, I can do what must be done.”
She did her best not to cry as she bid Henry a heartfelt safe return the next morning. In spite of the danger, she wanted terribly to go with him. Had it not been for the babe she carried beneath her heart, she would have rebelled and done so; but for the sake of their child, she remained behind to anxiously await the news. Percy would ride straight to Pembroke with all swiftness the instant the outcome was clear.
Grim-faced, the men departed, the physician Henry had hired to accompany them grumbling about the idiocies of dueling, despite the fact that this morning’s confrontation was handsomely lining his pockets.
As the carriages rolled away, her mother put an arm around her shaking shoulders. “God bless them. May His swift hand deliver justice to those that deserve it, and likewise deal mercifully with those on the side of good.” She led her away from the window. “Come. Let us have breakfast.”
“I couldn’t eat anything, Mama,” Sabrina protested, feeling green about the gills at the very idea.
“You must, for the child’s sake,” admonished her mother. “Come; a few bites and you’ll feel much better. A lady in your condition cannot go wit
hout eating.”
“Let us at least wait for Raquel to come down,” Sabrina begged. “I cannot believe she would let Percy leave without seeing him off. Perhaps she was overwrought? You don’t think she’s in love with him?”
Her mother’s smile was sad. “No. I think she cares for him, certainly, but I doubt she’s capable of loving any man in that manner now. I’m still in shock over how she was treated. As for Lord Falloure, I never would have taken him for the knight-in-shining-armor sort, but he’s certainly proven himself so where she is concerned. He’s become positively paternal.”
Sabrina laughed through her upset. “He’s turned into a complete mother hen, you mean.” Looking at the clock on the mantelpiece, she frowned. “She ought to have been down by now.” She called for a servant, and bade the girl look in on their guest and report back.
When the servant returned, it was with unhappy news. “My lady, I’m afraid I was unable to find Lady Raquel.”
“Has her bed been slept in?” she demanded urgently.
“No, my lady. It was still made, and…”
“Yes? What is it?” she asked the nervous maid.
“It’s her clothes, my lady. They’re here, all of them—the shift she borrowed and the gown she arrived in.”
She looked at her mother for a long, terrified moment. “Call everyone together and search the house and grounds,” she said softly to the waiting servant. “If she is not found within one quarter of an hour, we shall send for the constable.”
THE MORNING WAS clear and the sun bright as Henry prepared himself while Percy and Lord Fenton, Fairford’s second, readied the pistols.
Just as Fenton was about to call paces, however, a carriage rounded the bend. It was an unmarked, hired affair of poor quality. The vehicle rolled to a stop, and a passenger disembarked.
“Who is that?” demanded Fairford.
Henry squinted. It was a footman, one from Pembroke, by the look of his livery. A piece of parchment fluttered in his hand as he walked across the field.
“Well, get on with it, sluggard,” Fairford shouted. “Your master awaits your leisure.”
The young man ducked his head submissively and quickened his pace.
Beyond him, the carriage began to roll away, momentarily capturing Henry’s attention. Why was it leaving? The lad passed him by, and he turned in confusion just in time to see him walk up to Fairford with the message held out. What was he doing? Why was he giving him the message?
Before Fairford could take it, the servant’s other hand rose from beneath the folds of his coat, the grip of a pistol held in it.
Henry could do no more than open his mouth before the weapon fired with a loud crack and a cloud of smoke. He watched in stunned amazement as Fairford staggered to his knees, clutching his midsection.
Reaching up with his other hand, the footman drew off his hat and wig, transforming into a woman, and Henry recognized Raquel. He ran to where she stood, her attention riveted on the body lying in the grass. His surprise was such that he could not even speak as Percy and Fenton came up beside him.
The girl knelt by Fairford and addressed the dying man. “Your death will not bring back the babe you took from me, or the lives of those that might have followed,” she said coldly. “But it will ensure the life of Lady Montgomery and her child.”
Fairford opened his mouth to reply, but all that issued forth was a strangled, gurgling noise.
Henry watched as his gaze became fixed and unseeing.
“It is over,” whispered Raquel, standing.
