Trials of Artemis Page 21

"I see I've arrived just in time, Jack," the young woman said.

  Gideon pushed his wife behind him. "I would be pleased if you would put that weapon away."

  "And I would be pleased," she said, advancing on him with the sword, "if you would stop shouting at my friend."

  "How did you even get in here?"

  She shrugged. "The front door was open. From there I just followed the sound of a very irritated Jack." She pinned the tip of the epee against his waistcoast, just below his cravat, and he irritatedly brushed it aside with his jacket-clad arm. She whipped the flexible sword around again landing it against his throat.

  "Sabre, stop it," Jack admonished.

  "You don't want him killed then?"

  "I just went to the trouble to save him last night, so no, I would prefer not."

  "Really? What sort of trouble can an earl get in on a Wednesday night?"

  "Smugglers," Jack said.

  "Smugglers!" Sabre’s mouth drew into a pout. "Why do I have to miss all the fun?" She flicked the sword away and had it sheathed in an instant. "So," she said. "This is your earl."

  "Yes, so be on your best behavior. Gideon, may I present Lady Sabrina Bittlesworth. Sabre, may I present Lord Gideon Wolfe, Earl of Harrington."

  Sabre made an elegant curtsey as Gideon made a brief bow, but then she looked the earl over thoroughly. "He isn't what I expected for you."

  "I can actually hear you, you know," he said drily.

  Undaunted, Sabre continued. "I expected someone pale and bookish. Someone happy to let you make all the decisions. This one is all..." she waved her hands around his form, "dark, brooding intensity. Almost sinister."

  "Well," Jack said with a smil. "He is Lord Lucifer."

  Sabre spun to look at her friend, wide-eyed. "No!"

  Jack couldn't keep herself from chuckling. She looked up at her husband and realized that regardless of his history she did love the man he had become. "Yes, I'm afraid so."

  Sabre shrieked and wrapped her arms around Jack while jumping up and down. "That is too rich!"

  "Perhaps it's the blow to the head," Gideon interrupted, "but you ladies seem to have lost me."

  The petite brunette turned to him. "You're Lord Lucifer. Jack hates you. She's hated you for years and now she's married to you."

  "I... and that's funny?"

  "One day you will no doubt understand the satisfaction of watching Jack have to eat her words," she said with a tremendous smile.

  "Sabre," Jack said warningly.

  Sabre danced away from the increasingly irritated Jack, grinning smugly as she spoke, "She has said, and I quote, 'he is a horrible, despicable man and I wouldn't marry him if he were the last man on earth.' And now here she is."

  "If I may ask," Gideon interjected, "why were you even discussing marriage to Lord Lucifer?"

  Sabre laughed. "Unlike our stodgy friend here, George and I were convinced that you must be quite dashing to have led my brothers astray. And obviously you are if you have also enthralled said stodgy friend."

  "Sabre!" Jack protested again.

  "Well," Sabre shrugged. "As the Bard would say, ‘All's well that ends well’."

  "I prefer the Greek perspective," Jack said. “Thucydides wrote, ’Hatred is short lived but that which makes the splendor of the present and the glory of the future remains forever unforgotten’."

  Sabre rolled her eyes at Gideon. "She'll be like this all day if we don't distract her with swordplay."

  "No,” he said. “Absolutely no swords during the pregnancy."

  Sabre squealed again. "Is that what you were fighting about?"

  "And she needs sleep," Gideon added.

  Sabre pulled Jack's face down closer to her own. "You do look tired, Jackie."

  Jack sighed. "I missed you, Sabre."

  "And I missed you, too, Jack. Go get some sleep and we can have a nice tea when you get up."

  "The servants need-"

  "I'll take care of the servants," Sabre said. "Your earl will make sure they don't argue with me."

  "And Gideon needs to let the doctor look at his head wound."

  "Duly noted. Anything else you need, countess?"

  "No..."

  "Then let your earl take you upstairs and I'll start by sorting out why the front door was open with no servants in the hall." Sabre leaned in towards Gideon and poked him in the chest. "No funny stuff. She needs sleep. And you need to see the doctor before I track you down to find out why you haven't." Then she whisked herself back out into the hall.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Gideon wrapped his arms around Jack and buried his nose in her hair. "She's...interesting."

  "I believe I warned you."

  "Weren't we arguing about something?"

  "Undoubtedly, but I'm too tired right now to continue."

  "I love you, Jacqueline."

  "Oh," she said in surprise.

  He straightened and looked into her eyes. "That was easier to say that I expected. I love you. The idea of you being hurt scares me more than anything that could happen to me."

  Jack could feel tears gathering in her eyes. "Oh Giddy, that's how I feel about you."

  He kissed her hand. "I guess we need to avoid any more confrontations with smugglers so that it isn't an issue. Come, I'm supposed to put you in bed before that pushy little friend of yours comes back."

  "Tiny Wellington."

  "Indeed. If the war starts again I'll recommend you both for duty."

  "Why Giddy, I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

  "So in lieu of poetry you would prefer a military service recommendation?"

  "And arrows instead of flowers."

  "I have married the strangest woman."

  "Strangest? No. You obviously haven't met George yet."

  "There should be a reward for this, you know."

  "For what?"

  "Marrying into the Haberdashers. If I'd known I was going to get all three of you then I might have been more reticent."

  Jack chuckled. "Lord Lucifer, you didn't read the fine print of our contract?"

  "I'm never going to live that nickname down, am I?"

  "And the Haberdashers won't ever let me live down that I married you."

  “No, the Lady Sabrina doesn’t seem the forgiving type.”

  “Oh, you have no idea. And George is worse.”

  “My headstrong, impulsive countess is the most forgiving of the three?”

  “Indeed. Think of all the things I’ve forgiven you for.”

  “Sassy minx.”

  “Giddy,” she said, sobering, “there is one more thing I want to say.”

  “Another startling announcement?” he teased, wrapping his arms around her again. “Should I sit down first?”

  “I asked Justin to send me your voting records.”

  “I know.”

  She leaned back to look up at him in surprise. “You know?”

  “Your Mr. Miller is quite clever. Before I left London he handed me a packet, saying it was the records you had asked for. Thus he hedged his bets that I wouldn’t directly ask him about it and make him choose which of us to betray. Yet by passing it through my hands he left the decision to me on whether I opened it before I gave it to you.”

  “And you did!”

  “And I did. I have the right, you know.”

  Jack took a deep breath. As much as she wanted to rail at him over his high-handed behavior, she recognized an opportunity. She hoped she wasn’t too tired to capitalize on it. “Yes,” she said. “You have the right. What’s mine is yours. I’m yours.”

  He nuzzled her throat. “And I couldn’t be more pleased.”

  “You said the idea of my being hurt scared you. It surprises me, as such, that you don’t support women’s rights on my behalf.”

  He drew back and frowned down at her. “This again? Already? You have my name, my protection. You know I would deny you nothing it is within my power to give you.”

  “Wh
at if you had already fallen in love with me but events had forced me to marry another man?” she implored. “A cruel man. One given to beating me when I didn’t behave as he thought I should.”

  She saw his jaw harden and he backed another step away from her. “I wouldn’t have allowed it.”

  “Not everything is within your control, Gideon. What if we hadn’t saved you today and my next husband was a cruel man?”

  His expression had turned formidable. “Why would you need another husband?”

  “Because I have nothing! I own nothing! If our child is a daughter, she and I would be at the whim of your heir, a cousin of yours that I’ve never met. Is that the life you want for me? For your daughter? To have to depend on the very good fortune of finding a kind man?”

  Gideon found that he indeed did need to sit as Jacqueline barraged him with images he didn’t want to consider. In his time he had seen cruel men. Most likely had a better understanding of them than she did. The idea of her having to submit to such a man, to be abused until she was only a shadow of her impulsive, fiery self… And the idea of a daughter suffering such abuse, having no father to protect her as she should. The pain of the thought was beyond bearing.

  He sat rubbing his temples and realized that Jack has stopped speaking. Alarmed that something might be wrong he looked up at her again but she still stood there, watching him with a worried expression.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Your head is hurting you. Perhaps you should see the doctor now?”

  He snorted a laugh and let his hands drop away. “I think I could take two or three cudgels to the head easier than arguing with you.”

  “I…” She let the statement trail off, apparently at a loss on how to respond.

  Gideon stared at the carpet between his feet for a few moments and found himself resolved. He clasped his hands together. “I’ll ask Quince if he wants to co-sponsor a bill.”

  She was silent for a long moment. “Oh Gideon, are you sure?”

  He looked up at her again. “Yes, I’m sure,” he said.

  She still looked worried but a smile tugged at her lips. “Be careful how you tell him. The surprise might cause him an apoplexy.”

  Gideon chuckled, feeling more relaxed. “Where will the fun be if I cannot devil him at least a little bit?” He rose and offered Jack his arm. “Now I’d best get you into bed before the tiny Wellington realizes you are still up and about. Do you still want to see my voting record? That reading is sure to put you to sleep.”

  “Of course I want to read it. How else am I to know how to respond when someone asks me a politically charged question?”

  He picked up a rather large packet of papers from his desk and handed them to her. “That would be simple. Just ask yourself ‘what is the absolutely correct thing to do?’ and the answer will naturally lead you to my opinion on the matter.”

  She laughed almost all the way up the steps and then tapped him on the arm with the packet. “Do you know what else I’d like to know?”

  “I’m sure you have an exhaustive list.”

  “Who sold our story to the newspaper? I’ve gone over and over it in my mind and I think the most logical suspect is Lady Wynders.”

  “I’m fairly certain it was Lady Spencer.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “She was asking after our marriage plans the night before it was published.”

  “You saw her that night?”

  “Don’t sound so jealous. It was in the card room at the Yancey ball.”

  “Libraries, card rooms,” she teased. “You’re icorrigible.”

  He trapped her against the wall and kissed her throat. “Sitting rooms, even.”

  “Which reminds me,” she said, looking at the pretty blue and gold room, “we really should send for the decorators.”

  He straightened again. “There’s no need. It doesn’t remind me of my mother now, just of you.” He looked around the room before returning his gaze to her. “That was another life. Unless there was something else you wanted?”

  “No, I fear that if I toured all the grand houses of England that this is the one room I would want for my own.”

  “Well,” he said with a lopsided grin, “how clever of me to already have it here.”

  Jack stroked his cheeks, worrying over the dark circles of fatigue beneath his eyes. “I suppose when we get back to London I shall have to invite Lady Spencer to tea.”

  He frowned. “Why?”

  “To thank her. Or perhaps I should let Sabre do it. She would undoubtedly bill it the ‘Jack isn’t always right’ tea.”

  Gideon chuckled. “It doesn’t seem to bother you when she points out your errors.”

  “She wouldn’t be that way if I were wrong more often.”

  “Perhaps I’m starting to see her point.”

  “Gideon,” she admonished. “As my husband you are supposed to support me in all things.”

  “Whatever gave you that idea? I did, however, write to my investment manager to ask why it had taken him three months to arrive at a recommendation on the Jones-Berry Mine that my wife was able to make after reading one article.”

  Jack drew back and tried to divine whether he was teasing her. “Are you saying…?”

  “That I’m the Wolfe in Wolfe-Telford? Indeed.”

  “W.T. is Wolfe-Telford? You and the duke have a company together?”

  “Yes. Or rather I should say that you and I have an investment company with the duke. Perhaps I’ll let you manage fifty pounds of it.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll start with no less than a thousand pounds.”

  “At last, feminine materialism has reared its ugly head.”

  “Pish! I could find more blunt by going through your pockets.” She smiled. “But I warn you now that I plan to practice risky speculation with it and will probably lose it all.”

  “Somehow I doubt that.”

  Her heart blossomed at the simple confidence in his statement. “Gideon?”

  “Yes, darling?”

  “I do believe you love me.”

  He laughed. “As I’ve said.”

  She wrapped her arms around him and snuggled into his chest. She hadn’t wanted to marry at all, much less would she have chosen the man known to her as Lord Lucifer. Yet here they were. They still had challenges to face, but they were in love and she had hope. As Aristotle had written, hope was a waking dream. “Thank you, Giddy,” she said. “Thank you for not being who I thought you were.”

  “How could I be without horns and a tail?”

  “Giddy, I’m trying to be serious.”

  He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “So am I. And thank you for not being who I thought you were.”

  “You thought all women were empty-headed shrews. It wasn’t a difficult conception to challenge.”

  “Be that as it may, it’s time for you to get some rest now.”

  “And you to see the doctor.”

  “Of course,” he said. “Dream of me?”

  “Always.”

  Author’s Note

  Thanks for reading the first book in the Haberdasher’s series! Don’t miss the first chapter of the second book, Athena’s Ordeal, featuring Quince and Sabre. Although they are Jack and Gideon’s best friends they haven’t met by the end of the Trials of Artemis. Let’s see how that goes, shall we?

  One of the things I particularly like when reading a historical romance is to find history in it. But sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between real history and something the author made up to facilitate storytelling. In case you were curious what parts of this book were references to factual history I want to give you some additional information. Trials of Artemis takes place February 11 to March 31 in 1815 and that nestles it right in the middle of a tremendous amount of historical happenings.

  The early 19th century was quite busy in Europe. Prior to the beginning of our narrative we had the Napoleonic wars, which when we pick up in Febr
uary 1815 our heroes might have assumed had ended with Napoleon being exiled to Elba in April 1814. But in case you wonder why Gideon stays so busy with his Parliamentary work it’s worth knowing that Napoleon escaped Elba on February 26, 1815. The famous Battle of Waterloo is coming up on June 18.

  Meanwhile, in response to the chaos visited upon Europe by the Napoleonic wars (as well as the French Revolutionary War and dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire), the Congress of Vienna was called starting in September 1814. It was held primarily among the “Great Powers” of Austria, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom, and turned into a redrawing of the political map of Europe. The Final Act was signed on June 9, 1815. Yes, shortly before Waterloo.

  In the United Kingdom a protectionist grain bill was being debated in the Houses. It finally passed the House of Lords on March 15, 1815 and followed in the House of Commons in June. By requiring hefty duties on imports of grains the landowners of the United Kingdom were able to reap extraordinary profits. This became a source of friction between landowners and merchants, and created a significant hardship for the working class who had to pay high prices for food.

  Also in the United Kingdom the seeds of modern Women’s Suffrage were being sown. Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792, just a few years before our lovely Haberdashers were born. If you want to know more about the political environment of women’s rights in the era it will be something we continue to explore in the Haberdashers series.

  Thanks for reading!

  About the Author

  Sue London began writing short stories about horses and teen sleuths when she was seven years old. After that she traveled to distant worlds, fought with swords and sorcerers, and played with a few undead things. As you might have expected, this means she went into accountancy. Well, maybe that was an odd plot twist, but that’s the difference between real life and fiction – fiction has to make sense.

  In her twenties she developed a deep affection for romance, especially enjoying the works of Nora Roberts, Mary Balogh and, most recently, Lauren Royal, Danelle Harmon, and Diane Farr. You can thank those authors for leading a sci-fi tomboy into writing historical romances set in the Regency period.