A Masquerade in the Moonlight(60)
“You’re too suspicious,” Lord Chorley interrupted. “He seems pleasant enough—”
“What? What? Can we go now? Georgie, dear girl. Promised to wait for me. I have to strike while the iron is hot, if you take my meaning, before some fortune-hunting snip cuts me out.”
“Oh, go on, the lot of you!” Sir Ralph exploded, waving his hands in dismissal. “We’ll meet again on Monday. Just get out of my sight. I have more important things to do than listen to a roomful of old women!”
They were gone within a minute, leaving Sir. Ralph alone in the dining room, his wine untouched, his supper still in the inn’s kitchens, uncalled for. He looked toward the curtain, waiting for the Earl of Laleham to show himself.
He appeared a moment later, dressed in his impeccable black, his head tied up with a black silk handkerchief, a square of white linen pressed to the corner of his mouth to catch the drool that persisted in slipping from between his lips.
“Well? Happy now, William? I told him everything you said for me to, and still he acts as if this is all some lark. I say we abandon the entire scheme. We could just as easily pocket the money and sell the goods and ships to the French.”
“Who would end by ruling England,” the earl whispered from between handkerchief compressed teeth. “The Americans consider themselves to be honorable. They’ll take what we offer and then believe themselves our allies once we come to power. It’s Donovan who’s out for himself, don’t you see that? He’s no fool, no matter how much he delights in playing the buffoon. He could be dangerous, unless—”
Sir Ralph sat forward, leaning his elbows, on the table. “Unless?”
“Offer him something.”
“What?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea, Ralph. Ask him. Must I do the thinking for all of us? As you and I both know—and as those doltish idiots Stinky and Perry and Arthur proved tonight—everyone wants something.”
Sir Ralph slid his hands beneath the table, where he could ball them into fists unobserved. He was becoming very weary of taking orders. “I told you, William. He wants Marguerite.”
The earl’s cheeks went very white against the black silk handkerchief. “Then it is up to you, Ralph, to convince him otherwise. If you fail, he’ll have to die, and he’s of no use to us dead. Follow after him tonight, Ralph. Learn all about him. See where he ‘frolics.’”
“And then?”
Sir Ralph looked away as William smiled, the constricting black silk turning that smile into an unappealing grimace. “And then you will report back to me, Ralph. I am in charge, you know, and not you. Don’t take your role too seriously, for it is just that—a role.”
Sir Ralph’s fingernails bit into his palms. But he said nothing. Like it or not, he had to follow where William led. They all had to, for they all shared a secret that could destroy them. They needed each other, could not trust each other, and were bound to any insanity in order to believe they were still all powerful, invulnerable—the omnipotent members of their own secret society. It was the way it had been for almost twenty years.
These last seven long years.
Too many years.
Sir Ralph stood, his nondescript features impassive, took up his greatcoat and hat, and quit the room, knowing he’d have to hurry if he was to catch up with Donovan. He would follow orders.
For now.
CHAPTER 9
She is the good man’s paradise, and the bad’s first step to heaven.
— James Shirley
Thomas caught sight of her as she stepped out of the shadows and into the moonlight. He smiled as he saw she had dressed dramatically for the occasion of their midnight assignation, her head and body enveloped in a voluminous black cloak. But the smile froze in place, then, slowly melted, as she turned her head and he saw her moon-washed face, her wide eyes, and her vulnerability.
Damn her for making him remember he’d once possessed a conscience!
How was it possible for anyone, especially a young woman like Marguerite Balfour, to look outrageously daring and so prodigiously frightened at the same time? Thomas felt himself caught between wanting to crush her sweet body against his and kiss her senseless and believing he should take her in his arms and comfort her, tell her everything was going to be all right, he didn’t mean her any harm and he would always be there for her, to protect her and to love her and, yes, God help him, to cherish her.