By the time they dismounted and, tied their horses’ reins to a tree, Lord Staines, Colonel Stevenson, and the man with them had entered the hall. Reverend Doyle hurried his steps to catch up with Alexandra before she and her brother went inside.
“Mistress Sheffield, I would like a word with you, if I may.”
“Please forgive me, Reverend Doyle; I’m in a dreadful hurry.”
His face was set in stern lines. “You did not attend church service on Sunday when I announced your banns!”
Clutching Rupert’s sleeve so that he would not leave her behind, Alex replied, “I was unavoidably detained in London, Reverend.”
“And Lady Longford?” he pressed.
“My grandmother was busy nursing our invalid mother. Please excuse us; we must speak with Lord Hatton.”
* * *
Mr. Burke opened the door to Neville Staines’s urgent knock and admitted the three men. “May I help you, Lord Staines?”
“Yes, Burke. This is Sergeant Norton of the Bow Street Police. Kindly announce us to Lord Hatton.”
On his guard immediately, Burke asked, “May I tell his lordship what this is about, Lord Staines?”
“Nicholas has been arrested. We will be needed in London.”
Mr. Burke knew full well that Nicholas was in the library, therefore it must be Christopher who had been arrested. “I shall inform his lordship immediately, sir.”
Burke dashed upstairs, selected an elegant coat made by Schultz, then rushed down to the library. “Lord Staines, Colonel Stevenson, and a Sergeant Norton of Bow Street are in the hall. They insist that Nicholas has been arrested, and wish to speak with Lord Hatton. Obviously they’ve mixed you up.”
Nick frowned. “Did you straighten them out?”
Burke held the coat while Nick slipped his arms into the sleeves. “They wish to speak with Lord Hatton; I told them I would inform his lordship immediately.”
Burke ushered the three men into the library. “Will there be anything else, my lord?”
“See that we are not disturbed, Mr. Burke.”
“Christopher, this is Sergeant Norton from the Bow Street Police. They arrested your twin this morning on serious charges.”
Norton spoke up. “At dawn we interrupted a duel in Green Park and arrested your brother on suspicion of murder.”
“A duel?” The bloody fool! Is there no end to his folly? “There must be some mistake. Why do you think it was Nick Hatton?”
“There is no mistake, my lord. Your brother was wearing his Royal Horse Artillery uniform.”
Nick was stunned. Kit was deliberately impersonating me! “He killed his opponent?”
“His opponent, Eaton, was wounded in the duel,” Norton supplied.
Christ, which Eaton? John or Jeremy? “If his opponent is only wounded, why is he being held on suspicion of murder?”
Neville Staines cut in. “The suspicion concerns your father’s shooting. Apparently someone informed the police that it may not have been an accident. Since I was the coroner who signed the death certificate, and the colonel is Justice of the Peace of this county, Norton came to notify us. But before we left for London, I insisted we come here to let you know what has happened.”
“My father’s shooting was an accident.” Nick’s tone was implacable.
“Of course it was,” Lord Staines agreed. “Now, however, there will have to be an inquest to clear your twin’s name. In the meantime, they are holding Nicholas at Wood Street Compter.”
“That’s near the Guildhall, I believe. I shall leave as soon as possible, gentlemen. Thank you for bringing me the news.”
“Thank you, Lord Hatton.” Norton bowed; Staines and Stevenson nodded. When Neville opened the library door for them to leave, Alexandra and Rupert rushed in, with Mr. Burke on their heels. Reverend Doyle followed hesitantly and stood inside the door.
“I couldn’t stop them, Lord Hatton,” Burke apologized.
“There was no need to stop them, Mr. Burke.” Burke nodded and left the library to see the men out.
Nick’s hungry glance swept over Alexandra. Her hair was a riot of wildfire this morning, contrasting sharply with the sober gray riding dress. Her face was pale; her eyes full of apprehension.
“Nicholas has been arrested on suspicion of murdering your father. You know it was an accident. We must go and do something immediately!”
“We?” His hopes soared. She thought him in trouble and was ready to fly to his side.
Rupert spoke up. “I don’t want Alexandra involved in this.”
“Were you there, Rupert, when my brother was arrested?”
“Yes. Nick and I went to White’s to get back your marker from Jeremy Eaton. Suddenly, in front of everyone, Eaton accused Nick of cheating. Nick asked me to act as his second and insisted the duel take place at dawn. When he came to Green Park, he was wearing his army uniform. I tried to get him to call it off, but he wouldn’t hear of it. When they were pacing off, patrolmen came to halt it. Nick fired his pistol anyway and hit his mark. I don’t know if Eaton is alive or dead.”
“He is wounded, according to Sergeant Norton who just left.” It was a deliberate plan to rid himself of Eaton, and if anything went wrong, I would get the blame. Even Rupert believes it was I who provoked and fought the duel.
Alexandra was staring at her brother in disbelief. Nick went gambling to White’s after I left him, while I rode home brokenhearted? I thought I knew Nicholas Hatton better than any other person in the world. Apparently, I was wrong!
“Will he go on trial for murdering your father?” Rupert asked.
“Neville Staines says they will hold an inquest into Father’s death. If there is evidence of foul play, it will go to trial.”
“No!” Alex cried. “They cannot try him for murder; Nicholas is incapable of such evil. Kit, you must go and tell them so!”
Gray eyes bored into green. “Are you in love with Nicholas?”
Alexandra’s pale cheeks turned to flame. She tore her gaze from Kit, glanced at her brother, then looked at Reverend Doyle, who stood silent as a church statue, witnessing everything. I must not alienate Christopher. He is the only one who can help Nicholas. “No, of course I’m not in love with Nicholas.”
Doyle stepped forward to defend her. “She is your betrothed, the future Lady Hatton. How can you ask such a thing?”
Nick looked at Doyle, then at Rupert. “Would you excuse us? I would like a private word with my bride.”
Alex waited until they were alone, then spoke quickly. “Kit, we must postpone the wedding. Your brother’s trouble is far more important right now.”
“Not to me,” he said quietly.
Alex was shocked. “You will go and defend him, and do everything in your power as a Peer of the Realm to prove his innocence and gain his release, won’t you, Christopher?”
“That depends upon you.”
“Me?” It came out in a whisper, for she sensed what was coming.
“If you marry me, I will try my utmost to prove him innocent.”
“I have promised to marry you.” She tried not to sound evasive.
“Do you mean it, Alex?”
She knew she would say anything to persuade him to help Nicholas.
“Yes, of course I mean it.”
He crossed to the library door and opened it. Rupert and the reverend reentered the room, and he summoned Mr. Burke to join them. Nick walked back to the desk and picked up a paper. “I have a special license here, Doyle. I would like you to marry us.”
Alexandra’s hand went to her throat. The twin standing in front of her somehow knew her heart belonged to Nicholas. He had made it plain that he would only go to London after she had married him.
He raised his eyebrows, asking her capitulation. At that moment his presence and his will dominated the room.
“If you will keep your promise to do all you can for Nicholas.”
“Trust me, Alex.” He held out his hand.
With
the greatest reluctance, Alexandra placed her hand in his.
Doyle stepped before them and opened his prayer book. “Wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?”
“I will.”
Doyle then charged Alexandra with the same question.
She moved her lips, but no one heard her whispered “I will.”
“Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?”
“I do,” Rupert said with solemn pride.
“Repeat after me: I, Christopher Flynn Hatton, take thee, Alexandra Sheffield to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance. And thereto I plight thee my troth.”
When it was her turn, Alexandra stumbled over the phrase to love, cherish, and obey, and her hand trembled like a leaf as the groom intoned, “With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee honor, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow.”
When Doyle pronounced them man and wife, Alex was infinitely relieved that her husband did not try to kiss her.
Mr. Burke stepped forward to shake the groom’s hand. “Congratulations, Lord Hatton.” He turned to Alex. “Lady Hatton, let me be the first to welcome you to Hatton Hall.”
“Alex, I shall leave you in Mr. Burke’s capable hands. Rupert, I assume you are coming to London?”
“I’m coming too!” Alexandra’s voice was suddenly loud and clear. And brooked no refusal.
Her husband appraised her with a long, steady look. “As you wish, Lady Hatton.”
“I have to pack a bag and, of course, tell Dottie about all that has happened. Will you wait for me?” Alex asked stiffly.
“Perhaps Rupert will be good enough to bring you in his carriage. If I ride alone, I can be there in less than an hour.”
Rupert pressed his lips together but did not demur. “If you think it best, Kit, I am happy to be of service. Let’s hurry,” he urged, leading the way from the library.
As she turned to leave, her husband’s deep voice stayed her.
“Trust me, Alex.”
“You are a devil, Kit Hatton,” she hissed. “I shall never trust you again. Neither you nor your twin, Nicholas!”
Chapter Thirty-Three
It took Nicholas only forty minutes to ride to Curzon Street. He stabled Satin and saddled Renegade. If he was to be Lord Hatton, he must be seen riding Lord Hatton’s mount. On the six-mile journey his inner emotions had been at war. He felt elation that he and Alexandra were safely wed; at the same time he felt nothing but despair over his twin’s folly.
He rode past St. Paul’s to Cheapside, then turned up Wood Street. At the small prison known as the compter, he tethered Renegade and strode inside. He approached a wooden partition and spoke to a warden through a pigeonhole. “I am Lord Hatton. I understand you are holding my brother, Nicholas?”
The warden ran his finger down the admitting register’s page. “Right, milord. Nicholas Hatton, arrested this mornin’.”
“I wish to speak with him.”
“One moment, milord.”
It took considerably longer than a moment, but eventually Kit Hatton, wearing the faded uniform, was brought to a barred gate.
“Thank God you’re here! Tell them to get these irons off me … get me out of here!”
The turnkey who had brought his brother to the gate said, “Easement of irons, one guinea, milord.”
Nick fished in his pocket, produced a guinea, and handed it through the bars. The turnkey removed Kit’s manacles. “This won’t do,” Nick said with authority. “I wish to speak with my brother in private. I shall go to his room.”
“I’m in a ward … with felons!” Kit cried, rubbing his wrists. “They won’t believe that I am Lord Hatton!”
“It will avail you nothing to pretend to be me.” Nick addressed the turnkey. “My brother is newly returned from France. He was a captain in Wellington’s army.”
The turnkey was immediately impressed. “Let me shake yer ’and.” He offered his hand to Kit, who recoiled.
“Who do I see about getting the captain a private room?”
The turnkey directed him back to the warden. As Nick crossed to the wooden partition, Staines, Stevenson, and Norton arrived.
“Can I get my brother out on bail?”
“No bail,” Norton replied.
“They have lodged him in the felon’s ward. I’ve asked for a private room. How long will they hold him here, Norton?”
“Three days maximum. Then he’ll be moved to Newgate.”
Neville Staines spoke up. “We shall try to arrange for an inquest in the next couple of days. We need to review the evidence and assemble a jury. Stevenson’s a Justice; you and I are both peers. We should be able to expedite matters, Christopher.”
“He needs fresh linen, a razor—”
“I’ll look after getting him into a private room. You go and get what he needs; there’s no time to waste.”
Within the hour, Nick returned with clean clothes and his twin’s toilet articles. He had to slip the warden a ten-pound note to be taken to his brother’s room. Then he had to fork over another ten pounds before the turnkey would leave them alone.
“Why in God’s name did you plot this duel with Jeremy Eaton?”
“You don’t know what a nightmare it’s been for me! As soon as you deserted me to fight your stupid war, that scheming swine began to blackmail me. I paid the scurvy bastard what he asked, but he kept coming back for more. That’s where most of the money went! Between he and his corrupt father, they drained me dry!”
“Keep your voice down,” Nick cautioned. “Why didn’t you tell me? I took on his father and won; I would have crushed an insect like our cousin under my boot heel.”
“Ah, the conquering hero,” Kit sneered. “Aren’t you the one who thought it was high time I fought my own battles?”
“But you didn’t fight your own battle, did you? You fully intended to kill him, but you wanted everyone to think it was me who shot him.”
Kit ran his fingers through his hair. “No! I knew the uniform would put fear in him, give me an edge. I had to silence him!”
“Why?”
“He threatened to tell the world that I accidentally shot Father, not you. He was about to brand us both as liars and reveal that we had perpetrated a fraud on the authorities.”
“Jeremy Eaton must have been watching that day.”
“Yes, damn him to hellfire, he saw everything!”
“You were arrested on suspicion of murder.”
Kit ran both hands through his hair. “Eaton’s taking his filthy revenge. He’s the one who has accused me, or rather you!”
Gray eyes stared into identical gray eyes until one pair lowered. “Was our father’s death an accident, Kit?”
“Yes! No! I don’t know!”
“You do know,” Nick said quietly. He held his breath, and it felt as if his heart stopped beating as he waited for the answer. Every fibre of his being wanted it to have been an accident.
Kit’s fingers stabbed through his black hair. “We were in the clearing, having the devil’s own argument about announcing my betrothal. He accused me of being a coward, of having no guts. He fueled my fury to madness. I saw a flash of red; it was Father’s blood! I killed him in the heat of the moment.”
Nicholas felt his heart constrict, then it resumed its slow, steady beat. I thought the war robbed me of all my innocence, but I was wrong. I still had some left until this moment. You knew it wasn’t an accident when you begged me to say that I shot him. You would have let me take the blame for murder. You intended to murder Eaton and planned it so that once again I would be blamed. We are the same blood, the same bone.
How can one twin do that to the other?
“You’ve got to help me! You’ve always been there for me, Nick … we’re in this together, right?”
Nicholas stared at his twin, then in a measured tone he said, “I have given you the last full measure of my devotion.”
“They are less likely to convict a Peer of the Realm. You must convince them that I am Lord Hatton!”
“That would be impossible. I am Lord Hatton.”
As Alexandra rode the short distance from Hatton Hall to Longford Manor, she did not converse with her brother. She rode in silence because the world had receded as her thoughts and emotions consumed her. Why on earth did I allow Kit to manipulate me into a wedding ceremony? Her inner voice answered, Because it was the only way he would help Nicholas. I vowed I would do anything to help Nick; I must not allow myself to regret it. The voice asked, How can I trust Kit to keep his word to help his twin? She answered, I cannot, but I won’t assume my duty as his wife until Nicholas is free and his name is cleared!
Dottie, emerging from the kitchen, surveyed her grandchildren. “Alex often goes for a dawn gallop, but I didn’t think anything short of peeing the bed would prompt Rupert to remove himself from between the sheets at this time of day.”
“Rupert came from London. Nicholas has been arrested on suspicion of murdering his father.”
“Good God! We must get word to Neville.”
“He knows … he was at Hatton. He and Colonel Stevenson have already left for London to arrange an inquest. Rupert and I are going too.”
“Alex hasn’t told you the happy news. She and Kit were just married! They exchanged vows before Reverend Doyle in Hatton’s library. I gave the bride away.”
“Alexandra, darling, that is indeed happy news. Wise too, under the dreadful circumstances. Swift and decisive action is ever the best course. Lady Hatton, sometimes I despaired I would ever be able to call you that.” Dottie embraced her granddaughter with heartfelt happiness, then held her at arm’s length. “You have such a stunned look on your face, darling. The shock of marriage does that, but usually to the groom. Shall we go and tell Margaret?”
Dottie and Alex climbed the stairs together, with Rupert just behind them. Sara was helping Margaret drink a cup of chamomile tea when they arrived at the bedside.