Kiss from a Stranger Read online

  Jacques was refilling his glass of champagne as Lady Gratton went to the door.

  Looking down, she saw that the front door was still open.

  “She is not back,” she said in a whisper, “and that makes things even easier. Come upstairs and shut the door behind you.”

  Jacques did as he was told.

  However, he paused for a moment to look at the open front door just below him.

  “Jacques!”

  His name, spoken in a low voice, had a longing and a passion that he found irresistible.

  Swiftly because he was nervous, he hurried up the next flight of stairs and into her bedroom.

  *

  The Earl had taken Shenda to a sofa beside the fireplace and fetched her a glass from the grog tray.

  She shook her head when he offered it to her and he suggested gently,

  “Drink a little. It will do you good.”

  Although he had diluted the brandy, she felt it moving fierily down her throat and gave an involuntary shudder.

  At the same time the feeling of faintness and sense of collapse that had made her cry seemed to evaporate.

  She tried to wipe away her tears with the back of her hand and he gave her his handkerchief.

  It made her think of how he had bandaged Rufus’s paw in the wood.

  For the first time since she had rushed headlong through Berkeley Square to Arrow House, she looked down nervously to see if Rufus was with her.

  He was curled up at her feet and she gave a little cry of relief.

  “Rufus – saved – me!” she said to the Earl.

  He put his arm round her shoulders.

  “Now, tell me everything that happened from the very beginning.”

  She wiped away the last of her tears, saying as she did so,

  “I-I am – sorry.”

  “There is nothing to be sorry about,” he replied. “You have been so unbelievably brave, but for the moment we have to be sensible and decide what must be done. Tell me what you heard.”

  Hesitatingly, but at the same time acutely aware that the Earl’s arm was round her, she told him exactly what had happened since she arrived at Lady Gratton’s house.

  When she reached the part where Lady Gratton told Jacques what she had learnt about the Secret Expedition, she hesitated.

  A look of anxiety filled her eyes as if she could go no further.

  “Tell me what she said,” the Earl said gently.

  “She said – you had told her – that the – Secret Expedition – had – gone to the – West Indies.”

  She had turned her face away as she spoke, but now she looked up at him and said frantically,

  “Y-you – could not – you did not – betray them?”

  “Do you really think that I would?” he asked.

  “N-no – but that – was what – she said – b-but how – could she have – known?”

  “What she said was a lie!” the Earl said quietly.

  “You are – certain?”

  “Perfectly certain and I can tell you now it was in fact exactly what the Admiralty wanted Napoleon Bonaparte to think.”

  Shenda drew a breath of sheer relief.

  “Could you believe,” the Earl asked, “that I would be so foolish, especially after you had warned me, to tell Lady Gratton anything that might jeopardise our ships and those who sail in them?”

  Because what he said sounded accusing, Shenda hid her face against his shoulder.

  “Forgive – me,” she whispered. “I-I knew you would not – do such a thing willingly – but I thought – perhaps she had – used some psychic power – or perhaps a – drug to make you talk in your sleep.”

  “She did none of those things,” the Earl affirmed. “Now, tell me the rest of the story.”

  Because she was so relieved, Shenda told him what had happened next, quickly and without hesitation.

  Only when she spoke the sentence in French that she had overheard as she reached the door and knew was her death knell did her voice tremble.

  Then in a little more than a whisper, she said brokenly,

  “I-I don’t – want to – d-die!”

  “It is something that will not happen,” the Earl asserted, “at least not for many, many years!”

  “Y-you will – save me?”

  “Would you expect me to do anything else,” he asked, “when you have been so marvellous, so utterly and completely wonderful?”

  “Do you – know who – the spy is?”

  “I know who he is and it will be he and not you, my darling, who will die!”

  Shenda looked up at him as he spoke.

  He felt her body stiffen against him and her eyes widen so that they seemed to fill her whole face.

  “Wh-what – did you – s-say?” she asked in a voice he could hardly hear.

  “I called you ‘my darling’,” the Earl replied, “which is something you have been for a long time, although I fought against it. I love you, Shenda, and I want to know what you feel about me.”

  Shenda lifted her face and his lips came down on hers.

  He kissed her as he had once before, but in a very different way.

  Now his kiss was demanding, possessive, as if he wanted her and yet was afraid he might lose her.

  To Shenda it was as if the Heavens had opened and the stars had fallen down into her heart.

  His lips aroused in her a sensation she had felt once before when he had kissed her by the wood, but now because she loved him it was a million times stronger and more sublime.

  She knew then that as he kissed her and went on kissing her, she gave him not only her heart but also her soul.

  Only when he raised his head did she say incoherently, but with a rapture the Earl had never heard before in any woman’s voice,

  “I love you – I – love you! But – how can you – l-love me?”

  “Very easily,” the Earl replied, “and I promise you, my precious, nothing like this will ever happen to you again. Never will I involve you in anything that is so frightening or so dangerous!”

  “But – I wanted to – help you.”

  “I know you did and it was unbelievably brave, but now you have to be sensible enough to realise that I must act quickly, so that that tool of Napoleon shall not escape.”

  Shenda thought for a moment.

  Then, as if she forced herself to think of what had happened rather than the wonder of the Earl’s lips, she said,

  “When I – left the house – I did not shut the door – and they will – know that I have – not returned.”

  For a moment the Earl’s arms held her closer still, as if he was protecting her.

  Then he rose to his feet and, as she saw the expression on his face, she knew that he was a man going into action.

  “I will take you upstairs,” he said, “so that you can go to bed. You will be safe because I shall tell my valet who was with me when I was at sea to look after you and protect you.”

  “You are – leaving me?” Shenda asked in a low voice,

  “I am going to Lord Barham to tell him that you have solved his problems. He will take over and – ”

  He paused.

  “In the meantime,” he said as if he were speaking to himself, “that devil may get away!”

  There was something in the way he spoke that made Shenda feel afraid.

  “W-what are you – going to d-do?” she asked.

  The Earl did not reply.

  He walked out of the room and into the hall to where the footman was sitting in his padded chair.

  As the Earl appeared, the footman jumped to his feet.

  “Wake every man in the house,” the Earl ordered. “Tell them to dress immediately. Hurry, there is no time to be lost!”

  It was the word of command from a man who was used to giving them.

  James ran quickly down the passage that led to the pantry and the rooms beyond it, where the menservants slept.

  While he was speaking, Shenda had
come from the study to stand beside him.

  He took her hand and they went up the stairs together and along the passage into what she guessed even before they entered it was the Master bedroom.

  It was an impressive room, but not so large or so grand as the one occupied by the Earl at The Castle.

  Here there was a small, thin, wiry-looking man whom Shenda thought she would have known if she had seen him anywhere as being a sailor.

  He leapt to his feet as the Earl entered.

  “Howkins,” the Earl said, “Miss Shenda is in danger. She is to sleep in my bed until I return. Get your pistol and shoot anybody who attempts to enter the room and disturb her – do you understand?”

  “I understands, my Lord!” Howkins replied.

  The Earl turned to Shenda.

  “I promise you will be safe.”

  “And – you will – take care of – yourself?”

  She was suddenly desperately afraid for him.

  He smiled at her, then, before she could say any more, he was gone and she could hear him running down the passage and back to the hall.

  She was sure by this time that most of the men in the house had assembled and were waiting for him.

  Because she wanted to run after him, because she felt suddenly lost and lonely and not certain what she should do, she just stood in the Earl’s bedroom.

  She looked at the big canopied bed with its heavy curtains and the Coat of Arms of the Earls of Arrow embroidered over the headboard.

  “Now, miss, you gets into bed,” Howkins said, “and don’t worry. His Lordship knows how to look after himself, as he’s looked after us all, ever since we’ve bin with him.”

  “Supposing – supposing the – Frenchman – shoots him?” Shenda said in a very small voice.

  Howkins smiled.

  “You can bet your last penny that his Lordship will shoot him first! Now, come on, miss, orders is orders, and his Lordship expects ’em to be obeyed!”

  Shenda laughed a little, as if she could not help it.

  She did not even feel embarrassed as Howkins pulled back the sheet and helped her into bed.

  He was just like her nanny used to be.

  “Now then, in case you’re worried,” he said, “I’ll be sittin’ just outside your door, me pistol in me hand and if anyone comes nosin’ around, they’ll get a piece of lead right through the heart! I’m a good shot, I am, even if I says it meself, though I shouldn’t!”

  Shenda tried to smile.

  “Thank you – and I am – sure I shall be – quite safe.”

  Howkins blew out the candles and walked towards the door.

  “Good night, miss, and God grant us a fair wind tomorrow!”

  It was something she guessed he must have often said to the Earl when they were at sea.

  Then, as she closed her eyes, she thought of his arms around her, as once again he was kissing her and his lips were on hers.

  “I love him – I love him!” she whispered to the pillows.

  Then she knew that if only he loved her in return, then all her dreams had come true.

  But she was half-afraid that she was only dreaming.

  Chapter Seven

  The Earl, with his small private Army of retainers, came back to Berkeley Square in triumph.

  The dawn had broken and already the streets were filling up with people starting work.

  The Earl was driving his own closed carriage and, as he drew his horses to a standstill, the carriage door opened and the men of the household tumbled out.

  Although they had been up all night, their cheeks were flushed and their eyes were shining.

  The Earl knew as he walked into the house that the night was something that they would remember all their lives.

  When he had left Shenda in the care of his valet, he had gone downstairs to the hall.

  As the menservants came hurrying, as they had been told to do, they looked at him apprehensively.

  In a quiet clear voice he told them why he wanted them.

  He knew that just as happened on board ship when he had asked for volunteers, there was not a man among them who would not be prepared to do anything he demanded.

  He sent the youngest footman to wake the coachmen and tell them to bring his closed carriage by a different route to Lady Gratton’s house.

  Then he and the six men that were left set off down the square, but not before three of them he could trust as well as he himself were armed.

  As he had hoped, the men in charge of the Comte’s carriage were half asleep on the box.

  They took very little notice of three men walking on one side on the road, two on the other and two more a little way behind them.

  Only as the Earl and Carter walked in through the open front door of the house did the coachman look up in surprise.

  At the same moment he was pulled from his seat on the box.

  As the Earl disappeared inside the house, the same thing was happening on the other side of the carriage to the footman.

  The Earl walked very softly up the stairs, finding it useful that he knew his way in the house, although he did not like to think about why he had been there before.

  Carter followed him.

  He was over fifty, but looked young for his age and he had been a footman at The Castle before he had gained his position as butler at Arrow House.

  The Earl reached the main bedroom and paused for a moment outside the door so that Carter could join him.

  Then the two men walked in, their pistols in their hands, and Lady Gratton gave a shrill scream of horror.

  The Earl permitted the Comte to dress himself and, when he had done so, told Lucille to do the same.

  By this time she was sobbing and pleading with him, but he had not even looked at her.

  Only when the Comte, his face dark with fury and fear, was ready, did the Earl say sharply,

  “I will allow your Ladyship to dress alone, but there is no escape from this room, except through the door. My assistant will be waiting outside it to make sure you do not attempt to do anything foolish.”

  “Where are you taking me? What are you doing? How can you behave in such a cruel way to me of all people?” Lucille screamed.

  The Earl did not deign to answer.

  He merely forced the Comte to walk in front of him and with a pistol pointing at his back took him down the stairs.

  At the bottom two footmen were waiting and on the Earl’s instructions they tied the Comte’s arms behind him and put a rope that they had brought with them round his legs.

  The Earl then looked outside the front door to see if his carriage had arrived as he had ordered and saw to his satisfaction that it had.

  His coachman and footman were on the box, their faces alight with curiosity.

  Knowing that the Comte would undoubtedly try to bribe his servants if he was left alone with them, the Earl told one of his men to gag him.

  He made it clear he wanted it done in such a way that it would be impossible for the Frenchman to speak.

  On the Earl’s instructions they put him on the back seat of the carriage and, when they had done so, he told one of his men who was armed to sit opposite him and shoot him if he tried to escape.

  Then he went back into the house to find that Lucille, who was still crying, was coming down the stairs.

  She started to plead with him, but he stopped her by raising his hand for silence and saying in a hard voice,

  “I am afraid, my Lady, your wrists must be tied to prevent you from trying to help your confederate to escape.”

  “He is not my confederate,” Lucille screamed, “he forced himself upon me and I could not refuse to do what he wished. I hate the French! I know they are our enemies, but he was strong and I was weak!”

  The Earl did not bother to answer.

  He only watched to make sure that her wrists were tied together, so that she could not use her hands.

  Then he told his men to assist her into the coach.


  It was then he had the coachman and the footman who had been driving the Comte’s carriage put inside it with two men to guard them and he told his own servants to drive that coach, while he would drive his own.

  They were obviously astonished, but did as he ordered and he drove off.

  Carter was beside him while the rest of his men crammed onto the box of the carriage containing the Comte’s drivers.

  The streets were empty, but there was the moonlight to guide their way to the Tower of London in what the Earl thought was record time.

  When he arrived there, he sent for the Lieutenant-Governor of the Tower.

  Brought from his bed, he was an elderly man who had been in his time an excellent General. He listened attentively to what the Earl had to say and replied,

  “I know that Lord Barham, who is an old friend of mine, will be extremely grateful to your Lordship. Bonaparte’s spies are, I believe, everywhere and the sooner this one is executed after due trial the better!”

  “That is what I thought myself,” the Earl said.

  The Lieutenant-Governor hesitated.

  “What about Lady Gratton?”

  “I think, as an example to other women not to emulate her,” the Earl replied, “after due trial she should be kept in custody until the end of the war.”

  “I agree with you!” the Lieutenant-Governor exclaimed. “And, in spite of the behaviour of the French, an Englishman still dislikes killing a woman!”

  “I think in this case it would be in actual fact more merciful than knowing that she will be ostracised by Society for the rest of her life!” the Earl remarked.

  Then, because he found it hard to talk about Lucille, he said quickly,

  “I have brought two other men, a coachman and a footman, who have been driving the Comte.”

  “Do you think it likely they are involved in any way in his nefarious activities?” the Lieutenant-Governor asked.

  “Most unlikely,” the Earl replied, “but they will know which people he has called on and the women with whom he is constantly in contact. If we are lucky, we will learn the addresses of other spies in London, like himself, and better still, those who carry the information he obtains to France.”

  The Lieutenant-Governor nodded.

  “You are undoubtedly right, my Lord,” he said, “and they will both be interrogated as quickly as possible and before those who are involved with the Comte have any idea that he is missing.”