Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

B en burst into Rowe House and ran into the foyer. “Father! Steven! Theo! Rajesh!”

He followed the sound of voices into the dining room where he found both families seated, waiting to eat.

“We thought—” Theo began.

“She was taken. Windsor-Clive hired the Blond Marauder to take her.” Ben stepped fully into the light, and Anna gasped. She pushed back her chair so hard it toppled. She rushed to her son, her eyes fearful as she took in his battered face. There were bruises and cuts marring nearly every inch. His left eye was swollen shut, and his right appeared like it would be soon. Ben glanced down at his mother, seeing her tears. He pulled her into his embrace and dropped a kiss on her crown. “I’m fine, Mama. But I need to get to Jemma.”

“I know where he went.” Raj rose from his seat. He squeezed Charlie’s hand before walking to Ben. He glanced at the other men and tilted his head to the door. They filed out of the dining room, Theo leading the way to his study. Raj looked at Ben. “Do you know who he really is?”

“Yes.” Ben nodded before he looked at his father. The Pedricks were proud of their smuggling legacy and proudly retold the story of how Caragh Pedrick once ran a smuggling ring and fought the great pirate, the Blond Devil. She was captured when the seafarer thought she was a lad and would make a fine cabin boy. Theirs was a love for the ages, their story known well in Cornwall and the Hebrides. “He’s Keith MacNeil.”

“MacNeil?” Charles, Ben’s father, asked.

“Yes, Father. Those MacNeils, though he sounds thoroughly English.”

“He is,” Raj confirmed. “He’s a MacNeil on his father’s side, but he’s a Gwyn on his mother’s. His moniker appeared in many of my father’s and brother’s correspondence. They traded with him countless times over the years.”

“I’ve done business with him too,” Theo interjected. “I know you know him, Charles.”

“I do, but I never knew his true name. Where would he go?”

“I don’t know.” Ben shook his head. “He sailed into the inlet two miles from here. He made it clear he worked for Windsor-Clive. He took Jemma to the bastard.”

“They’ve made a grave error.” Theo’s face hardened, the viciousness for which he was known when it came to protecting his wife and daughter gleamed in his eyes.

“He promised more than once she wouldn’t be harmed. It made no sense, but I believed him.” Ben shook his head. “I don’t think he will hurt her, which makes me think he’s not really going to turn her over to Windsor-Clive. But that doesn’t mean the little bugger won’t take her. I trust that miscreant not at all.”

“He owns Forde Abbey,” Raj spoke up.

“That’s Lyme Regis. He lives practically in Abbington’s back garden.” Theo ran his hand through his hair. “Jemma will recognize where she is. If she can get free, she’ll go to her aunt and uncle.”

“Do you think he went there?” Ben asked Raj.

“If he doesn’t intend to hand her over, then he’ll go where he can control the setting. He’ll go to his home and have Windsor-Clive meet him there.”

“I want to know why,” Charles said. “How much money did Windsor-Clive offer him to get him to agree? And why would he cross the Earl?”

“I don’t know, but I will find out.” Ben turned to Raj. “You seem to know about him.”

“Because I know him nearly as well as I knew my brother.” No one expected that pronouncement. “We sailed together frequently when I was a privateer. I’ve been to Forde Abbey countless times. It was one of the few places in England I was willing to drop anchor. He knows I’m related to Jemma, and he knows I’m related to the Abbingtons. Something more is afoot here. I’ve never had reason to distrust him. Just the opposite. He’s one of the most honorable men I’ve ever met, hard as that may be to believe of a privateer.”

“Your honor is without question, Raj, and you were a privateer,” Ben stated. His cousin-in-law shrugged. Ben suspected there was much that happened during the seven years Raj sailed that the man would never reveal to anyone. “Will you take me there?”

“Yes. We leave at first light.” Raj turned to Theo. “I need Charlie and the girls to remain here a little longer. They can’t travel fast enough, and I don’t want them in the middle of anything to do with Windsor-Clive. Clearly, the maggot didn’t understand my message the last time his family threatened mine.”

“Of course. We’ll have supplies ready for you. We have muskets and pistols to spare, along with ammunition, so you will take more than you think you need.” Theo’s offer was generous but not unexpected. Ben could tell he wanted to join Raj and him, but the more people involved meant the more people who could die. Only two of them would travel to Lyme Regis, but three people would return. Two men stood to die, but only one had a chance to survive. Of that, Ben was unwavering.

It was a somber meal eaten hastily before everyone retired. Ben slept in fits and starts. He wished to pace, but he knew he needed the rest, or he would be useless to Raj and Jemma. He and Raj rode out with first light, charging across the countryside for two days until they reached the Abbingtons. Rajesh led them into his uncle’s home only to discover he wasn’t in residence. He and Sarla were visiting their oldest daughter who’d just delivered her third child.

“Rajesh.” The earl turned to find his cousin Lydia hurrying down the stairs. Brief introductions were made since Lydia already knew of Ben. He recalled it was their daughter’s confinement that kept William and Sarla from bringing their family to attend Ben and Jemma’s wedding. Rajesh nodded to Ben, who told Lydia all he knew about Jemma’s abduction.

“I know how to get into Forde Abbey.” Lydia announced.

“How?” Rajesh suspected what Lydia would say. He disliked knowing his cousin was aware of the cave entry from the beach.

“There’s an entrance to the tunnels in the crypt.” That wasn’t what Rajesh expected. He didn’t know that, but he wanted to know how Lydia did. “I discovered it as a child. I was friends with Keith’s sister before she died. We used to play together. She showed me. I can get you inside, assuming the tunnels are still open.”

“When?” Ben demanded. “She’s likely already been there two days. It will have been far faster for them to sail than it was for us to travel overland.”

“You rode the entire way?” Lydia looked at Rajesh.

“None of my ships are in port right now, or we would have sailed.” Raj had retired from privateering, but he still owned five ships that continued his business. He was a smuggler just the same as the other men in his family, but now he conducted his trade from Powderham Castle rather than on the deck of his ship. It was one of those five ships that Ben hoped to buy.

“We can go as soon as it’s dark.” Lydia gathered three torches and her cloak. They waited an hour before they set off. They moved in silence, with Ben impressed by Lydia’s stealth. He wondered if she was involved in smuggling, as she seemed used to moving in the dark and was more vigilant than most men he knew. They entered the crypt, and Lydia opened a door to a tomb, except there was a tunnel where a coffin should have been. They wound their way into the abbey, extinguishing their torches before Lydia pushed open a door. Raj led the way as they stepped into a monk’s cell.

“Rajesh, I’d hoped you would come.” The three intruders froze. “Maybe I will live to see tomorrow.”

“Where the bloody hell is my wife?”

“Where the devil is my cousin?”

Ben and Rajesh demanded at the same time. Keith sat on a cot and held up his hands as a door opened to his left.

“Ben!” Jemma flew into her husband’s arms. He swept her off her feet as he tucked her head against his chest. When she spoke, her voice was muffled but intelligible. “I’m all right. He kept his word.”

“MacNeil, explain.” Raj drew his pistol. “You knew she’s my cousin.”

“I did. And I know Windsor-Clive set a bounty on their heads. No one in your family could be involved, Raj. At least not at first. He needed to be away from Cornwall before anyone could deal with him. People already suspect you from the last time your families tangled. It would be too obvious if the lackwit disappeared from Polruan or Lantic Bay. He was going to have her taken one way or another. I made sure she was safe.”

“Where is he?” Ben demanded.

“Three doors down.” Keith held up iron keys, which Ben snatched. He cupped Jemma’s face and tilted her head back. She nodded as best she could. They shared a kiss that made both sets of toes curl. It was a promise of more to come.

“Take her away from here,” Ben stated as he pressed Jemma into Raj’s embrace. He drew his pistol and checked it was loaded. He knew it was, but he would be sure. All five walked out of the cell. Ben was focused on his prey, and Raj and Jemma hurried to the stairs. No one noticed how Lydia and Keith regarded one another.

“Lady Lydia, I suspected you knew the way in. I suppose my sister showed you.”

“She did.” Lydia raised a defiant chin. Ten years her senior, Keith had been away at school, then out to sea for most of his sister’s life. But he was aware of Lydia. He had been for years.

“Let’s be away from here.” Keith held out his arm as Ben’s voice carried to them. He said nothing a lady should hear. They reached the top of the steps when a shot echoed. Lydia tried to turn back, but Keith maneuvered her out of the former monks’ dormitory. It had served as his dungeon on many occasions, but it was not somewhere he liked to linger. It disconcerted him Lydia seemed completely unfazed by the place when it made his skin crawl.

It wasn’t long before Ben joined the others. He and Jemma retired to the chamber she’d occupied since she arrived. They didn’t care about the others. They stripped one another and climbed into bed. Their kisses began as reassurances and affection, but it wasn’t long before they morphed into entreaties and temptation. Ben sank into Jemma as her body welcomed him. They moved together in synchrony. They both fought to make their coupling last, but their relief and desire pushed them to the precipice where they leaped together.

“I will always come for you, Jem.”

“I know. I never doubted you, Ben. I love you.”

“I love you. Always and with every breath.”

They gazed into one another’s eyes, but it was into each other’s souls that they looked. Together, wherever that might be, was where they belonged.