Zach looked up. The gold was safely aboard theRevengeat Dover. It could be sold to any buyer. The money was now safe at the Swiss bank, though a portion of it had been placed in an account under the name of Lydia Roberts.
He hoped the money would in part make up for the woman's suffering. She'd been cruelly used by Charles Barrington, then set aside with a small pension to guarantee her silence. She deserved a portion of the money.
Zach should have been pleased. Everything had gone according to his plans. He'd outfoxed the fox. Like the others in the colonies, he would continue the fight against Barrington and the Crown when he returned to New South Wales. But there was a hollow feeling deep inside him.
He'd wanted the truth about his father and had found it. But the large amount of Barrington money he'd put in that bank account could never make up for what his father had lost. That was more than gold or money. Alexander Barrington had lost his identity, his family, his honor. What price was there on that?
His eyes narrowed, and the muscles in his jaw worked back and forth. He wanted revenge. Barrington had to pay for what his father had suffered. And no amount of gold would equal that. In any case, Barrington would merely send more men and more ships to try to recover the gold. Zach looked at Tris, his expression hard. There was something of far greater value to be had from Barrington, he decided.
His men had instructions to sail from Dover on the next tide. There was still time to achieve the ultimate revenge. He nodded to Tris and slammed the coach door shut.
"I'll join you at the appointed time. But first, I have a wedding to attend.”
Fourteen
The Anglican church was small. It had been the site of royal weddings since the time of Henry VIII. Elyse vaguely wondered if Jane Seymour had once stood in this same small anteroom contemplating her fate.
At least Elyse wasn't plagued by the thought of a former wife going to the guillotine as Seymour had been with Anne Boleyn. Still, she felt an overwhelming uneasiness, almost as if her life were ending. In a way it was. After today she would be Jerrold's wife, Lady Barrington. Strange, in all the months of their betrothal, she'd never consciously thought about that. She'd pushed back her nagging doubts.
She silently tried to bolster her confidence, telling herself all brides must feel this way. Then she looked over to Lucy and experienced a wave of envy. Lucy hadn't been nervous the day of her wedding, she'd been ecstatic. Elyse wished she could at least feel happy excitement, but she just didn't.
Lucy turned from the door, her blue gown a shimmering dark contrast to Elyse's pale blue one Jerrold insisted she wear.
She took the long velvet case and opened it. She gazed down at the perfect blue sapphires and diamonds in the gold necklace, and groaned.
"It's beautiful." Lucy sucked in her breath.
"They're gaudy," Elyse declared with a touch of pique.
"They go with your gown," Lucy pointed out.
"They should. Jerrold insisted on approving the fabric as well as the design." Snapping the lid to the case shut, Elyse sank down onto a nearby chair.
"Oh, Lucy! What's wrong with me? Why am I so critical? Everything Jerrold says or does irritates me. It shouldn't be this way," she moaned hopelessly.
Lucy sank down in front of her, grasping her hands. "Maybe it's just a case of nerves. Want to talk about it?"
"About what?" Elyse rested her forehead on her arm.
"Oh, handsome mysterious strangers, an unexplained night that you didn't spend at my house," Lucy suggested.
Elyse's head came up. "I'm marrying Jerrold. The rest is over, done with. Good heavens, it never even existed. It was just a... "
"An affair?"
She stood and paced the floor. "Tell me I'm doing the right thing."
Her friend hesitated.
"If that's what you want to hear, then I'll say it—you're doing the right thing."
Elyse repeated the words she'd been reciting to herself over and over again all morning. "And everything will be all right."
Lucy shook her head at this foolish game Elyse was playing with herself. "Everything will be all right," she repeated.
With a panic-stricken look on her face, Elyse whirled around. "When?"
Lucy crossed the room and put her arms around her friend.
