I looked at him in annoyance. “I am supposed to be having a holiday.”
“You will have no holidays if you are dead. Send your wife and family home and run this person to earth.”
I recalled the burning anger in Donata’s eyes as she’d passed me on the stairs a half hour ago. “My wife,” I said with ironic humor. “She will likely be at the top of the list of those who wish me harm.”
Denis rested his hands on the table. “Not at all. As in my case, if that lady wished you out of her life, it would happen quickly and permanently. Reconcile with her and help me solve this problem. I need your services.”
He made clear that keeping myself from harm didhima favor. I did not know whether to laugh or grow enraged.
Denis closed his mouth and simply gazed at me, which I knew indicated the interview was over. Instead of hurrying obediently away, I deliberately lingered to finish my coffee.
Brewster shot me a warning look as we walked back to the square. “One day he’ll have enough of your cheek. When he decides to teach you a lesson, he’ll probably use me to do it. To teach me a lesson too.”
He sounded so morose that I turned to him in surprise. “I’d have thought you be glad to land your fists in my face.”
“I’ve grown too fond of you, and he knows it. We’re not meant to be friends.”
I was touched by his words. Brewster had done much for me over the past year or so, and I’d given him much trouble in return.
To cover the awkward moment, I said heartily, “I’ll make certain I irritate you until you’re ready to plant your boot in my arse.”
“Oh, you already do that,” Brewster said darkly. “Now let’s get you home so I can take to me bed.”
* * *
I did not wantto leave things where they were with Donata. A conversation should clear up the matter, I was confident. But when I returned, her door was shut fast, and I did not have the heart to bang on it and wake her.
Bartholomew, who was clearly curious about where I’d been, took my clothes as I shed them and dropped my nightshirt over my head. I told him the bare outline of what Denis and I had discussed, and asked him to get word of it to Grenville if I did not see the man sooner.
At last I went to bed, but I could not sleep. The spike of fear that had pumped through me when the pistol had gleamed in the darkness now spread its way past my defenses, making me shiver and sweat.
Such reactions had crept upon me during my soldiering days, when I’d realized hours after a furious battle that I was still alive. The line between life and death had been thin, and finding myself on the living side had sometimes shaken me.
In those days, I’d been young, reckless, and selfish and hadn’t much cared whether I survived, and I’d shaken off my qualms. Now I had a wife, I’d found my daughter, I had a son in Peter, and a new baby daughter I longed to watch grow up. I had no wish to be the goal of another man’s vendetta.
What Denis speculated made sense. I had gone through my life imposing my will on many—I’d commanded men in the army who’d died, I’d helped send murderers to the noose, and I’d become known as James Denis’s man. Any ofhisenemies, or mine, or families or friends of those I’d harmed could have decided it was time for me to pay.
The thought that Donata, Gabriella, Peter, or Anne might pay for my sins filled me with horror. A madman might well decide to harm them to hurt me.
When I at last slept, I dreamt, oddly, of gliding over the sea in a small boat. Donata and my family were with me, seemingly enjoying themselves. I held the sides of the boat, waiting for terrible things to happen, but nothing did.
I rose in the morning after the fitful sleep to find Bartholomew waiting to bathe and shave me for the day.
It was early, and Donata would be asleep. Her closed door and the silence behind it confirmed that.
I looked in on Anne in the nursery, making her laugh as I bounced her in my arms. I held her close, remembering my fears of the previous night, then returned her to the hovering nanny and breakfasted with Peter and Gabriella.
It was a fine morning, and I needed a walk to clear my head. Gabriella was to visit Lady Aline—the lady’s carriage would call for her at ten. I was reluctant for her to go, but I knew Lady Aline and her retinue of servants would keep Gabriella safe. I waited until the carriage arrived and saw her into it myself, and ordered one of our strongest footmen to accompany her. Gabriella glanced at me in curiosity as we said our farewells, but did not argue.
Peter, on the other hand, insisted he join me on my walk. I did not want to let him, but I also knew if I ordered him to stay home, he’d simply slip out and follow me. Better that I had him next to me where I could watch over him.
Brewster, who uncannily knew whenever I stepped out of my door, met us at the end of the square. I kept to the broad promenade along the sea as we strolled. No tiny lanes or shadowy passageways today.
Peter, as usual, wanted to play on the shore. He liked to pick up rocks and skim them across the water, as I had done as a boy. I accompanied him, and we looked for flat specimens and practiced pitching them.
I turned back from one go to see Mr. Bickley picking his way across the shingle to us. He was dressed all in black, his coat billowing with the wind, a broad hat firmly on his head.
I went forward to meet him, Brewster staying next to Peter but keeping an eye on me.
