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Sebastian rolled his eyes. “You saw firsthand how reasonable he is.”
His uncle’s face clouded over. “Ah, yes, the man with the ready fist.”
“Coupled with Knighton’s ruthless business reputation…” Sebastian strode back to the table. “I’m not so much concerned about what he can do to me. I knew the risks. But I can’t have Knighton sticking his nose into the negotiations for Morgan’s return.”
His uncle sighed. “I’d forgotten about that. Have you heard more from Morgan? Any explanation?”
“Just that one brief letter saying that he’ll be home soon, and he’ll explain then.” With a scowl, Sebastian dropped onto a leather-bound stool. “How the devil can he explain showing up on the Pirate Lord’s ship?”
His uncle shook his head. “I still don’t understand it. He joins some smugglers at the Home Office’s behest, the smugglers discover he’s a spy and imprison him aboard the Oceana, it goes down, we think he’s dead, and then that man from the navy informs us he was spotted aboard the Satyr when it took Lord Winthrop’s ship. It makes no sense. Why would Morgan take up with pirates after years of loyal service to his country? Could Winthrop’s crewman have made a mistake when he said he recognized Morgan?”
“Not if he really did serve with Morgan in the navy. A bad piece of luck, that. Now Winthrop’s howling for Morgan’s head. Thank God the man never met me in society or he’d be howling for mine instead.”
“Perhaps Morgan ended up aboard the Satyr because it sank the Oceana?”
“I thought of that. But the Pirate Lord is known for plundering only.” He sighed. “Still, he’s thoroughly hated by the navy. We’re fortunate they’re willing to offer that pardon in exchange for Morgan’s helping them capture the man.”
Sebastian rose and paced to the window that looked out over the west lawn toward the setting sun and the Welsh border. “I have to deal with Morgan’s situation the minute he arrives here, before anyone learns of his return. And the last thing I need is Knighton muddying the waters. If he tells the Navy Board of the kidnapping, they’ll break off negotiations at once. It’s only my apparent good character that’s kept them willing.”
His uncle sighed. “I suppose that’s true.”
“That’s why Knighton must believe Morgan is dead. It might convince him to abandon his vengeance before the Navy Board hears what I did.”
Uncle Lew observed him quietly for a moment. “It is not only Morgan I worry about. If you were to hang—” He shuddered. “Let us not think of that. But suffice it to say, without you Charnwood would fall apart, and I somehow doubt Morgan could step into your shoes. You do realize you took a great risk in trying to save your brother.”
He did realize it.
“Some would even say you went beyond the bounds of familial duty, and all for a man so heedless of the family name that he consorted with pirates.”
“He’s still my brother. A Blakely never turns his back on family.” Sebastian would have done anything to get Morgan back. He still would. Who else did he have, aside from Uncle Lew? He’d spent his whole life with an absent father and no mother. Even Uncle Lew had been away most of Sebastian’s life. Morgan’s arrival had finally given him a taste of what it was like to have family, and Sebastian wasn’t about to give up on him. “Besides, you’d have shot me if I hadn’t looked for him. You do have a soft spot for the rogue.”
“No more than I have for you, my boy. With your mother and my Lucinda long gone, you two are all I have.” His uncle cleared his throat. “Though at present, you’re both trying my patience enormously.”
Sebastian twisted away from the window. “It’s not my fault Morgan is in this mess.”
“No, but it is your fault that we are now under siege by a ruthless man and a young lady bent on learning the truth.”
He couldn’t deny that. Striding back to the table, he resumed his seat. “All the same, when I get my hands on Morgan, I’ll thrash him into the next shire for getting involved with the Pirate Lord.”
His uncle laughed. “I shall help. Although you could just leave him to Knighton, since he is already convinced that Morgan was Lady Juliet’s kidnapper.”
“I’m sorely tempted, but even Morgan doesn’t deserve that.” Picking up a flint lock he’d been trying to unstick, he applied some neat’s-foot oil to its rusty screws. “No, once Morgan is safely pardoned, I’ll throw myself on Knighton’s tender mercies.”
“In the meantime, how will you keep them all at bay?”
“Devil if I know.” He worked the rusty cock up and down until it was moving smoothly. “You didn’t help matters by inviting them to stay here.”
“Nonsense,” Uncle Lew said with a wave of his bejeweled hand. “They’ll rest well here tonight, awaken in a genial mood, and be on their way back to London. Whereas if they stayed at the Peacock Stye, they’d awaken in a foul mood, and Knighton might come back here to punch you in the nose again. I was merely trying to help.”
“You were trying to annoy me.”
Uncle Lew’s twinkling eyes proclaimed that Sebastian had hit the mark. “Ah, but you should have seen your face when I did it. It made it worth any inconvenience that might arise from this sticky situation.”
“Inconvenience?” He raised an eyebrow. “If that’s all that comes of this, I won’t begrudge you your entertainment, Uncle. I’m afraid, however, that it may grow stickier before we’re done. I’m not sure that Knighton believed me.”
“And Lady Juliet? Did she believe you? That is perhaps more important.”
Sebastian thought of her face, of the certainty in her eyes, her accusing looks. “I’m not sure of that, either. We’ll simply have to prevent her from divining the truth.” He glanced at his uncle. “That will be your job.”
