Captive Pride (41 page)

“My darling, what's happened to you?” Faith ushered him quickly into the parlor, where her mother and Ben awaited him.

“Nothing important; I'm fine.” Matt dismissed her worry easily as he hurried forth to speak with Ben.

“How can you say it's not important when you look like you've been involved in a street brawl?” Faith followed him into the room.

“I have been involved in a street brawl, but that's not what matters right now. That's all been settled. What's important is”—he paused to draw her close to his side as his gaze met Ben's squarely—“that Noah has agreed to sell us the entire shipment for the amount already paid.” His tone was triumphant as he happily revealed Noah's change of heart, and all thoughts of his unsavory encounter were wiped from the others' minds at the news.

“Noah agreed to that?” Faith was stunned but pleased, and Ben and Ruth exchanged puzzled looks.

“Yes.” Matt nodded down at her. “We talked for quite some time. It was his decision…his offer.”

“You told him of the arrangement Graves had suggested, didn't you?” Ben was totally dumbfounded by this change in Noah Kincade.

“Yes, I approached him with that offer,” he explained, “but after we'd talked for a while, he told me to tell Graves that he would agree to deliver for the amount already paid.”

“Matt, that's wonderful!” Ben was truly excited. “I'd better get back to Ryan right away with the news.”

“I'll go with you. Noah explained to me how he wants the transfer to take place, and I think you'll be pleased with the plan he's devised.”

“Let's go, then.” Ben stood, glad to be the bearer of good news for a change.

“Wait up for me,” Matt told Faith as they paused near the front door on their way out. “We're going to meet Noah later for dinner so no one suspects us.”

“All right. You'll be safe now?” she asked, knowing that danger was always possible.

“Yes. I'm not going to participate in the actual moving of the goods. I'm just going along to help set everything up.”

They shared a parting kiss.

“Be careful.” Faith and Ruth both echoed the same sentiments as they watched the men they loved disappear into the darkness of the night.

 

“Ryan?” Ben's tone was hushed as he knocked on the door to the room in the Green Dragon's stable.

“Yes?”

“It's me, Ben Hardwick. Matthew Kincade is with me…. We have news.”

“Just a minute…”

Ben and Matt could hear the murmur of voices and then footsteps approaching the door before the lock turned. When the door finally swung open, they moved inside immediately. Matt was surprised to find that several members of the group were still there, and that CC was one of them.

Ryan Graves regarded both men solemnly as he closed and locked the door behind them. He was filled with despair at his own failure to get the money for the war materials, and he was worried about how long their cause could exist without the necessary arms to defend themselves.

“Yes. What is it?” he asked dejectedly, expecting only bad news from these two men.

“Ryan, Noah Kincade has agreed to sell us the arms at the price already paid,” Ben supplied quickly, anxious that everyone share in the good news.

Ryan stared at him in confusion. “He what?”

“I spoke with Noah just a short time ago, and he has agreed to sell you the shipment at no further cost,” Matt told them.

“I don't understand. Why did he have this sudden change of heart?” Ryan couldn't help but be suspicious of the man who had been so coldly indifferent to his own plea just a short time before. “Is he setting us up? Has he planned something with the agents of the Crown in hopes of having us arrested when we take delivery?”

Matt was quick to defend his brother. “No! Absolutely not!”

Ryan eyed Matt skeptically. “I find it hard to believe that your brother's done a complete turnaround in his loyalties.”

“Rest assured, Ryan, that Noah is a man of his word,” Matt said in earnest. “He's also devised a plan that should work perfectly. I've already gone over it with him and am prepared to explain it to you now.”

“And just what is this plan?” the leader asked.

Matt went on to outline in detail what Noah had arranged.

Ryan checked his pocket watch and then remarked, “We'll have to move, and move quickly; it's after eight already.” Ryan had been convinced by Matt's firm testimony in his brother's defense, and he was now ready and willing to follow through on the nobleman's plan. Instructing the others in attendance to go out and notify those who could help, he ordered that they meet back there at the stables at eleven o'clock.

“What shall I do?” CC asked in annoyance when Ryan had failed to give her an assignment.

“I want you to wait here.”

“Ryan—” she began, but he cut her off.

“I have no time to argue with you. Your disguise is an effective one, but we can't take the risk of possible discovery tonight. You may participate in the ‘raid,' but the streets are too busy at this time of the evening for you to be running errands.”

“You allowed me to take the initial payment to Kincade,” she argued.

“That was a matter of necessity. This is not.” He turned away, refusing to allow her any more discourse in the matter. “We'll meet back here at eleven. Any questions?” When none were forthcoming, he turned to Matthew. “I take it that it will be better for you not to help us tonight.”

“That's right. Noah had insisted that we be as visible as possible to residents of town all evening.”

Ryan nodded in accord with his thinking. “Wise decision.” He extended his hand to Matthew. “I thank you for all you've done for us, and if we can ever help you, you only have to say the word.”

Matthew shook his hand in a firm, binding handshake. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

“Let's be off. Ben, you come with me. CC, are you going to wait here until we return?” Ryan asked as the others quickly dispersed to be about their business.

“Yes. I'll stay.” CC was almost sullen in her agreement.

“Fine. We'll be back. Again, Matthew, our thanks.”

The door closed behind them as they started off to help round up the other supporters they needed, and suddenly Matthew and CC were left alone in the privacy of the small room.

Matt knew a great sense of relief as he watched them leave, for he felt that everything was finally going to work out. All along he had hoped that Noah would come around to his way of thinking, and at last it had happened.

His mellow mood was interrupted, however, when CC turned on him and asked pointedly, “Did your brother really agree to those terms, or did you bribe him with your share of the profit?” CC's question was sharply put. After her disastrous encounter with Noah the other night, she thought it completely out of character for him to reverse himself and suspected that there had to be a more driving reason for him to alter his stance…a reason that probably had to do with money.

Matt's smile was easy as he replied, “Noah set those terms himself.”

At his answer, CC's brows arched in surprise. “He did?”

Matt nodded, his pleasure evident in his calm expression. “Yes.”

“I don't know what you said to him to make him change his mind, but I'm glad it worked. We needed those arms desperately. I know I tried everything I could think of…” Her tone was resigned and more than a little sad.

Matt was baffled by her statement and wondered exactly what had gone on between his brother and CC. He knew for a fact that Noah cared deeply for her, and yet Noah had declared that there was no future for the two of them. Now he found that CC seemed as miserable in her own way as Noah was, and he wondered if talking to CC honestly would help.

“Noah's had a lot of things to work through lately, but I think he's finally getting everything back into the proper perspective,” he offered, hoping to initiate a deeper conversation between them.

“It doesn't matter,” she hastened to reply, not wanting to reveal too much of her own feelings. It didn't matter that she loved Noah. She knew that he did not love her and that he never would. “All that's important is that Ryan gets the materials he needs.”

“The cause is all you care about?” he questioned probingly.

“Yes,” she answered firmly, but her gaze shifted away from his.

“I'm sorry, CC, but I don't believe you. I've seen you and Noah together,” Matt prodded, wanting to get to the bottom of the trouble between Noah and CC so he could help them, “and since I doubt seriously that you're the type who would try to influence Noah's decisions through less than honorable means…”—Matt was referring to the night she'd delivered the payment to Noah at the inn, and he'd walked into the room to find them heatedly embracing—“I think there might be more to your relationship with Noah than just business.”

CC, however, had immediately thought of her most recent visit to his room, and she flushed guiltily. “I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about,” she told him coolly.

“I'm talking about the embrace I witnessed between the two of you at the inn the night you brought him the first payment from Graves,” he charged. “I'm talking about the fact that you two care for each other.”

Glaring up at him defensively, she said, “You're wrong. I don't care about him. Not at all. He has no soul, no feelings. He's cold and hard. All he really cares about is money.”

Matthew was sure that she'd answered far too quickly and far too angrily. “CC, this change in Noah is real.”

She snorted her disbelief.

“CC, there is a lot that you don't know about Noah…about the both of us.”

“I know everything I need to know about him,” she bit out.

“Do you know the reason for our coming to Boston in the first place?” Matt's gaze met hers, and she could read there pure honesty and openness.

“No, Matthew, and I don't want to. I've had enough dealings with Noah, and I think I understand him quite well. He is selfish, greedy, and amoral. He has no interest in our bid for independence. He just wants to make a fast profit off our grief and misery and then go back to England.”

“I don't argue with your assessment of Noah. I'm sure from your point of view, that's the way he appears, but there's a reason for it.”

“Please, spare me….” she began frostily, but Matt refused to let it drop.

“Noah and I came to Boston because we had lost everything we owned in England,” he started, and CC glanced up at him questioningly.

“You're rich…. Everyone knows that,” she scoffed. “You own Kincade Shipping and—”

“We
were
rich,” Matt emphasized. “You see, we discovered when our father died that he had been a gambler. His debts were so extensive that by the time the estate was straightened out, all Noah and I had left were the two ships, the
Lorelei
and the
Sea Pride
. Everything else was gone. Our money was gone. Our country estate and our London town house had to be sold to pay Father's outstanding debts. Our social position was forfeited. Noah was made a social pariah. Where once he'd been celebrated as a glorious member of the
bon ton,
he was suddenly an outcast. His pride suffered immeasurably, and he vowed that somehow, someway, he was going to reclaim it all. He became hardened to everything except his need to recoup our losses. He became a man possessed.” Matt shrugged. “I didn't realize how much he had changed until the duel….”

“Duel? What duel?”

Matt continued, “An insult was publicly issued by James Radcliffe, Geoffrey's older brother, and Noah challenged him to a duel. The whole ordeal was so painful that it's something we will never speak of again.”

“What happened?” CC was caught up in his story.

“Noah killed Radcliffe.”

CC gasped. Was this the reason why Noah had refused Geoffrey's challenge at the Winthrops'? And did Geoffrey know of the fateful duel?

Matthew went on, “It was a fair fight; there were witnesses to attest to it. But, CC, I'd never seen anything so brutal in my life, and I hope I never do again. It was then that I realized how deeply Noah had been affected by all that had happened. He was a changed man.”

“I had no idea….”

“I know. We've spoken of it to no one, yet I'm sure the news will be out soon. I'm positive that Radcliffe has now found out about Noah's connection to his brother's death.”

“How do you know?”

“There was an attempt to murder Noah tonight.” Matt's purpose in telling her was to gauge the depth of her feelings for Noah.

“What?” CC paled and went still at the news.

“And Radcliffe was the one who hired the two men. They were given explicit instructions to see Noah dead.”

CC's eyes widened in fear for the man she loved, and her hand was trembling as she reached out to clutch at Matt's sleeve. “Is Noah all right?”

Inwardly, Matt was pleased to see the truth of her emotions reflected so openly in her expression. “He's fine. We managed to fight them off together.”

“How do you know it was Geoffrey?”

“With a little applied persuasion, the men confessed as to who'd hired them,” he explained.

“Where's Noah now? Is he safe?”

“After we turned the thugs over to the authorities, he told me to take care of working out the rest of the arms deal while he went on to Radcliffe's.”

“He went to see Geoffrey? But why? Why didn't you just tell the authorities everything you knew and let them take care of it?”

“Noah wanted to handle it himself. He was going to face Geoffrey down with his knowledge of the planned attack, and then tell him that, rather than turn him in, he was going to accept the challenge he'd issued at the Winthrops'.” Matt's tone was icy with hatred for the cowardly aristocrat.