The Charleston Chase (Phantom Knights Book 2) Read online

  “Though I would not betray the trust Miss Clark has placed in me through her confessionals, I do believe you should speak with Samuel Mason, Bess.”

  “What do you know?”

  Gideon leaned back in his chair appearing calm, but his eyes were full of apologetic truth. “Sam has been working with Guinevere.”

  Our conversation in his book room came back to me.

  “Are you a libertine?”

  “When the job requires, yes.”

  Even Charlotte had thought Guinevere was his inamorata, but that was the picture they presented to cover the truth, that they were working together. So much information could be traded in society while flirting. My eyes shut for a moment to try to calm the painful fury threatening to turn every part of me dark. My hands were shaking at my sides. If Sam were truly working with Guinevere, he and I were going to have a battle unlike any he had ever before endured.

  ***

  Jeffrey opened the door to Sam’s house, welcoming me in, but halted when he glanced at my face. I stalked past him to the book room and opened the door.

  Sam was standing behind his desk, looking down at a map spread across it. I slammed the door shut, and Sam looked up abruptly. His eyes did a sweep over me, and he came around his desk quickly.

  “Bess, what has happened?”

  Those four words were enough to set my rage to boiling over. I ran at him with my fists clenched. His eyes had widened a moment before my fist struck his chin. His head jerked back, but he was swift, capturing my wrists and holding them between us.

  “Bess—” he broke off, groaning after I kicked his right shin. I wrenched one hand away and tried to strike his face, but he threw his head back and my hand went wide. He recaptured my wrist and spun me around, wrapping his strong arms around me to hold me still.

  “Release me at once, you traitor!” I threw my head back, connecting with his shoulder. He grunted, but held me tighter.

  “I am not a traitor, Bess.”

  “You betrayed me, you betrayed Levi, you betrayed a minister!” I writhed against his arms, but they were like a strongly barred prison.

  “If you will calm yourself I will speak with you about what has happened.”

  “Lies! That is all you are capable of. I was a fool ever to believe anything you said. You never meant to tell me the truth, because you are working with Guinevere.”

  “Yes, I worked with Guinevere, but whatever has happened, she betrayed you, Bess. Not I.”

  I stopped trying to break free, realizing how he was holding me. My arms were crossed over my chest with his arms wrapped around mine. Heat suffused my face, but I ignored it. Despite my anger, my mind was calm, curious about what he had to say.

  Slowly, one hand at a time, he released me and backed away. As I turned, he had moved so that his desk separated us. Once seated on the chair before his desk, I folded my hands in my lap and waited with all the appearance of placidity.

  Appearing to take that for momentary truce, he spoke. “After we saw you at the port, Miss White revealed her identity to me. Something I said made her tell me the truth,” he smiled wryly, “as much of it as she tells anyone I suppose.”

  “What did you say to her?”

  He was silent as he looked down at his desk; his brows drawn together in a frown. “She and I made a bargain,” he said, ignoring my question to him. “She would turn over the Holy Order to me if,” he met my eyes, “I turned over the artifacts to her.”

  “They are not yours to give,” I informed him sternly. My anger began to taper. Was that not what I was trying to do by meeting with Guinevere at the church? Deep inside I knew that I would have traded the artifacts for the Holy Order, only Sam had done it first.

  To my annoyance, he smiled. “They are not truly yours either, Bess.” More mine than his. “She was only on my ship, because she had business to attend to in Boston, but on the journey home, she and your mother told me about Philadelphia, George, Jack,” his voice dropped, “and Andrew.”

  I looked down at my hands so that my hair would shield me as my eyes closed. Hearing Andrew’s name did not hurt, for I did not blame him for severing our betrothal. During my months of reflection, I had come to see that he acted as I should have expected. He was politically inclined, so he could not have a wife who was a spy.

  What hurt was the memory of Sam walking away from me in the garden. I saw it all with perfect clarity. I was a woman surrounded by scandal, jilted, and eventually the gossip would reach Charleston. Sam had a standing in the community and a name to protect. He could not ally himself with a woman of scandal.

  Samuel Mason would never be a part of the future I planned for myself. There was something behind his arrogant, roguish mask; a hurt that I was sure was as deep as my own. Two broken people could not make a whole life together.

  He wanted to know what had transpired, so I told him. He was thunderous to hear that his sister was wounded, but calmed when I assured him it was a graze only. When I got to what Gideon had told me, he stiffened.

  “I did not want to tell you this way, Bess, but Levi is the one who has betrayed you.”

  “That’s not true,” I shouted, standing and hating the way my hands trembled. “He would never betray me!”

  “He has. His chamber is empty. He had this planned all along. He has changed sides, Bess. Levi works for Guinevere and the Holy Order.”

  Snatching a book off his desk, I threw it at his head. “Liar!”

  Chapter 11

  Jack

  My journey to Charleston had taken longer than I liked, but one could not change the weather. A snow squall had set upon Alexandria, and we could not set out for a week. I had received a letter from my mother stating that she was sailing for Charleston to see Bess, and from there she would go to Savannah to make ready the plantation for us to move to once all of our ‘business’ was concluded. She would have arrived before me.

  As anxious as I was to see my sister, I did not know where she was staying. The only address I had belonged to Samuel Mason, so it was to his home that Leo and I set out once we dismounted from the Four Winds. When the carriage halted before a tall, elegant home, Leo gave a low whistle.

  At the front door, I rapt twice, and the door was immediately opened by a man who was a contrast of colors. His skin was as black as the darkest night, but he wore a snow white wig upon his head.

  When he inquired my business, I said, “Will you be so good as to inform Mr. Mason that Mr. John Martin has called?”

  The man’s compressed lips split, and his eyes widened in a look of astonishment and concern. He cast his eyes toward a closed door as someone shouted from the other side.

  “That’s not true!”

  Though the sound was muffled, I recognized my sister’s voice shouting. My relief was so great at knowing that she was not only alive but well enough to be yelling at someone that I grinned.

  “No need to show me the way, I’ll announce myself,” I said to the startled butler and walked over to the door, opening it in time to see Bess throw a heavy looking book at a man’s head.

  “Liar!” Bess shouted at him. The man whom I assumed was Samuel Mason ducked and the book went over his head, but Bess did not stop there, she picked up two more books off his desk. “You are trying to deceive me, for that is what you do.”

  She threw another book at him, and it hit him in the chest as he was approaching her as if to restrain her. I cocked my hip to the side, resting my hand on the door knob, and smiling at the scene before me. My sister’s temper was well known to me, though rarely did she show it, and I found it interesting to see someone else at the receiving end of her anger. Thankfully, she had never tried to throw any of my books at my head. He must have done something truly terrible.

  “You use your good looks luring women in, and once you have what you want, you cast them aside like so much scraps.”

  My brows shot up, tightening my forehead. How did Bess know that about him? A stirring feeling of protec
tiveness moved within me. What had he been doing to my sister?

  “But not me! For I know that your gentlemanly honor is only visible upon the surface and that your morals are as deep as a puddle.”

  My back stiffened, but it was nothing to that of Samuel Mason. He captured one of Bess’s wrists, jerked her against him and bent his head until their noses looked like they were touching.

  His voice was low, but I heard every word he spoke. “If that were so, I would not have walked away from you last night. I would have taken what you were so freely offering.”

  That was enough for me. I was about to step forward, but Bess acted first. She growled a sound of complete rage and threw her fist up, but Samuel moved faster, releasing her and stepping back. Bess launched another book at him. He stepped aside, and the book soared toward me. I released the door and moved quickly into the room, catching the book in my hands. Both Bess and Samuel stood as if they were frozen in place as they gaped at me.

  “My dearest sister, though your anger may be warranted, there is no cause known to man that justifies harming innocent books.”

  “Jack!” Bess launched herself into my arms. I barely kept hold of the book as I caught her and held on. “Oh, how I have missed you,” she whispered against my ear as she hugged me tightly. I kissed her cheek and set her back to get a good look at her.

  She was dressed in her black Phantom clothing, but her hat was gone, and her shoulder length hair was askew. She looked a complete vagabond, but she was safe, and that made her exquisite to me. She released me as she caught sight of Leo behind me.

  “Leo,” she said mistily, “how thankful I am that you have come.” She moved to hug him while I walked toward Samuel Mason. He had a brooding, mysterious air that I was sure drove my sister nearly mad. She had never liked people she could not read.

  He was scowling as he watched Bess hug Leo, but when I stopped before him, his gaze moved to me and we stared at each other appraisingly for a moment. His face relaxed, no sign remaining of the man who had just been warring against my sister.

  I held out his book to him. “Mr. Mason, I presume.”

  He took his book and set it on his desk smiling faintly. “Mr. Martin. It is a pleasure to meet you.” We shook hands, his clasp firm, and he looked straight into my eyes, not in the least shamefaced that I had witnessed his argument with Bess. That gave me the impression that it was not the first time they had argued like that.

  Turning slightly to say something to Bess, my jaw went slack as I took a good look at the room. If Heaven could be contained in a room, it would be this. I moved toward the walls of books as if hooked to a line that was pulling me in. Gingerly, I reached out and touched the spine of a novel, then breathed out a long sigh, before moving from shelf to shelf, admiring Samuel’s collection.

  “I knew that Jack would like this room,” Bess said from somewhere behind me.

  “Like is too simple a word. I do believe that all my journeys have been leading me to this place.” Without looking over my shoulder I said, “Name your price, Mason, and you shall have it.”

  “My home is not up for purchase, but both you and—Leo is it?—you both are welcome to stay here as my guests.” He sounded amused.

  I did look at him then, appraisingly again. “That is good of you,” I murmured as I tried to read him, but he was deliberately obscuring his emotions. He could rival Leo for keeping his face from showing any hint of feeling.

  “Forgive me, Mr. Mason. This is Mr. Leopold Perry, a former member of my team,” Bess said.

  Samuel shook Leo’s hand while I moved to my sister’s side, asking, “Where is Levi?”

  Her face turned stony as she shot Samuel a look that spoke volumes. “I have much to tell you, Jack. You may escort me home, and I will explain what has been happening.” Bess glanced at Samuel again, and my curiosity was piqued. She wanted to dislike him, which was why she was fighting so passionately with him, but she did not dislike him, and that irritated her excessively.

  “First, there is something I need to discuss with you both.” As if a silent signal was given, Leo closed the library door. He knew what I was about to say. “You may want to sit, Bess.”

  She waited, watching Samuel. When he sat, she moved to a chair before his desk. My determined sister; always holding the high ground. I sat beside her and faced Samuel’s desk.

  “I had a meeting with President Monroe. He has issued the following order: All branches of the Phantoms are to disband immediately,” Bess’s mouth went slack, “and for good. He no longer sees the need for spies within our own country, and other than the Holy Order, I agree with him.”

  “What of capturing the Holy Order?” Bess demanded.

  “Monroe has given his permission for me and whomever I choose to subdue the Holy Order, but then the Phantoms are through.”

  “Does George know?” Bess asked. “Did he explode in indignation?”

  “Excuse me, Bess, but you are speaking of my uncle,” Samuel said with a calm that I suspected was false.

  Bess shot him a look of mingled distaste and contempt. “This I know, Mr. Mason, for it was my experiences with the uncle that prepared me for the nephew.”

  Samuel’s jaw hardened perceptibly, and his eyes narrowed. I sat back a little further into the chair. From Samuel’s intense face to Bess’s undaunted one, I had a feeling that I had come unsuspecting upon a war, and as much as my sister would not like it, it was one battle she was not going to win.

  Samuel was the first to look away, saying that he would have bedchambers made ready for us. When he looked back at Bess, it was brief as he told her he would be to her house later to check on someone named Charlotte.

  Soon after, Leo and I left the house with Bess. On the walk to the house that Bess was staying at, she explained about the Holy Order being in Charleston, which I knew, and briefly about a run-in with the men who were after Ma belle. Then she told us about Levi disappearing and what Sam, as she called him, had told her about Levi.

  When I told her what George had said about not sending Levi with her, and her expression turned fierce. Bess had always loathed deception, even though that was our line of work, but she had never had to deal with someone close to her deceiving her, as I had with Guinevere. Her deception had shaken my whole world, but we had come through. I had an inkling, though, that Bess would be less lenient with Levi and his turncoat ways, than I had been with Guinevere.

  We reached a light stone house, and Bess walked up to the front door. “Prepare yourselves,” was what she said as she opened the door. “Rose, Char, Betsy? I’ve returned.”

  “In the parlor, Bess,” called a sweet sounding voice.

  Leo and I followed Bess into a bright parlor where three women, as different as the colors of a rainbow, were seated.

  “How are you, Char?” Bess asked as she walked to the sofa where a young woman was reclining with her bare arm bound in a white bandage.

  “Cross as crabs, but I see you have come to cheer me,” she replied, glancing around Bess to stare at Leo and me.

  “Ladies, allow me to present my brother John and our good friend, Mr. Leopold Perry.”

  “Jack, Leo, this is Mrs. Rose Eldridge, Miss Charlotte Mason, and Miss Betsy Coles, deputies of the Charleston Phantoms.”

  There were equal amounts of surprise on both sides of the room. I had heard that Samuel Mason’s team was comprised mostly of women, but these were nothing how I imagined. Betsy was a beautiful, dark girl with lustrous black hair. Charlotte Mason looked nothing like her brother, blonde with large blue eyes, but when she smiled, she had a roguish mouth, and there was the part that looked like her brother. It was the eldest woman in the room, though, who gave me pause. She was radiant; black hair and blue eyes like two polished crystals. She could have been mistaken for my sister. Her face was a perfect oval and her skin a perfect ivory. She was staring between Leo and me, her face fading of color, while Charlotte Mason’s face was pink.

  “You are Loutaire,�
�� Charlotte whispered, and I watched in amusement as her pink lips tilted up in a look that would have rivaled any given by Philadelphia’s society vixen Hannah Lamont. I knew instantly that Samuel Mason had his hands full with that one.

  All three ladies rose and Charlotte came toward me like a cat on the hunt.

  “Is it true that you were the youngest man to be promoted to Captain in your regiment?”

  “Not the youngest, but certainly younger than most. I was sixteen when I was made captain,” I told her evenly. Thinking about the war was not something I enjoyed. Though, the outcome of the war was positive, too many lives were lost; too much blood was shed.

  “Should you be standing, Miss Mason? Your arm...”

  Charlotte Mason beamed at me and looked at her arm while holding it out. “A war wound of my own, Mr. Martin.”

  At what was surely a curious look from me, Charlotte told me what they had gone through earlier in the day and how she acquired her ‘war wound.’ Hearing that it had been Gideon those men were after made me feel like sitting to overcome my shock. Bess assured me that Gideon was safe and that a constable was posted outside his house for safety. Bess and I needed to speak in private.

  “Levi said that you and he used to steal chickens together and toss them into your neighbors open windows.”

  “I have no recollection of such happenings,” I told her, winking, before turning to my sister.

  She gave me a speaking look, and I nodded. She excused us, and I followed her from the room.

  In the foyer, we came upon Mrs. Beaumont, who saw me and placed a hand over her heart exclaiming, “Bless my soul, Mr. John, I am relieved to see you.”

  Laughing, I moved toward her, laying a hand on her shoulder. “The relief was mine to hear that you had accompanied my sister to this city. But, where is my mother?”

  “Gone to Savannah only this morning,” Bess said sounding weary. I excused us from Mrs. Beaumont and followed Bess up the stairs and onto a porch that had a view of rooftops and the water in the distance.