Patricia Wynn Read Free

the finest gems I’ve ever seen. Diamonds and rubies of almost unbelievable size. Then, upstairs, on the first floor, were the gaming tables.”
    “What do they play?”
    “Mostly rouge et noir and roulette. You find every class of person around them, from the King of Prussia to the workman throwing away his last sou. The tables are usually separated by class, of course, but there is something for everyone.” He spoke quietly and without enthusiasm, not liking the feverish look in the older man’s eyes. “And up above that are the ladies.”
    Some of the glaze disappeared from the captain’s stare, and he lifted his eyebrows at his young friend. “Want to tell me about the ladies?” he asked.
    Lord Harleston laughed. “I’d better not, sir. But I will tell you that they live in a style of splendour that has much to do with the activities below.”
    Captain Johnstone nodded. He seemed wearier suddenly. Lord Harleston watched him for a while without speaking, wondering what regrets, if any, were passing through the older man’s head. After a moment, the captain patted his hand weakly and gave him a sober look.
    “You must be wondering why I wrote to you,” he started, watching for the baron’s reaction with some concern. The young peer returned his grasp firmly.
    “I am ready to do whatever it is you need of me,” was the simple answer.
    Captain Johnstone stared at him a moment more, but seemed reassured. Finally he spoke, “It is Susan.”
    “Miss Johnstone?” Lord Harleston said. Since seeing the captain’s daughter, he had privately come to the conclusion that she must be the subject of the letter he had received. But Miss Johnstone was already of an age—he guessed her to be about twenty-five—that she could not be made his responsibility. And he suspected that she had not been told of the letter because she would not have sent it had she known its purpose. He spoke hesitantly, “Monsieur Rénard mentioned there was nothing left...”
    The captain nodded. “Did he tell you the bailiff nabbed me?”
    Lord Harleston’s brow clouded. “You went to prison?” The thought distressed him.
    “Yes. I signed up to be a member of the Fleet.” Captain Johnstone’s eyes twinkled again as he repeated the old joke. “Three months on board for a bit of whitewashing. Water under the bridge.”
    “And you came here afterwards?”
    The old man shook his head slowly and a glimmer of pride lit his eyes. Then he said, “Susan sprang me.”
    Lord Harleston started. “She what?”
    The captain’s eyes danced. “She smuggled me out. Took me out on a white pony and made straight for the coast. Had a ship all ready and waiting, and we were on the high seas before I could blink an eye. She must have been saving every penny I’d sent her to pull it off.” He chuckled.
    “Did she, by God!” Lord Harleston was still stunned. He was having trouble reconciling such a desperate deed with the graceful, almost fragile creature he had seen in the parlour. He looked back at the door, almost expecting to see her there in a different disguise.
    Captain Johnstone seemed to divine his thoughts. “Aye, she’s a beauty like her mother. But I guess there’s a bit of the old man in her, too.” He eyed his visitor with satisfaction as a hint of colour tinged Lord Harleston’s face. “You see the problem now, don’t you?” he continued. “She’s in trouble with the authorities, and there’s no hope of her going back to England when I’m dead.”
    “But surely she knew that would be the case?” said Lord Harleston, speaking as much to himself as to the captain. He was wondering what had possessed her to do such a rash thing when her father’s sentence would have passed in only three months.
    “Yes,” Captain Johnstone admitted, raising his eyebrows expressively, “but you don’t know Susan. I wrote to her, you see, when they caught up with me, just so she would know why I wasn’t sending her any more money.