Chapter 12

Jeb opened his eyes and tried to look around the room without moving his head. He knew even the slightest movement would be his undoing. He waited a while longer, then turned enough to see Mariah in a chair beside his bed. She was bent at the waist and lay with her head resting on the bed. She was asleep.

It wasn’t until he could see more clearly that he realized that she was holding his hand.

He didn’t want to wake her, but as if she sensed he was awake, she lifted her head and looked at him.

“Good morning,” she said. “Although I have no idea what time of day it is.” She looked over her shoulder to the window. “The sun is up, so morning will do.”

“How long . . . have I been . . . asleep?”

She smiled. “Although I wouldn’t exactly say you were asleep, this is day five that you weren’t conscious enough to know what was going on in the world.”

The only answer Jeb could manage was a painful groan.

Mariah separated her hand from his and rose to fill a glass with water and bring it to him. She brought the glass to his lips, and he drank.

“I want you to know,” she said when he finished drinking, “that before you were shot, I only agreed to allow you to sleep for two days. You’ve overstepped our agreement by several days now. And,” she said, looking down on him with a feigned look of exasperation, “you caused me days of excessive worry.”

Jeb couldn’t help but smile. “You have my apology, my lady.”

“Apology accepted,” she said.

“Were you here when the doctor dug out the bullet?”

“Yes.”

“Then you saw.” He closed his eyes to block out the hideous sight he’d tried to keep from the world.

“Yes, I saw. Caleb told me what happened. I can’t imagine.”

“Did Cal tell you that he and Ford and Hugh saved my life?”

“He didn’t quite put it that way, but yes, he told me they rescued you.”

“Have you met them?”

She smiled. “They’ve been here most of the time. In fact, they’re all downstairs waiting for you to wake.”

“Before you call them, I want to thank you, Mariah.”

Her gaze lowered, and she reached again for his hand. “I don’t know what I would have done without you, Jeb. You’ve become very important to me. More important than I ever intended to allow anyone to become.”

“As you have to me,” he answered.

A tear trickled down her cheek. “You know nothing can come of our feelings, don’t you?”

“Because of your father?”

“Yes. I may have escaped with the jewels, but I have not escaped his retribution. In fact, I—”

“We won’t talk about that now. We’ll save that for later. Now, you’d best tell them I’ve come back from my sleep.”

She leaned over and kissed him. “Would you like some laudanum before they come up?”

“No. I know only too well the effects of laudanum. I know the places the drug can take you. I don’t want to revisit those places unless I have to.”

“Then I’ll call them. But don’t plan on staying awake too long or talking too much. You’re not strong enough yet.” She went to the top of the stairs and called down to Jeb’s friends. It didn’t take long for them to bound up the stairs and tumble into his room.

As usual, Hugh Wythers was the first one to enter the room. Jeb always considered him the soldier who led the charge into battle. Never one to bring up the rear.

“It’s about time you woke up,” Hugh said, stepping over to the bed. “What the hell are you doing trying to scare us half to death?”

“I simply wanted to add a little . . . excitement to your lives.”

“Then you can save your efforts,” Ford Remington said, standing at the foot of the bed. “We’re out of practice for the kind of excitement you can provide and don’t need a reminder.”

“Where’s your angel?” Hugh said, searching the room.

“She’s right here,” Caleb answered, stepping aside for Mariah to come closer.

“Do you know what a special lady you’ve found?” Hugh said.

Jeb let his gaze lock with Mariah’s. “I do. I wouldn’t be here if Mariah hadn’t saved me.”

Caleb went to a side table and brought over a full bottle of liquor. “This calls for a celebration.” He handed everyone a glass, then poured some of the liquor into each one. He even filled a glass for Mariah.

“To Jeb.” The three men stood, then lifted their glasses. “Who got himself shot just so he could add a few more scars to his already impressive collection.”

Hearty laughter filled the room as Jeb’s three best friends drank to his health. After they settled back in their chairs, Mariah reached for his hand.

“Are you strong enough to talk, or would you like to wait for a few days before we pelt you with questions?” Ford asked when they’d all finished their drinks.

“I know you have questions,” Jeb said, “and you deserve answers. I’ll begin, but most of what you want to know involves Mariah, so she will finish.”

Caleb reached for the bottle of whiskey and passed it around for those who wanted more.

Mariah didn’t take more, but she took the bottle and put more in Jeb’s glass.

He took a sip, then asked Hugh and Caleb to pull him up in bed so he could sit. When the pain from moving eased, he began.

“Several weeks ago, I was contacted by Major Dunworthy.”

“Dunworthy?” Hugh said. “Why would he contact you?”

“He had a mission he wanted me to handle.”

“Why you?” Ford asked.

“Because the assignment involved Mariah’s father, Dafid MacFarlane, Laird of Langholm. And MacFarlane had attended school with my father. He suggested I use their acquaintance as an excuse to call on him. The reason I was to go to Scotland was to retrieve a fortune in jewels that had been stolen from England nearly two hundred years ago.”

“How did they know Mariah’s father had them?” Cal asked.

Jeb turned his gaze to Mariah, and she nodded that she would tell the rest of the story.

. . .

All three of Jeb’s friends focused their gazes in her direction. She knew she should feel a sense of insecurity, perhaps even embarrassment. But she didn’t. Instead, she was relieved that she could finally tell her story. That she could finally share what her father intended to do with the jewels, in the hopes that it would stop him.

“Nearly two hundred years ago, the Laird of Langholm stole a crown that belonged to the King of England. They removed the jewels and returned the scuttled crown. England never got the jewels back. They were rumored to be hidden in the walls of Langholm Castle, but no one knew where. And then when my father became laird—”

“You found them?” Caleb asked.

Mariah nodded. “Yes. My father did.” She lowered her gaze to her locked hands in her lap. “I didn’t question what he intended to do with the jewels. I thought he would be satisfied announcing to the world that he had found them and rubbing England’s nose in that fact. Until other events happened.”

“What events?” Hugh asked.

“Father began having meetings with the chieftains of other nearby clans. I didn’t pay attention at first, but as the meetings happened more frequently, I made an attempt to listen to what they were discussing. My father had come up with a plan to sell the jewels and use the fortune he would get from their sale to fund an army.”

Mariah couldn’t miss the serious expressions that spread across the faces of Jeb’s friends.

“They were going to attack the estates nearest Scotland’s border first, then work their way farther into England. They wanted the land and have always thought that England stole it from Scotland more than a century ago.”

“Are you serious?” Ford asked. “Your father truly believes he can steal land from England and they won’t do anything about it?”

“The plan is to take small plots of land at first. Just enough to be a nuisance. They assume that your Queen will send a warning, which they will ignore, but nothing more. It’s their opinion that England’s munition supply is depleted from the war, her soldiers tired of fighting, and her citizens tired of losing their loved ones.”

“They’re right on all scores,” Caleb said, pushing out of his chair and rising to his feet. “So how are we going to stop them?”

“We would take away their source of funds,” Hugh said.

Mariah looked at Jeb.

“And we did,” Mariah said, a dismal feeling overtaking her. “But now the jewels are lost.”

She looked at Jeb, hoping he saw in her eyes that she understood it wasn’t his fault the jewels were lost on the road.

“One of you, bring my saddle over here.”

“That saddle again,” Caleb growled. “This is hardly the time to be concerned about your saddle.”

“Just bring it over,” Jeb said.

Caleb brought the saddle over and placed it at the foot of the bed.

“There’s a tool in the pocket of my jacket. Get it.”

Caleb retrieved the small bladed tool from Jeb’s pocket and brought it to the bed.

“Now, turn over the right stirrup, and pry loose the leather tabs.”

Caleb pried them loose. “Bloody hell,” he whispered when the bottom of the stirrup opened and a leather pouch fell out. Caleb handed the pouch to Jeb.

“That’s how you did it,” Hugh said. His expression was one of awe. “That’s how you brought back all those secret war documents with no one the wiser.”

Ford locked his gaze with Jeb’s. “That’s where you hid the military plans the enemy captured you to get,” Ford said. “You would have let them kill you to protect them.”

Mariah reached for Jeb’s hand again.

“The same as each one of you would have done if you knew giving the plans over would have cost thousands of our soldiers their lives.”

Mariah saw in their faces that what Jeb said was true.

“How did Her Majesty know MacFarlane had found the jewels? And how did you get your hands on them?”

Jeb looked at Mariah to share the answer.

“I sent one of the jewels to Her Majesty. I hoped she’d realize where it came from and send someone to get the rest of the jewels. When Jeb came, I stole them from Father’s hiding place, and we brought them with us.”

“I don’t believe this,” Ford said. “You carried Crown jewels out of Scotland?”

“Would you like to see them?” Jeb asked.

His friends concentrated on the pouch in his hand. He gave it to Mariah, and she opened it, then poured the jewels onto a pewter plate.

“Bloody hell,” Ford whispered. “I’ve never seen anything so remarkable.”

“Yes, remarkable. Even in a jumbled pile they’re beautiful,” Hugh echoed.

“Incredible,” Caleb said.

There was a long silence while everyone stared at the magnificent sight before them.

Mariah waited for Jeb’s friends to realize what having the jewels meant. She knew it wouldn’t take long. And it didn’t.

Ford was the first to lift his gaze from the jewels. A frown furrowed his brow as his worry lines deepened.

Hugh and Caleb looked up next, their expressions similar to Ford’s.

“You know the danger you’re in, don’t you?” Ford said as he looked at her.

Mariah nodded.

For the first time since she’d taken the initial jewel and sent it to the English Queen, she forced herself to face the likely outcome of having stolen the gems from her father. If her father never got the jewels back and his plans for a battle with England were thwarted, his hatred for her would be all the impetus he needed to make her pay for his wife’s death.

In his mind, he would finally have a reason to kill her.