But I was not satisfied. I lay in Grenville's sumptuous guest room, too ill to move and too frustrated to rest. I had failed Bremer in my idiotic pursuit of Denis.
Grenville did his best to keep me cheerful, reading stories to me out of the newspaper and giving me the gossip from his club. I learned who was wearing the wrong-colored waistcoat, who had been snubbed, and who had lost a fortune at whist, and I didn't care about one word of it.
Louisa Brandon came to see me every day and threatened me with dire fates if I tried to get out of bed too soon. On one occasion, she brought her husband.
As the sun was descending behind Grenville's elegant, silk-draped windows, Colonel Brandon entered my chamber alone. He walked halfway across the carpet then stood with his hands behind his back in the attitude of parade rest and looked at me. I wondered if he'd come to force his apology on me, but the spark in his cold blue eyes told me that he was tired of being polite.
'You look bloody awful,' he said.
I gave him a nod. 'I imagine I do.'
A cut ran from the corner of Brandon's mouth to his chin. I dimly remembered pounding my fist just there when we'd fought in the rowboat.
'Thought you'd like to know,' he said. 'I was speaking the other day with Colonel Franklin, Gale's commanding officer. He said he got the order about Hanover Square from Brigadier Champlain himself.'
Champlain had been one of Wellington's most trusted generals. I propped myself up on my pillows, waiting for him to go on.
'I saw Champlain at a card party yesterday,' he said. 'He imparted to us that he'd sent for Franklin in response to a message from a friend. This friend was afraid that the house of an acquaintance in Hanover Square would be set alight by a mob. Champlain owed the friend a favor and agreed to assist.'
'And the name of the friend?' But I'd already guessed.
'James Denis.'
Of course. Denis would hardly want the father of the abducted girl drawing attention to Horne. I wondered if Denis had ordered Mr. Thornton to be shot, or if that had been Cornet Weddington's own idea.
'Louisa ferreted it out of him,' Brandon said. 'Franklin gave the orders to Lieutenant Gale, and Gale took out a squad of his best men.' He hesitated. 'According to Grenville, this Denis is the same gentleman who had you dragged out to that boat.'
'Yes.'
'Good Lord, Lacey, he has one of the highest generals in England owing him favors. And you've pitted yourself against him.'
'I have.'
Brandon stared at me a moment longer, his anger palpable from where he stood. 'You always were a damned fool.'
He knew better than most what I fool I had been.
So Denis had a general in his pocket. I wondered how many other men in high office owed Denis 'favors.' Perhaps I should have gone through with my plan to shoot Denis after all.
'Thank you,' I said tiredly. 'That does help. Thank Louisa for questioning Champlain on my behalf.'
Brandon should have simply said, 'Not at all,' and left the room. I wished he would. But he remained fixed there on the carpet as though he still had plenty to say. Every muscle in my body tensed.
Brandon cleared his throat, and my muscles tightened all the more. 'Out on the boat,' he said. 'You might have killed us all, trying to save that girl.'
'I know.'
'That is why I tried to stop you.'
'I know.'
He cleared his throat again, looked uncomfortable, and clenched his fists at his sides. 'It was well done, Lacey. Even if it was bloody stupid.'
My lips cracked as I smiled. 'High praise from my brave commander.'
Brandon glared at me, his face reddening. Again, I wished he'd go away. I was too weary to fence with him and wanted to sleep. I hoped to God he did not intend to offer his forgiveness for my sins past and present. I did not think I could stomach it just now.
His lip curled. 'Such things are why you never rose higher than captain, Gabriel. As admirable as you may be.'
I felt my temper stir beneath my hurt and tiredness, but I closed my eyes and willed it to silence. 'Are you finished?'
When I opened my eyes again, it was to see Brandon's face a mask of undisguised fury. Had he come here hoping to provoke a reconciliation? If he had, he was a fool.
Brandon breathed heavily in the silence. 'The way you have played it, Gabriel, we will never be finished.'
I waited for him to explain what he meant by that, but Brandon snapped his mouth shut and turned on his heel. He said nothing more, not a good-night or best wishes for my health. He simply stalked away, letting the slam of the door behind him tell me what he thought of my rudeness.
I slid my eyes closed, threads of pain winding through my head. It took me a long time to drift again to sleep.
Staying with Grenville gave me time not only to heal and think, but also to come to know him better. He was a complex man who took three hours to dress for supper, yet could practice philanthropy in meaningful and useful ways. He had acquaintances across all classes and held prejudice only against a man who would not think for himself.
He admired beautiful women and had had discreet affairs with duchesses and actresses alike, but Grenville had never found a woman he'd wanted to marry. I told him dryly that it was just as well; his bride would have no room in his house for her own mirror, and he laughed and supposed I had hit upon a truth.
The evening before I returned home, Grenville entered my chamber looking rather bewildered.
'I've just had a visit from your Marianne Simmons.'
I came alert, remembering how I'd told her to apply to Grenville for her ten guineas. 'I'm sorry, Grenville, I ought to have warned you about that. She brought me some interesting information, and I sent her to you so she would leave me alone. I'd forgotten about it.'
'It is no matter. She is rather-overwhelming, is she not?'
'It's how she survives.'
Grenville looked troubled. 'And yet, I found myself giving her twenty guineas.'
'Twenty? I told her ten, the wretch.'
'She asked for ten. But then I saw that her shoes were cheap and shabby. No one should go about poorly shod, Lacey. I told her of a shoemaker in Oxford Street and instructed her to tell them I'd sent her.'
'What did she say to that?' I asked.
'She told me I was a gentleman. And then she said a few things that brought a blush to my cheek. I'll admit to you, Lacey, though I've traveled the world, I've never met anyone like her.'
'You may count yourself fortunate for that.'
Grenville gave me a sharp look. 'There is nothing between you, is there?'
'Between Marianne and myself? Good Lord, no. She likes only wealthy gentleman. I would have a care, were I you.'
He looked at me a long moment. 'I believe that is good advice. Thank you, Lacey.'
Grenville rang for wine and shared it with me, but he drank deeply of his and sat in silence most of the evening.
I returned home to find that, despite her twenty guineas, Marianne had taken all my candles, and I was obliged to visit the chandlers to acquire more. The quietness of my return and the fact that I went from candle shop to pub and back home without being accosted reaffirmed my idea that Denis had abducted me not to kill me but to show me where I stood in his world.
