Page 45 of A Countess Captured for the Captain
“My papers, where are my papers? It was you, I am certain it was you,” he snarled, his eyes red and bloodshot.
“Now wait a moment,” Nox began, as his uncle stepped forward.
“Your Grace, my nephew is no thief. I am sure all this can be amicably resolved. You said yourself that you would wish to search those who are here. Well, why not search my nephew’s pockets? I am sure you will discover that he has nothing to hide,” Nox’s uncle said, as gasps went up from the gathered assembly.
All eyes were now upon Nox, but Samantha only waved her hand dismissively and addressed her father angrily.
“What nonsense. You have done nothing but show contempt for my husband ever since he was introduced to you. You would have seen him hung if it were not for the truth being told, and now you cannot bear to think that you were wrong, and so you invite him here and seek to blame him for your own loss. You probably burned those papers by mistake and laid them aside. I will not hear of this,” she said, but her father could be just as stubborn, and he fixed Samantha with the angriest of gazes.
“You are right, I do not hold your husband in any regard, but I will not be accused of foolishness. Those papers have been stolen and there is no one else in this room with a reputation like Captain Nox here,” he replied, stepping forward again, as Nox squared up to him.
“I am not a thief, Your Grace. And in my previous dealings I stole only from those who could well afford it,” he said, and Samantha’s father laughed.
“You cost me a pretty penny, Nox. Now, turn out your pockets and we shall see if you are telling the truth, or not,” he said.
Nox nodded. It seemed he had no fear in turning out the pockets of his tailcoat, and he removed it, handing it to Samantha’s father with a smile.
“You will find that my only possession this evening is a quantity of money and a box of snuff,” he said, glancing at Samantha, who was now watching her father go through the pockets.
He opened them one by one, delving his hand in and pulling out first the snuff box – ornately carved in ivory – and several shilling notes, which he dropped to the floor with an angry exclamation.
“You see, Your Grace, I have nothing to hide,” Nox replied, taking the tailcoat back from the Duke and stooping down to pick up his possessions.
“Apart from this, My Lord,” the voice of Anderton called from the doorway.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The party turned to find the butler holding up a long overcoat, the overcoat in which Nox had traveled to the ball that evening. In his hand he held a scroll of paper, tied with a ribbon and sealed with what Samantha could see was her father’s own wax. The Duke now dashed forward, snatching the paper from the butler’s hand with a triumphant cry, wielding upon Nox and pointing at him accusingly.
“Yes, you see, not so clever now, are you, Nox? Did you think you could get away with it? Fool me? I know what has happened. You have sneaked across the gardens and got in through my study window. You must have known I had the Naval Treaty here this evening, and you have thought it to your advantage to steal it. A French spy, that is what you are, or Spanish, or Dutch. It hardly matters. The point is that you are a traitor and will be hanged,” he exclaimed, rage seeping in his voice, as he advanced on Nox, who looked around him in bewilderment.
“I swear that I have never seen that document in my life, I swear it on my honor and on my marriage to your daughter,” he cried, turning frantically to Samantha, who was caught up in the utter bewilderment of it all and could hardly speak.
“But… Nox was with me–” she began, before suddenly recalling her husband’s need to take the air.
“No, he was not, I watched him,” Regina piped up, rising from her throne on the dais and approaching them, she fixed Nox with a hard stare.
“What did you see, my darling?” Samantha’s father asked, his tone now changing to one of adoration.
“I saw Nox leave by the terrace door. It would be the easiest of things for him to slip across the garden and into your study by the window. We know he cannot be trusted, and I see no other pirates in this room tonight,” she said, laughing with that awful childish laugh which was her hallmark.
“It is not true, it cannot be true,” Samantha exclaimed, though even she doubted her words as she spoke them.
There was no reason it should not be true, why Nox should not be the culprit responsible for stealing the Naval Treaty. Regina was right about one thing. Of all the people in the room at that moment, it was Nox upon whom suspicion would cast the longest shadow. He had a past which was entirely in keeping with such an act, guilty of crimes which Samantha could only shudder at. It pained her to think it, but her husband was the one upon whom her own suspicions would first be cast if it were she and not her father who had been the victim of such a crime.
“Can this be true?” Nox’s uncle demanded, looking sternly at his nephew, who began to protest.
“Why would it be true, Uncle? What possible reason could I have for stealing such a document? I am no spy, I have nothing to gain from such an act,” he exclaimed. “I am not a pirate anymore.”
“Once a pirate, always a pirate, and always one to search for any opportunity to his advantage. I know your sort, Nox. There can be no denying it, no hiding it. There is the missing treaty and there is your coat. I shall see you hanged for this,” Samantha’s father exclaimed, as Nox looked desperately around him.
“You do not believe it, do you, Samantha? I am telling you it is not true. I swear on everything that is good and right,” he declared, but Samantha could not be sure.
She wanted desperately to believe him, but she knew old habits die hard and that Nox was surely still as much a pirate as he ever was. He looked different, sounded different, but in his heart, was he different?
“I… I do not know,” she gasped, turning away, as her father gave a triumphant exclamation.
“There you have it, even his own wife does not believe him,” he cried, and Samantha round on him angrily.
