Page 46 of A Countess Captured for the Captain
“I did not say that, I just… it could have been planted there. Anyone had the opportunity, I cannot believe it either way. Perhaps it was you,” she said, pointing at Anderton, who began to protest.
“What reason would I have for doing such a thing? His Grace asked me to the check the pockets of the guests and I began in the cloak room. I did not even know that it was the Earl’s coat at first,” he said, and Samantha faltered.
“Have him arrested, Randolf. Justice must be served,” Regina said, clapping her hands together.
She was evidently enjoying the spectacle and now two of the footmen stepped forward, grabbing Nox by the arms, as he struggled in vain.
“Let me go, I am innocent, you hear me, innocent, I say!” he cried, but his protests fell on deaf ears and with tears in her eyes, Samantha watched as he was dragged away.
There was little appetite for the ball now, the guests making their excuses and departing. Samantha felt entirely alone, lost between her former life and the tatters of her marriage. She wanted desperately to believe in Nox’s innocence, but there was a remaining doubt in her mind, a feeling that all was not right.
“How could you?” she exclaimed, pointing at her father, who merely waved his hand dismissively.
“I am sorry, Samantha, but I did warn you about marrying a pirate. Do not worry, though, such an act is surely grounds for an annulment,” he said, as Regina smirked behind him.
“Perhaps Reginald Spencer might be persuaded to marry you after all,” she said, picking up the baby from the cot as he began to wail.
Samantha gave her a withering look. She felt helpless, unable to defend Nox and unable to trust him either. The Naval Treaty could easily have been planted in his coat, but it was not difficult either to suspect Nox of having stolen it – after all, it was precisely the sort of thing he would once have done, once had done–
“I suppose you want to stay here, now” Samantha’s father said, but Samantha shook her head.
She could not bear the thought of remaining at Hampton Manor. Regina would be insufferable and make life intolerable. But neither did the thought of returning to the home of Nox’s uncle and aunt appeal to her either. They had seemed as shocked as everyone else, but Samantha had been surprised at how little a defense they had mounted against her father’s accusations.
“Rebecca,” Samantha called out, turning to her friend, who was sitting awkwardly with Catherine in the corner of the room.
“It cannot be,” she exclaimed, and Samantha shook her head.
“I cannot go back, and I cannot stay here, might I–?” she began, and Rebecca smiled.
“I would not dream of you going anywhere else. You may stay with us for as long as you wish,” she said, and Samantha breathed a sigh of relief.
“This is a difficult situation, Samantha. You really have little by way of rights,” Nox’s uncle said, addressing her in an overly formal tone.
Bernadette stood at his side, and it felt as though the two of them were almost pleased at the outcome of this tragic scene.
“Nox is my husband, I think that counts for something,” Samantha replied, and Nox’s uncle shook his head.
“I can only pray that this terrible accusation is not true. I have tried my best to guide him away from his past, but it seems that he will always be a pirate, and if that is so then his title is forfeit,” Nox’s uncle said, shaking his head sadly.
“But I cannot believe it,” Samantha said, still not willing to give up hope that Nox’s innocence could be proved.
“But what other truth iz there?” Bernadette asked, and Samantha had to admit that the evidence was damning.
Reluctantly, she fell silent, knowing that her protests were useless. Her father had wanted an excuse to see Nox punished, and now he would accuse him of treason. If a pirate could be hung for stealing sugar, then an Earl could be hung for stealing a Naval Treaty and Samantha had no doubt that her father would seek the justice he had been longing for.
“I will not give up on him,” Samantha said, and with that she hurried from the house, followed by Rebecca and Catherine – the only friends she could count on.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Nox was innocent. He knew he was innocent, but proving it was another matter. After he had left Samantha talking with Catherine and Rebecca, he had made his way out onto the terrace, glad of the cool night air. The salon had felt stuffy and the company even stuffier. Nox was not yet used to rubbing shoulders with his fellow aristocrats, and the conversation of the ton bored him.
He had only come to Hampton Manor that evening for Samantha’s sake. He wanted her to repair the damaged relationship between her and her father, to lay the past behind them and look to the future. The accusation which the Duke had made against him had seemed laughable, that is, until no one believed the contrary. Nox had known nothing of a Naval Treaty, furthermore he had no intention of stealing it.
There had been a time when such things might have seemed attractive. In the past he had raided the mansions of island governors, stealing jewels and other valuables. There had been times when useful information and important documents had come his way, and he had used them to his advantage. But all that was behind him and he wanted only to fulfill the role which was his by birthright.
Now, Nox found himself in a prison cell once again, shackled and awaiting his fate. There could be no saving him now, no daring escape, no disguises and daring acts. Nox’s luck had run out, and he wondered whether even Samantha believed his innocence. He was certain he had been framed, but by whom? And for what reason? It was these questions that he pondered as he gazed through the bars of his cell, treated by the guards with nothing but contempt.
“We always get them back in the end,” one of them said, as he tossed half a stale piece of bread into the cell for Nox the morning after the ball.
