Page 70 of A Lady's Heart Deceived
Beyond her family, few people knew just how powerful Will Saunders really was. Even Maggie doubted she was privy to all but a slight and carefully constructed vision of the truth. Will not only knew powerful people, but he was also extremely adept at bending them to his command.
Piers slowly shook his head. What was there to say? Of course, she had a relative who was close to the future king. Why was he even surprised? Just when he thought he knew everything about Maggie, she threw some other precious gem of knowledge into the mix.
He knew who William Saunders was, having heard of the man who had been a spy for the British Crown, and who had operated undercover in France for a number of years prior to the fall of Napoleon. It was rumored he had fed vital information to the commander of the allied forces, the Duke of Wellington, just prior to and during the battle of Waterloo.
Maggie’s cousin was also more than likely the one responsible for the miraculous delivery of the messages the Prince of Orange had frantically sent from the battlefield at Quatre Bras to Wellington, who at the time was still in Brussels. Those coded dispatches had begged the British commander to urgently send more troops. Before the reinforcements had arrived to fight alongside his regiment, Piers had feared that they were about to be overrun by Napoleon’s commander, Marshal Ney.
Will Saunders was the type of man who got the impossible done. If he could get Will to take up his case, Piers might actually stand a chance of getting a fair hearing. Of getting his life back.
But before then, there was another important matter which they needed to discuss.
“What do you mean, Jonathan said I was my own worst enemy?”
“I tell you about my cousin, who is more powerful than my uncle and father put together, and you focus on what your brother said? Heaven help us,” she huffed.
Piers snorted. “Oh, Maggie. I think heaven has already heard and answered my pleas. Because surely only God could have sent you.”
Chapter Forty-Three
It was a pity that they had to leave Denford Park so soon after arriving, but Maggie and Piers agreed that it was vitally important that they return to London as soon as possible. If there was any chance that Will Saunders could help Piers, they shouldn’t delay. Lord and Lady Denford were naturally disappointed but also in furious agreement.
“I am so glad he met you, my dear,” said Lady Denford. She embraced Maggie, then whispered in her ear, “My son is a good man. He just needs to believe he deserves happiness. I think he may have found that in you.”
Maggie glanced over to where Piers and his father were talking. “He is lovely. But I don’t want to place him under any further pressure than he already is. There is more than enough at stake without Piers having to worry about me.”
Lady Denford nodded, then smiled. “But he does worry about you. That’s the nature of Piers—always thinking of others.”
To the detriment of himself.
“Well, I promise you, he has friends who care what happens to him. I am going to do everything in my power to make sure he is free of the army.”
“And then he will be free to make other decisions. Like finally being able to offer marriage to the woman he loves, and hopefully, start a family. I want my son to be able to live his life again.”
The light of hope shone in Piers’s mother’s eyes. Maggie hoped that Lady Denford would have her wishes come true. That her son would indeed be once more in command of his own life. Only then would he be truly free to choose love.
She would be waiting for him when he did.
A week or so away from town wasn’t nearly enough. Piers liked London, but he loathed being back at the Horse Guards and being under the continual crushing boot of Major Hall.
“So, you didn’t find a single thing about this missing captain? What a waste of army resources,” huffed the major.
Piers took a slow, deep breath in, then let it out. “No, that is not what I put in my report, sir. I did find the baptism records for Robert Eustace Taylor, but I couldn’t find anything further regarding his army career. I told Miss Radley that I believe her late fiancé may have not been fully honest with her.”
On the journey back to London, he and Maggie had come to a decision. As far as the world was concerned, the Robert Taylor that Maggie had known had indeed died a tragic and heroic death at Waterloo. The Robert Taylor who still lived in Coventry with his wife and children was merely a man who shared the same name.
It was a lie, but one they were determined to maintain. Jonathan and Elizabeth could be trusted to keep their silence. Lord and Lady Denford need never know the truth. When the time was right, Maggie would confide in her parents, but no one else.
As for the rest of the powerful Radley family, they would be happy that she was ready to move on with her life. While it wasn’t fair that the guilty had gotten away scot-free, protecting the innocent was more important than revenge.
Not all of it sat well with Piers, but in the end, it was Maggie’s choice. She was the one who would have to explain things to her family. It was the thought of what Maggie would endure if word ever got out that finally sealed it for him.
He loved her, and he wouldn’t stand for the rumor mongers of thehaute tonto inflict their pain on her. The daughter of the Bishop of London being taken for a fool by a married man who had not only faked his death, but who’d left her to grieve for more than two years was the sort of shocking scandal that some members of London society could only dream of getting their hands on.
Maggie had suffered enough.
Now, it was Piers who was enduring the fallout of their trip to Coventry. Major Hall made no effort to hide his delight in making Piers squirm.
“I don’t recall Miss Radley undertaking the journey with you as being any part of the plan, Denford. This was army business,” said the major.
