Page 72 of A Lady's Heart Deceived
The second man in the room, who bore a striking resemblance to Will, gave a tip of the head. “Bartholomew Shale.”
Piers finished shaking Will’s hand, then bowed to the other man. “Lord Shale.”
He had been expecting to meet with Will, but not Earl Shale. His memory dug into the past and reminded him that Earl Shale was yet another of Maggie’s many cousins.
Will motioned toward a cluster of ornate antique chairs. “Please, have a seat.”
While Piers and the earl settled into their seats, Will headed to a nearby sideboard and poured three generous brandies.
Lord Shale leaned forward and offered Piers his hand. “It’s nice to finally meet. Maggie told us all about you this afternoon. She seems quite taken with you, Captain Denford. Will we be hearing wedding bells shortly?”
Piers scowled. He had come here expecting to discuss his problems, not have the Radley family poke their noses into his and Maggie’s private relationship.
But if these men can help me, they are likely going to be family very shortly.
“Lord Shale, Maggie and I have become friends of late. As for the rest, a gentleman never tells.”
The earl grinned. “Excellent answer. And please, my friends call me Bat.”
Will handed both men a drink, then sat. “Bat and I were both agents for the crown at one point. We lived undercover as clerks in Paris for a number of years.”
That was a surprise. He had known about Will having been a spy but hadn’t ever heard about the earl.
Bat chuckled knowingly. “My work in France was rather limited. I returned to England before Napoleon was overthrown for the first time as my father had died and the Shale bloodline wasn’t yet secure. I had to leave behind the machinations of war and find myself a wife.”
Will casually sipped at his brandy. “Took you long enough to convince Rosemary to marry you. Poor girl.”
Piers caught the glare that Bat shot his cousin, followed by a mumbled, “Cheeky devil.” Both men chuckled.
“But I am sure that Captain Denford isn’t here to listen to us go over our war stories. It’s his which are the issue at hand,” said Will.
“Would you care for me to give you a summary of what happened that day at Waterloo?” asked Piers.
Will waved his offer away. “No need. I’ve read the dispatches that your Major Hall sent, along with those from various other high-ranking officers. Oddly, his is the only one which makes mention of you having done a poor job. The rest of the reports are either silent, or simply state the facts—those being that you aided the Prince of Orange after he had been felled by a musket ball.”
Piers narrowed his eyes. “How did a civilian like you get a hold of the military records? They are meant to be secure.”
“Will and I were not in the military, but we have our connections. The army might not recognize our work as spies, since it is considered less than honorable, but rest assured, it is valued. There are few doors which are closed to men like us,” said Bat.
“And for those that remain shut fast, we have a set of skeleton keys,” added Will.
Piers wasn’t sure where this conversation was headed. He had been hoping that Will could provide him with a list of influential people who could be relied upon to come to his aid. At the moment, he didn’t have anything.
Will set his glass of brandy on the floor. “Let us get down to the business of things—the first being that you have been waiting on letters from the Dutch royal family. Letters to support your case. If you have those, then they will go a long way to convincing the army that you were merely doing your job as an assistant aide-de-camp.”
“Yes.”
“And as far as you are aware, those letters never made it to England.”
Piers’s jaw tightened, his teeth grinding as a horrible sense of foreboding gripped him. What did ‘as far as you are aware’ mean? He met Will’s gaze. “Go on.”
“Maggie came to see me and explained the whole situation in great detail. I must say, some of what she told me, I would never have expected to hear from the lips of an unwed woman. But I accept the need for her to understand what is at stake. After she left, I went to see the Prince Regent.”
“I meant to ask, how is Prinny?” said Bat.
“Not good. For all his faults, no man deserves what he is going through. I wouldn’t have troubled him if I’d thought a few weeks’ delay wouldn’t change your circumstances, Denford. But my sources tell me that the army is finally going to press charges against you. You are going to face a court-martial for dereliction of duty. Don’t be surprised if they add a few more charges to the sheet before you face a trial.”
Piers gripped the sides of the chair, his knuckles turning white. A large hammer was about to come down on his life. His future would be shattered to pieces. He and Maggie wouldn’t get their happily ever after.
