He studied her for a moment, and then both men stepped outside.
Evelyn saw their mounts tied to the railing as she closed the door—and that was the last thing she saw. Instantly, blackness claimed her and she collapsed.
* * *
“YOU ARE SO exhausted that you fainted!”
Evelyn shoved the smelling salts with their sickly odor from her nostrils. She was seated on the cold, hard marble floor, a pillow between her and the front door. Laurent and his wife knelt beside her, both extremely concerned.
And she was still light-headed. “Is everyone gone?”
“Yes, everyone has left—and you swooned the moment the last guest was gone,” Laurent accused. “I should have never allowed the guests to stay as long as they did.”
“Aimee?”
“She is still asleep,” Adelaide said. She stood. “I am going to get you something to eat.”
Evelyn saw from the look on her face that protesting that she was not hungry would not dissuade her. Adelaide walked away, and she looked at Laurent. “This has been the longest day of my life.” God, the tears threatened her again. Damn it. She would not cry!
“It is over,” he soothed.
She gave him her hand and he helped her to stand up. As she did, a terrible migraine began. And with it came the now-familiar surging of panic and fear. “What are we going to do now?” she whispered.
He had become her confidant in these past few years, and she did not have to elaborate. “You can worry about Aimee’s future tomorrow.”
“I cannot think about anything else!”
He sighed. “Madame, you just fainted. We do not need to discuss finances tonight.”
“There are hardly any finances to discuss. But I intend to start going over the estate ledgers and my accounts tomorrow.”
“And how will you read them? They befuddled the count. I tried to help him, but I could not understand the numbers myself.”
She studied him. “I heard you and Henri discussing the arrival of a new foreman. Did the previous foreman leave?”
Laurent was grim. “He was dismissed, madame.”
“Why?”
“We have suspected theft, Lady D’Orsay, for some time. When le comte purchased this estate, the mine was doing handsomely. Now, there is nothing.”
So there was hope, she thought, staring at the dapper Frenchman.
“I am afraid to ask what you are thinking,” he said.
“Laurent, I am thinking that I have very little left to pawn.”
“And?”
He knew her so well, she thought. And he knew almost everything there was to know about her, Henri and their affairs. But did he know about the gold? “Two weeks ago, Henri told me that he had buried a chest filled with gold at the château in Nantes.”
Laurent simply met her gaze.
“You know!” she exclaimed, surprised.
“Of course I know—I was there—I helped him bury the chest.”
Evelyn started. “So it’s true. He did not leave us penniless. He left a fortune for us.”
“It’s true.” They stared at each other. “What are you going to do?” he said unhappily.
“It has been quiet in France, since the fall of Robespierre.”
He inhaled. “Please do not tell me that you are considering retrieving the gold!”
“No, I am not considering it—I have made up my mind.” And she was resolved. Her decision was made. “I am going to find someone to take me to France, and I am bringing that gold back—not for myself—but for Aimee.”
“And who could you possibly trust with such a fortune?” he cried, paling.
But even as he spoke, the image came to her mind of a tall, powerful man standing on the deck of a ship racing the sea with unfurled black sails, his golden hair blowing in the wind....
She could not breathe or move. She hadn’t thought about the smuggler who had helped her and her family escape France in years.
My services are expensive.
Thank me when we reach Britain.
Evelyn looked up at Laurent, stunned.
“Whom could you possibly trust with your life?” he added desperately.
She wet her lips. “Jack Greystone,” she said.
CHAPTER TWO
EVELYN STARED OUT of her bedroom window, still in her nightclothes, her hair braided. She was hugging herself.
She had just awoken. But she had slept fitfully, and her rest had been interrupted with terrible dreams. Oddly, she had been dreaming of her childhood. Of going to bed without supper, and being so lonely she had cried herself to sleep. And she had dreamed of Lucille and Enid, both of them mocking her for her airs, and declaring that she had gotten just what she deserved.
But then her dreams had changed, and she had dreamed that she was running through the night, being chased by evil. The night had become familiar, and she realized she wasn’t on foot—she was in a carriage, and Aimee was crying in her arms. But they were being pursued. The gendarmerie were after them, and if they did not escape, Henri might be arrested and executed. She was terrified. The hand of evil was right behind them, ready to snatch them back....
She had awoken in a sweat, shivering with fear, her stomach in knots, tears upon her cheeks. It had taken her a second to return to reality and recall that she was not in the midst of fleeing France on that particular summer night. Henri had been buried yesterday, at the local parish church. She wasn’t in France; she was at Roselynd.
Her chest seemed to tighten.
The sight of Jack Greystone standing at the helm of his black ship, all sails unfurled, his legs braced against the sea, his tawny hair whipped by the wind, assaulted her. The image was one of power and command.
She suddenly found it hard to breathe.
She hadn’t thought about Greystone in years—not until yesterday.
Was she really going to approach him and ask him for his services—again?
Did she have any other choice? Henri was dead, and she had to recover the gold he had left for them.
She trembled, because Henri’s death still felt unreal—as if a part of her dream. Grief rose up instantly, choking her. So did fear, and even the feeling of abandonment. God, she was so alone, so overwhelmed, and frightened.
If only Henri had retrieved the gold before his death. But he had left that monumental task up to her, Evelyn. She prayed she was up to it.
Aimee would never find herself in the straits that Evelyn had been left in as a child, she vowed. Evelyn’s father had loved her, or so she believed, but he had failed in his responsibility to her. He had been right to leave her with Robert, as he was too reckless and irresponsible to care for her, but it had been wrong to leave her penniless. She, Evelyn, must never fail her daughter.
“Mama? Are you crying?”
Aimee’s small, frightened voice cut through her thoughts. Evelyn realized she was battling rising tears, but some of them were due to the great strain she was under. She faced her daughter, but not before wiping her eyes quickly with her fingertips. “Darling! Have I overslept?” She swept her close, into a big embrace.
“You