Chapter Thirty-Two
As Tessa did as ordered, Jeffrey Brixton launched himself at the outlaws on the bank. The guard at the boat’s prow he hit directly, full force under the chin with his lowered shoulder, hoping to knock him unconscious before the others could react. As he had hoped, the man fell limply onto the bank with a grunt. Jeffrey rolled over, the damp ground cushioning his fall, regained his footing, and assessed the situation. He had cursed his lack of weapons at least five times in the last hour. They had been taken from him earlier in the evening. Now he stood defenseless while Aidan faced him calmly, a smile on his face and a knife in his hand. At his side, Dougal hefted his sparthe menacingly, all business. Hawick was not in his line of vision, but there was danger there, too.
Tessa, in the water, heard a splash nearby and looked up to see Hawick wading into the current downstream of her. He had acted quickly for his size, and though she tried frantically to avoid him, it was difficult to maneuver with her skirts tangled around her legs. Hawick reached out, got a hand on the fabric floating around her, and began pulling her out of the current. Once in the cove, he clenched a powerful arm around her neck, towing her backward as he strode powerfully toward shore. She beat at him with both arms but could get no strength behind the blows without solid ground beneath her feet. Ignoring her struggles, Hawick dragged her into the shallows of the small cove. He had some trouble pulling her along, so heavy were her clothes, but he finally accomplished his task and stood over her, both of them fighting to catch their breath.
“Stupid wench!” he shouted, striking her once across the face. Tessa glared at him, unwilling to show any fear. “You’ve made trouble for me for the last time.” Seeing his intention, Tessa tried to avoid his grasp, but strong arms pushed her shoulders down, sending her head under water, and he held her there, his furious face hovering over hers as she fought against him.
Jeffrey frantically parried blows from Dougal’s battle-axe with a piece of driftwood snatched from the bank. It was too short to be very effective, but he had no other choice. Aidan danced on the outskirts of his reach, hoping to get a chance to step in when his brother was absorbed with fighting off the axe. Jeffrey was dimly aware that Hawick must be nearby, and he knew he had to quickly defeat at least one of the two who faced him or have all three to contend with. He said a quick prayer that Tessa had gotten away safely.
Dougal made a mistake at that moment, swinging the axe with all his weight at the spot where Brixton was, but Jeffrey anticipated his move and ducked to one side. Dougal’s momentum carried him past his target with a grunt, and Jeffrey brought the stick down smartly on the man’s head as he stumbled by, dazing him and knocking him to the ground. Knowing Aidan would take that moment to make his move, Jeffrey spun quickly around, catching Aidan’s extended arm with the stick as he tried to stab Jeffrey from behind. With a howl Aidan dropped the knife to the ground. Both men dove for it, both missed, connecting instead with each other, and they went down, rolling on the ground in a desperate struggle for dominance.
“Why didn’t you die in the sea, like a good brother?” Aidan panted, his face close to Jeffrey’s.
“You were my brother once,” Jeffrey said through clenched teeth, “but no more.” He gave a powerful shove, and Aidan went sprawling onto his back, where he lay, winded, as Jeffrey got to his feet. To his dismay, there was Dougal, who had recovered from the blow on the head and came at him with a roar. He caught Jeffrey in the chest, and they both went down. Dougal got his hands around his opponent’s throat, and they struggled on the slippery bank, Jeffrey fighting for breath. He tried to pummel the huge Dougal’s ribs but could not get much leverage from underneath the man’s bulk.
Suddenly Aidan screamed, “No, no stop!” Dougal, surprised by the shout, relaxed his hold on his opponent’s throat for an instant, which was what Jeffrey needed to make a final effort. Putting both hands on the man’s chest and pushing with all his might, he threw the outlaw to one side and rolled to his feet, readying himself for another attack. Aidan, to his surprise, rushed past him and down the river’s edge.
There Jeffrey saw what Aidan had seen. Hawick held Tessa’s head under water as she clawed and scratched at him wildly. So far she had managed to gulp air as Hawick dodged her flailing arms, but she grew weaker by the moment.
Jeffrey followed Aidan frantically, not knowing his intent. Aidan, still screaming “No!” threw himself at Hawick, causing the outlaw to release Tessa as he tumbled onto the bank. Aidan was on him in an instant, and the two rolled to their feet as Jeffrey reached them. “See to her,” Aidan growled at him, and Jeffrey waded into the stream to pull Tessa, to the shore. Aidan circled Hawick, the two measuring each other’s remaining strength.
“You should have let me finish her, lad,” Hawick said with a grin. “She’s been nothing but trouble from the first.”
Aidan made no answer but lunged fiercely at Hawick. As he did, his facial expression became first surprised, then pained, then blank as his knees buckled and he toppled forward. Even Hawick stood frozen for a second, then scrambled out of the way as Aidan fell face first in the mud. Dougal’s battle-axe, its blade glinting dully in the firelight, protruded from his back. Looking in the direction from which the weapon must have come, they saw Dougal standing upriver, panting from exertion.
Jeffrey rose, his body tensing, as Dougal looked around him and spotted the knife Aidan had dropped on the ground. He reached it just as Jeffrey did, and the two struggled again on the ground for control of it.
Tessa tried to rise, her mind telling her she must do something, but her knees would not hold her, and she retched water from her burning lungs. She crawled toward the two men wrestling in the firelight, determined to help. Seizing the same branch Jeffrey had used as his weapon, she held it aloft, trying to gauge the moment when she could be sure of hitting only the outlaw and not Jeffrey. It was a mere matter of moments, however, until she heard a strangled sound from Dougal. Jeffrey rose to his feet as the last breath bubbled out of the man’s body.
Jeffrey’s chest heaved as he pulled in great gasps of air. One arm was bloody, but he was alive. He looked carefully both up and down the bank. Hawick was nowhere to be seen. Finally he staggered down to Tessa, who came unsteadily to meet him, arms outstretched.
“Jeffrey! Are you all right?”
“I will mend,” he answered grimly. “And you?”
“I am alive, thanks to Aidan,” she said between gasps. “But Aidan killed Cedric! He is—he was mad.” She was sobbing and talking at once, and Jeffrey held her tightly, feeling her shivering through her wet clothes. Leaving her briefly, he strode to the fireside, found a cloak and a blanket that had belonged to the outlaws, and brought them over, wrapping the blanket around Tessa and pulling the cloak around himself. Finally he replied to her statement.
“I know. Eleanor’s letter planted the suspicion, and I began watching him carefully after my return, looking for proof. I had no idea he was planning to blame all his crimes on me. When the box with Eleanor’s letters came up missing I was alerted, then a friend warned me of my impending arrest and I went into hiding. I didn’t dare to seek him at Brixton for fear of arrest, but I thought I owed it to him to face him with my accusations. Learning Aidan was to be at the Ballard’s tonight, I was determined to make him confess. Then I saw you there, and things became more complicated.”
“Why?”
“Aidan has lied to us both all along. He told me before I was lost at sea that you and he—” Jeffrey let the words trail away.
“He hinted you were having an affair with Eleanor,” Tessa murmured, embarrassed that Aidan had been able to encourage her own jealous suspicions.
“Eleanor and I? No, I loved Eleanor as a sister only, as she deserved. But when I returned to Brixton Manor after seeing you in London, Aidan told me that you and he were to be married. He led me to believe you were in love with him. If that were true, I told myself, I had ruined your life once and shouldn’t do it again.”
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“I never loved Aidan. I tried to tell him that months ago, but he—”
“I know. Aidan was focused on two things in life: becoming Lord of Brixton Manor and having you as his lady. Tonight, after our conversation, I realized you were not in love with my brother. I knew I had to expose his doings, but Aidan had arranged the evidence carefully. Only crimes that could be placed at my door were revealed, and none seemed to have occurred once I went missing. He even cast himself in the role of innocent dupe. Supposedly I had convinced him to let me handle some of William’s affairs, which I turned to my own profit.”
“He admitted tonight that he poisoned William.”
“I wondered,” Jeffrey murmured sadly. “It’s well known I had no love for William’s treatment of me, so some concluded I’d repaid my brother by cheating him. My year at Hawick’s also incriminated me, for who’s to say I was a prisoner if Ian and Mairie say otherwise?”
“I would!” Tessa vowed.
“If your husband would allow you to speak,” Jeffrey reminded her.
“So you came to the masque tonight to face Aidan?”
“Yes, but I ran into some unexpected complications. First, I saw Aidan talking to Mairie and decided they must be plotting something, the three of them. If Mairie was in England, Hawick would not be far away. I didn’t realize they were counting on my coming there so they could frame me for Cedric’s murder as well as other crimes. Mairie recognized me despite the mask, and she lured Cedric to the stables. I didn’t realize how long you’d been gone from the hall until it was too late to stop Aidan from carrying you off. When the crime was discovered, Mairie accused me. You should have heard her tears and screams.”
“She was quite calm when she faced me over Cedric’s corpse,” Tessa commented, shaking her head wonderingly. “What fiends she and her brother are!”
“Because of her story I was taken into custody by Sir Roger and locked in a room.” He smiled grimly. “His wife was ready to have me drawn and quartered at dawn. Then Lady Acton wanted the crime laid at your door. She swore you had paid me to murder her Cedric. Fortunately, Francis—Mary, of course—didn’t believe a word of it.”
“Mary has ever defended you, even from me,” Tessa said with a smile.
“And for that I am grateful to her also.” Jeffrey touched Tessa’s face tenderly. “At any rate, Mary and Francis distrusted Mairie, so they decided to watch the woman once she thought she had accomplished her purpose. Francis saw her hand a note to a churl for delivery to her confederates. He stopped the man and took the note, which revealed enough to prove my innocence. However, once I was freed, Mairie was nowhere to be found. As usual, her instinct for self-preservation was strong.”
“Then how did you find me?”
“The hired messenger was easily persuaded to describe his destination. Francis went for help, but I knew I had to get to you.”
“That was wise on your part. They would have been gone in a short time.”
“I am sorry it was my brother who brought you to this.” Jeffrey said, disbelief still in his voice.
“But he saved my life at the last,” Tessa reminded him.
“He truly loved you. Aidan made a good choice for his last act on earth, even if his earlier choices were deplorable.”
Tessa found herself smiling despite all she had been through. “And a very good choice you made, Lord Brixton, coming to my rescue. I believe that evens the score between us. Once upon a time you ruined my life, but you have redeemed yourself and saved me—more than once.”
Jeffrey put his hands into Tessa’s dripping hair and turned her face up to his. “Mistress macFindlaech, we have a conversation unfinished between us. I could not let our chance to settle things between us be confounded by circumstances, could I?” He kissed her then, with a warmth that made them both forget the cold around them.
“Hallooo!” came from above the bank, and they clung to each other as sounds of Francis and the other rescuers drew closer in the night.