The Stuart Sapphire Read online

  ‘Dear Mr Eildor, I saw the carriage approaching from my window over there and so I decided to welcome you.’

  ‘Please get up, Highness,’ said Tam shortly in no mood, after all he had been through, to humour this tiresome girl.

  She lay back against the pillows. ‘We will not be disturbed. My governess is having her afternoon rest. Be assured, I left her fast asleep. She will not rise until four—’

  Tam interrupted this assurance with an impatient gesture. ‘You cannot stay here. Please go, Highness.’

  Instead she snuggled down into the bed. ‘No one will disturb us,’ she repeated softly. ‘I have waited so long for such an opportunity. Why cannot I stay—’

  ‘You cannot stay because I say so and because, in case you have forgotten, you are the Prince Regent’s daughter.’

  She laughed a little coarsely. ‘Oh that! He has a different woman in his bed every night of the week, no one even notices. It is the general rule.’

  Tam was not prepared to argue that point, in terror that a knock on the door would herald Townsend’s return and such a scene as he would witness would give any man, even one with a less suspicious nature than the Bow Street officer, all the wrong impressions.

  He regarded her grimly. ‘It is not my general rule, Highness. Besides you are just a child.’

  That made her sit up indignantly. ‘I – am – not – not – a child. See for yourself,’ she added angrily tearing down the bodice of her gown.

  Averting his eyes hastily from plump breasts, he realised to his horror that she was wearing only a nightgown. At two o’clock in the afternoon – was it also the custom in the Pavilion to disrobe for the afternoon rest?

  ‘I am a woman,’ she repeated, as if some doubt might still remain in his mind.

  ‘I can see that,’ he said coldly. ‘Now cover yourself up in case you catch a cold.’

  ‘Do you not find me attractive?’ she pleaded.

  To be candid, Tam did not. Not in the least; a lumpish young woman with plump feet and hands and a stout bosom had never been to his taste. Less than ever since he had the vision of Gemma Creeve’s slender frame firmly imprinted in his mind.

  ‘You’ll do well enough when the right man comes along,’ he said.

  ‘I won’t – I won’t!’ Had her feet been on the ground she would have stamped them indignantly.

  Conscious that he was on the road to nowhere and that he must get rid of her as soon as possible, Tam decided to humour her. He sat on the very edge of the bed as far away from her as possible.

  ‘Now listen to me,’ he said sternly. ‘You have to marry, you know that.’

  ‘I hate marriage, I won’t – won’t be like my mother and father – I will have lovers instead, that I can quickly dispose of when I get tired of them.’

  ‘As you would tire of me,’ Tam said softly.

  She shook her head vigorously. ‘I would never tire of you. I would want to keep you with me forever.’

  ‘You are very kind, Highness, and I will be honoured to be your friend.’

  ‘Even when I am Queen.’

  ‘Even when you are Queen.’

  Tam got up and said: ‘That’s settled then. Now will you please go back to your own rooms, before your governess wakens and sounds the alarm.’

  She looked at him doubtfully. ‘Promise me you’ll be my friend.’

  ‘I have said so.’

  She slipped out of bed and, as she did so, Tam observed a uniform jacket hanging on the back of the door. It had not been there before.

  He looked at Charlotte, suddenly realising that she could never have found access to the guest apartments from the Pavilion wearing only what he now saw was a flimsy nightgown. She must have worn the long jacket as a hopeful piece of anonymity.

  As he helped her into it, keeping as much distance between them as was physically possible, there was a sharp reminder – a very significant fact from the night of the marchioness’s murder.

  A piece of valuable information stored away at the back of his mind.

  ‘How did you manage to escape from Lady de Clifford?’ he asked.

  ‘I told you, she was asleep.’

  ‘I don’t mean now, Highness. I mean the last time you wore that coat.’

  ‘I just borrowed it,’ she said carelessly. ‘It is quite inconspicuous, there are so many guards about the Pavilion that no one ever gives them a second glance. Especially as I’m tall enough. I can wander about and it’s the perfect disguise, isn’t it?’

  ‘Highness, I am not referring to this afternoon and your visit to me, I am talking about the night that the Stuart Sapphire disappeared from your royal father’s bedroom. The night I was rescued from the shipwreck.’

  Aware too late of the trap he had set for her, she stammered: ‘I – I don’t – know – know what you are talking about, Mr Eildor,’ but her heightened colour gave away the lie.

  ‘I think you do. As a matter of fact, you were seen by the duty guards.’

  ‘Oh, no!’ she squealed. ‘They didn’t tell – him – did they?’

  ‘No, they told me, when I was asking if they knew anything about its disappearance.’

  Looking alarmed now, she asked anxiously: ‘What did they say?’

  ‘Only that a guard rather casually dressed in uniform was inspecting some problem to do with the prince’s apartments.’

  ‘But they didn’t recognise me!’ she laughed. ‘What a relief!’

  ‘You are aware, Highness,’ Tam said sternly, ‘that the missing sapphire we are talking about is the reason Mr Townsend is here from London?’

  ‘Oh is it really?’ she said casually. ‘I had no idea – no one told me. He comes quite a lot to see my father.’

  ‘Well, this time he is here searching for the sapphire, all over Brighton, and I have had to accompany him.’

  She giggled, put a hand to her mouth. Then seriously, as she realised what this conversation implied, she said defensively:

  ‘It is mine, you know. Father promised to give it to me, so that I could wear it when I reviewed his Dragoons. Then when that – that – odious woman started coming to dinner, he broke his promise. She was there displaying it proudly on her huge bosom – the cheek of her. She was awfully rude to me, never gave me the respect due to a royal princess, just treated me like a silly child. She was wearing it that night—’ She stopped.

  ‘Go on,’ said Tam.

  She shrugged. ‘I guessed she would be sleeping in – his – bedroom. When I left them all watching the shipwreck, I knew my father would be there for ages. I came back, put on one of the uniform jackets from the guard room and slipped along the corridor to his bedroom. I muttered something about light sconces being checked. Wasn’t that clever of me?’

  ‘Very clever,’ said Tam as was expected of him. ‘Do go on.’

  ‘I opened the door and the bed curtains were drawn, I hoped she was still asleep but I heard creakings and sounds like deep breathing. I could smell her awful perfume too. But the jewels were on the little table by the window and there was enough daylight to see my sapphire. I snatched it up and went quietly out. Back the way I came. The guards were playing cards – they never even noticed me leave—’

  But Lord Percy heard you, Tam remembered grimly. And that interrupted lovemaking behind the bed curtains cost Lady Sarah Creeve her life.

  ‘I am glad she’ll never be coming back,’ Charlotte continued. ‘In fact I wasn’t sorry at all to hear that she had been killed going back home to Creeve. She deserved it. She was greedy and horrible.’

  ‘Where is the sapphire now?’

  She gave him a sly look and said softly: ‘What will you give me, if I tell you?’

  ‘I won’t give you anything, since it is not my property and you had better give it back to your father. He is quite distraught at its disappearance, you know. I gather it is part of the Coronation Crown—’

  Momentarily sulky, she shrugged then suddenly brightened. ‘If I tell you where it is,
will you give me a kiss?’

  ‘I might,’ said Tam warily. ‘One kiss.’

  She came close, leaned against him, closed her eyes and opened her lips. As he gently covered them with his own, she seized him tightly, forcing his lips apart.

  Struggling free, resisting the desire to wipe his hand across his mouth, he took her face in his hands and gently pushed her away.

  ‘One kiss, I said, Highness. Not my face washed.’

  She sighed, clinging to him again. ‘But I love you – I love you.’

  ‘I know you think you do, but you must understand, I shall be leaving here, probably tomorrow—’

  ‘No – not so soon – please,’ she begged.

  ‘Yes, Highness, and so you must not waste your love on me. You will find a fine prince worthy of you someday.’

  Shaking her head, she looked ready for floods of tears. ‘No – never.’

  There were sounds in the corridor outside and Tam froze. ‘You must go.’

  ‘Please – when you leave – take me with you.’

  The footsteps had receded and Tam took her firmly by the arms. ‘Highness, you are one day to be Queen of England. I am a nobody—’

  ‘You are an Edinburgh lawyer.’

  Tam shook his head. ‘For what it’s worth, I am a commoner. You know nothing about me. So please be sensible. Even if we were in love with each other, it could never be.’

  ‘What about my father and Mrs Fitzherbert?’ she demanded.

  ‘Yes, that should be a lesson to you. How difficult your people would make such an arrangement to say nothing of parliament.’

  ‘I would risk it – I would risk anything if you loved me!’

  ‘Maybe you would, but I’m not ready to risk being hung, drawn and quartered.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘Highness – you must go – now. Remember you made a promise, one kiss and you would show me where you hid the sapphire.’

  She pouted her lips. ‘Another kiss, and I’ll show you.’

  ‘Very well.’ He kissed her gently, listening for those footsteps returning.

  He had to humour her, so near now to finding the hiding place of the sapphire, but what would it be like if her governess had missed her and she was found here alone with him in his room, wearing only a nightgown?

  Sure that men had been incarcerated in the dungeons of the Tower of London and forgotten for the rest of their lives for less, he found himself sweating as she tried once again to make the kiss linger, pressing herself against him.

  As a last resort, he pretended to be seized by a fit of coughing. Forced to release him, he breathed again and said: ‘Highness, the sapphire, if you please, where is it?’

  She put her hand deep in the pocket of her jacket. ‘Here it is, isn’t it lovely?’ she said cheerfully. ‘I carry it with me everywhere.’

  ‘May I see it?’

  Tam took it from her. A dark blue stone, no larger than a miniature or a lady’s locket.

  ‘You have no idea the trouble this has caused,’ he said. ‘The weary hours Mr Townsend and I have spent – days at your royal father’s command searching every jeweller’s shop, every thieves’ kitchen the length and breadth of Brighton searching for it. You have been very naughty, Highness.’

  She shrugged. ‘I had no idea. I am sorry.’

  He believed her. It was hardly surprising that her father had not told her that it was missing with so many other things on his mind. His mistress murdered in his bed and how to get rid of her body so that he would not be involved.

  ‘He never talks to me, you know,’ she said sadly. ‘Avoids me whenever he can and, if he has anything worth saying, he gives it to messengers or Lady de Clifford to deliver.’

  Tam’s annoyance evaporated in sudden compassion for her loneliness and rejection. The reason she stole the sapphire was that she could not ask as any adored daughter would, knowing it could be wheedled out of a doting father.

  ‘Will you do something for me?’ he asked.

  ‘Anything,’ she said hopefully. ‘Anything.’

  ‘Do you want to get into your father’s favour again – have him think you are a wonderful, clever girl that he is proud of?’ he added, realising he was asking a great deal from the little he knew of the Prince Regent.

  ‘Do you really think he could feel like that?’ She sounded hopeful, although she could never love her father. Too late for that, but it was interesting to consider the possibilities of what might be in this for her.

  ‘As I told you he has been distraught at the sapphire’s loss and if anyone – particularly yourself – were to – find – it, then he would be so grateful I am sure he would grant you anything you wish.’

  ‘Let me keep it, you mean?’ she said eagerly.

  ‘As it will be yours one day to wear in the Coronation Crown, I am sure he will let you look after it until it is needed officially.’

  She frowned and gave a little shiver. ‘But he will be furious if I confess that I took it,’ she said nervously.

  ‘I realise that. I think you should – perhaps find it – somewhere. In the garden or even better maybe in the bedroom he is having refurbished, in a crack in the floorboards perhaps. If he thinks it has been there all the time, he will be too relieved to be angry even though it might have been the first place he looked.’

  She brightened. ‘I am so sorry,’ she repeated. ‘I don’t care about Townsend, don’t like him much. He is not important. But I do apologise for all the trouble I have put you through, searching the town for it.’ And standing on tiptoe, she kissed his cheek.

  Closing the door on her, he felt no great satisfaction that the mystery of the Stuart Sapphire was solved.

  Only deep despair. Charlotte would be the most surprised girl in the whole world to know that she had been indirectly the cause of two deaths. Her theft of the sapphire had set in motion a train of events that had ended in Percy’s death.

  And had she not been in the prince’s bedroom that night and interrupted Percy’s inept lovemaking, Lady Sarah Creeve would still be alive.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Going over to the window Tam saw Lady Gemma walking past. She was alone and he rapped furiously on the pane to alert her attention.

  Turning briefly, she nodded and, although he mouthed ‘Wait!’ she hurried on. Exasperated, Tam rushed out of the front door and across the garden almost knocking over Townsend walking towards the entrance to the Pavilion, in deep conversation with a stranger.

  Hastily apologising, he noted that Townsend’s companion was the man he had seen briefly on the steps as he was leaving Creeve House. It must be very important business and a fast horse that had brought him so swiftly to Brighton, Tam decided, as he rushed on in his headlong pursuit of Gemma.

  He had to talk to her and he no longer cared who saw them together. Now that the Stuart Sapphire had been found and the marchioness’s death solved, he was well aware that his own death knell had sounded.

  He was expendable. Beneath the genteel splendour of the Pavilion, the executioner’s pistol was poised in readiness.

  Gemma was walking swiftly but he caught up with her and instead of slowing down she merely acknowledged his presence with an angry glance. ‘Your visitor has left, has she?’

  Tam stared at her, shook his head. How did she know about the princess?

  He was not long kept in doubt.

  ‘Henry took me to meet his father. It was very brief. I cannot say that HRH was very impressed. He was polite but he indicated that he wished to speak to Henry alone. I was dismissed. Henry was so embarrassed I decided that instead of waiting around in the corridors with various courtiers seeking an audience, I would come in search of you.’

  Tam smiled at her. ‘I am so glad you did.’

  There was no answer to that smile. ‘Outside your door, I heard voices, one of them was young and female. So I decided not to wait, that you might be some time and put out by my unwanted presence. Now if you will excuse me,’ she ad
ded coldly.

  Keeping pace with her, he put a restraining hand on her arm. ‘No, I won’t excuse you. Gemma, please – please listen!’

  Even as he said the words, he thought, what reason has she to be angry anyway? She is going to marry Lord Henry.

  They had reached one of the shaded arbours with a secluded seat. The gardens were almost deserted on a dull afternoon, with a chill breeze off the sea. ‘Let us sit down – for just a moment,’ he pleaded.

  She didn’t refuse and sounding mollified, said: ‘What is it all about, Tam?’

  ‘You might well ask. I am being pursued – relentlessly.’

  She bristled at that. ‘Not by me – I assure you,’ she said hotly.

  ‘Would that it were, Gemma,’ his smile was tender. ‘Now will you please listen. Princess Charlotte has got it into her silly young head that she is in love with me. When I got to my room, looking forward, I might add, to being on my own for a while, a little peace and quiet, there she was, waiting for me. It seems that I cannot escape—’

  ‘How sad for you,’ she said mockingly and rose to her feet. ‘Do not let me detain you a minute longer. I cannot compete with a royal princess.’

  He stood up, took hold of her arms and throwing caution to the winds, he whispered: ‘Just say that again. Do you want to compete?’

  She blushed, looking almost tearfully into those strange luminous eyes gazing down into hers. ‘Of course not, Tam,’ she said hastily. ‘A mere slip of the tongue. I thought – I just thought that we were – friends,’ she added lamely knowing that this was the thinnest of excuses.

  ‘We are friends and you are going to marry Lord Henry,’ he said firmly.

  ‘Am I? Then you know more than I do. I would point out that I have not accepted his proposal yet. I still have to make up my mind.’

  ‘Then what are you doing here in Brighton at the Pavilion as the prince’s guest?’

  ‘It was an excuse, any excuse, I am afraid, to get away from Creeve, I mean.’

  ‘Is that the truth?’

  She looked up at him again, shook her head. ‘No, it is not, Tam Eildor, only part of it. I wanted to see you again. It was the perfect opportunity. I might never have another. I knew that,’ she said sadly.