“I always told her so,” Lizzie agreed.

I let them talk. I found a piece of toast to eat and watched them talk about fashion and colours, wondering not for the first time why he’d chosen me and not my beautiful, frivolous sister. I was content, watching, listening, knowing I was home.

Eventually Lizzie realised I wasn’t joining in. “I wish I’d been there last night. To see that ship explode, it must have been thrilling. How was it brought about?”

“Don’t ask me,” I replied shortly. “A coup I wasn’t aware of.”

“Gervase,” Richard purred, a cat with a bowl of cream. “He’s always enjoyed sailing and swimming, and he’s skilled at handling seagoing vessels. He reminded me of the Armada—the way the English sent fireships amongst the huge unwieldy ships of the Spanish, to fire and scatter them. It seemed appropriate, here in the county where he was born, to emulate Drake.” He grinned. “It worked far better than we’d hoped. Gervase took the fireship as close as he dared and then he and his men took to the smaller rowing boat and rowed back further up the coast, where we’d left horses for them. I haven’t seen him yet, he went straight back to Exeter. I plan to go there later today to congratulate him.”

“Where did all these men come from?” asked Lizzie, agog.

“I have my sources,” he said mysteriously, sharing a knowing look with me. “I can put up a fair muster, if I put my mind to it.”

I had a sudden thought. “And those promises you made to Terry—about letting him use the land and barns—?”

Richard frowned. “How do you know about that? Did he taunt you with it?”

“No, we saw it.” I hadn’t told him about that, restricting my earlier account to the abuses the man had inflicted on us, but now I thought about it, it was a further abuse, to let us watch, so close. “There was a peephole in our prison, and he let us watch the negotiations. He thought he would humiliate you, and he wanted us to see. We couldn’t move, our hands were tied and there was a man behind us with a pistol at our heads.”

Richard took a deep breath and let it out again. “I did think of allowing him to capture me, to I find out where he was holding you, but my plans weren’t complete, and I decided against it.”

“We felt helpless,” I confessed, “just being able to watch, but he didn’t have it all his own way, did he?”

“Not at all. The promises we made were worthless, since I had no intention of allowing the cargo to reach the shore, much less the storerooms he planned to use.”

Lizzie laughed. “When I first met you, I thought you were the complete man of fashion. I didn’t think you knew any other world.”

Richard’s long fingers curled round the arm of his chair. “Many people make that mistake. It can be useful. I find it inadvisable to tell people more than they need to know.” Looking across at me he caught me holding my hand in front of a yawn.

“We must go now. I need you perfectly restored to health by Thursday.” He stood and came across to me, taking my hands in his. “I’ll go and see my brother and my parents in Exeter later today. But I’m not going there again until Wednesday night. I won’t leave you now.” I was so glad. “When you and Tom were taken we put it about you had both been taken ill. A severe chill, we said, so no one will think it odd if you’re not at home to visitors for a few more days.” He kissed my hands and dropped them, leaving the room on my smile.

Lizzie stayed to help me back to bed. “I don’t know how it is,” I confessed, “but I feel tired again.”

“Have your sleep out,” my sister advised me. “Take your time. As Strang said, you’re not at home to visitors for a while.”

“Are there many visitors?” I asked.

Lizzie pulled the covers back over me before she answered. “I should say. The world and his wife are beating a path to our door. They all want to see you of course, but they seem to be making do with me.” She dimpled prettily, and I smiled sleepily up at her, knowing she loved it all. She bent to kiss my cheek. “So you’re not to worry. I’m holding the fort.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

I kept to my room until the Sunday, when I attended church. I was relieved to see Tom there, but Richard kept me close, and there were so many people surrounding us afterwards I had no chance of a quiet word with my old friend.

Richard had made his plans, and he told me some of them as we rode towards Penfold Hall on Monday, with only Carier for company. This was in the nature of a quiet ride in the countryside, as far as Martha was concerned, to let me get some fresh air.

Mrs. Terry and her daughter were still in Exeter, living the high life, so Terry would be alone with the servants. I described the room where we’d been kept, where it was and how to get into it, and Richard listened attentively, making sure Carier could hear. “We’ll make sure there’s no one left there.” Carier nodded in agreement. We wanted no witnesses.

We were all armed. A pistol weighed down