The Mask Revealed (The Jacobite Chronicles Book 2) by Julia Brannan
Authors: Julia Brannan
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stopping ye from travelling. If you want to go travelling, that’s fine by me. I’m giving ye your freedom.”
“Good,” Beth replied. “So where are we going first?”
“ I, ” said Alex, with great emphasis on the singular pronoun, “am going to Calais, and then to Rome as quickly as possible. You can go wherever you wish, but no’ with me.”
“But why not?” Beth asked. “Surely I’d be safer travelling in company with my husband than alone? I believe Europe can be very dangerous.”
“I certainly wouldna advise ye to go alone. But I’m sure you can find other people who’d be willing to go with you. Isabella for one, or Clarissa, perhaps.”
Beth shot him a withering look.
“I hardly think I’m likely to get the adventure you promised me, or to meet intelligent and interesting people, as you also promised, if Clarissa and Isabella accompany me,” she said scathingly. “I assume you’re off to Rome to meet King James. Well, now I know which king you were referring to, I do want to meet him. And I can’t do that with Isabella or Clarissa. No, I’m coming with you.” She sat back, her face determined.
Alex held on to his temper with difficulty. He should have foreseen this, knowing how spirited she was. But he had thought her first wish on discovering who he was would be to get as far away from him as possible. For his peace of mind, he needed her as far away from him as possible.
“Beth,” he said, slowly and reasonably. “I married ye to free ye from danger. From the danger of being forced into a marriage against your will by your brother. From the danger of his violence if you refused to do as he wished. If I agree to you coming with me, I will be putting you in greater danger than you could ever be from your family, d’ye no’ understand that? If we separate now, and I am later caught or betrayed, ye can claim that ye had no idea I was anyone other than Sir Anthony Peters, court fop extraordinaire. It would be a whole different matter if we were to stay together. No one would then believe you were innocent. I can trust you to act the part of surprised estranged wife, to ensure your own safety. It’s a completely different thing to act a part day in and day out, aware all the time that one wrong move could betray ye. Now do you see why it’s impossible for you to come with me? Ye’d endanger not only yourself, but me as well.”
“You’re not giving me a chance,” she replied hotly. “I’ve been acting a part for the last eight months.”
“Aye, and look how many mistakes ye’ve made in that time,” he responded, his voice rising a little. “The rosary, the outburst at the table, to say nothing of telling your brother your intention to declare for the Pretender and kill George. If your family and their friends were no’ so arrogant as to believe it impossible that anyone of their acquaintance could favour the Stuarts, they’d have known ye for a Jacobite long since!”
“That was different. I’ve changed since then,” she said, leaning forward in her seat.
“In what way? Your circumstances have changed, that’s all.”
“You’re wrong,” she said. “Yesterday I had nothing to live for. I was living a life I hated, with no prospect of it ever ending. I had no true friends here, no one who cared for me as I really am. I couldn’t care less whether I was found out for a Jacobite or not. More than once I’ve contemplated taking my own life, especially because I knew if I did, my brother would not get my dowry. I married you because I hoped that you were kind, that at some point you would allow me to retire from society, to return to Manchester and free my servants from their dependence on Richard.”
He looked at her incredulously.
“Well, what’s the problem, then? I am kind, and I am allowing you to retire from society.”
“Yes, but I now know that you married me not to get your hands on my dowry, or my body for that matter, but purely because you
“Good,” Beth replied. “So where are we going first?”
“ I, ” said Alex, with great emphasis on the singular pronoun, “am going to Calais, and then to Rome as quickly as possible. You can go wherever you wish, but no’ with me.”
“But why not?” Beth asked. “Surely I’d be safer travelling in company with my husband than alone? I believe Europe can be very dangerous.”
“I certainly wouldna advise ye to go alone. But I’m sure you can find other people who’d be willing to go with you. Isabella for one, or Clarissa, perhaps.”
Beth shot him a withering look.
“I hardly think I’m likely to get the adventure you promised me, or to meet intelligent and interesting people, as you also promised, if Clarissa and Isabella accompany me,” she said scathingly. “I assume you’re off to Rome to meet King James. Well, now I know which king you were referring to, I do want to meet him. And I can’t do that with Isabella or Clarissa. No, I’m coming with you.” She sat back, her face determined.
Alex held on to his temper with difficulty. He should have foreseen this, knowing how spirited she was. But he had thought her first wish on discovering who he was would be to get as far away from him as possible. For his peace of mind, he needed her as far away from him as possible.
“Beth,” he said, slowly and reasonably. “I married ye to free ye from danger. From the danger of being forced into a marriage against your will by your brother. From the danger of his violence if you refused to do as he wished. If I agree to you coming with me, I will be putting you in greater danger than you could ever be from your family, d’ye no’ understand that? If we separate now, and I am later caught or betrayed, ye can claim that ye had no idea I was anyone other than Sir Anthony Peters, court fop extraordinaire. It would be a whole different matter if we were to stay together. No one would then believe you were innocent. I can trust you to act the part of surprised estranged wife, to ensure your own safety. It’s a completely different thing to act a part day in and day out, aware all the time that one wrong move could betray ye. Now do you see why it’s impossible for you to come with me? Ye’d endanger not only yourself, but me as well.”
“You’re not giving me a chance,” she replied hotly. “I’ve been acting a part for the last eight months.”
“Aye, and look how many mistakes ye’ve made in that time,” he responded, his voice rising a little. “The rosary, the outburst at the table, to say nothing of telling your brother your intention to declare for the Pretender and kill George. If your family and their friends were no’ so arrogant as to believe it impossible that anyone of their acquaintance could favour the Stuarts, they’d have known ye for a Jacobite long since!”
“That was different. I’ve changed since then,” she said, leaning forward in her seat.
“In what way? Your circumstances have changed, that’s all.”
“You’re wrong,” she said. “Yesterday I had nothing to live for. I was living a life I hated, with no prospect of it ever ending. I had no true friends here, no one who cared for me as I really am. I couldn’t care less whether I was found out for a Jacobite or not. More than once I’ve contemplated taking my own life, especially because I knew if I did, my brother would not get my dowry. I married you because I hoped that you were kind, that at some point you would allow me to retire from society, to return to Manchester and free my servants from their dependence on Richard.”
He looked at her incredulously.
“Well, what’s the problem, then? I am kind, and I am allowing you to retire from society.”
“Yes, but I now know that you married me not to get your hands on my dowry, or my body for that matter, but purely because you
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