Still in London...


Chapter fifty two: London encounters


London. Friday the eleventh September.


"You can't be serious…"

d'Arcy hid a smile and looked at his wife with his best innocent look.

"Of course, I am! It's time for me to crouch out of this bed. I have a lot of preparations to do and a bed is really not the best place to do them…"

Jane looked toward the heavens.

Men were clearly not reasonable creatures. She had long thought that her father was an exception and that he was an uncommonly unreasonable patient when ill.

But clearly that husband of hers was even more prone to forget his health to go on with what he believed his normal activities.

"You almost died…"

"I clearly survived and I'm able to stand on my feet…"

"With the help of two of your guards!"

He shook his head.

"Indeed and where's the problem, dear? I'll work even if you force me to stay in bed. I have too much to do before…" He stopped and bit his lower lips. He had said nothing but she knew that some very important decision had be made and that he had still to confess it to her.

Jane shot him a dark look.

"Well even if you have an enormous workload to handle, you're still way too injured to do them all by yourself. You're still not definitely saved…"

He grasped her hand and pulled her against him.

She was reluctant but he was able to kiss her and soon she found herself cradled in his arms.

"My love, I'm not a reasonable man! I have done lots of foolish things in my life and standing up too early after an injury is not a first in said life." He sighed and showed her the scar on his left arm. It was a recent scar and it was already almost invisible. "And you can't say that I'm not healing well. Never before had I scarred so smoothly and you said yourself that my injuries in my back are even better…"

She sighed and shook her head.

"I should have lied! Perhaps then…"

He chuckled and kissed her lightly on her lips.

"You're unable to lie efficiently, dear, you know that! You're the only woman I ever encountered who blushes immediately when she is even thinking of lying!" He laughed at her frustration. "And I'm the happiest man in the world to have been able to secure such a marvelous jewel!" He took her chin in his hand and forced her to look at him. "But you must know now that I'm not an easy partner. I'm strong minded and secretive. And more than everything I'm a reckless worker. I ask a lot of the people who serve me and I feel it my obligation to show them that I do even more than what I ask of them…"

He smiled at her.

"And judging by the time you slipped into the bed last night you're beginning to act quite the same!"

He saw a smile blossom on her lips.

"Indeed I had a lot to do but it was also in the hope to find you soundly asleep…"

"I was not!"

"Your actions left no doubt in my mind."

"I was very reasonable last night," insisted he. "I had much more on my mind but I repressed myself in an awful and unusual way!"

It was her turn to chuckle.

"Poor dear! If I remember well it was me who stopped your more direct attempts…"

"Not true, I…"


It was difficult.

His back and every other part of his body were hurting. In the case of his back, badly hurting!

And even if he knew how to endure, the fact that he could find no position where he would be without hurt was a difficult endeavor.

He was not sitting at his desk more than ten minutes that he regretted not having listened to his wife.

Clearly it was too soon!

But with their departure within a fortnight had he really a choice?

A smile came on his lips.

And with a little bit of luck, if he stood fast his working day, would he be able to convince his marvelous wife to be even more tender with him next night?

My, my, aren't we horny these last days, monsieur d'Arcy? Who could believe that you are the same man who could be without female company for months?

A knock on the door forced him to come back to his workload.

"Yes! Come in Géraud!"

Duroc was at his side the following second.

"You're not reasonable, boss. We could have continued to work in the same manner as yesterday. It must hurt hellishly!"

d'Arcy nodded.

"It does but please don't give me away to Jane. If she knew how much I'm hurting she would be all over me and I'd be back in bed within five minutes."

"Which would be the reasonable thing to do!"

D'Arcy chuckled and it did nothing to soothe his hurting back.

"Since when are we reasonable beings, Géraud? Were we reasonable beings I would be dead for years, executed by an angry mob and you would be in the cotton trade as was your father, boring yourself slowly to death…" He shook his head. "We are unreasonable and that's it!"

He exhaled lengthily.

"Let's go to work…" He looked at the clock. "You're early. What's the problem?"

"A guest from Paris with a very special introduction letter from the Big Boss is waiting outside and, if I'm still able to judge people, he won't take 'no' as an acceptable answer."

d'Arcy looked at his friend with a surprised mien.

"And since when do we take such things into account?"

"Since said guest is a special envoy of the government of the United States of America?"

That stopped d'Arcy. Indeed that was an important point! And the fact that this envoy had been in Paris previously only showed that said envoy had taken every possible precaution to get an audience.

He would have no choice but to speak with this American ambassador.

"What's his name?"

"Livingston," answered Duroc. "And he is no second choice. Big game in his country, he held the office of secretary of foreign affairs for the United States a few years ago. They didn't send as Mr. Nobody…"

d'Arcy nodded and looked at the door.

"Let's listen what the United States of America have to propose, Géraud." He smiled at the big burly general. "Please stay. It will help to feel your towering presence at my back…"

A light rasp on the door stopped his speech. There was no doubt in who wanted to see him.


Robert R. Livingston was not a happy man.

He had been drafted into this mission and when he arrived to France he had had the surprise to learn that while he was sailing across the ocean France had successfully invaded and occupied Great Britain.

Never ever would he have believed that the world's first sea power could be invaded by sea.

And now he was facing a very difficult problem: how to influence France when it was clear that nobody in the world had the means to stop its armies?

Armies who where, just now, being prepped to embark to the western continent!

Not only had he lost an important bargaining chip but with seventy thousand men ready to embark to America he could not not fear for his country's freedom.

This d'Arcy had no need for such an army just to pacify the land. George Washington had done it with a few hundred volunteers.

No there could be only one reason for the presence of such an army: France was not only decided to take back what was its property a century ago but it was, at least, searching to dominate what was still free of the American continent.

And, if the situation should worsen in the future, with seventy thousand experienced veterans d'Arcy would have no problem to overwhelm the armies of the United States.

Livingston forced himself to calm down.

He had done his homework perfectly. He knew everything about Napoleon Buonaparte and half the prominent citizens of France but he knew just nothing about this d'Arcy. He and Napoleon came back together from Syria and since then d'Arcy had not once been seen on the French political scene.

Until his invasion and occupation of Great Britain!

Livingston, under his calm outside was boiling.

How could he get to a man he knew nothing of? He had prepared his every move in order to discuss and seduce Napoleon. He knew exactly what he needed to do to get the First Consul attention and sympathy.

But said First Consul was no longer his interlocutor.

"It's d'Arcy's job now" had he said to the new US envoy. "He's responsible with everything abroad and not European. You should found him in London. I'll back all his decisions, you can negotiate with him to your heart's content. He's the man in charge…"

And so it had happened that the best prepared diplomatic mission ever had just fallen into a nightmare of unprepared improvisations.

He was, for the thousands time, resisting the urge to look at his clock when a pair of young women came into the anteroom where he was waiting.

These he recognized immediately.

Not because his underlings had, for once, shown efficiency but because the pictures of the blond one were everywhere from Paris to London. And the brown haired beauty at her side could only be her sister and probable next queen consort of Wales.

He stood up and bowed.

They both curtsied elegantly and responded to his smile with smiles of their own.

"Robert Livingston, American envoy for France, at your service Ladies."

"Mrs. d'Arcy," answered the fair one while her sister said the same with just a more British spelling.

"Don't worry, Mr. Livingston, we won't be long. Just a question to ask to my husband and he will be all yours…"

"I'm sure that having seen you his temper will be much better and it will be much easier for me to state my affairs."

She blushed nicely under the compliment but her eyes looked at him with what could only be seen as distrust.

He kicked himself in the back for his blunder.

He jumped to save the situation. She was renowned for her good heart; he had perhaps a chance to play on that…

"You can't reproach a diplomat to be too smooth, Mrs. d'Arcy. I'm here because I fear for my country's safety and having you as an ally of my people would be a great advantage."

She nodded but he recognized that she was still on the defensive.

"You have no reason to fear for your people, Sir. For all I know we don't go to America to invade you, just to secure what's France's property."

He forced his smile to stay friendly.

This was not going well. He would have to be frank with her. Everything else would work against him.

"France doesn't need seventy thousand men to secure its property, madam. A fifth of said force would be enough. As a representative of the United States of America I must wonder why your husband is about to bring so great a force in our backyard."

She frowned.

"I always believed that France and the United States were friends and allies…"

He sighed.

"Friendship between Nations is a fickle thing, Mrs. d'Arcy. And alliances had been known to adapt to new realities. And the world's new reality is France's overbearing dominance. We've seen how easily your husband overwhelmed the British troops. It is only natural for us to fear that his victory has convinced him that nobody could oppose him…"

Jane d'Arcy looked him in the eyes.

"You're right to have such fears, Sir. As I see it, nobody is able to oppose him!" Her eyes were not in accordance with the smile she shot in his direction. "I'm the living proof of his multiple talents in overcoming oppositions. But, as I said, as of now, your country fears nothing! I'm sure Geoffrey will be able to convince you of that fact very easily."

She curtsied once more and walked to the door opening probably on d'Arcy's office.

"If you'll excuse us, Sir, just one question and you'll have my husband all to yourself."


"Yes," answered d'Arcy with a smile. "But only if you take Maureen with you. And don't forget if she shouts 'down' you're are on the ground without thinking about anything else. Filthy clothes are replaceable. A brained wife is not!"

"Nobody will shoot at us," said Elizabeth. "We are only…"

"Family," interrupted d'Arcy. "And to get at me or at Fitzwilliam the recent past had shown that you are the best tools. Not counting madmen and would-be liberators, people like your husband and me are always surrounded with enemies. And most of these enemies are rather lousy bastards who won't hesitate to strike at us by using our loved ones. So even if I do believe you're right, don't let yourself be too confident and follow Maureen's orders. I want you both back alive, is that understood?"

They both nodded and, after Jane kissed him, both disappeared through the door.

Duroc did not smile.

"You shouldn't let them take those risks," said he.

d'Arcy shrugged and immediately grimaced.

"I can't stop them being what they are. Marrying into my family is enough of a problem. I won't force them to live a life of restrictions and controlled freedom. I need Jane to be…" He smiled. "Jane! If I restrict her too much she will wither or become restless. I have all confidence in Maureen when it comes to protect them." He chuckled. "Who would have believed that my lovely little Irish volcano would care for the woman who took her place in my bed?"

"She's a kind person. Even Maureen has recognized it."

d'Arcy nooded.

"That she is," said he before looking at his general. "And speaking about kind persons; what's about your daughter?"

"She should be en route now," said Duroc. "I hope to hold her against my heart this afternoon or this evening. I ordered one of our light patrol boat to get them." He smiled at his boss. "Thanks for allowing it."

d'Arcy winked at him.

"What use would it be to be Master of all that power if not to use and abuse it? And Lebrun had a lot of letters to send. It was only a matter of 'joindre l'utile à l'agréable', my friend."d'Arcy flinched and stopped Duroc with an imperative gesture.

"Don't even try! I'm here because I chose to play the grown not hurting husband. Now I'll have to go through this day without any help."

He sighed.

"Because if I show her that she was right, I'm locked in bed for the next two weeks." He looked his friend in the eye. "And we clearly cannot afford to lose more time, can we?"

It was Duroc's turn to sigh.

"You're an impossible man, boss!"

"Be happy than that you didn't marry me!"

d'Arcy laughed –shortly– and pointed a finger toward the door.

"Let's see that envoy, general. I'm even more interested than a few minutes ago in what the United States have to propose to France…"