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‘About Bryant?’
‘About anything,’ she whispered. ‘Anything at all’.
He was quiet for a few moments as they stumbled along. Somewhere in the woods an owl hooted. She jumped and his arm tightened around her.
‘I’m sorry,’ she muttered.
‘Sorry?’ Somehow they had come to a stop. ‘Maybe I’m the one who should apologise. My blood is ruining your gown and cloak’.
‘Do you think I care? Please, keep going…’.
His arm was heavy and warm on her shoulder. ‘You’ve already had one gown ruined tonight. Do you usually get through them at such a rate?’
She caught her breath. Those buttons. That scandalous silk chemise. She wanted to laugh, she wanted to cry; she wanted to nestle into the warmth of him and cherish him and never, ever let him go.
‘It’s all part of the excitement of country living,’ she said crisply. ‘We run up such a bill at our dressmakers in Chichester, you really cannot imagine. Lucas. Please hurry, it’s not far now…’.
Trudging and slipping lopsidedly, they’d almost reached the lawns—only a few hundred yards to go.
‘I’d like to buy you a new gown,’ he muttered as the night-time fragrance of the rose gardens enveloped them. ‘A new gown, in pink, or jade, or lilac, for my amber-eyed girl. You wore lilac at that harvest dance but your skin was scented with lavender. Oh, God’. He stopped suddenly. ‘I’ve missed you, Verena’.
He was wandering. He must be. Her heart was thumping. ‘Lucas,’ she begged, ‘you must stop talking. You must concentrate on getting back to the house. Please…’.
But he didn’t move. His grey eyes, suddenly molten with flecks of gold, burned down into her anxious face. Then he lifted his left hand and let his fingertips trail down her cheek. His touch was like a flame searing through her.
‘I’d rather concentrate on something else,’ he murmured, his fingertips still stroking her skin in that wicked caress. ‘And this time, you will not push me away’. Then everything faded, as he pulled her close with his sound arm and captured her mouth in a kiss that jolted the breath from her body. A whimper of protest rose, then died in her throat.
For in spite of her fear and exhaustion, there was suddenly nothing else but Lucas. Nothing but the strength of his powerful body against hers; the taste of his warm, silken mouth as he brushed his lips over her lips and coaxed them apart; nothing but her own wildly instinctive response to the sensual thrust of his tongue and all that it promised.
It could not be happening, it should not be happening, but somehow she’d wound her own hands round his neck and arched her body into his. And with a groan he was drawing her nearer, his thighs pressed against hers, as he kissed her more deeply, his tongue twining with hers. Verena felt the need spiralling from deep within as she opened to him, revelled in his hard maleness, wanting more, needing more as he withdrew, only to feel his lips trailing down to her throat, to the swell of her bosom where her cloak had fallen apart….
She dragged herself away. ‘No. Are you out of your senses?’
‘Not for what I just did,’ he answered quietly. ‘But I was mad to ever let you go’.
A sudden wave of despair all but overwhelmed her. ‘Lucas’. She struggled to make her voice steady. ‘Lucas, you did not let me go. There was nothing between us. Ever’.
‘If you say so,’ he answered in a low voice, his eyes opaque again. ‘And, of course, you’re betrothed’.
‘Stop it!’ she cried desperately.
‘Why?’ His arm was still tight around her waist.
‘Because—because I’m not marrying Captain Bryant!’
He gazed down at her, his brows gathering. ‘Not….?’
She swallowed hard. ‘I’m not betrothed to Captain Bryant,’ she muttered. ‘I—apologise if I let you think it’.
His grey eyes were hooded, inscrutable. After a long moment he said quietly, ‘And what did I do to provoke this—setting up of Bryant as a suitor?’
She sought the words, desperately. ‘He did ask me to marry him! I only told you of it, because—because you were so hateful about him!’
Because you left me, Lucas.
Because you were not there when I needed you. When I trusted you with all my heart…..
He said at last, letting his hand drop from her waist, ‘It is, after all, none of my business, I know’.
She nodded, blinking hard. ‘Indeed, my lord, it’s not!’ But inside she was shaking. He had kissed her. He had said, I was mad to ever let you go.
Silently they trudged on. It was as if Lucas Conistone had wiped the last two years from his mind, thought Verena blindly, and the wrongs he and his grandfather had done to her family.
Oh, Verena, she told herself bitterly, he only came here today by utter chance. Just passing, on his way to the vast house he will one day inherit. Yet his presence is—lethal. You are going to have to be stronger than this.
And she was not sure that she could, because once more she was fighting her own stupid physical longing for a man she should have kicked out of her heart long ago.
‘Verena! Verena!’
David Parker’s voice. Help was coming. A search party with lanterns was hurrying in their direction across Wycherley’s lawns, headed by David and Turley. As they came close, they explained they’d heard gunfire.
‘Miss Sheldon was attacked by robbers and they fired at me when I went to help her,’ she heard Lucas explain swiftly; Verena said nothing, simply glad to leave the care of the injured Lucas to David and Turley.
But there was someone else there. Someone who had materialised out of thin air as they reached the courtyard; a thickset man with roughly cut black hair, who looked faintly familiar, and who rapidly seemed to be taking charge of Lucas’s well-being with a sharp command to all and sundry. ‘Now, then. We’ll be needin’ a nice private room on the ground floor for his lordship, if you please! Some clean sheets and hot water. With a good log fire…’. Already he was helping Lucas into the house.
Where had she seen him before?
Then David was next to her. He must have seen her staring at the man, because he took her aside to explain. ‘He’s Lord Conistone’s valet, apparently. His name is Bentinck. Looks like we’ll need his help’.
‘Really?’ she breathed bitterly. ‘Really?’ Because she had suddenly remembered. He was the man who had been at the sale this afternoon. Opening drawers, looking around in an odd and shifty manner.
Oh, no. This meant Lucas had been lying to her—yet again—when he had told her he was just passing on his way to Stancliffe, because Bentinck had been here at least two hours before his master arrived! Did he take her for a complete fool?
Oh, she was so right not to believe a word Lucas said! And as to a suitable room—difficult, because most of their spare furniture had gone.
She summoned Turley. ‘There’s a day bed in my father’s study. Would you get that man—Bentinck—to help you carry it into the back parlour, please? And get a fire lit there. It will serve as a bedroom for Lord Conistone!’
‘Certainly, Miss Verena’. Turley nodded dourly at the valet. ‘Though I wouldn’t trust that one further than I can throw him’.
Verena agreed heartily.
Lady Frances appeared to be in almost as much need of attention as Lucas; she was clearly close to fainting at the thought of the Earl’s grandson being shot on Wycherley land. The fact that Verena had also been in grave danger appeared not to occur to her.
Verena somehow managed to persuade Lady Frances to retire for the night. ‘You’ll do no good here, Mama. I will cope. And Deb will bring you your headache powders,’ said Verena firmly.
Which disposed for now of Deb, also, and the likelihood that she too would have hysterics once she realised that Lucas was actually staying under their roof.
But—he kissed me. He told me he was mad ever to let me go.
One thing was for sure. Getting himself shot was definitely not part of Lord Lucas Conistone’s plan.
It was close to midnight when Turley informed her that Dr Pilkington had arrived from Framlington. Squaring her shoulders—Lord Conistone must leave as soon as possible, I will tell the doctor so!—she went downstairs to the back parlour, which Turley, obeying her orders, had converted into the patient’s room.
Bentinck was there, building up the fire with his back to her—hateful man. And grey-haired Dr Pilkington, who’d been their family physician for as long as she could remember, was bending over—
Oh, no. Her hand flew to her mouth. Oh, no. She’d thought—what had she thought? That Lucas would be sitting up, laughing, talking? No. He lay prone on the day bed that had been covered with sheets. His eyes were closed—such pain, he must have been in such pain, how did he walk all that way with me?—and a sheen of perspiration covered his haggard features. His shirt had been removed entirely; Verena felt a shock run through her, her mind blurring wildly with an image of wide male shoulders and powerfully sculpted muscles. No hint here of the dissipated gentleman of leisure that society assumed him to be.
Dr Pilkington swung round and quickly ushered her out of the room. ‘Miss Sheldon! You will want an account of his lordship’s condition’.
She’d been going to say, He really must be moved to Stancliffe Manor as soon as possible, Doctor. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s not at all appropriate that he should be here…. but all her prepared words evaporated. She cleared her throat. ‘Will—will he be all right, Doctor? ‘
‘Lord Conistone is sleeping,’ answered Dr Pilkington, closing the door on the sick room. ‘It’s only a flesh wound, but there’s always the risk that a fever might set in. I will see, of course, about getting him moved to Stancliffe Manor in your carriage, within the next hour or so; I was told by David Parker that you cannot possibly have him staying here, you clearly have a good deal already to see to, and besides, it would not be suitable—’
‘No!’ she said, too strongly.
He looked crestfallen. ‘You mean that you cannot spare your carriage? In that case, I—’
‘No! I mean he must stay here! At least—until he is somewhat recovered!’
Oh, Lord. What made her say it? Was she quite mad?
‘My dear,’ said Dr Pilkington, looking happier, ‘that would certainly be for the best! It shouldn’t be long; he’s a strong young fellow, and the bullet passed cleanly through the flesh. We can, of course, hire a nurse from the town to tend him—’
‘That will not be necessary, Doctor!’ said Verena crisply. She had seen plenty of hired nurses when she and Pippa had visited the hospital for wounded officers in Chichester. They struck her as rough and unkind. ‘I mean,’ she went on quickly, ‘that his valet, and our own servants, will be able to tend him quite adequately. That is, if it is not for long?’
‘He should recover quickly; a couple of days and he’ll be on his feet. He’s clearly a survivor. This is nothing compared to another wound he’s sustained in the not-too-distant past’.
‘Another wound?’
‘Yes, a nasty one, must just have missed his left lung; done by a French sabre, I’d say’.
Verena had been striving to be businesslike. But now she felt rather sick. ‘How can you know?’
‘Oh, I used to be an army surgeon, so I’ve seen similar injuries. They jab and twist—that’s how the French foot soldiers are trained—up through the ribs, to strike for the heart. Lord Conistone was lucky to escape with his life’.
The army, of course. He must have been wounded in the army, before he resigned.
But…
‘Well, now,’ went on Dr Pilkington, ‘I must go back in and dress his arm for the night. One more thing—though I gather Lord Conistone wants no fuss, I’ll have to make a report to the constables, but I fear those villains will be long gone by now. I will call on the patient again in the morning’.
Nodding, she turned to go up to her room, her mind churning with confusion. Those men who shot Lucas must have been French smugglers, straying from their usual part of the coast, and they’d planned, perhaps, on demanding a ransom for her. That must be the explanation. Billy and Tom and the others had been caught up unintentionally in the drama; for their sakes, Verena was more than happy for the whole frightening episode to be forgotten.
But why did Lucas want tonight’s violent incident kept quiet? And earlier, when he’d confronted her outside the house, he had said he was leaving for Stancliffe; why, two hours later, was he still so close that he had been the first to come to her rescue?
People whispered that Lucas Conistone was a coward. But he had not been a coward when he rescued her. And then he had kissed her; and all her carefully built defences had tumbled as his embrace set fire to her yearning soul.
Oh, you fool, Verena.
That night she slept badly and woke long before dawn, her heart full of despair, wondering how she would endure his presence here.
Harlot. Fortune-hunting harlot.
Chapter Seven
‘Is it true, Verena? That Lucas will have to stay here till he’s better? And will they catch the ferocious band of smugglers who shot him?’ Verena’s youngest sister Izzy was first to join Verena at breakfast the next morning, bubbling with excitement.
So the rumours were already spreading. ‘We’re not absolutely sure who did it, Izzy,’ Verena told her gravely. Cook’s strong, sweet tea and the normal demands of the household had restored her to relative equanimity. ‘But, yes, he will stay for a day or two, until he’s well enough to move. And you must call him Lord Conistone’.
Seventeen-year-old Izzy’s face fell, then brightened. ‘But he’s actually in our house! And he’s so handsome, Verena. Wait till I tell my friends! I shall write to them all this minute…’. She was already on her feet, breakfast forgotten.
Verena cut in. ‘No gossip, please, Izzy. Remember, he is our guest!’
Izzy pouted and ran off. But Pippa, her red-headed, lively, sensible sister, had ridden over from the farm near Framlington that morning with a basket of eggs and had appeared just in time to catch Verena’s last words.
‘Well,’ Pippa declared, ‘David says Lord Conistone most certainly won’t want to stay for long in a place that’s been stripped of half its furniture!’ She settled herself at the table and started pouring tea. ‘Why did he come here in the first place, Verena? I’m intrigued. Was it to gloat?’
‘Over our misfortunes? Our disasters? I don’t know, Pippa. I really don’t know’. Verena was shaking her head, still fighting to dispel the dreams that had haunted her sleep. ‘And do you know, yesterday Luc—Lord Conistone—actually had the effrontery to offer me money for our father’s private papers? Or rather, he said he knew people who would pay for them! I don’t understand why anyone would want them, do you?’
Pippa frowned. ‘You mean our father’s letters to us?’
‘Oh, letters, maps, diaries, I think; you know how he always wrote about everything on his travels, in the minutest detail! But I told Lucas I would never, ever sell anything of Papa’s!’
‘Good for you. But now you’re stuck with his lordship in the house. It really is appalling luck’. Pippa sipped her tea. ‘Although dear Mama will be delighted to have Lord Conistone a captive, as it were, under her roof’.
Verena absorbed herself in buttering a piece of toast. ‘They say he is as good as betrothed already, Pippa’.
Pippa snorted. ‘That story about Lady Jasmine, you mean? London tattle. Anyway, you think that would deter Mama? Here is her dream: a real-life viscount on the sacrificial altar of marriage, so to speak’.
‘Oh, Lord, don’t, Pippa!’ Verena feigned lightheartedness. ‘Mama must be kept away from him at all costs. And,’ she added more quietly, ‘it’s going to be hideously awkward for Deb’.
Pippa knew nothing about the Earl’s terrible letter to Verena. But Pippa did know about Deb’s encounter with Lucas at Lady Willoughby’s ball.
‘Deb? I see the problem’. Pippa frowned. Then her face brightened. ‘My goodness, I might have part of the answer! Don’t you remember? Mama and Deb and Izzy were supposed to be going to Chichester later today, to stay with Aunt Grace for a few days and visit the shops…’.
‘But then Mama vowed she could not travel into Chichester because of the shame of the dispersal sale!’
‘Nevertheless,’ said Pippa, eyes gleaming, ‘we will tell Mama that even if she doesn’t go, the girls absolutely must, this very afternoon! How will that do? I’ll persuade her, never fear!’
Verena’s spirits lifted. Aunt Grace, their father’s widowed cousin, often played host to the Sheldon family. ‘If you could, Pippa! But we must remind Mama and the girls that—’
‘That we’ve no money for Deb and Izzy to spend on frivolities, I know!’
‘We’ve no money to spend on anything, I fear’.
Pippa hurried to hug her sister. ‘Oh, Verena. Anyone would think it’s all your fault! You—you don’t feel anything for Lucas still, do you?’
‘Goodness me, not a thing,’ lied Verena, forcing a smile. ‘Unlike Deb, I can’t deceive myself that the heir to an earldom could be interested in a Sheldon sister!’
