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The two circled one another like wolves, the twenty-six-year-old and the seventeen-year-old, but David had already lost and we all three knew it. He eyed Will warily; Will had pushed his sleeves back to reveal forearms made strong by the hard work he did six and a half days out of seven, and the muscles flexed beneath his skin as he tightened and relaxed his fists. There was a gleam of sweat along his brow, and his eyes flashed bright blue in the sunlight, but now they weren’t friendly at all.
David cleared his throat and stepped back, dropping his hands back to his sides, an act I reluctantly admitted took courage. Defiantly, he raised his chin and I could see the red mark that would bruise nicely later. ‘I’ll have you arrested if I catch you anywhere near Miss Creswell again.’ His gaze flicked to me, and although I was quite respectably dressed I felt as if Will’s warm hands had left blazing prints all across my summer dress, and that they must have shown. Then he looked back at Will, clearly relieved as Will also dropped his guard and assumed a more relaxed position.
David’s tone turned rather snooty and I lost the fleeting sympathy I’d felt. ‘Who are you, anyway? No gentleman, that’s for sure. A gentleman would never assault a lady while she was out riding.’
‘What do you want, David?’ I said, moving to Will’s side. ‘Just say what you came for and then leave.’
‘I came to see you, as a matter of fact,’ he said. ‘Your mother invited me to dinner.’
Whatever I had been expecting, it wasn’t that. ‘What on earth for? And how did you know where I was?’
‘Everyone knows where you come to get away from everything, even your stable-hand. It’s a good thing I came, if you ask me, another few minutes and that low-born thug might have done anything!’
‘Watch who you’re calling a thug,’ Will said with deceptive mildness, but I saw him tensing up again.
David did too, and stepped back, his voice betraying his nervousness. ‘Whatever you claim to be the case, you cannot deny I came along just in time,’ he said. Privately I couldn’t help agreeing, but for a very different reason. I found my eyes drawn once more to the muscular arms that brushed mine as we stood side by side, and knew that if they were around me right this minute I would have surrendered everything, wholly and without a second thought.
‘Are you going to tell anyone what you’ve seen?’ I wanted to know.
‘Well now, I don’t know what I’ve seen, do I?’ David looked cunning suddenly, and I wanted to slap him. ‘It’s hardly your fault if some ruffian attacks you while you’re sleeping in the sun.’
Will and I looked at each other, and I could see he was going to admit to exactly that, if it meant maintaining our secret for my sake. I spoke quickly, before he could. ‘That isn’t what happened, David, you know it isn’t.’
‘Evie –’ Will began.
‘No, it’s not and you can’t pretend it is either. You’ll lose your job and Mr…your employer will suffer too,’ I said, almost naming Markham in my hurry to make my point. Mother would be certain to discover who Will was, and that would be the last time he or Markham would be delivering to Oaklands. Not to mention Will’s reputation being torn to shreds. I could not allow that.
I turned back to David, who was glancing from me to Will and back again. ‘David, I know you’re going to run back to your mother and tell her what you saw, but you need to know that won’t make any difference at all.’
‘Any difference to what?’
‘To us.’ I slipped my hand into Will’s and, after a glance of mingled exasperation and pride, he raised it to his lips. ‘Nor to what you came here for,’ I added, and David flushed.
‘I merely came to dinner,’ he reminded me. ‘At the invitation of your mother.’
‘And the instigation of yours,’ I said acidly. ‘She must be quite sure I will get the Kalteng Star back one day, and what better way to ensure it goes back to the Wingfields than if you and I were to marry?’
‘The diamond is gone,’ he protested, but there was no conviction behind his words; he clearly believed the same as his mother, that Lizzy would soon break under the terrible conditions inside Holloway, and tell someone where she had hidden it. Except I knew she hadn’t taken it to begin with, and with any luck we would never see it again.
‘Then Clarissa won’t be too disappointed to learn that I have no intention of joining our two families again,’ I said.
‘Aren’t you two related anyway?’ Will said.
‘Only distantly. David’s great-grandmother was my great-aunt Catherine.’
‘So it’s legal for you to wed?’
‘Legal, but not in the least desirable,’ I said, ‘particularly after the way he helped convict Lizzy.’
‘I simply came to dinner,’ he repeated stubbornly. ‘Please allow me to escort you back, Miss Creswell.’
‘I have Orion,’ I reminded him, profoundly grateful for the excuse. ‘And it’s nowhere near time to eat yet. At least Mrs Hannah will have plenty of notice of your cancellation.’
David’s jaw dropped. ‘Are you refusing me the hospitality offered by Lady Creswell?’
‘Not at all. Do stay, if you wish. I hope you enjoy talking to Mother.’
‘Won’t you be there?’
I smiled sweetly. ‘I expect I shall have a headache later. It’s probably best if I take a tray in my room.’
Will’s hand tightened on mine as he choked back a laugh, and I gripped hard in return. David looked at us both, searching for a way to save face. In the end he simply turned on his heel and strode off down the hill, no doubt aware of the picture of dignity he made. This was spoiled slightly as he had to take a sudden side-step to avoid the inevitable sheeps’ leavings, and his ankle turned; his disappearing silhouette cut a rather less dashing figure from that moment on. Will and I leaned on each other in relief at being alone again.
‘Do you really think your two mothers are conspiring to have you married off?’ Will said. I was glad of the distraction, even if it meant discussing such an unsavoury thought; I was too conscious of the silence, of the peace that had fallen over us, and of the heat of his body.
‘The Kalteng Star does funny things to people’s minds,’ I said. ‘I wouldn’t be at all surprised.’
‘But, as you said, it’s gone. We don’t know who stole it, and it’s fairly certain you’ll never get it back.’
‘Thank goodness, although Clarissa must think differently.’ I realised something then, and smiled. ‘Do you know, Lord William, that never once in all the time I have known and loved you, did it occur to me that you might have had your head turned by it too?’
He gave me an amused look; it had obviously never occurred to him either. ‘Not even when I told you how much I’d struggled before, to make a living from sculpting?’
‘Not even then. Besides, you’re here with me now even though I don’t have that fortune any longer.’
‘You’re still a very wealthy young woman,’ he pointed out. ‘Although the first time we saw each other I think we both knew we would be standing together one day. That was back when I thought you were kitchen staff at Oaklands, of course.’
‘But I knew who you were.’
He put his arm around my shoulder. ‘And it didn’t make any difference to you, so why should it to me? The way I see it, loving you comes with a great deal more complication than loving me could ever do.’
‘You’re right,’ I said a little glumly, making him smile. ‘You have my sympathies. Promise you’ll never give up on me?’
‘I promise. I only hope David is too embarrassed to tell his mother, or yours, what he saw up here.’
I had to speak of it, now the moment had passed and I felt safe from my own unexpectedly fierce desire. ‘Will, about before, when David found us –’
‘I’m not going to tell you I’m sorry,’ he interrupted, but I shook my head.
‘But we can’t … you know. We shouldn’t. And today I felt…’ I was struggling to find the words, but he was there with his own and, as always, they cut straight to the heart of things.
‘Only a word from you would have stopped me.’ He held my shoulders and ducked down so his eyes were level with mine and there was no hiding. ‘And you wouldn’t have said that word, would you?’
‘No,’ I confessed in a small voice. What did that make me? But the sudden, brilliant smile on his face banished the question and replaced it with the knowledge that it simply meant that this man and myself were meant to be together. As we’d both known from the start.
‘Come on,’ he said, tugging my hand, ‘it’s almost time you were back home.’
‘Just a bit longer?’ I pleaded. Despite the faintly tainted atmosphere that drifted around what had, for so long, been our private haven, it was such a heavenly day I hated to think it must end, and that I wouldn’t see Will again for a whole week. He was breath and life to me now, how had I survived so long without him? Soon it would be even longer between chances; the year was aging rapidly and there were few places we could meet without risk.
‘Just a few minutes then.’ He made it sound as though he were doing me the greatest turn, but his eagerness to sit down and draw me down next to him gave him away. I smiled and looked down the hill towards Oaklands Manor. Beautiful it might be, bathed in the reddish gold of the late afternoon sun, but I couldn’t wait for the day when I could move out and set up home with Will.
As if he could read my mind, he slipped his hand into mine. ‘Don’t you think we ought to set a date then?’
‘What about my mother?’
‘Tell her, or don’t. Only you can decide, but you’d better decide quickly.’
‘Oh there you go again, getting all cross and handsome.’
He scowled and turned to press me down into the grass, and kissed me until I could barely breathe.
‘God, Evie…I can’t wait much longer.’ He rolled away to lie staring up at the sky.
I understood he was not blaming me and suddenly, out of nowhere, I whispered, ‘Then let’s not wait.’ I immediately panicked when he looked at me long and consideringly, and wished I hadn’t said it. It would be unfair of me to change my mind now, and I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to, but I felt a churning, nervous wariness at the thought of what I had suggested.
His finger traced a gentle line from my temple to my jaw. ‘Listen. I love you desperately, and you know I want you, but this shouldn’t be something we may someday come to regret. It’s too precious.’
I nodded, part of me relieved, the rest aching like never before, and lay back down, close to his side, reluctant to break contact. ‘Then let’s do something else. Something exciting.’
He gave a soft laugh. ‘Such as what?’
‘Go somewhere. Away from Breckenhall, somewhere where people aren’t interested in us, and we don’t have to pretend we’re not mad about each other.’
‘Are you mad about me?’ he teased.
‘Yes, but only a little bit.’
Still smiling, he twisted towards me and kissed me. It did little to dispel the sense of longing but I couldn’t help smiling in return, and returned his kiss with renewed enthusiasm; now we had agreed to wait, it felt safe to do so. As we broke apart I felt his strong white teeth tug gently at my lower lip, and it was difficult not to pull him close again. ‘So,’ he said, in a voice that had turned faintly husky. He cleared his throat and tried again. ‘You think we should go somewhere we can walk together and hold hands, right in front of everyone?’
‘It sounds silly when you say it like that, but don’t you think it would be wonderful? We could go to the seaside –’
‘The weather won’t last more than another few days.’
‘Then we’ll go as soon as we can. We can take a picnic lunch.’
Will sat up. ‘Why don’t we go to Blackpool?’
‘Blackpool?’ I tried not to sound disappointed; it was his home town, after all. But I’d hoped for somewhere a little more romantic.
‘Do you remember last year, when they lit it all up? Absolutely thousands of lights. For Princess Louise when she opened the promenade.’
‘Oh, yes, Ava Cartwright was there with her aunt. She did say it was beautiful,’ I conceded.
‘Well, Frank told me yesterday they were so successful, they plan on doing it again this year.’
I nodded, warming to the idea. It didn’t really matter where we were, after all, provided we were together. ‘All right, we can travel separately, but on the same train, then spend the day and evening at the Pleasure Beach. We’ll see the lights, then be home before anyone’s even noticed.’
‘I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get away, but I’ll try.’
‘You’re looking a bit peaky,’ I said, putting a solicitous hand on his forehead.’
He affected a look of deep suffering. ‘I believe you’re right. I feel a rather uncomfortable sickness coming on. Possibly in a few days.’
I laughed. ‘How will I know when you’re going to be laid up with this awful illness?’
‘I’ll leave a message in the summer house, as long as Mr Shackleton’s not looking.’
‘He spends most of his time in the sheds at this time of year,’ I said. ‘I’ll check the summer house every day. Now I believe it’s time to return, and face the rather off-key music that’s waiting to accompany dinner.’
David had left before I returned, declining dinner on the grounds that the walk in the sun had left him with a headache. I couldn’t help feeling cheated that he had appropriated my own excuse, and I was forced to dine en famille after all. Dinner was an awkward and silent affair; Mother kept looking at me narrowly, no doubt she had seen the blossoming bruise on David’s chin, and noted how he favoured his right ankle as he walked, and she clearly suspected I had something to do with both. Quite what she thought I had done, I didn’t know, but those looks across the table were enough to convince me she had her notions anyway.
I missed Uncle Jack more than ever that evening; he was always the one to keep up a lively conversation and to dampen any signs of discord. I missed his gentle teasing, and the way he would coax Mother, in even the most morose of her moods, into a reluctant smile that made her beautiful and familiar again. He hadn’t been home since New Year’s Eve, almost nine months ago, and I was once more growing worried about Lizzy; the days were flying by for me, but every day she spent in that awful place must feel like a week. Mother clearly felt Jack’s absence almost as keenly as I did and I wondered, not for the first time, if the two of them were closer than they had led us to believe. I fervently hoped they were; there was no one I would rather have as a step-father than Jack Carlisle.
Lawrence sensed the tension in the silence and kept raising his eyebrows at me, but I studiously ignored him, and he pouted when he realised he was being left out of something yet again. Subsequently he requested to leave the table the moment his last forkful was taken, and to avoid the inevitable questions I did the same. But Mother took the rare step of coming to find me later.
‘Evangeline,’ she said, sitting down at my dressing table without being asked. I felt my stomach turn over nervously; she never came to my rooms unless it was something serious, the last time had been the day the diamond had gone missing.
‘If this is about David –’
‘Darling, I understand. I do. It can’t be easy for you.’
‘Easy?’
‘But you mustn’t worry. If you didn’t actually…if he didn’t…’
‘Didn’t what?’ I knew, of course. I just wanted to see how much David had told her.
‘If you were both still fully clothed,’ she said in a rush, her face looking as hot as mine felt.
I chose to misunderstand, just in case. ‘Why would either David or myself be otherwise?’
‘Not David!’ Mother tensed further as she realised she’d have to explain. ‘The other young man. Were you both dressed when David found you?’
Relief welled up, and the dark thoughts about how she would react were swept aside. ‘We were,’ I said. ‘Nothing happened, and I’m very very happy.’
She looked a little surprised at my sudden change in temperament, but she smiled. ‘Then so am I.’
I bent to put my arms around her, and when she hugged me in return all the years fell away, and I was a little girl again and my mother loved me even though I was such an effort for her. I felt horrible for assuming she would rather see me unhappy than wed to the man I loved.
‘You should have told me,’ she said, her voice muffled against my shoulder. ‘I wanted you to tell me yourself, and waited for it. I’m so sad you felt you couldn’t.’
‘I didn’t think you’d understand,’ I confessed. ‘It was hard to know where to begin.’
‘Of course I understand, darling, you mustn’t feel at fault. Now, what did he look like?’
I stepped back, with the prickling suspicion that all was not well after all. ‘What did who look like?’
‘David would only describe him as a thuggish sort of a man, with messy hair and a fierce look in his eyes. Blue eyes, he says, which may help but not much. I gather there was quite a struggle so he might be bruised as well. We must call Inspector Bailey of course. And you’re to stop riding out alone.’
