A Captive Heart

by Patricia Scott

  ‘So you do not care, Master Carey?’ she said sharply.

  He thought it over carefully for a moment or so and chuckled. ‘You’re a brave beautiful girl and I don’t doubt you for a moment. However,’ he paused, ‘I may choose to stay here in this lovely restful place for a day or so longer. And I thank your aunt for making me so welcome.’ He sighed and shook his dark head. ‘It seems a long while since I have stayed in so happy a family home. And I would like to enjoy this time with you at Treganna House for a while longer. As you know it reminds me so much of my own. One day it could be yours too and I’m sure you remember well the happy summers we both enjoyed here as children.’

  He bent over her and his smiling mouth was temptingly close. Would he dare to snatch a kiss from her? She closed her eyes and waited but he moved away quickly. So he refused to be tempted; he was after all only pretending that he cared for her to save himself. She regained her thoughts and common sense again.

  ‘My aunt does not recognise you for what you are, Adam Carey. A wolf in sheep’s clothing,’ she flung back at him, her fears working on her once again. She was so near to sobbing her heart out in his arms, if he would only take her into them.

  ‘Why can’t you just go... go now!’ she cried out.

  He chose to ignore this flare up of temper. ‘I would never wish to leave Treganna if it were mine, or ours together, Tamsin. It is a haven of peace,’ he said quietly, turning to look back up at the stone Tudor house now bathed in the warm afternoon sunlight. There was a sad note in his voice which had been so vibrant only minutes before. ‘Your father must wish himself back here often. It’s his home after all. He must crave the peace and security it gives him, if only briefly.’

  This observation merely served to irritate Tamsin. ‘I warn you now. Do not dare ever to lay claim to it, Adam Carey. I would strike you dead first,’ she declared with a ring of bravado in her voice, and they both knew that she meant it.

  She knew only too well that Cromwell could and would snatch their country estates away piece meal in Cornwall and give them to his own men, taking pleasure from ruining it for all those that had loved and owned them previously.

  Did Adam have personal designs on Treganna? Would Cromwell offer it to him as payment for his perilous work for them?

  If so she would fight him all the way. Meanwhile she must not give him cause to think that Treganna kept secrets from him here today. She could not allow Adam to discover the Prince of Wales’s presence there. No one in the Treganna household would allow Adam to leave alive. They would rather risk their own lives for the Prince’s safe keeping.

  As Adam had risked his life on the Scillies so he did here once again. He needed to keep his Parliamentarian leanings secret from Lord Lambton and Lord Ellison, most especially in the company of all those who dined there that evening.

  Tamsin studied Adam’s now serious face. It was his most dangerous ploy yet. She must impress on him that his freedom from this moment on depended only on her silence. She could betray him here and now and he knew it. But he still trusted her to keep silent.

  He voiced his thoughts as he reached out to touch her cheek gently with his hand, ‘You saved my life once, I cannot believe that you would wish to betray me now, Tamsin.’

  ‘I do not joke, Adam. If you harm my family in any way you shall live to suffer for it.’

  ‘I came here today because I wanted to see you again, Tamsin. Little else matters to me at this moment but my deep feelings for you.’

  He was in no mood to argue further it seemed but did not appear noticeably worried by what she had said. He was tempered with steel. She thought there was no breaking him and it left her in little doubt that he was both courageous and brave. He risked much daily and intended to see this visit out, she thought miserably, as they took a turn through the covered rose walk in silence. If only they could have met under different circumstances, as he had first said, things could be so different for them.

  The scent from the apricot and pink climbing roses, attracting the bees buzzing noisily overhead in large numbers, made her long just for a moment to hear once again the sound of the waves crashing on the sea shore near the Piper hole where they had first met as virtual strangers and enemies.

  Their relationship since then had become too complicated. He could destroy their home and betray her confidence in a moment. Before the day was out she might be forced to betray Adam before he could harm her family irrevocably by giving up the Prince to the Parliamentarians. So much rested on how she behaved towards Adam while he was there. His life was in her hands once again. She was weeping for him inside and he would never know it.

  She studied his handsome profile as he reached up to pick a from the bush, he smelt it, drinking in the sweet perfume from the velvety petals with pleasure before offering it to her with a low courteous bow.

  ‘A beautiful flower for a beautiful young maiden.’

  They were now in full view from the house and any watching eyes could see all as she took the rose carefully from him and curtseyed in turn, ‘Thank you, sir.’

  She could act out her role as cleverly as him. He was a good teacher. She drank in the rose’s glorious perfume as he gazed around at ease around the verdant green lawns and the brilliant cerise pink flowering rhododendron shrubs in the woods that encroached on them. He must never realise how troubled she was by his presence there at that moment.

  He smiled at her then so sweetly it played havoc with her heart, snatching away her breath, leaving a trembling weakness in her limbs. She had never been so aware of the man standing beside her before as she was then. It felt as if she was enchanted by him and recalled what he had said about the vows to be said by them in the chapel.

  In turn her brave smile wrenched his heart and left him momentarily speechless. He needed this sweet girl’s love so badly so desperately.

  He spoke out quickly, ‘Treganna has everything that’s useful for the Royalist cause with a quick route out to the sea through the Helford passage. And room in plenty to anchor a ship here undetected, is that not so, Tamsin?’

  She looked at him. Was this a word of warning for the future? Or for the present? She cleared her throat and said hesitantly, ‘Perhaps.’

  He was well aware that she was much troubled by his observation. It could be used against them when the Roundheads made their way down to the tip of Cornwall. She knew that they would not be put off by their thwarted attempt to take the Scillies. This could be why he was there making use of her as an unwilling ally.

  Adam deserved to be damned and given away to the Royalists as an agent and traitor. But could she blame him for choosing the Parliamentarian cause if he thought it was right?

  ‘We shall be ready for you when you come. We shall defend Treganna to the death from your Dragoon troopers,’ she declared her hand boldly.

  He nodded and smiled generously. ‘Oh, I’m sure you will. But they shall come, Tamsin. Every day they draw closer to taking Cornwall in its entirety. The King is dead. The Prince of Wales means to leave for the Scillies and for France. I give you fair warning now, Tamsin, the Parliamentarians shall be here before long and Cornwall shall soon be all theirs. You must be ready for them.’

  ‘I promise you we shall be,’ she said defiantly.

  Chapter Thirty

  It was nearly time to welcome their guests for the evening. Martha fussed over her young charge. Tamsin dressed in her primrose yellow silk gown, the only one she had suitable for the occasion, and decided that she would not allow Adam’s presence there to upset her.

  Martha studied her carefully and nodded approvingly before she left the bed chamber to go downstairs.

  ‘I trust that you will watch your behaviour this evening with the Roundhead in our midst, child. So much depends on it. If you do not, I will tell your aunt Adam Carey’s true purpose for being here. And I swear he shall be executed for it.’

  ‘Martha you cannot!’ Tamsin entreated her quickly. ‘Promise me that you will not say a
nything. We must not arouse his suspicions. We must behave as we would normally in the company of our good friends.’

  ‘Psshaw, child, I know better than that. Adam Carey will leave tomorrow without realising that he sleeps under the same roof as the heir to the throne,’ Martha said with a frown.

  ‘Good. Although I would like him to know of it one day,’ Tamsin smiled mischievously.

  Martha sighed. ‘No good can come of this, my girl. He has given you so much heart ache already. And he feels nothing, He has a heart of stone, it cannot bleed, he’s been well trained by Oliver Cromwell and his like.’

  ‘I shall set out to make the evening a happy one for Aunt Phoebe. It could be the last one she will enjoy if the Roundheads have their way. Adam has left me in little doubt that he is only the forerunner of more terrible things yet to come.’

  Adam was his most charming and entertaining that evening. All the women took to him on sight and the men found him very good company.

  Tamsin might have been lulled into thinking that he was no danger to anyone while he was talking amiably to the young officers, Captain Philip Tresella, and Lieutenant Samuel Gorsham, from the Helford Fort. Except that she knew him better than anyone else there.

  He had taken special pains with his attire for that evening. He couldn’t be faulted in the green velvet suit. Lady Phoebe was much taken by him, Tamsin thought, perhaps her aunt was reminded of her son, Jago. She could hardly wait to introduce him to their guests that evening.

  He was believed to be what he represented, an attentive handsome young Royalist Cavalier. His father was known and well liked by almost all there. The ladies noted the attention that he paid to Tamsin throughout the evening, and obviously thought she was the real reason for his presence at Treganna.

  She thought he lied charmingly as he entertained everyone throughout the evening. Tamsin inwardly fumed as she smiled to cover up the sickening feeling in her stomach as he offered Tamsin his arm and accompanied her into the dining room with a smile on his face.

  Her Aunt Phoebe mentioned at the dining table that Adam had travelled over on the same ship as her niece and as a result they all concluded that he was serving on St Mary’s in the Scillies. Tamsin could scarcely deny this to his face. What good would it do?

  He was able to speak out easily about King Charles and Henrietta the Queen. Prince Rupert too he had met only recently in Exeter. This drew her attention to just how much the Roundheads knew about the Royalists movements in the West Country. He even showed a sketch he had done of the royal family. Tamsin was surprised that they were executed with obvious talent. ‘I mean to paint ivory miniatures from them,’ he told Lady Phoebe when she admired them.

  ‘Do you think you could paint a miniature of Jago?’ she asked him. ‘From the large painting in the picture gallery upstairs?’

  ‘Jago was my dear friend, it would be a pleasure, Lady Phoebe.’

  Her eyes were drawn to him often down the long table and he smiled back at her and toasted her with his glass of ruby wine. She wished they had been placed closer so she could seize her opportunity to kick him hard on the shin.

  Adam knew that his survival depended on Tamsin and those seated there at the dinner table who liked and believed in him. Could be he hoped to glean something from the conversation when the good wine made tongues clack freely as the evening wore on?

  Tamsin wondered that his nerve held out so well in their company, but he was of course well practised in this, although he must know he could be hung drawn and quartered as befitted a spy in the Royalists hands. He merited no mercy. The thought of this while seated at the table turned her head and stomach topsy-turvy. Why couldn’t he just be the attractive talented young royalist everyone believed him to be? She felt a cold shiver go through her and her hand trembled on her fluted wine glass as they stood up to make a toast to Prince Charles. As their cheers rang out loudly through the dining room she wondered whether they would reach the young man who sheltered in the secret chamber under the Treganna roof.

  Adam judged well the danger that he was placed in as he stood up to drink the toast and his eyes met hers across the table. The message he read in them was clear. You’d better be gone from here. And soon.

  Tamsin had given him fair warning. He knew that Prince Charles was very likely seeking sanctuary under Treganna’s sheltering roof at that very moment. The very presence of the two elder statesmen at the table gave credibility to his suspicions. More than likely he slept and was kept in secret in the Priests Hole. Hadn’t Sir Bevil himself shown it to his father years ago? Did Tamsin know that it existed? It was very possible it would be used again often before this war was over.

  As for the young Prince of Wales, if he managed to make his escape in safety then so be it. He would lead a life through necessity for a while spent in penury with his mother, the Queen Henrietta in France, and perhaps that would be thought punishment enough for the heir to the English throne by some. But only capture and death would do for Oliver Cromwell.

  But what of Tamsin? This plucky courageous girl who sat next to him at the dining table and attempted in vain to ignore his presence that evening. What was to become of her and her family’s fate in the near future? He knew that her father’s days as a soldier and a free man were numbered.

  General Oliver Cromwell had ordered that Colonel Richard Trevenian be taken prisoner, and this house and the family estates seized and occupied. Adam was sure that these brave young officers from Helford Fort with whom he’d exchanged much conversation and laughter throughout the evening would be thrown into prison too, if they were not killed first. All these Cornish citizens loyal to their King seated round this table would soon feel the merciless weight of the Parliamentarian army.

  ‘I must thank you most heartily, Lady Phoebe, for making me so welcome, and everyone here.’ He smiled warmly at their hostess. ‘I will briefly sketch Jago’s features from the portrait upstairs before I leave and I will work on it for you presently. I remember enough of my dear friend to be able to make good work of it.

  ‘I must bid you all goodnight as I leave early in the morning for Exeter. I shall meet Prince Rupert and his brother near Bristol, and so I doubt that I shall see any of you again for a long while.’

  Tamsin knew this could be the last time that they would meet, especially like this at Treganna. Once again she credited him with nerves of steel.

  *

  Before leaving that evening, the Reverend Arthur Thomsett took her to one side in the large hall and said quietly, ‘My dear girl, you have spoken little about your father this evening. Is all well with you? I feel that you are much troubled about him.’ He hesitated then carried on, ‘If ever you are sore in need of a friend here or should be in need of someone to talk to, my child, I am here for you. Always. He may not have spoken of it but your father is an old friend of mine. As boys we went to the same grammar school and when I was bullied he was there for me always. I’ll never forget it or his kindness.’ He smiled at her surprise. ‘He became the soldier, I became the priest. He is a good man and I am always ready to give help of any kind to him or you should you ever need it.’

  She was much touched by his words. ‘Thank you for your kindness, sir.’

  After their guests left in their assorted carriages and coaches and the two young officers rode back to the fort, she watched Adam for a while from her bed chamber windows. He was walking in the grounds and obviously did not feel like taking to his bed.

  He made a lonely figure walking in the gardens, as he gazed up at the night sky filled with stars and a full moon riding across the sky. What kept him so long from his bed? Had he guessed that they had a royal guest? He could have well done so with the presence of the two elderly Royalists. What was on his mind? She longed to join him in the shadowy moonlit garden. She wanted to discover his real destination after he left Treganna. Not that she expected him to reveal anything to her. He was adept at keeping his secrets.

  Chapter Thirty-One

&n
bsp; Tamsin woke early after the restless night. She remembered that special moment when Adam had left the coach and his warm lips had kissed her cheek so tenderly. Was it only days ago? How could he betray his father, his family and all their friends by joining the Parliamentarians? Would she never understand him?

  Her heart was fighting with her wish for him to leave soon. She couldn’t bear to say goodbye to him again, yet it was vital that he left for all their sakes and his own safety.

  ‘You must leave then?’ Tamsin said well aware that her aunt was watching them closely through the parlour windows as he made his farewell to her outside.

  ‘Tamsin.’ He chuckled and said, ‘You know by choice that you would not wish me to stay on here a moment longer.’

  ‘The longer you stay the more dangerous it becomes, Adam,’ she said noting that his eyes which searched her face gave little away of his true feelings. She knew it was hard to keep him from reading her thoughts. ‘Perhaps, if only I could trust you, Adam,’ she said shaking her head.

  ‘I came here first and foremost to see you once again.’ The look that she saw in his eyes told her that he spoke the truth. ‘I have thought long and often about you since I left the coach the other day.’ He smiled. Was he remembering that kiss too?

  ‘You have, sir?’

  He pulled on his leather gloves and his green eyes resembled dark tarn pools when they met her own. ‘I appreciate full well that I have you and Reuben and Martha to thank for my life and freedom. I promise you here and now that I do not purposefully seek to endanger your life and home here. Or that of anyone else that you love, Tamsin.’

  She tilted her small chin sharply. ‘How can I believe you when you lie so easily to everyone you meet, Adam?’

  He shook his dark head. ‘This is the truth that I speak now.’ He frowned to further strengthen this. ‘But I must warn you Tamsin, even if I wished it, I cannot hold back the tide of war for you or the battles that will be fought here soon.’ He heard the soft gasp of alarm that followed these words. ‘Nor can I promise you that your beloved Treganna will be kept safe from the Parliamentarians.’