by Mary Brendan
‘I doubt your Viscount cares more for the brat than I do, but we both have a lust for you. I’ll wager that fellow will do anything to have you back in his bed. But first you can taste mine. Not that it is much of a bed, I’m afraid,’ he chortled. ‘No feather mattress here, just a blanket on the ground but perhaps by the time I’m done with you, you’ll have learnt to like a rough ride as well as I do...’ He sprang forward, trapping her against the wall and forcing his mouth down spitefully on hers.
Dawn twisted her face away and lashed out at him, making him laugh nastily.
‘Fight away... I’ll enjoy taming you.’ He ripped open the front of her bodice, exposing her chemise. ‘The Viscount seemed smitten. To get you back I believe he’ll see me safely out of the country with a tidy sum in my pocket,’ he panted.
‘You couldn’t be more wrong, Mansfield.’ Jack had burst in through the door, taking the vicar by surprise and sending him flying with a savage punch to the head. ‘I’ll see you safely to a gallows, though.’
With a grunt of mingling rage and pain Mansfield steadied himself against the wall. For a moment it seemed he might surrender, but one of his hands dived into a pocket and he lunged forward with a knife.
Jack dodged the blade, swiping Mansfield’s feet from under him in an efficient, brutal kick. In a second he had dropped to the ground to wedge a knee against the villain’s throat and wrench the hilt of the dagger from Mansfield’s fingers. He drew forth his duck’s-foot pistol, levelling it at his opponent’s head.
‘It’s safe to go to comfort Lily,’ Jack said softly to Dawn, though his eyes never left Mansfield’s squirming form. ‘William got in through the open window and is in the back room with his niece. We saw her curled up on a blanket.’
Dawn needed no second telling. Gulping back a sob, she darted into the room to find William cradling Lily in his arms. Tears were blurring her vision as she gazed upon her granddaughter’s dear face and gently touched the child’s cold cheek and matted hair.
‘She is well enough considering what the poor mite’s been through.’ William kept his voice low for fear of disturbing Lily. He transferred his precious burden into Dawn’s arms so she might ease her grief by cuddling the child. ‘She has been drugged, but stirred a moment ago as though she might soon recover.’ He indicated the medicine bottle by his foot, then sent it over with his foot, spilling the laudanum on to the floor. ‘Come, let us leave this confounded place.’ Having relieved Dawn’s trembling arms of Lily’s weight, he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, guiding her through the gloom.
They joined Jack to find him hauling Mansfield to his feet now he had bound the devil’s hands together behind his back with his belt. Jack felt relief surging through him as he saw the child stretch before again becoming still. But his eyes soon returned watchfully to his prisoner.
‘You must go with William,’ Jack told Dawn. ‘He will take you to Dr Wilson so he can examine Lily. Then if she is well enough to travel William will see you both safely back to London in the morning with my transport and servants as escort. There is nothing more to fear, I swear.’
‘I will willingly do that, sir, you may trust me on it.’ William readily accepted his mission.
‘I will take this one myself direct to the garrison at Colchester and see him with my own eyes under lock and key. As soon as I can I will join you in London.’
‘How devoted you sound, my lord... How long will that last, I wonder with that snivelling brat around?’ Mansfield sneered. The bluster had gone from him; he sounded bitter now he’d accepted his defeat.
For a moment Dawn’s eyes merged with Jack’s through the shadows, then William took her elbow. ‘Take care, Jack,’ was all she whispered before going out into the darkness.
William quickly placed Lily on the cart seat, then assisted Dawn on to the vehicle before tying his horse behind. They set off swiftly once Lily seemed comfortably settled with her head on Dawn’s lap.
As soon as she felt composed enough to hold a conversation Dawn blurted out, ‘Thank you so much for all you have done and thank the lord you knew of this place and rescued us in time. Did your brother tell you where he would meet Eleanor?’
William shook his head, looking bashful. ‘It is the Viscount you should thank for your salvation. I guessed nothing of the double-cross. But he knew from the start it was a ruse. He said Mansfield would have a lookout stationed close by to report to him, so we played the game. We rode for barely a half mile before heading towards the beach, thinking he might be making his escape to France with Lily. Instead we found his cohorts hiding there. They scattered rather than tangle with Lord Sterling, though we had little interest in them. The Viscount thought my aunt might have some clues to help us locate Mansfield, so we headed there next. She told us you’d not long left her and where you were headed in your search for Lily.’
Dawn stroked her granddaughter’s face as she whimpered. William glanced in concern at his niece, putting the old mare to a faster pace. ‘Not far to go now to the doctor’s house. She is a fine sturdy child...’ His voice tailed off as if that were all the reassurance he could honestly give. He concentrated his eyes on the dark road ahead.
‘Yes, she is strong and she will be fine,’ Dawn said calmly, willing it to be true, for the alternative were too horrible to contemplate. ‘Nothing will ever again hurt you, I swear,’ she whispered to her granddaughter.
Chapter Twenty-One
‘It seems so outlandish a tale that it is hard to believe it can really be true.’ Emma’s expression displayed a mingling of amazement and admiration that her friend had been embroiled in, and survived, such a ghastly drama.
‘I know what you mean, but unfortunately it did all happen,’ Dawn replied on a rueful sigh, glad to have finished reporting the extent of Peter Mansfield’s wickedness.
‘Poor little Lily! Yet she is so lucky that you have stepped up to care for her. And thank the lord she has completely recovered. I’m sure I would have ended up in a jangle of nerves if even half of it had happened to Bernie. Yet you seem your usual calm self,’ Emma marvelled.
‘I blubbed most of the way home to London and William, bless him, played with Lily so she wouldn’t notice my distress.’ Dawn admitted that it had all caught up with her. She wouldn’t feel wholly content until Jack arrived safely in London and confirmed that Peter Mansfield was finally behind bars, due to stand trial for his crimes.
She had been back at home for several days following a tiring, unbroken journey. William had tarried long enough to partake of the meal she’d pressed on him before he set back on the road to Essex. Dawn had tried to persuade him to rest overnight in London, but he’d politely declined that hospitality. He’d admitted to being eager to return to see Sarah and sort out their futures, although he wouldn’t be drawn into saying much about his love. Dawn had warmed to him even more for his discretion. Lily’s uncle was a good man, a man to be trusted, and she hoped to see him again soon and had told him so as they’d parted.
Polly had eagerly welcomed her mistress home, glad to be done with her lonely life caretaking the house. Dawn had kept from her maid the catalogue of woes that had befallen them, in case the poor girl fainted dead away. She’d pleased Polly by telling her Lily’s father would never be back to bother them. With a twinkle in her eyes her maid had said she hoped the Viscount might again knock on the door, though, and very soon.
So did Dawn hope that...with all her heart...despite knowing there were difficult subjects to broach when he did turn up. Once she had answers to her questions she might have a better idea of what the future held for her. So many disasters had befallen since their reunion on Regent Street, that there had been scant opportunity for them to really get to know one another again as a couple.
Since returning to town Dawn had been thinking long and hard about their relationship. She had concluded that she had neglected Jack and their romance to th
e point that it might wither. She had also forlornly concluded that if he had a woman in his life who provided things she didn’t, such as an uncomplicated liaison and her full attention, she couldn’t blame him for going to her. Yet if he did so, it would break her heart and leave her miserable and jealous.
He had once told her that he hadn’t paid a call on her to play with her granddaughter when she said Lily would appreciate seeing him. Then during his next visit he had shown her explicitly what he did need when with her. The memory of that raw passion still had the power to send exquisite shivers racing through her, yet it reinforced her concern that he’d prefer a lover with no strings attached.
Now the battle for Lily had been won, perhaps he might decide to retreat to a woman who didn’t have a child as an obstacle to adult pleasures. Jack was a kind and decent gentleman, but he was also a virile man with natural desires. She’d greedily accepted his assistance in safeguarding Lily, but in return had been a distracted companion and an absent lover.
Though Dawn wanted to put every memory of Mansfield from her head, some of his spiteful taunts had stuck in her mind...possibly because she wondered if they contained a grain of truth. ‘I doubt your Viscount cares more for the brat than I do, but we both have a lust for you... How devoted you sound, my lord...how long will that last, I wonder, with that snivelling brat around?’
Jack understood her granddaughter would always remain her priority, but that didn’t mean he had to accept such an arrangement when alternatives were open to him.
Having Lily constantly in the background might finally grow to irritate him. He might choose to marry Pauline and to sire children of his own...if he didn’t still feel beholden to Sarah’s father and intend to keep the vow he’d made. Or would the uncomplicated life of a bachelor beckon?
‘How extraordinary and wonderful that Lily has an uncle. I’m sure he will want to visit Lily as she grows.’ Emma’s observation brought an abrupt end to Dawn’s poignant inner turmoil.
‘William said he will always want to keep in touch with us both, wherever the future takes him,’ she replied. ‘I hope that life treats him well. William Grove is a fine young man and deserves to be happy.’
‘So do you deserve to be happy, Dawn, yet I fear that loving Lily alone might not be enough to fulfil you. And why should it when you are a lovely young woman in the prime of her life?’ Emma glanced at the door as her husband entered, then a moment later another gentleman followed him into the cosy salon. ‘Look...someone has just turned up who might prove to you one way or another whether I’m right.’
Emma was now quite big with child and Dawn helped her friend to struggle up from the sofa to greet Lance. It wasn’t until Dawn was also on her feet that she noticed the Earl wasn’t alone. Her heartbeat accelerated in elation and an excited fluttering stirred in her belly as her gaze was captured by a pair of warm grey eyes. The children had been kneeling on the rug, ranging tin soldiers and commencing battle by knocking over casualties among the cavalry. But both youngsters were soon scrambling over soldiers in their eagerness to greet the newcomers. With a little shriek of delight Lily dashed to grab Jack’s legs in welcome.
Dawn’s recent theories were still at the forefront of her mind. Hastily she disentangled two small arms from a pair of elegantly breeched knees. Her granddaughter behaved with Jack in the same way that Bernie did with his papa: with boisterous familiarity. The poor child, famished of a father’s care and attention all her young life, had found a substitute in this man. But Jack wasn’t Lily’s father or her kin in any shape or form. Dawn wasn’t even sure how to describe her relationship with him. They’d become close friends, but she knew they both wanted more than that. The stumbling block might be that they needed different things from one another and neither of them could compromise.
‘How are you, Dawn?’ Jack gained his full height, having crouched down to say hello to Lily. ‘You look very well.’ A pair of low-lidded eyes roved her face before travelling over the curves beneath her lavender gown.
‘I am very well, thank you.’
So he still desired her...that was plain to her despite his attempt at discretion. But knowing he wanted to touch her wouldn’t put her demons to rest. Now he was here with her, the musky male scent of him drugging her senses, she knew being his mistress would never be enough for her. She needed so much more than a twilight life with Jack Valance. As her granddaughter grew older and bolder she might ask about his nocturnal visits and Dawn couldn’t lie to create a fake morality. Innocent Lily shouldn’t be raised in a household where a man and a woman shared a bed out of wedlock and neighbours whispered behind their hands about them. Mansfield had raised a valid point when throwing that in her face.
So she must be prepared to stand strong...and alone if necessary. The quiet between them stretched. ‘More importantly...how are you, sir, after tangling with that fiend?’ Dawn rattled off, then immediately regretted having sounded too formal. A ruefulness shaped his mouth as he casually spread his hands.
‘As you see, no harm done.’ He watched Lily skip back to Bernie and resume their game. ‘It’s wonderful to see your granddaughter in good health. William arrived back in Essex on the day I was leaving. He did tell me that the doctor had said she’d suffered no lasting ill from the laudanum. It was a great relief to have that news.’
‘Indeed, it was. How is Sarah?’ Dawn was desperate to know what had happened between them all. From Jack’s expression she gleaned he understood her meaning. Thus a serious conversation must have taken place before he travelled to London.
‘Sarah is well and happy.’ Jack glanced at the children as a squabble over the soldiers broke out. ‘There’s much I have to tell you. I called at your house, but your maid said you’d gone off in the Houndsmeres’ carriage.’
‘Emma invited us to tea. Lily loves playing with Bernie. I hope letting her do things she likes will keep any bad memories at bay for her.’
‘I hope so, too,’ Jack said gently. ‘Have you time to talk...somewhere private?’ He glanced at the window, frowning at the dark clouds, threatening rain. ‘A walk in the fresh air might not be a good idea, though.’
‘We could go back to my home,’ Dawn blurted out, then blushed, hoping she’d not sounded vulgarly eager. She was too aware of how handsome and appealingly virile he was, she realised. Thoughts of his mouth and hands on her body in her shady fire-lit parlour rushed into her head...to be followed by an unwanted memory of Mansfield turning up and putting an abrupt end to her sensual bliss. An image of his leering countenance dominated her mind, dampening her mood, but Jack appeared quite unaffected by having dealt with the brute for her. Lord Sterling was a flintier character to the mild-mannered gentleman she had fallen in love with years ago. Yet he was still everything she’d always yearned for in a man...in a husband. But even if he wasn’t quite so perfect she’d still want him by her side because she loved him.
‘I imagine it’s not yet Lily’s bedtime,’ he said wryly. ‘There might be a better opportunity for a private interlude here, while your granddaughter is playing with Bernard.’
Dawn winced. So she had been right; he saw Lily as an impediment even to an adult conversation. ‘Emma said earlier that she would like Lily to stay overnight... Actually, she asked us both to stay overnight...’ Dawn felt herself growing warm beneath the speculative look he had immediately turned on her.
‘Are you intending to take up that offer?’ he asked.
‘No... I shall go home but...but Lily may remain here, if she says she would like to.’ Dawn raised her eyes to meet his sultry regard. He was thinking she was offering him a night of passion. Was she? If he gave her answers she didn’t like later, would she snatch at those crumbs from his table anyway, just to make him stay? So much for standing strong and alone, she mocked herself. Her resolution not to be his mistress could crumble before they’d even kissed.
‘I would very much like to go h
ome with you, Dawn.’ He gave her a thoughtful half-amused smile.
‘I shall just say goodbye to Lily and Emma then,’ she rattled off, before she could change her mind. The idea of leaving her granddaughter behind was already niggling at her. They hadn’t spent a single night apart since Lily lost her mother.
* * *
‘Are you missing your granddaughter and regretting not bringing her home?’
‘No... Honestly, I was not thinking of that. I know she is in the best hands.’ Dawn stirred herself from her soulful reverie.
‘What were you thinking of, then?’
She stood up from the sofa and started to approach Jack, stationed with his back to the sideboard with a glass of cognac in his hand. The pull of attraction was too great to resist it any longer, but she stayed just out of arm’s length. The longing to touch and be touched was a constant throb low in her belly, but she ached for answers, too.
They had travelled in the curricle, in amicable quiet, to her home. There had been no need to hasten into conversation during the short journey; they both knew they had hours in front of them to settle down and debate everything. But now, with drinks distributed and small talk done, the time for getting down to brass tacks had arrived.
And Dawn realised she didn’t know where to start, or indeed if she wanted to start. She had been impatient for their reunion and bursting with things to ask him when the moment eventually came. But keeping the status quo and basking in the quiet, candle-lit atmosphere with him, while wishing it never to end, was very tempting. She wanted Jack Valance to herself with no distraction from female rivals or evil vicars...or even small children...intruding on their precious time. Electrifying the space separating them was his unspoken demand she move closer. But if she ceded to it, he would reach for her. She would be transported by kisses and caresses to that magical place where worries didn’t exist and it was just the two of them. But tomorrow would come...and put paid to the fantasy.