A Matter of Duty

by Sandra Heath

  ‘What makes you say that?’

  ‘Oh, the usual malicious chitter-chatter, but from an unexpectedly trustworthy source.’

  ‘And what source might that be?’

  ‘Rowe.’

  He gave a short laugh. ‘Since when has he been trustworthy?’

  ‘Oh, I admit that he has his faults and that the thought of his arrival in Cowes tomorrow doesn’t fill me with joy, but one of those faults doesn’t happen to be indulgence in idle gossip. That’s why I place great trust in what he tells me in the letter I received today.’ She glanced away, suddenly thoughtful. ‘It was an odd letter, actually, too loving by far. Rowe never writes loving letters; he sends curt notes.’

  ‘You were telling me what he said about Louisa,’ he prompted.

  ‘You already know that he and Captain Geoffrey Lawrence have become friendly, but I wonder if you know that the handsome captain has been regaling him with salacious tales of the goings-on at Lawrence Park? You’ve married a strumpet, Kit, a fortune-seeker for whom discretion appears to be an unknown quality. If you wish to be sure your heirs really are your heirs, I strongly suggest you lock her up, because Lawrence is accompanying Rowe to Cowes, and I rather gather that what the good captain enjoyed once before, he fully intends to enjoy again.’

  ‘You aren’t telling me anything I don’t already know, Thea.’

  She was startled. ‘You – you know?’

  ‘Yes, and I don’t intend to discuss it – not with you or with anyone else. You forfeited any right to that side of my life when you turned me down.’

  ‘Then why have you come here tonight? If part of your life is now closed to me, why bother to come and see me like this?’

  ‘Because I thought I owed you at least that.’

  The triumph she’d felt because he’d deserted Louisa on his first night back began to suddenly fade. She was no longer as sure of him as she had been when he’d entered. Something in him had changed since that night on the Spindrift, and now she bitterly regretted turning him down. If only she’d accepted and flown in the face of scandal, for by now the worst of the uproar would be over and she’d be anticipating divorce from Rowe and a future with this man she now wanted so very much. She wanted him now, and intended to do all in her power to win him back.

  Quickly she went to him, linking her slender arms around his neck and drawing his mouth down to hers. She pressed against him, exercising all her many wiles, and she felt his arms begin to move to hold her close.

  But as he did so, he suddenly saw Louisa, her lips parted with desire as she reached up to kiss Geoffrey Lawrence. The vision was so sharp and clear that he drew back abruptly.

  Thea still clung to him. ‘Love me, Kit,’ she whispered urgently, ‘love me now.’ She kissed him again. She wouldn’t give him up to a creature like Louisa Cherington. She wouldn’t.

  Before dawn a mist rose over the Solent, and the Cyclops was forced to lie at anchor in Cowes Roads, waiting for it to clear. A lookout kept watch on deck, but the rest of the crew was asleep. Down in the cabin, Rowe and Geoffrey had been up all night, and now two empty decanters of cognac stood on the table. Geoffrey was sprawled drunkenly on the only chair, while a much more sober Rowe lay on the narrow bunk, nursing his throbbing arm. Each day the pain seemed to worsen, and now was so bad that his physician had strongly advised against leaving London and had certainly instructed him not to take part in anything as strenuous as sailing; but William, Lord Rowe, wasn’t a man to bow to the advice of others, especially not when a burning thirst for revenge had to be slaked. Thea had to be brought to account for her infidelity, and Kit had to pay very dearly indeed for what he’d done. Rowe’s eyes glittered coldly as he lay on the bunk, and he was still icily clearheaded in spite of the amount of cognac he’d consumed.

  Geoffrey, however, was very much the worse for wear, leaning unsteadily forward to pick up an empty decanter and shake it in a disgruntled way before attempting to put it back. He couldn’t balance it and so it fell over, rocking to and fro on the table to the gentle motion of the cutter.

  Rowe’s attention was drawn to him. ‘God damn it, man! I thought you could hold your drink better than this.’

  ‘Nothing wrong with me.’ But Geoffrey’s voice was thick and slurred.

  Rowe drew an irritated breath and said nothing more.

  Geoffrey looked accusingly at him. ‘Why’d you tell your wife my plans for the governess, eh? Why’d you tell her?’

  ‘To gall Highclare, of course. Thea’s bound to mention it – she’s too much of a cat not to – and she’ll have been roused to a fury by his marriage.’

  ‘But he knows now,’ protested Geoffrey.

  ‘He knew already, you fool. He’d warned you off at the opera house, remember? Letting him know through Thea won’t make any difference, except that it’ll get under his skin.’ Rowe studied Geoffrey for a moment. ‘I trust you’re still of a mind to possess the lady.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Good, because I’d hate her to escape. All three of them must suffer for their actions.’

  ‘Four.’

  ‘Four? What do you mean?’

  ‘My dear stepmama.’ Geoffrey raised his empty glass in mocking toast.

  Rowe sighed irritatedly. Lady Lawrence wasn’t of any interest to him, she could go to perdition for all he cared.

  Geoffrey despised her, though, and meant to have his full revenge for the business of the locket, which he now firmly believed to have been her work. He’d already put his reprisal into effect. ‘She’ll be rueing it by now, I promise you,’ he said with a satisfied, lopsided grin.

  ‘Why do you say that?’

  ‘Because I’ve spiked her guns for her. She can’t do as she pleases and get away with it, not when she tries it with me. The atmosphere’ll be frosty at the parental home, frosty as hell.’

  ‘A contradiction in terms, if ever I heard one.’

  Geoffrey shrugged.

  Rowe got up, wincing as a searing pain lanced through his arm. God damn Cherington! Going to the stern window, he gazed through the mist toward the island. Was Thea lying in Highclare’s arms right now? A nerve twitched at his temple. His glance was drawn toward a shadowy shape that was just visible through the gray haze. It was another yacht, and from her outline he knew her to be Lord Grantham’s Eleanor, the cutter that would be taking on the Spindrift later that very day. Rowe stared at the other vessel, his cold eyes narrowing as a thought suddenly occurred to him. Slowly he smiled.

  Geoffrey saw. ‘What are you smiling about?’

  ‘I believe I’ve just thought of a way of trapping Highclare into the very corner I seek.’

  ‘Corner?’

  Rowe gave a low, chilling laugh. ‘I trust the governess has brought her funeral weeds with her, for she’s very shortly going to be a widow. Very shortly indeed.’

  25

  The sun broke through after daybreak, dispersing the mist and giving the promise of yet another beautiful day. Louisa slept late, weary after the previous day’s travel, and weary too after crying herself to sleep in the small hours; but before falling asleep, she’d come to a very important decision: she was going to fight for Kit and not surrender to Thea.

  The Venetian apartments at Highclare were aptly named, for everything in them had once adorned a palazzo on the Grand Canal itself. The doors were inlaid with ebony and ivory, and the columns were made of jasper. There was rich decoration everywhere, not a single surface left plain, and the walls sported subtle rococo designs of long twining stems and flowers in aquamarine and beige. The ceilings were gorgeously painted, and from them hung elaborate chandeliers fashioned from wood and gilded copper, their stems curling into little rosettes, their candleholders fashioned like crowns. The furniture was all of the distinctive Venetian style, lacquered and delicate, but in oddly bulging shapes. The chairs, cupboards and tables were finished in mock-Chinese work in deep-green and gold, and the bed where Louisa lay was particularly rich and ornate, with com
plicated hangings of the finest damask.

  Kit sat on the window seat. The window was slightly open, allowing in the sounds of the sea gulls screeching over the private beach a short way off. He wore a maroon dressing gown over a shirt and beige trousers, and he looked for all the world as if he’d spent the night with his new bride and had risen a short while before without disturbing her. He leaned his head back against the window embrasure, gazing not at the sunlit park outside, but at his wife as she slept. He wished he had spent the night with her; he wished so much where she was concerned, but it was not to be. She was so very lovely as she lay there, and in slumber looked so innocent. But she wasn’t innocent at all.

  The sea gulls screeched again and she began to stir, turning her head so that her dark-red hair caught against the lace on her pillow. Her gray eyes flickered and opened, widening suddenly as she saw him in the window. She sat up quickly, her hair tumbling down over the shoulders of her nightgown.

  ‘Don’t look so alarmed,’ he said dryly. ‘I’m not about to demand my conjugal rights, I’m merely placing myself where a bridegroom would be expected to be at this hour. When Pattie brings the morning tea shortly, she’ll find what she should find: the happy couple enjoying each other’s company.’

  ‘I admire your attention to detail.’

  ‘I said that you could safely leave such matters to me.’ He rose from the window and went closer to the bed. He couldn’t help thinking how attractive she was, her mane of dark-red hair falling unchecked, the flush of sleep warm on her cheeks. ‘I trust you slept well?’

  ‘Better than you, I’ll warrant,’ she replied.

  ‘Facetiousness isn’t very becoming at any time, but least of all at this ungodly hour.’

  ‘I was merely drawing a natural conclusion.’

  ‘Really?’ He studied her for a moment, remembering the manner in which she’d suddenly entered his thoughts the night before. The memory made him even cooler. ‘Draw what conclusion you wish, it’s immaterial to me. I only hope you’ll continue to remember your promise concerning my grandfather, for I intend to leave for Cowes within the hour because of the race, and I still have no intention of taking you with me. I trust, too, that you’ll be able to amuse yourself during my absence.’

  ‘I’m sure I will, sir, for thankfully I’ve yet to become reliant on your company.’ She didn’t want it to be like this, but somehow there didn’t seem to be anything she could do to change things. Each time they came face to face, the sparks flew. Why, oh, why couldn’t they go back to the way it was before the locket had spoiled everything? She lowered her eyes. Last night she’d sworn to fight to win him, but how could she when things were always like this? Maybe it was hopeless, but she had to try.

  He came to the bedside, leaning a hand on one of the posts to look down at her. ‘Louisa, I really don’t want us to quarrel like this….’

  Neither of them had heard Pattie’s discreet knock at the door, so when she came in, she saw Kit leaning over his wife in what appeared to be a very fond manner.

  The moment he realized the maid was there, his reaction was swift. Mindful of the need to give the right impression, especially with Pattie, who’d witnessed so many arguments and so could be relied upon to relate to the rest of the servants the glad tidings of the newlyweds’ reunion, he bent quickly to kiss a startled Louisa full on the lips, putting his hand to the nape of her neck, his fingers curling in her warm hair. It felt so right to kiss her, and yet everything about her had been wrong from the very beginning.

  Following so swiftly on her resolution to fight for him if she could, she was for once equal to the moment, startling him in turn by slipping her arms around his neck and returning the kiss. She gave herself to the embrace, her lips moving warmly and luxuriously beneath his as she took full advantage of the situation. It was sweet to hold him, and in spite of her actions being calculated, she was still aware of her responding senses. As she eventually drew back, she didn’t have to try to make her voice sound husky, for it was anyway.

  ‘I – I shall miss being with you today, my darling,’ she said softly, tracing the outline of his lips with her fingertip, ‘but I do understand that a yacht race isn’t suitable for a lady and that my presence would only distract.’

  He’d been caught so off guard that for a moment he was rendered speechless. Surprise lingered in his blue eyes at first as he straightened, but then it was replaced by suspicion. Where had she learned such amatory skills if not in Lawrence’s knowing arms?

  She sensed his reaction and was filled with hurt dismay, but still she smiled. ‘Good luck in the race. I’m sure you’ll win.’

  ‘I’m sure I will too, especially with your blessing behind me,’ he murmured.

  ‘You have more than my blessing; you have my love.’ Oh, how true, if only he knew.

  He glanced at Pattie, who’d put the tray down and was preparing to pour the tea. ‘Not for me, if you please. I’m about to get ready to go to Cowes.’

  ‘Very well, my lord.’ The maid bobbed a curtsy.

  He turned toward Louisa again, lowering his voice so that the maid couldn’t possibly hear. ‘I’m sorry to leave you like this, but you really give me no choice.’

  She met his gaze. ‘And you give me none, Kit.’

  For a moment he continued to look into her eyes, then suddenly he took her hand and raised it to his lips. ‘I will see you tonight,’ he said.

  Her fingers tightened momentarily over his. ‘I meant it about the race. I wish you all the luck in the world.’

  He smiled. ‘Thank you.’ Then he was gone, closing the door softly behind him.

  She lowered her eyes. Her lips were still tingling from the pleasure of kissing him. Had she played her cards wisely? It was said that a wife held all the trumps when it came to fighting off a challenge from another woman. Well, if that was so, then Lady Highclare was going to have to become a very canny cardplayer, for Thea, Lady Rowe, wasn’t just any other woman, she was the other woman, the great love of Kit’s life.

  Pattie brought her a cup of tea. ‘What clothes would you like me to set out for you, my lady?’

  ‘The yellow-and-white-checkered lawn, I think.’

  ‘Yes, my lady.’ The maid hesitated, smiling shyly. ‘My lady… ?’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘I hope you don’t mind me saying, but I’m so very glad that you and his lordship have made it up. I’m so happy for you.’

  Louisa managed a weak smile.

  Kit had left for Cowes when she went down to take breakfast with the earl in the small east-facing breakfast room on the ground floor. There was gray-and-white floral paper on the walls, an oval table covered with a crisp white cloth, elegant chairs with gray velvet seats, and a sideboard laden with the earl’s surprisingly robust choice of breakfast dishes, from beefsteak pie and York ham, to deviled kidneys, scrambled eggs, and one of the Stilton cheeses brought by the Southampton packet. The smell of fresh-baked bread hung in the air from the dish of warm rolls in the center of the table.

  Sunlight streamed in through the window, and Hengist and Horsa were sprawled sleepily in a patch of brightness on the carpet. They stirred and got up, tails wagging, as she entered, her primrose-and-whitecheckered morning gown bright in the sun.

  The earl had been reading his newspaper, but he immediately set it aside, getting to his feet and coming toward her. He wore a floor-length powder-blue dressing gown, and there was a tasseled cap on his head. He kissed her on the cheek and then drew out a chair for her. ‘Good morning, my dear. I’m so glad you’ve decided to stay here today, for I’ll have you to myself.’

  ‘Good morning, sir.’

  ‘Louisa, you’re part of the family now, so I wish you would call me grandfather. Shall we begin again? Good morning, my dear.’

  She smiled, liking him more each time she was with him. ‘Good morning, Grandfather.’

  ‘That’s better. Now, then, what would you like to eat? Some beefsteak pie? It’s very good.’
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br />   ‘I’m afraid I couldn’t possibly manage pie for breakfast, but a little scrambled egg would be very nice.’ She felt uncomfortable as he went to the sideboard to serve her. ‘I’m sure it’s not right that you should be waiting on me.’

  ‘Nonsense. I’ve dreamed for so long about having Kit’s wife to dance attendance upon that I’m positively wallowing.’ He spooned a very large helping of the eggs onto a plate and put it before her. Then he poured her some coffee from the extremely elegant silver pot before resuming his seat. ‘Kit was very sorry to leave you behind this morning.’

  ‘I – I’m sure he’ll feel free to concentrate more on the race if I’m not there.’

  ‘No doubt you’re right. I wish he wasn’t quite so keen on racing the Spindrift, for it can be a very dangerous activity, as the loss of the Mercury bears full testimony.’ He was silent for a moment, glancing at her. ‘My dear, are you really sure you wish to forgo the grand ball?’

  She couldn’t help the slightly guilty color that entered her cheeks. ‘Yes, quite sure.’ The reply lacked all conviction, and she knew it.

  ‘I know how possessive new bridegrooms can be, especially if their brides are as pretty as you, and I doubt if Kit is any different. He wants to keep you all to himself and thus deny others the opportunity of dancing with you, but understandable as his attitude may be, it’s still no reason for making you stay away if you really wish to go.’

  She felt very awkward and gave him a weak smile. ‘I – I really don’t want to go.’

  ‘Well, if you change your mind and feel you’d really like to go, after all, just let me know. I’ll tell Kit that I insist on you both going, and then he can grumble at me but will not blame you.’ He smiled. ‘Now, then, what would you like to do this morning?’

  ‘I thought I might take a ride, if that’s all right.’