The idea made Stephen disgusted with their sire. Whatever fate had befallen the man, it was considerably easier than the future he had thrown at his children. Hopefully, the man had suffered a slow, lingering death somewhere. It was the least he deserved.
Stephen lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Although dinner had been plentiful, it hadn’t been lost to him that there had been no meat in it. Meat was a luxury this family simply couldn’t afford. He had eaten sparingly; very aware that every mouthful he took would deprive them all in the coming months if anything happened to him. It made him even more determined that, unless something went horribly wrong with his plans for Levant, he would not be moving anywhere for the foreseeable future.
Despite their lack of finances, the group of people who occupied the house were a family, and a very close knit one at that and, for once in his life, Stephen yearned to be a part of it.
At eight and twenty, he had spent nearly all of his adult life in the army. He had been raised by an aunt who had worked in service and been gone from dawn to dusk throughout his childhood, leaving him to literally raise himself. Although he had enjoyed his freedom, he had desperately wanted to belong; to someone, somewhere. In the end, when his aunt had died suddenly from a wasting disease one summer, he had used the meagre savings to purchase a commission and had joined the army. Since then, he had been fighting for king and country, although he had no idea why. He had no family; no place to call home; and no affiliation to anyone he had left behind in Wednesbury, and he felt as though he was fighting a war that someone else was going to benefit from him winning. The closest thing he had ever experienced to a normal family home was the one he had been in throughout the day at Cragdale Manor and he desperately wanted to protect it.
Over the course of the day he had watched, listened and learned, and had slowly fallen deeply in love with the house, the family and, unless he was much mistaken, one beautifully angelic lady named Prudence. They worked hard to eke out a living in the most impoverished circumstances, yet didn’t grumble, moan or argue. They simply got on with it, and helped each other out while doing their best to keep an eye on their seriously ill mother. It galled him to think that they had to live with such an appalling set of circumstances, while being victim to Levant’s greed.
He sat in front of the roaring fire and listened to Robbie read. It brought him more peace than he had ever felt. He felt himself dozing, but was so relaxed and content that he couldn’t bring himself to do anything other than smile at Robbie when he began to make snoring sounds and tease Stephen for his sleepiness at a baby’s bedtime. He took the gentle ribbing with good grace and issued a mock challenge to the young boy that left him in fits of laughter.
Eventually, everyone retired to bed. Hours after the house had settled into slumber, Stephen lay wide awake on the bed and listened to the clock on the mantle chime once. It was time for him to do his rounds. He slowly eased his legs off the bed and moved toward the door, pleased to note that the house was silent as he made his way downstairs. He had no idea where Prudence was, and could only assume that she was sharing a room with one of her sister’s given that he had taken up what he now knew was her bedroom. The air within the small room even smelled of her, but even that was something that made him feel more at home rather than on edge.
“Where are you going?”
Stephen jumped and swore roundly. He turned to glare at the woman who always seemed to be on his mind and cursed himself for not being aware that she had crept up behind him.
Maybe he had been hit on the head harder than he had realised, because he seemed to be slacking a little in his attention to the finer details, he mused silently as he studied her.
“What are you doing out of bed?” He demanded.
“Leaving us so soon?”
Stephen sighed and glared at her through the darkness. “I am going to go and check to see if Mr Simpson is still there and, given what happened to the front garden last night, am going to make sure that there isn’t anyone lurking in the bushes.”
“Like you did, you mean?” Prudence asked wryly.
Stephen froze, his brows lifted in astonishment. He met her challenging gaze. “I was checking to make sure that you are alright,” he announced flatly.
“Or are you going to see if you could help wreck the garden again?”
“How could I wreck the garden last night?” he sighed. “I was tied to the bed and talking to you most of the night.” It irked him to admit it but it was the truth.
“Will is in your place now, maybe he was the one who did it?”
“It is irrelevant who did it. We both know that it was Levant. He thinks that by damaging your vegetables, your only food source, he is going to financially damage you so that when he comes with his ridiculously low offer, you will accept it because you will be not only impoverished but facing starvation as well.” He closed his mouth with a snap and mentally winced at the cruelty of his words. “I am sorry,” he murmured on a sigh.
“It’s alright. It is the truth, isn’t it? We are impoverished, but we are together and that is what counts. Nothing, and nobody, especially Levant, can break us apart. We are not going to a work house, we are going to stick together, no matter how hard life gets.” She had no idea what they were going to do about finding the money to pay for the vegetables they would need next year but they would have to face that bridge when they came to it.
“Life won’t get any harder than it already is, Prudence. Trust me on that one,” Stephen replied quietly. He was glad for the moment to be alone with her. He had only vague memories of last night but had to know for certain in his own mind if they were memories, or wishful dreams.
She didn’t move when he slowly walked toward her and cupped her cheek in his warm palm. “Trust me, Prudence. I will help you through this, but you have to allow me to take the lead and make decisions on what is best for everyone. Do as I ask you to do and I can promise you that by next spring, money will not be an issue.”
His declaration made Prudence frown and she stared at him in consternation. “What do you mean?” Her blood ran cold as she thought of Levant’s offer for the house. Did Stephen expect to seduce her into selling? Was that his plan? He was handsome; by far the most handsome of Levant’s men. Had he been sent to seduce her out of her home? She swallowed and felt sick at just how easily she had been fooled by him, and drawn in by his gentleness.
“I think that you had better go back to Levant. There is nothing here for you.” She shoved his hand away from her and glared at him. “It was a good try though.”
Stephen frowned at the doorway to the sitting room and wondered what he had said wrong. He had merely meant that once Levant was out of the way, which he sincerely hoped would be soon, he could secure his relationship with her and provide for the family until their relationship could be placed on a more formal understanding. He stood for a moment in the silence of the hallway and replayed the words over in his mind before he followed her.
“I cannot tell you too much right now, Prudence, but I am most definitely not in Levant’s employ.”
Prudence continued to stare into the fire. Humiliation raged through her and she struggled to contain the tears that threatened. It had been wonderful to have someone in the house who was bigger than her, harder than her, and calmer in the face of a crisis. Just having his reassuring presence in the house had eased everyone’s fears. Even though they all knew that he was associated with Levant in some way, they had welcomed him and, despite their relatively short acquaintance, accepted him into the family.
When she didn’t appear to have heard him, he turned her to face him. Rather than drop his hands and step back, he kept them on her shoulders to stop her moving away. He had to bend down to look her in the eyes, and watched in consternation when a single tear trickled slowly down her cheek.
“I am not with Levant,” he whispered fervently and silently willed her to believe him. He had no idea why her good opinion of him mattered so muc
h after such a very short acquaintance, but he really wanted her to think well of him. He wanted the whole family to like him as much as he liked them, and allow him to be a part of them.
He made a decision right there and then, and sent a mental apology to Sir Hugo. “I work for His Majesty’s government. I have been sent to the area to look into Levant’s activities. Not only do we think they are criminal, but we think that they are linked to a ruthless gang of French spies who have been smuggled into England.”
Prudence’s eyes popped wide and she stared at him in horror. “Spies?” She studied him suspiciously for a moment. It all sounded ridiculously adventurous but the steady way he continued to study her, the fierce determination in his gaze began to burn its way through her doubts and fears until she realised that he was telling the truth.
“I was watching the house the other night because I wanted to make sure that you were alright, that’s all.”
“You threatened Robbie,” she whispered.
“I don’t want him near Dinnington, Prudence. It is a dangerous place to be. I don’t know how much gossip you have heard, but Levant has purchased a lot of the land in the area, and most of the coastline, for about two miles in either direction. He has pressured Simpson to sell him his share of land just the other side of Dinnington and, when Simpson couldn’t get his brother to sign his half away -”
“Simpson paid with his life,” Prudence whispered.
“I saw Humphrey leave Simpson’s body on the shoreline. I think they were hoping that it was going to be swept out to sea or, if it was found, the finger of suspicion would point in your direction rather than his.”
“But we wouldn’t murder anyone,” she gasped, horrified at the thought.
She wanted to deny that anyone could be that callous; that cold-heartedly duplicitous, but couldn’t forget the destruction of the garden. Levant had ruthlessly destroyed the main source of their food supply, and they faced starvation because of it if she couldn’t come up with some way to raise the funds they would need to pay for the things they now didn’t have the time to grow. She knew, deep inside, that if Levant could get them put into jail for his crimes, he wouldn’t hesitate to set any one of them up, including Robbie.
“I know that, but Levant is greedy and ruthless. It is imperative that we keep Robbie as close to home as possible, and ensure that we enlist the services of Rufus. I can bring him up to date on what I have uncovered so far, but I need to call for reinforcements from my associates in the War Office.”
Prudence gulped and stared at him. Throughout the day, she had begun to feel as though she was getting to know him. The matter of fact way he calmly discussed the details of his life amongst the government and, in particular, the War Office, left her stunned and confused. If he was telling the truth, he was a spy.
A government spy.
She wasn’t quite sure what to say, but Stephen did.
“Right now, Levant doesn’t know where I am. I have simply vanished. He may think that I have decided to leave his employ, or he may consider that I have had a confrontation with someone and lost. I don’t really care. I am fairly certain that he does not know that I am here. If he did, he would have yelled at the top of his lungs for me while he was pounding on the door earlier. Last night, Humphrey went back to Dinnington once he had left Simpson’s body on the beach and, as far as I am aware, nobody was around to witness me being brought back here.”
“Right now, you don’t exist,” she whispered.
“It has to stay that way, Prudence,” Stephen growled. “I can move about unhindered during the night, keep watch on the house and see what I can find out about Levant while I am at it and they won’t be any wiser.” He tipped her chin up until she looked at him. “You have to carry on as though I am not here.”
There wasn’t really any way she could object. She was still shocked at his revelation and felt slightly weak at the knees, although wasn’t entirely sure if that had anything to do with his revelation that he was a government spy, relief in the knowledge that he wasn’t one of Levant’s men after all, or just the fact that he was so close to her.
“There is one more thing,” he whispered. When he saw nothing but curiosity in her eyes, he smiled gently and lowered his head. He swallowed her gasp and didn’t move any closer for fear of frightening her. The fact that she allowed him steal a kiss after such a short acquaintance was reward enough.
Prudence couldn’t move away. The gentle warmth of his lips against hers held her captive as efficiently as the ties she had used on him last night. She felt his warm breath on her cheek, and the pressure of his hands on her waist, but he neither moved away nor drew her closer. She didn’t know whether to be glad or not. It was over all too soon and she sighed as he slowly eased backward and dropped his hands.
“What was that for?”
“Just checking,” Stephen drawled wryly.
He now knew that the dreams that had plagued him had been based on reality and were not just wishful thinking. Although he couldn’t remember the details yet, he knew with absolute conviction that he had kissed Prudence on the beach last night, before someone had hit him on the head for a second time. It didn’t matter now. In the grand scheme of things it seemed a mere triviality given that his situation had changed so much in such a short space of time. He had looked for miracles to find a way to get close enough to protect the family, and it seemed that lady luck was, for once, smiling down on him.
He couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. Not only did he now have a distinct advantage over Levant, but he could protect the innocent, and use the sheltered protection of the house as command central while he ensured that justice was served and Prudence and her family were kept safe.
“Get some sleep. I will be back in a while.”
Prudence watched him disappear into the house and waited. She listened closely but couldn’t detect any further sound beyond the door. After several moments of stunned silence she crept into the hallway and peered around. It was dark, especially with the shutters closed, but she was fairly certain that he had left the house. The rooms downstairs felt empty as she wandered around in search of him.
How had he crept out so silently? She frowned and hurried upstairs only to stand in the upper hallway and stare into the darkness while she searched for an explanation. Nobody of his size should be able to move about like that.
She fell into a fitful doze sometime before dawn. The last time she had checked outside, sunlight had just started to creep over the horizon. It was now light enough inside the room to eradicate even the darkest shadows.
He hadn’t returned. Did that mean he wasn’t going to? Was he alright? Had Levant caught up with him?
Determined not to worry about him at all, she sternly reminded herself that he was a grown man and perfectly capable of looking after himself. Rather than sit and worry, she put a pot of water on to boil and stared blankly at it while she tried to figure out what to do. What should she tell the others? They would undoubtedly ask where he was when they got up and realised that he had left the house while they had been asleep. Should she tell them that he had left in the night and returned to Dinnington? Had his story about working for the government been nothing more than a lie? She had no idea, and the constant flow of unanswered questions continued to swirl around in her mind until she thought that she might go quietly mad.
She yawned and slumped wearily into the chair beside the fire. Her practically sleepless night had left her feeling exhausted and more confused, alone and afraid than ever. She almost wished that someone would get up so she could at least go through the normal chores of the morning, but then she desperately needed a moment to herself to try to stem the growing unease that settled deep in the pit of her stomach.
She absolutely refused to consider that her fear for his safety was anything to do with the fact that she had already started to form an attachment to him. He had barely been in her house more than a day and she was already in knots over his safety. I
f he had gone back to Levant, it was probably for the best. At least now she could put him very firmly on the other side of the invisible line that lay between herself and her arch enemy. She leaned forward and rested her aching head in her palms and willed herself not to cry away her disappointment. She had hoped that he really was of good character, and someone she could rely on rather than suspect. As it was, she now didn’t know what to think, or what to do. She was so lost in thought that she didn’t realise that she was no longer alone.
“Prudence? Are you alright?” His wonderfully familiar voice, so close to her ear, made her squeak and she jumped up in alarm.
“Stephen,” she whispered and, without thinking, launched herself at him.
A dark frown of concern settled on his brow and he glanced around the kitchen while he slid his arms around her to draw her closer. “What’s happened? Are you alright?”
“I am fine, I was just worried,” Prudence lapsed into silence having realised that she had said far too much. The twinkle of mischief in his eyes made her want to snatch the words back but she knew that it was already far too late. “I didn’t know if Levant had got you.” She hastily assured him in a desperate effort to backtrack. “Given what happened to Simpson, I didn’t know -”
Whatever else she was about to say was cut off by the warm pressure of his mouth. For the third time in the last couple of days, he kissed her. This time though, he was very firmly in control and was more delighted than stunned. The worry on her face had concerned him greatly and, for one brief moment, he wondered if something had happened to the others, or the house, while he had been away. To find that her fear was for him made him want to shout with joy.
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