“You!” she exclaimed, in evident dismay.
“Yes, Davina,” repeated Charles, his voice as hard as iron. He leaned against the edge of the table, his eyes dark and cold as he looked at his brother. “Well, Howard,” he growled. “Let us hear your sorry tale.”
Howard ran a hand through his hair.
“It’s like this,” he started. “About a year and a half ago, Jed was doing some business with gypsies over at Ledger’s field. I went along with him. And that is when I first saw Esmé.”
Davina glared while Charles raised an eyebrow in undisguised surprise.
“You have known her – that long?”
Howard nodded. “She was dancing and singing and I thought her the most beautiful creature in the world. After that night, I often visited the camp. I fell in love with her. And she fell in love with me. I gave her a ring, the one Mama left to me to give to any future – wife. Esmé has it still.”
Davina felt momentarily chastened. So Esmé had not stolen the ring after all!
“I – followed her about the country, wherever her family went,” resumed Howard. “Then Father took a turn for the worse. It became difficult to get away from Priory Park.
“I had been running the estate for a while, but now I was in complete charge. And I started to see how – how much debt we were in. Jed started on at me. He said I had to give up Esmé – I needed to marry into money. Then Father died and you came home, brother. I was sure you would disapprove of my liaison so I – sent Esmé word that – our relations were severed.”
“You sent word! Bravo,” exclaimed Charles with disdain. “You could not tell her to her face?”
“If he had come to Esmé with those words, she would have killed him!” asserted Esmé imperiously.
Howard flashed her an admiring glance. “You see, Charles? I knew my Esmé too well to risk confronting her! She’ll forget after a while, I thought, and no harm done.”
“But he did not know you so well, did he?” Charles said to Esmé.
“No!” replied Esmé fiercely. “Once a gypsy promises herself to a man, only death can break that promise! For weeks Howard did not come. I was so unhappy. Then my father arranged a bridegroom for me.
“So I told him I loved another – an outsider – ” Esmé sobbed. “I was banished! Banished! I came to these woods and found this cottage. The old woman was not troubled to have me here so I stayed.
“I knew Howard lived on the other side of the woods. But I did not go to him. I waited for fate to bring him to me! I rescued you, Lord Delverton, and discovered you were his brother! Then came – the bad luck man!”
Charles looked at Howard. “The bad luck man?”
“Jed,” explained Howard. “He followed you the day you brought the horse to Esmé and when the two of you returned from a ride he was waiting for you. Remember?”
Charles nodded grimly.
“When Jed told us that Howard was to marry, I wanted to die!’ cried Esmé. “I sent you away, Lord Delverton, because I did not want you to see how much I wanted to die! After you left, Jed told me all that the old woman had told him.
“Everything was changed, he said. Priory Park must be his! He wanted the old woman to repeat her story to Lord Shelford but she refused. She still believed that if the Felk family found out about Jed, he would be killed.”
“So when Martha refused, what did Jed plan to do then?” asked Charles.
“He said he would claim his birthright – another way,” answered Esmé. “He must marry Davina and not Howard. He wanted me to go to Davina and tell her about – Howard and me. Then she would abandon the wedding.
“I told Jed that first I must find out if Howard loved Davina. If he did not love her, I would do as Jed asked. But if I discovered that he did love her, then I would not destroy his happiness. I would say nothing, but I would kill myself!”
Both Davina and Charles exclaimed in horror, but Howard chuckled with pride.
“By God, she’s a passionate creature!” he said. “I had no idea all this was going on, of course, until later that same day, when I encountered Jed in the woods. He said nothing about what he had discovered from the old woman, but he couldn’t contain himself about Esmé.
“When he said she was living in the woods, it put the wind up me, I can tell you. And when he started ranting that I must honour my commitment to her, I said he should mind his own business. Next he had me off my horse and was using his fists on me. Damned unpleasant it was, too. It didn’t help that Davina stumbled on to us – ”
Charles started. “Davina?”
“Yes,” continued Howard. “She didn’t know what the fight was about, of course, and I immediately sent her back to the house. Jed threw a few more punches but I managed to get away.
“I couldn’t get Esmé out of my mind, though. wanted to see her just – one more time. So that evening after supper, I slipped away. I started out for the woods. But it seems Esmé had the same idea, for there she was, riding towards me.
“I knew the minute I saw her again, what I felt for her. We embraced and I was even more certain. Then the house went up in flames and without thinking we raced back. When I saw her risk her life I thought, ‘Howard, old fellow, she’s the one for you after all.’”
Howard gave a sheepish grin. “I really didn’t mean to put noses out of joint, you know!”
Charles shook his head. “I simply cannot imagine what Esmé could ever want with a shallow fool like you!”
Esmé sprang up with a cry. “I love him. Yes, weakling and coward though he is, I love him. Why is it a surprise that I should love him? After all, Davina loves him too.”
Davina’s head swam in sudden shock. Love Howard? When had she given Esmé that impression? She glanced at Charles. His face was impassive, but his knuckles where he gripped the sword had tightened.
“Oh?” he said dryly. “That is no concern of mine.”
Esmé regarded him strangely and then shrugged. “If you say so. But she came to this very cottage to seek me out. I supposed she wanted to see what kind of – rival she had. She admitted she loved Howard. I remember her words exactly. ‘You know nothing of me. Only that I am to marry and that I love the man you love!’”
Davina gasped as she realised how Esmé had concluded from that remark that the man Davina was to marry – Howard – was one and the same as the man she loved! Davina stole a glance at Charles. His face was set as if in stone. The only movement was the flexing of a muscle in his jaw.
Howard plucked at his chin anxiously. “I never realised that Davina cared much for me at all, Charles. Truly I didn’t. Esmé, on the other hand, had always made her feelings clear.”
He fell silent as his brother turned a coldly enquiring gaze upon him.
“Perhaps you would like to make clear, sir, just what your intentions now are regarding Esmé!”
“Oh – to marry her, Charles. To marry her.”
He tapped the sword against his boot. “Are you not forgetting something? You are not free to marry, sir. You are already betrothed.”
Davina’s mind reeled. Did Charles intend to try and force Howard to marry her, Davina, so that he might once again pursue Esmé? Nothing could be more cruel or devastating! She staggered to her feet, tears filling her eyes. “He is free, Lord Delverton, because I release him. I release him from his promise. Esmé – he is yours.”
Gathering the cloak about her, she turned for the door. When Charles put out a hand to bar her way, she swung angrily upon him.
“I am leaving. I am taking your horse and if you try to prevent me I – will kill you!”
She rushed furiously out into the rain. All she could hear behind her was Esmé’s admiring laughter.
“Bravo, little Davina,” she called. “Bravo!”
*
The sun was setting over the lake, casting a pale golden glow on the water. Davina, wrapped in a plaid blanket and a fur, stared over the tranquil scene from the terrace of Priory Park.
&
nbsp; She had been ill for some weeks after her mad gallop home from the cottage in the woods. Regine had nursed her but this morning had finally departed for London with the Duke of Bedley and Mr Crouch.
Meanwhile Jess had relayed all news of what had ensued after that fateful afternoon at the cottage in the woods.
Howard and Esmé had gone to Liverpool. There they had married before setting sail for a new life in America.
Charles’s horse, that Davina had ridden so hard and fast, had been returned to its master after a spell of cosseting in the Priory Park stables. Both Charles and Aunt Sarah had visited on a number of occasions to enquire after Davina’s health but Davina had been too ill to see anyone.
Now she had recovered she made it clear to her father that she wished to return to London. That way, she thought to herself, she would never have to see Charles again.
Footsteps sounded on the stones of the terrace. She opened her eyes and then started to her feet in shock.
“L-Lord Delverton!”
It was as if her thoughts had conjured up his image! Horrified, she gathered up her fur, with the full intention of fleeing into the house.
“Madam, I beg you. Give me leave to speak to you, please.”
His voice was so low and so full of pleading, that Davina hesitated and then sank back slowly into her chair. Charles watched her for a moment before stooping to lift the edge of her fur from where it trailed on the ground.
She took it from him without a word and waited.
“Since we – were last together,” said Lord Delverton eventually, “my circumstances have unexpectedly changed for the better. The letter you delivered to me that afternoon in the cottage – was from Africa. It brought news that diamonds had at last been discovered in my mine. I am now, it appears, a very rich man indeed.”
He paused as if to gauge Davina’s response.
“I am delighted – at your good fortune,” she said mechanically.
Charles regarded her closely and sighed. “I had hoped you would understand what this sudden access of wealth actually means to me,” he said softly.
Davina considered, plucking at the edges of the fur. “Well, I suppose it means you can buy foreign cheeses and the best sherry and feather beds and – and lots of Wedgewood china.”
His lips twitched. “That is all correct, of course. But it also means that, at long last, I have something concrete to offer a – a wife.”
“No doubt that is an advantageous development for you,” she murmured, wondering what this information had to do with her.
“For pity’s sake, madam,” Charles exclaimed. “Can you not see that I am asking for your hand in marriage?”
Davina froze. He pitied her! She had been abandoned by his brother and he pitied her! Why else would he ask her to marry him, when his own heart yearned for Esmé?
“I could not possibly consider such an offer,” she replied icily. She turned her head and stared out over the darkening lake.
Such a long silence ensued that at last she thought he might have departed. She turned back to see him standing there still, his head low, his eyes fixed on the ground.
“Madam,” he said, and she was surprised at the tremor in his voice. “I do understand – that it will take time for you to – to forget my brother.”
Davina could not help her reply. “As long as it will take you to – to forget the gypsy, perhaps?”
Charles reeled. “Esmé? You cannot believe I was enamoured of Esmé? She is an extraordinary creature and worth ten of my brother but – I was never free to love her.”
Davina’s heart gave a curious flutter in her breast. “N-never free?”
“No, for from the moment I saw you, my heart was in your hands. Alas, fate so conspired that, before I had the courage to divulge my feelings, you were engaged to Howard. Then oh, how I tried to tear you from my soul but – it was impossible. How bitter it was to me that you loved him and – loathed me.”
Wondering, suffused with an impossible hope, Davina rose trembling from her chair.
“You cannot know – ” she began.
“Oh, madam,” her companion groaned. “Do you think I cannot know how deep a wound may be inflicted by the arrow of love? Yet allow me to hope that I might heal that wound in you!”
Davina gazed in awe at his tortured features. Could all that he was saying be true? “At the time of the fire,” she whispered, “when I fell – from the rope – was it you who caught me?”
“Yes, it was.”
She began to tremble, remembering the passionate words that had poured forth as she lay dazed in his arms.
“Thank God. Thank God, my darling. You are safe.”
Charles, trying to control the emotion in his voice, now ventured his own question.
“The brooch – that I took from you on the terrace – when you returned in so distraught a state from the woods – did you accept it willingly from Jed?”
Davina shuddered. “No, oh, no! He pressed the brooch – and his most unwelcome attentions – on me. I fled his touch.”
There was a sharp intake of breath. “He – laid hands on you?”
Davina buried her face in her hands. “Yes,” she admitted in a trembling voice.
Charles clenched his fist. “By God, he is lucky to be dead and beyond my reach.”
Davina looked up breathlessly into his burning eyes.
His features, taut with fury at the insolence of Jed, melted as he looked at her. Yet still he misinterpreted her gaze.
“How you have suffered,” he said, quivering with emotion. “My only hope is that you will permit time and my devoted attention to erase from your mind the memory of both Jed Barker and my charming but dishonourable brother, Howard.”
At the word ‘dishonourable,’ Davina, dazed beyond all measure by the turn of events, burst into tears.
“He said – he said – you dallied with many ladies and – squandered your family’s fortune on them!”
“Howard said that?” Davina nodded miserably. At last, Charles understood. Seeing her tear-streaked face turned to him, he reached out his hand and hesitantly but tenderly pushed back a strand of golden hair from her brow.
“Did he – tell you that while – offering endearments to you?” he asked gently.
“Y-yes,” whispered Davina.
“Oh, my darling girl, can you not see that he was securing you for himself by painting an unsavoury picture of me? I have only ever dreamed of happiness with one woman on earth and that is you!”
Convinced at last that Charles did indeed love her, Davina cried out, “And I, my Lord – have dreamed only of you! But once betrothed to Howard, how could I ever admit my deep love for you?”
His eyes alight, Charles sank to one knee.
“Prove that you dreamed of me, my darling! Take my hand now and promise that you will be mine forever. Marry me, my adored one, marry me!”
The touch of his hand made Davina swoon. She would have fallen, but with one swift move, he was on his feet again and folding her within his arms.
She would surely die in his embrace, die as she felt his strong arms encircle her waist! Then came his whispering breath on her cheek.
“Your answer, my sweetheart? Your answer?”
“Y-yes, my Lord. Yes!”
He moaned as he bent to kiss her.
She felt his lips seeking hers and his was the sweetest kiss she could ever have imagined. A kiss that would enchant her for the rest of their lives together. A kiss that would become a symbol of their devotion to each other.
The joy that swept through her whole being brought such an incredible sensation of happiness that no words could express her feelings now or forever.
She found herself suddenly in a new universe of delight so distant from the world of all the misery and drama of recent events.
Her heart pounding, Davina strained her breast to his. Now at last the struggle was over. Now at last they might be one.
Now at last they could claim
the love that was theirs to eternity.
Theirs to Eternity Page 15