by Janet Woods
‘Alpha and omega.’ He chuckled, his long, gaunt body quivered slightly, his eyes focused until she became aware of the power surrounding him. A bony hand closed around her wrist. ‘Forgive me my sin, daughter. Only then can I die in peace.’
‘But I do not want you to die, not when I’ve just discovered you. Besides, only my mother can forgive you.’
Francis gave an approving nod at her words.
‘Then send the pagan temptress to me at once.’
Anger came in a hot rush of blood through her veins. How dare he blame this on her mother! ‘Megan lies in yonder churchyard. She has told me the circumstances of my birth. I see no reason to doubt that she was the victim, you the perpetrator. Lie there and feel sorry for yourself if you wish, sir. I hope my mother rises from her grave, seizes you by the scruff of the neck and gives you the thrashing you so richly deserve for ruining her life.’
‘You should not treat a dying man so,’ he muttered, in an altogether self-pitying and pathetic manner.
She gave a careless laugh. ‘Dying! What makes you think that? Francis assures me that your heart is strong. It’s your mind which is at fault. I think you’ve allowed melancholy to gain the upper hand and are wallowing in it like a hog up to its hams in muck.’
The preacher made a spluttering noise. ‘I did not expect to discover a daughter so disrespectful.’
She laughed again, taking pleasure in goading him. ‘Respect is something you’ll have to earn, my dear papa. If you want to see me again you must learn to be a man instead of a hypocritical and arrogant worm.’ She turned and stomped away from him before she slapped him.
Francis followed her down the stairs. He was almost choking on his laughter. ‘That was a scene I would not have predicted in a thousand years.’
‘Considering the manner of my mother’s death, the matter is not one for levity,’ she hurled at him. Picking up her skirts, she side-stepped the astonished-looking Mrs Leeman who’d come to investigate what all the fuss was about, thrust open the door and began to run towards the church.
Francis joined her a little later, when her temper had cooled and she was gazing with some perplexity at the headstone erected on her mother’s grave. It was fashioned from expensive white marble. Mourned by her daughter, Lady Edward Forbes. On the line underneath in smaller lettering was stated, and Joshua Skinner and Daisy Skinner. It gave her the impression that she had no name of her own now, and had been deliberately separated from her siblings by name and rank. There was an etching of a dove at the top, carrying a ribbon in its beak. Words unfamiliar to her were inscribed along its length.
‘I was insensitive,’ Francis said. ‘I see too much death in my profession and didn’t stop to think.’
‘I know you didn’t mean it, Francis. What does requiescat in pace mean?’
‘It’s Latin and means, rest in peace.’
Tears touched her eyes. ‘My mother deserves to rest in peace, for she had precious little rest whilst she lived. Edward must have had the headstone placed here.’ She smiled through her tears. ‘He’s such a good and loving husband.’
So why did she sound as though she was desperately trying to convince herself of the fact? She avoided the wound exposed in Francis’s eyes by her careless remark and was relieved when she caught sight of Richard White coming towards them.
He kissed her on both cheeks, tucking her arm in his as they began to stroll back to the house. ‘You look well, my dear.’
‘And so do you, Reverend. What do you think, Francis?’
‘The good Reverend looks positively resurrected now he has a mission in life. You’ll be relieved to know your guest is recovering, Richard.’
Richard’s warning look brought a bark of mirthless laughter from Francis. ‘You need battle your conscience no longer. I’ve taken it upon myself to inform Lady Forbes of the facts.’
‘But Edward said—’
‘You would do well to remember I’m not accountable for my actions to Edward. In this instance I’ve put the need of my patient first. I should warn you that it worked, his pride was punctured in the process. Although he may sulk for a while, the self-sacrificing rubbish he usually spouts should cease. But from time to time you might need to remind him he’s not humble enough for true martyrdom.’
Siana giggled.
Richard opened his mouth, then thought better of it and shut it again.
Edward had concluded his business and was gazing out of the window at them as they came up the path together. His usual smile was lacking when they went inside and he greeted them a little gruffly, ‘You’ve been gone a long time.’
‘Have we? I hadn’t noticed. I’ve been visiting my mother’s grave. Thank you for the headstone, Edward. I’m touched by the gesture and the thought behind it.’ She crossed to where he stood and kissed him on the cheek.
‘You’ll have to excuse me,’ Francis said stiffly. ‘I have other patients to see.’
‘Siana has missed your company. You must join us for dinner some time.’ Edward slid an arm around her waist and pulled her close, his voice as soft as cream against her ear. ‘Mustn’t he, my love?’
‘Yes, he most certainly must. Perhaps the weekend after next? Can you bring your daughters, Francis? I’m longing to meet them.’
Edward looked sadly reflective for a moment. ‘I’d forgotten your delightful children. Of course you must bring them. Daughters are very precious creatures and a father should seize every opportunity to be with them.’
‘Then before you learn it from somebody else, Edward, Francis has made me aware that the man upstairs is my father.’
His eyes became flat and inpenetrable, his voice dangerously soft. ‘Have you, by God! What prompted you to take the matter into your own hands, Francis?’
Francis picked up his hat. ‘If Siana has a father, she deserves to know it.’
‘Allow me to be the judge of what my wife does and doesn’t deserve to know.’
‘Edward? What are you saying? I have a mind of my own and would prefer to decide for myself.’ Siana tried to pull away from him, but his hold on her was firm and if she struggled she’d make it too obvious.
The two men were staring at each other now, like a couple of duellists sizing each other up. Damn, damn!
Mrs Leeman came in with the tea and, noticing nothing amiss, proceeded to lay out cups and plates. There were several almond tartlets laid out on a plate. The strong smell of almonds seemed to surround her. At first it was pleasant, if strong, then suddenly it became entirely disagreeable and her stomach began to churn. Perspiration dewed her face as nausea attacked her. She was overcome by dizziness.
‘Edward,’ she murmured as the room began to dissolve.
She heard him swear as she slumped against him.
She came to with a sudden shock as a sharp smell cut into her senses. She was lying on the sofa, a pillow under her ankles. Edward and Francis were leaning over her. Francis was holding a vial of smelling salts to her nose.
Edward looked frantic. ‘What’s wrong with her?’
‘Ugh!’ Wrinkling her nose, she knocked the vial away and gasped in a deep breath of air to ease her stinging nostrils.
Francis had an exasperated look. ‘Stand back, man, whilst I find out. In fact, you can leave the room until I’ve examined her – you stay, Mrs Leeman.’
‘But Siana is my—’ Edward began.
‘Out!’ Francis barked. ‘My consultations are private unless I state differently.’
‘It’s nothing. I fainted, that’s all,’ she whispered, but Siana had her own suspicions of what had caused the faint and the beginnings of a smile glimmered on her lips.
Francis was impersonal in his examination of her. Siana wanted to snuggle her face into his palm when he laid it against her forehead. She was so aware of him, so responsive to his touch, she was surprised Mrs Leeman didn’t notice. When Francis asked her a couple of personal questions, awareness came into his eyes and she knew she’d guessed right. She smiled
with delight when he finally caught her eye, she couldn’t help herself. He returned the smile a little ruefully before he stood up and instructed Mrs Leeman to show Edward in.
‘What’s wrong with her, man?’ Edward shouted at him, almost frothing at the mouth with the indignity of being dismissed from the room in such a cursory manner.
Francis grinned when Siana giggled.
‘Nothing serious, I assure you, Edward. In fact, she’s a perfectly healthy girl who is suffering from a normal condition. It seems you are both to be congratulated. Siana is expecting an infant.’ He closed his bag with a snap. ‘I must away now.’ He swept Mrs Leeman before him, leaving them to share a moment of privacy.
‘Don’t forget our dinner engagement or I’ll be cross with you,’ she called after him, and he turned and winked at her.
The incredulity in Edward’s expression, especially when mixed with the remnants of his frown, was a delicious reward to savour. She’d never seen him so lacking in control of himself.
‘My dear,’ he murmured, ‘not for one moment did I imagine . . .’
Slanting her eyes up at him, full of the knowledge that she had his complete attention, she murmured softly, ‘How surprising, when you are wont to prove your potency at the most unpredictable and inconvenient of moments.’
Giving a chuckle, he fell to his knees and drew her so close she could feel his heart beating against her ear. ‘You are my constant temptress. My dearest love, you have made me the happiest man alive.’
‘I find that hard to believe when you were so grumpy and rude to Francis, just now.’
‘I invited him to dinner, didn’t I?’ he said, and the remark was slightly truculent. ‘The man presumes too much on his family connections.’
‘He is a friend who has helped me in the past. I was delighted to see him again.’
‘He’s too familiar with you. You are a married woman who cannot have friends amongst the opposite sex. People will talk.’
‘I believe you might be jealous of him?’ she said, provoking him because now he knew she was carrying his child he would allow her to get away with it.
‘Of course I’m jealous,’ he admitted with a sigh. ‘The man is twenty years younger than me. Besides, how dare he decide what’s right and what’s wrong for you, my wife?’
She pressed a kiss against the side of his mouth. ‘You are my husband and I love you, Edward. But I won’t allow you to run my life, either. The man upstairs is my father. You had no right to keep us apart. I’m annoyed that you conspired with Richard to keep it from me. I intend to tell Richard his attitude was unworthy of a minister.’
He chuckled and brought her face round to his. Eyes alight with amusement gazed into hers. ‘Come, my heart, do not take me to task when we have such delightful news to share. I plead guilty only of trying to protect you.’ His hand splayed against her lower abdomen and he smiled. ‘The infant you carry inside you is my heir, Siana. You will say nothing to embarrass Richard White, a man of no means and whose living it’s within my power to withdraw.’
Was there a threat behind his words?
‘You will be protected and guided by me, whether you like it or not – and in any manner I decide is fitting.’
When she opened her mouth to argue, he simply brought his lips down to capture and possess hers. She responded to his attention with the surge of wilful excitement she always felt when he touched her, his claim to ownership adding piquancy.
She couldn’t wait until they got back home so they could make love. Neither it seemed could he, for, halfway through the forest, he declared his lady too tired to ride any further and sent Jed on to bring back the carriage whilst they went a little way into the woods to rest.
There, in a clearing of dappled light, they spent an intense hour satisfying their hunger for each other. When Jed Hawkins returned, Siana was truly exhausted and extremely satiated, as if she’d eaten too much at the one time.
But when she’d closed her eyes, it had been Francis she’d called to mind, his grey eyes alight with ironic laughter, his dark hair tangled in her fingers and the strength of his younger, sturdier body conquering hers. As she allowed herself to be totally possessed, she recognized the fact that she could love two men at the same time and pledged her undying love to Francis, almost calling out his name in the throes of her passion.
Edward had never known Siana to be quite so abandoned and sensual. He was well satisfied by this peasant wife of his. When she became too swollen for him to comfortably make love to her, he decided he would not seek relief elsewhere, he would simply teach her other ways to pleasure him.
The surge of warm weather brought some ease to Tom Skinner’s body, even whilst the poisons in his blood were slowly and surely going about their deadly task. His time in the infirmary had wasted some of the flesh from his body, so he was leaner, lighter and less muscular.
His nightly forays with Hannah, who’d moved into the deserted cottage on Croxley Farm and who met him after sunset at the back entrance to the infirmary, yielded a wealth of information. He had watched the comings and goings at the manor and knew to the exact minute when the guards patrolled.
The horse they borrowed was a sturdy beast, used to the plough. Each night before dawn, Tom was returned to his bed and the horse to its meadow, neither of them the worse for wear.
Hearing that the manor housekeeper had been dismissed, Tom sent Hannah to milk Ethel Pawley of information. She returned with a badly drawn diagram of the inside of the manor, each room and its function clearly marked.
‘The old harridan weren’t exactly friendly towards Siana,’ Hannah said. ‘I gets the feeling she’d be more’n happy to bring her down, in more ways than one.’ She pulled a couple of keys on a ring from her pocket and dangled it provocatively from the end of her finger. ‘A real turn up, Siana marryin’ the squire, and all. Our dad must be turning in his grave knowing he worked his guts out to feed that little trollop. These, here, are the keys to their bedrooms.’ She snatched it away when Tom made a grab. ‘No you don’t. This little lot cost me a fortune.’
‘It were my pigs you sold.’
‘Strictly speaking, they be the squire’s, on account of you never paid him back for the loan in the first place.’
Tom shrugged. ‘Keep the bleddy keys then. I was thinking, mebbe we could see what we can get from the place. Hardly anyone there but a couple of servants on Sunday, everyone else is in church. I hear there’s a cove in Blandford that’ll take the silver and jewels off our hands.’
Hannah smiled. ‘Then we could go up to London to start a little business. We could live the high life, like that wife of your’n.’
Tom scowled at the thought of Elizabeth. He’d see to her. He’d stay alive just long enough to savour the satisfaction of choking the life out of her. London didn’t interest him. He could die just as easily here.
Hannah was still on the practicalities of the robbery. ‘We’ll need a cart.’
‘There’s a hay cart kept around the back of the manor stable and I knows a back road we can use to get away.’ He spat into the dirt.
So, on the last Sunday in June, the pair set out to take their revenge.
20
The dinner turned out to be an ordeal. Much to Siana’s disappointment, Francis didn’t bring his two daughters.
‘My sister-in-law insists the children be in their beds by nine o’clock as they have to attend to their studies in the morning. I will bring them to church on Sunday and you can meet them then.’
For a moment she wondered if Francis’s sister-in-law thought her not good enough to socialize with her nieces. Of course she did. The woman was a countess. If their positions were reversed, she’d probably think the same way, Siana conceded.
Francis looked handsome and distinguished in a high-buttoned embroidered waistcoat and winged collar. Their eyes locked in a moment of rapport.
For the evening she’d chosen a lavender gown covered in embroidered flowers, which showed off
her bare shoulders. With it she wore drop earrings glittering with diamonds, and the headband which had been a gift from Edward. Her dark hair was swept up.
Francis’s expression was openly admiring as he kissed her hand. ‘May I compliment you on your appearance, Siana. Becoming a mother obviously suits you.’
Siana, so aware of him she ached, needed a moment alone with him when she could be herself, not some perfectly turned out hostess, stiff with manners. ‘Come up and see Daisy before she’s put to bed. I’ve told her you’re visiting and she’s looking forward to seeing you.’
Much to her chagrin, Edward came with them. Daisy’s blue eyes lit up and her giggle when she saw Francis was matched only by her beaming smile when she saw Edward.
‘Papa?’ she said, holding out her arms to encompass them both.
Edward quickly swung her into his arms, claiming possession.
Francis chuckled. ‘Daisy is fickle in her affection. She used to call me that.’
‘She has the predatory instinct females have for placing their affection where it draws the most advantage,’ Edward said silkily. He took a coin from his pocket and dangled it in front of Daisy’s nose. ‘Will you give Papa a hug for this?’
He laughed when Daisy obliged, allowing her to drop the coin into her money box. ‘See, she sells herself to the highest bidder.’
Annoyed, Siana took her sister from his arms and, giving her a goodnight kiss, handed her over to the nursery maid. ‘You are teaching her to be mercenary, Edward. I know you do this in fun but it’s to her detriment. I don’t like it.’
‘Do you not, my love?’ Edward’s eyes glittered, but his tone remained mild. ‘Then I’ll cease the practice, for your every wish is my command. What do you think, Francis? If Siana were your wife, would you allow her to dictate terms to you?’
‘Undoubtedly,’ Francis said, his smile already strained.
Siana had seen men behaving brutally towards one another, both verbally and physically. Listening to the savagery that two men of intellect used to torture a friendship over the course of an evening was excruciatingly painful, especially when she loved them both and knew that she was the cause of the rift.