Gavin had not stayed the night. He was gone.
“And Mary said Lord Carlisle bid her strictly to tell you he might be away for several days,” Betty told Sara, as she bustled about helping her get dressed. “He’s gone to see about those coal mines of his, and doesn’t know how long it will take. Seems there’s some trouble about who’s going to dig the stuff out.” She helped Sara into her dress and twitched it into place. “They ought to leave it in the ground, if you ask me. It’s nasty, dirty stuff. And it doesn’t make nearly as nice a fire as wood.”
“I believe Lord Carlisle is mining it primarily for sale,” Sara said, her listless voice causing Betty’s concern to grow. She had not failed to notice Sara’s lack of spirits. At first she set it down to fatigue after the exertions of the party, but now she decided it was much deeper than that. Normally she would have asked her mistress straight out what was eating at her, but today Betty was reluctant to intrude. She had the feeling this was something Sara would not share.
“I think there are people coming to see me today,” Sara said listlessly. “A poet if I remember correctly, and someone to play duets on the violin. Tell them I’m not feeling well, and to call again.”
“When should I say?”
“I don’t know, maybe in a few days …” But Sara stopped in her verbal tracks. She didn’t know what was wrong with Gavin, and she was terribly disappointed he had chosen to disappear again, but she wasn’t going to get anywhere by feeling sorry for herself. She certainly wasn’t going to convince Gavin or anyone else she could handle adversity if she hid in her bedroom at the first hint of trouble. “I’ve changed my mind,” she said to Betty, reaching down to summon every bit of determination she had to her aid. “And have my carriage ready after luncheon. One of my guests was unable to attend because of illness, and I want to call on her. If Lord Carlisle comes in, tell him dinner has been put back to half past seven. If he doesn’t return, I shall dine alone at that hour.”
“That’ll show you, you old tyrant,” Betty mumbled to herself later, as she carried the message to various persons in the household. “Milady is not going to curl up and die because of anything you do, so don’t you think it. One of these days she’s going to realize that Mr. Ian Fraser is worth ten of you, and then you’ll be out in the cold, where you belong.”
Chapter 20
“And we can run a rail down to the river along this ridge,” Gavin was saying to his agent, Walter Kincaid.
“Tis too shallow and rough tae take ships,” Kincaid pointed out.
“Then we’ll have to use barges. Without cheap transportation, we’ll lose most of our profit.”
Gavin had spent the last three days walking over every inch of his coal-bearing land, concerning himself with the most minute details of its mining and transportation, and working until he was ready to drop. All so he could keep from thinking about Sara. He had succeeded during the daytime hours, but at night she filled his dreams so completely he rose from his bed each morning more exhausted than when he laid down. Absence had only succeeded in making him think of her almost constantly and convincing him of his increasing vulnerability.
“As I remember, there are some caves around here,” Gavin said, forcing his mind back to his work. “We can keep the equipment there when it’s not in use. You can enlarge the openings if you have to.” Gavin set off across the hillside, hardly aware that Kincaid was giving him a list of reasons why the caves wouldn’t be suitable for the storage of valuable equipment.
“I know they’re not ideal, but they’ll do,” Gavin said absently. He had already sighted one of the caves, and was more interested in seeing what had to be done before it would be made useable than in listening to Kincaid. As he neared the opening, he noticed that the ground had been cut up with hoofprints. Then he saw the imprint of wagon wheels leading up to the mouth of the cave.
“What’s been going on around here?” he demanded, suddenly realizing that Kincaid’s objections had been intended not only to discourage him from using the caves, but to dissuade him from visiting them at all. “Someone has been bringing wagons up here, and from the looks of these tracks, they were loaded with something heavy.”
“This is lonely country,” Kincaid offered nervously. “Anyone could be using these caves.”
“Not anyone, just someone who is so well known no one would question him.” Gavin leveled his unyielding gaze at his agent. “You know who it is, don’t you?”
Kincaid fidgeted uneasily, but he nodded. “I did try tae stop them, yer Lordship, I surely did, but he wouldna listen. He said ye would understand.”
“And who is he?”
“Yer friend, Mr. Fraser,” Kincaid replied.
“What did he leave here?”
“I didna ask,” Kincaid responded, with the bland innocence of one who thinks if he can’t put a name to an evil, it can’t hurt him.
“Then we shall find out. Do you have a torch?” Kincaid shook his head, but just inside the mouth of the cave, Gavin discovered several torches leaning against the wall, along with a flint to light them. “It looks as though they mean to come back,” Gavin said, as he lighted one of the torches and motioned for Kincaid to light a second.
The light seemed pitifully insignificant when pitted against the inky blackness of the cave, but they had no trouble following the tracks. About one hundred feet from the opening, they came upon several long wooden boxes piled against a wall in a dim recess. Gavin didn’t need to open the boxes to know what they contained.
“These are rifles for the rebellion.”
“Merciful God,” Kincaid exclaimed, realizing the full implication of what they had found. “If the government was to find out …”
“We would all be hanged,” Gavin finished for him.
“What are we to do?”
“Move everything tonight. “
“Where to?”
Gavin was stumped. He couldn’t keep the rifles on his property, couldn’t hide them on anyone else’s property without endangering them, couldn’t return them to Fraser, and couldn’t in good conscience turn them over to Cumberland.
“Dump them in the river,” he decided suddenly, “and be sure to wipe out your tracks. I don’t want anybody to know where to find them. And Kincaid, I want as few people to know about this as possible. Choose men not likely to get drunk and forget to guard their words. Your neck is even more vulnerable than mine.”
Kincaid assured Gavin he would guard the secret with his life, a fact Gavin never doubted, and he turned his thoughts to Ian Fraser, or his father, whichever was really responsible for the rifles being hidden on his land. He was disappointed he couldn’t convince the Frasers to withdraw their support from the Stuart prince, but if they insisted upon taking part in this rebellion, the least they could do was shoulder their own risks. He’d be damned if he’d allow them to endanger him and everyone at Estameer.
Instantly he visualized Sara, as she looked in the candlelight after they made love. My God, if they found the rifles, no one would believe she was innocent, not after traveling with the Prince for two weeks. Cold fear clutched his heart. No, not Sara! The thought of losing her, of knowing her smile would never welcome him again, almost unmanned him. In that moment, he knew he would do anything to protect her from the consequences of Fraser’s folly.
That he should feel protective of her didn’t surprise him very much, not after the agony he had endured to keep from going to her every night; that he should feel a murderous rage toward whoever placed the rifles in the cave did. Heretofore, he had been very tolerant of anyone taking part in the rebellion, but at this moment he was furious enough to have led Hawley’s troops against them himself. That anyone should put Sara’s life at risk was unforgivable, but that Ian should do it! Even the most pungent of oaths seemed inadequate.
He would go home immediately. He could trust Kincaid to see to the removal of the rifles, but he had to see Ian and make it clear that he wouldn’t allow him to do anything that mig
ht endanger Sara’s life. He’d already given her enough pain. He’d be damned if he’d have anybody else adding to it.
“Tis that Miss Fraser, milady,” Mary said, entering Sara’s sitting room. “I didna think ye would want tae see her, but I couldna turn her off, no’ without speaking tae ye first.”
“Let me handle her,” Betty said, starting up, a martial light in her eyes. She might favor Mr. Fraser over his lordship, but she wasn’t about to have any redheaded hussy making eyes at her mistress’s husband.
“Never mind, Betty,” Sara said. “I will see her, and I will see her alone. Show her up, Mary.”
“But milady—”
“I know, and I agree with you,” Sara said, “but the Fraser clan is Gavin’s ally, and the Fraser family his neighbors. I must try to remain friends with them. If I can’t … well, I’ll try first and worry about that later.”
“Nobody can be friends with that hellcat, if they’ve got something she wants,” Betty stated with uncompromising frankness. “You take care shedoesn’t try to make off with your husband, all the while she’s giving you a great big smile.”
“I will,” Sara said, laughing more easily than she felt. “There are a lot of things I don’t know much about, but I do know how to deal with women, even jealous ones. I’ve been doing it my whole life.”
“I guess you have at that, but if you need any help, all you have to do—”
“If you hear me scream, come running. If you hear Miss Fraser scream, pretend you were at the other end of the castle.” A conspiratorial wink passed between the two, just before Mary opened the door to Colleen Fraser. The impact of her entrance was equivalent to that of a strong gale, and Sara’s composure was slightly ruffled in spite of herself.
Colleen paused just inside the door and glared openly at Sara, partly to take stock of the situation, Sara guessed, and partly to try and unsettle her rival by her boldness. Sara smiled inwardly, but preserved a calm and sedate exterior.
“Won’t you be seated?” Sara invited. “Could I offer you some refreshment?”
“You’re not much like him, are you?” Colleen asked, ignoring both of Sara’s offers.
“Actually we’re probably alike in as many ways as we differ. Did you have any particular difference in mind?”
“You’re so ladylike,” Colleen said, finally taking a seat.
“I hope so.”
“But Gavin’s rough, and he likes his women lusty. He may want a lady in his parlor, but he looks for a wanton in his bed. Tis exactly like a man tae be both boy and man at once, devil and saint.”
“But don’t you find that men look for different things in different women?” Sara suggested delicately. She couldn’t really dislike Colleen for fighting for her man, at least not yet.
“Gavin always liked a woman o’ spirit, one who could keep up with him, no matter how late he stayed up.”
“But he’d never looked for a wife before.” Colleen took a few seconds to digest this thought.
“Most men look tae marry a dull heiress who will stay home and bear his children, while he enjoys himself elsewhere.” Colleen directed a particularly penetrating look at Sara. “But ye willna be doing that, will ye?”
“That’s rather perceptive of you,” Sara said, quite surprised.
“I can see ye will be a possessive female,” Colleen said, rather belligerently.
“I hope not. I will certainly try hard not to be. A man doesn’t like to feel confined.”
“Good,” Colleen said, brightening and relaxing a little. “Then ye willna expect Gavin tae be at yer beck and call every minute o’ the day.”
“Certainly not. I have servants for that.”
Colleen relaxed even more and said, “I never dreamed ye would be so obliging. Half the women in the world only marry a man so they can try tae change him.”
“I like Gavin the way he is.”
“And ye willna set up a screech when he does something ye do no’ like?”
“I didn’t know Gavin very well before I married him, but to the best of my knowledge, he hasn’t done anything since the wedding that I’m not perfectly content for him to continue doing for the rest of his life.” Sara thought of the nights he had stayed away from her bed, and hoped she would be forgiven for this small lie.
“I think I will have some tea,” Colleen said, becoming positively cheerful. “After the way ye looked at me during the party, I made sure ye would throw a fit if I ever came near Gavin again.”
“I hope I will never throw a fit, as you put it, and I certainly have no intention of preventing Gavin from seeing anyone he likes or of hindering anyone from seeing him. I’m his wife, not his jailor.”
“I must say, I never thought a proper set-up virgin out of a fancy London school would be ready tae turn a blind eye tae a man’s mistresses.” Colleen accepted the cup of tea Sara handed her. “I made sure ye would scream the house down and preach propriety at every turn.”
“I don’t mean to inquire about what Gavin does when he’s not with me,” replied Sara.
“Ye willna have tae,” Colleen said with one of her lusty laughs. “Some gossipy female will give ye the name o’ his next mistress practically the minute Gavin picks her out.”
“No, they won’t.”
Colleen looked up from her tea so quickly she almost spilled it. Sara’s words had surprised her, but her tone was even more unexpected. She had spoken in the same quiet voice, but there was an edge of steel in it now.
“Sure they will. Respectable females can’t stop talking about a man’s doings when he steps out.”
“I don’t think you understand me. I expect I shall hear a great deal about what Gavin does, but I won’t hear anything about his mistresses.”
“Well, I suppose yer friends wouldna tell ye, if ye really didna want them tae, but I wouldna be surprised if the lady herself spilled the beans.”
“There won’t be any beans to spill.” Colleen’s gaze became riveted.
“But ye just said…ye mean ye’ll tell him he canna have a mistress?”
“Certainly not, but he will sleep in no bed but mine.”
“Why … How?”
“Because I shall see that he doesn’t want to.”
“By gor, ye canna be in love with him!”
“I’ve loved Gavin since I was twelve.” Colleen stared at her unbelieving for several moments. “Why is it so difficult to believe that a wife can love her husband, especially such a husband as Gavin?” Sara asked. “Surely his mistresses must find something attractive about him.”
“Aye, his mistresses, but his wife …”
“Is there any reason why I can’t like the same things? I’m a woman, too.”
“But ye be his wife. “
“We’ve established that. The sticking point seems to be that you can’t believe a wife can enjoy the physical side of a relationship as much as the man.”
Colleen’s cup slipped out of her hand unnoticed. “Ye like bedding Gavin?”
Sara tried, but she couldn’t suppress a blush. “I think it’s the other way around, but yes, I like sharing a bed with my husband. Do you plan to turn your husband out of bed?”
“Not if he be a lusty lad,” Colleen said forthrightly.
“Then you can understand how I feel about Gavin.”
“Aye, and that be why I willna give him up. I dinna like ye when I came,” Colleen confided suddenly. “I thought ye were a cold, hard woman, who would demand her man’s faithfulness and then deny him the comfort of her bed. I dinna think ye loved him, no’ like a real woman. This be a problem, aye, ‘tis no’ easy tae decide what tae do.”
Sara took a sip of tea to keep the smile from her lips. The more she talked to Colleen, the more she liked her, but that didn’t mean she liked her enough to offer her Gavin.
“I love Gavin,” Colleen stated suddenly, “but ye love him too, even though ye are his wife. So, I will share him with ye.”
“Wha—” Sara had just taken
a swallow of tea, and she nearly choked, sending a spray of tea over her gown.
“Aye, we will share him,” Colleen said, as she jumped up and helped Sara mop up the tea. “He won’t mind.”
“But I will,” Sara stated emphatically, when she finally got back the normal use of her throat. “I will not share my husband with anybody.”
Colleen gave her a hard stare. “I will fight ye for him.”
“And I will fight you back,” Sara said, calmly, implacably. “And if you persist in your pursuit of a man who is my husband, not yours, I will deny you entrance to this house.”
“Ye must be daft. This be Scotland, not England. No woman tells a man who canna come into his home.”
“I shall, and Gavin shall respect my wishes.”
“He willna!” Colleen declared, outraged. “We will see what Gavin has tae say when he gets back.”
“You can put your case to Gavin if you wish, but you will not do it here.”
“Why not?” Colleen asked suspiciously.
“Because you will not be here. You will leave as soon as you’ve had your tea.”
“I willna go.”
“You may not think so yet, but you will.”
“No, I willna.” Colleen settled back into her chair, determined to show Sara that she could not be bullied, but Sara’s air of calm certainty unsettled her. At last she would stand it no longer. “Why should I go?” she asked defiantly.
“Because if you don’t, I shall scratch your eyes out.
Sweet Temptation Page 24