by Tania Crosse
‘Did you have a good ride, Rose, my dear?’
‘Yes, wonderful, thank you, Father,’ she answered, flinging herself into a chair.
‘You see, Charles, I told you there was nothing to worry about. You’ll just have to get used to Rose dashing about on Gospel.’
‘Well, I just don’t think I could ever get used to having my precious wife gallivanting all over the moor on her own, and putting herself in all sorts of danger. And now I won’t have to,’ Charles beamed, his attitude changing to one of complacency. ‘I have a surprise for you, Rose, my darling. Whilst I was waiting for the reply to my telegram, I had my lunch at the Duchy. And remember the chestnut mare I hired out from them last autumn? Well, they still have her, and she was such a suitable mount for me that I bought her. They were reluctant to part with her so I had to pay twice what she’s really worth, but no matter. So now I can always accompany you on your excursions, and she’ll be good company for Gospel. They got on well together, as I remember. So, what do you think of that, my love?’ he grinned triumphantly.
Rose blinked at him. And her heart sank like a leaden weight. The long ride had refreshed her spirit, and she had begun to think that, if she could escape on Gospel’s back two or three times a week, she might be able to tolerate Charles’s nightly attentions with some degree of stoicism. But this! Dear God, she would suffocate!
‘Oh,’ she muttered as she felt the blood flush into her cheeks. ‘Oh, er . . . I don’t know what to say. You’ve left me quite speechless.’
‘And ’tis not often that happens!’ Henry chuckled beside her.
‘And I’ve been thinking,’ Charles went on, his face split in two by a satisfied smile. ‘It was a pity that the dog cart and, er, Polly, was it? belonged to the powder mills. I’m going to have to go to London, but when I get back, we must look for some sort of carriage for you, Henry. Perhaps a wagonette, and employ a carpenter to adapt it so that we can push you up a ramp into it, or some such arrangement. Then you can get out and about more easily.’
‘Oh, my dear boy, that would be so kind!’
‘Yes, thank you,’ Rose mumbled almost to herself. It was good of Charles, she could not deny it. And she supposed she couldn’t blame him for buying the chestnut. He would need a horse here, anyway. But to be with her on her liberating escapades, well, they would hardly be liberating if he was there! ‘London, you say?’ she asked, for that might at least bring her some respite.
‘Yes. I’m afraid I must leave you for a few days, my dear.’
Rose’s lips compressed into a thin line in order to conceal her pleasure. You couldn’t make that a few weeks, could you? her vexed mind rejoindered.
‘Nothing wrong, is there?’ her father enquired.
‘No, Henry, not at all. Just the opposite, in fact.’ Charles raised a speculative eyebrow as he sat down. ‘My broker has had word of a new mine opening in South Africa, and it could prove a good investment. They’re expecting to find gold.’
‘Gold?’
‘Yes. It may just be wishful thinking, which is why I need to go to London to attend some meetings. Investigate their claims before I put any money into it. I have fingers in many pies, but one of the best things I ever did was to speculate in diamonds some years ago now.’ Charles smiled proudly at the impressed expression on Henry’s face. ‘I sponsored an acquaintance to go out to the diamond fields at Colesberg Kopje before it became known just how rich the area really was, and the licences were still cheap. You may have heard of it now as the Kimberley mine. There was a slight problem last year, but that’s all sorted now, and as a shareholder, I’ve done very well out of it. So I’m quite inclined to take a risk with a speculation in gold. Nothing we can’t afford to lose if it were to go wrong,’ he added reassuringly. ‘But I will only go ahead if my enquiries are satisfactory. However, it does grieve me that I must leave you, my dearest.’
He took Rose’s hand and brought it lovingly to his lips. Rose shuddered with revulsion as the warm moistness on her skin reminded her of what went on in their bed at night, but she managed to say quite calmly, ‘’Twon’t be for too long, though, will it, Charles?’
His eyes softened as he gazed at her. ‘I sincerely hope not. And when I return, we shall go in search of some suitable transport for your father. And for ourselves, of course, when necessary. The mare will be arriving tomorrow afternoon, by the way. Her name’s Tansy, if you remember. Now, I shall be leaving after dinner this evening. A cab is coming for me at eight o’clock, so I have already instructed Cook to have our meal served early. I’ll be staying at the Bedford Hotel in Tavistock tonight, ready to catch the train to Plymouth first thing in the morning so that I should be in London by six o’clock tomorrow evening.’
‘You’re certainly well organized,’ Henry nodded in approval.
‘Years of having to be one step ahead, my dear fellow. That’s how the Chadwicks have made their money into a moderate fortune. And why I have yet another surprise for you. I thought, with the mare coming tomorrow, and another animal needed to pull whatever conveyance we acquire, we’ll need someone to look after them all. That beast of yours has been out in the field, but it will need to come in when the summer’s over, and I can hardly expect my wife to muck out not just one but three loose boxes, now, can I?’ He laughed as he patted Rose’s hand with the enthusiasm of a young boy. ‘So while I was waiting for the reply from my broker, I asked around and I’ve taken on a stable lad. I’ve told the maid to clean out the loft over the tack room. There’s an old iron bedstead up there already, and the boy can have a mattress from the servants’ quarters when he arrives with the mare tomorrow. Cornish, I think he said his name was. He can help with the heavy work in the house, too—’
‘Ned!’ Rose’s eyes were wide with astonishment.
‘Do you know him, then?’
‘I’ve known Ned Cornish for years! Stable boy at the Albert Inn.’
‘That’s the chap. I thought I’d feel happier if there was a strong male about the place while I’m away. Which is why I wanted him to start at once. And I wondered if you’d like to think about furnishing the guest rooms to give you something to occupy your time?’
‘Well, I must say you’ve had a busy and fruitful day,’ Henry observed. ‘You’ve made me feel quite weary just listening to you, and I feel I could do with a lie down before our early dinner. Would you mind, Florrie?’
Florrie, who was apt to keep her lip firmly buttoned in the master’s presence, got to her feet with a devoted smile and pushed Henry up the ramp with a noisy heave. Charles turned his head sharply and went to go to her assistance, but they were already disappearing into the house, so he sat down again.
‘Cornish can help Florrie with your father, too. I really feel it’s too much for her.’
‘What on earth do you think you’re doing, employing Ned Cornish?’ Rose rounded on him. ‘Why didn’t you tell me we were to have a groom? We could have asked Joe! He’s the only person who can handle Gospel. Ned positively dislikes—’
‘Joe Tyler!’ Charles’s brown eyes bulged from their sockets. ‘After the way you were dancing with him at our wedding!’
‘What?’
‘Yes, I saw you!’ Charles spat at her with vitriolic anger. ‘Arms around each other, laughing! Making a spectacle of yourself with that vermin!’
Rose’s jaw fell open as she stared at him in horrified dis-belief. ‘But . . . Joe is like a younger brother to me!’ she cried defensively as tears of humiliation, though for Joe and not herself, welled in her eyes. ‘He’s a respectable person. And besides, he and Molly—’
‘Oh, don’t give me that! I’m not a fool, Rose! And I’m glad I’ve taken on this Cornish fellow if you’re not too keen on him. At least there won’t be anything going on between you behind my back!’
Rose’s mouth snapped shut at the sour taste that stung her tongue. ‘How dare you!’ she almost choked on her disgust. ‘How dare you even imagine that I’d do anything like that! I’m m
arried to you, Charles, for better or for worse, remember?’
As Charles glowered at her, the muscles of his face began to twist, and before she knew it, she was encircled in his embrace and she could hear him all but sobbing into her tousled hair.
‘I’m so sorry, my sweetest, dearest love.’ His words were scarcely audible, and Rose’s forehead set into a deep frown. ‘But I’ve employed Cornish now, and unless he proves unsatisfactory, there will be no reason to dismiss him. I am sorry, Rose, my darling. It’s just that I love you so much, I just can’t bear the thought of you being with another man. Please, I beg you, forgive me.’
Rose swallowed as she gazed over his shoulder into the house. She prayed to God that neither her father nor Florrie had heard their bitter exchange. ‘Of course I do,’ she muttered in reply. But in her heart, she wasn’t at all sure that she did.
‘Oh, Rose!’ Molly’s eyes shone like emeralds in her amazement. ‘Do you really mean to tell me you had no idea? You’m living with animals all over the moor all your life, and you didn’t know?’
Rose rocked her bowed head from side to side, and when she looked up, her eyebrows were arched in excruciating anguish. ‘Animals, yes! And that’s just it! With animals, ’tis so . . . so bestial! With no feelings or emotion. I thought human beings were supposed to be above animals. I thought ’twould be different. Animals don’t kiss, so I thought—’
She broke off as her throat closed and she gazed up at the sky with a tearing sigh. Beside her, Molly sucked in her cheeks and gave her friend’s arm a squeeze, the only thing she could think of to offer her comfort.
‘Oh, Rose,’ she groaned. ‘With all they books you read, did you never read one on . . . on—’
‘Oh, yes! But in flowers and butterflies,’ Rose answered scornfully. ‘But never in people. I mean, I’ve never seen one in the public library. If they exist. And if they do, they’re probably considered too disgusting to put on the shelf of a public place.’
Molly nodded in agreement, and for a few minutes, the girls sat in silence staring out across the moor. On the prison farmland, parties of convicts were tending to the hardy crops, clearing the ground of massive boulders or, most hated of all, digging drainage ditches up to the waist in what was cold water even on a perfect summer’s day such as this. There would be no dry clothing to change into on their return to the prison; indeed, they would be lucky if their ugly uniforms dried out overnight ready for the following day. But neither girl took any notice, each lost in her own thoughts, though they had not enjoyed one of their private meetings since before the wedding.
‘It must have been quite a shock, then, the wedding night,’ Molly ventured at last. ‘But . . . once you’ve gotten used to it . . . ’tis nice, isn’t it?’
‘What!’ Rose’s eyes opened wide as she whipped her head round to gaze at her friend. ‘You don’t mean . . . you and Joe—’
‘Good heavens, no! We’m close, but nort’s ever . . . Not like that.’
‘Oh, so you don’t know what ’tis like, then. I mean, ’twouldn’t be so bad if Charles were as polite and caring as he is in everything else. But when it comes to that, ’tis as if he’s a different man. And I just don’t think I can . . . But ’tis not your problem.’ Rose suddenly jumped down from the rock they were sitting on. ‘I ought to be getting back. Ned’s bringing the mare over later, so I suppose I should be there. I really don’t fancy having him as our groom, but there you are. ’Tis too late now. I’d far sooner have had Joe.’
‘’Twouldn’t have been enough work for Joe. He likes to keep busy. Not like that sloth Ned Cornish. No wonder he jumped at the chance, the great lummox!’
Rose couldn’t help but laugh, and as she waved goodbye, she felt her heart eased by Molly’s compassion.
‘Rose, my darling!’
‘Charles!’ The shock rippled through her body, his sudden appearance in the bedroom as she brushed out her hair taking her completely by surprise, and she fought to disguise her displeasure. ‘Your telegram said you wouldn’t be home for another few days,’ she said, praying he didn’t see her flinch as he bent to kiss her long, graceful neck. They held each other’s gaze in the mirror, and she saw his eyes dip to the swelling of her breasts beneath her fine cotton nightdress.
‘Well, I just couldn’t stay away from my beautiful wife a moment longer!’ he declared with a suggestive smile. ‘And I have been away nearly a week longer than expected. A very profitable week, I might add – at least, I believe it will prove to be in the future – but now I want to make up for it. Here, let me do that,’ he crooned in an oily voice as he wrested the brush from her hand.
She shuddered, the pulse suddenly beating hard and fast at her temples. He drew the brush through her shining curls, his other hand gripping her slender shoulder. She tried to brace herself against his closeness since she was his wife, after all, and her conversation with Molly had made her think that perhaps she was being unreasonable. But her resolution failed her.
‘You must be hungry after your journey,’ she suggested, turning to him with a loving smile on her lips. ‘I’m certain Cook will have something cold she can—’
But Charles shook his head. ‘No. I had something to eat while I was waiting for the connecting train. I want something else just now.’
He replaced the brush on the dressing table in a slow, sensual gesture, his eyes burning bright with desire as he brought his mouth down on to hers, soft and caressing. Rose closed her eyes, trying to respond to his gentleness, which did not seem so repellent. But then his kiss became more demanding, more urgent, his tongue flicking into her mouth and his hands moving frenetically over her breasts and down between her thighs. She whimpered deep in her throat, suffocated, crushed, and suddenly she could not breathe.
‘Charles, no, please,’ she gasped, spluttered, as she managed to pull her head away and push hard against his shoulders.
But he merely moved his kisses down to her throat, forcing her tiny waist against his hardening manhood as he held her in an iron grip. ‘Oh, struggle away, my precious one!’ he murmured into her cleavage. ‘I love it when you pretend to be a little tigress.’
He growled, baring his teeth, and then with a bawdy laugh, picked her up bodily, despite her kicking legs, and padding across the luxurious carpet, dropped her on to the soft, well-sprung bed. And before she had time to scramble away, he leapt astride her, pinning her down, and catching both her small, flailing hands in one of his, held them firmly on the pillow behind her head. For a brief instant, they faced one another, panting heavily, Charles’s eyes gleaming with lust while Rose glared at him in contempt.
‘Now then,’ he leered, his free hand wiping the saliva that dribbled from the corner of his mouth before he ripped open the front of her nightgown. ‘Hmm! Let me see what I’ve been missing!’
Rose could have screamed with revulsion. She dug her heels desperately into the bed and pushed upwards in an effort to lever him from her, but he was too heavy. He sniggered again, taking her retaliation as play-acting as his eyes devoured her nakedness. She stared up at him, every taut muscle ready to fight, but it was futile. She was trapped. He was her husband, who not so long ago she had thought she loved, and he was doing nothing wrong.
But at that moment, Rose wished that she could die.
Twelve
‘Rose, dear, ’tis your turn.’
She turned her head from gazing absently out of the drawing-room window and smiled at Henry before forcing her attention on her hand of cards. It was mid-September, but chilly enough to have a welcoming blaze in the fireplace. The glorious fortnight in June had rapidly deteriorated to a poor summer, and now the rain was coming down in stair rods and streaming against the windowpanes. It was only half-past three in the afternoon, but the lamps had already been lit against the gloom.
‘Oh, is that the best you can do, sweetheart?’ Charles asked fondly, and clamping the smouldering cigar between his teeth, laid his winning flush on the table.
; ‘You lucky devil, Charles!’ Henry chuckled.
‘And my poor Rose has lost every game! Never mind, my love. Perhaps you’ll win the next one.’
‘No, I don’t think I’ll play any more, if you don’t mind.’ She smiled wanly at her husband as she stood up. ‘I think I’d rather get back to my book.’
‘Well, if you’re sure, my darling.’
Rose settled herself in the window seat, wedging a plush cushion behind her back. Pride and Prejudice. One of her favourite books, but just now, even the exploits of Mr Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennet held no interest for her. Within five minutes, she had let the book slip on to her lap, and she leaned her forehead against the cold glass of the window. Her heart was heavy, leaden, her mind wandering and preoccupied. Her stifled spirit was out there, flying across the wild moorland, the wind in her head and driving the misery from her soul. She could feel Gospel’s muscles rippling beneath her, sharing the infinite freedom of the open skies and the endless miles of the savage beauty of Dartmoor. A veil of mist dimmed the lavender clarity of her eyes, and her shoulders sagged with emptiness. The irrevocable chasm in her life was deepening by the day, and there was nothing she could do about it. Beyond tears. Beyond hope.
‘I’m going for a ride.’
It was as if someone else had spoken the words, had leapt determinedly from the window seat and stood in defiant pose in the centre of the vast rug that covered much of the polished oak floorboards. Three pairs of eyes were riveted on her, Florrie’s plump face white and aghast.
‘You’m not going out in this, Rose!’ she cried, forgetting the ‘Miss’ she was supposed to employ in Charles’s presence. But even as she spoke, she knew her protest would fall on deaf ears.
Rose was already out of the door and halfway across the hall to the stairs before Charles caught up with her. He was still holding his cigar in one hand, and with the other, he grasped her by the arm.
‘You can’t possibly go out in this weather, my love. You’d be soaked to the skin in no time, and catch your death. If you don’t want to play cards, is there anything else you’d rather do?’ he asked earnestly. ‘Shall I order Cook to make us a pot of tea?’