‘I hope it’s not Master Monty you’re mooning over, girl?’ Cook looked alarmed, and was relieved when Pearl shook her head.
‘I can assure you I have no liking for him,’ Pearl responded frostily.
The cook frowned. ‘So who is it you have a fancy for then?’
‘I don’t have a fancy for anyone,’ Pearl retorted. ‘But I do have feelings for a certain young man. We travelled here together on the same ship, as it happens, and one day we hope to be married.’
‘I see.’ Cook tapped her lip with a plump finger as she regarded Pearl. ‘Then that’s all well and good, but just remember, decent girls do no more than give a chaste kiss before they have a ring on their finger.’
‘I’m well aware of that.’ Pearl was so embarrassed that she turned and left the room, leaving Freda with a smirk on her face.
She had gone no more than a few steps into the hallway when Monty suddenly appeared from his father’s office and stopping, he glared at her. With her chin in the air she made to pass him, but he caught her arm and swung her towards him.
‘Not seeing lover boy tonight?’ he taunted, as she tried to squirm from his grasp.
‘Let me go this minute,’ she ground out through gritted teeth. ‘Otherwise I shall scream so loudly the whole house will hear me and I don’t think your mother will like that, will she?’
He released her abruptly, his face red with rage as he bent towards her. ‘You’ve got too big for your boots,’ he said menacingly. ‘But I shall bring you down a peg or two, you just see if I don’t.’
With a toss of her head, she went on her way, without giving him a backward glance – but once she was out of his sight, her legs felt as if they had turned to jelly, and she leaned heavily against the wall. From now on I shall have to be very careful never to be alone with him, she thought. And yet she knew that this could prove to be a lot easier said than done.
Thankfully the snow stopped falling the next morning and so Pearl was able to meet Nick that evening, although he had bad news for her.
‘I’m afraid we’ll be sailing a lot sooner than I’d thought,’ he told her, and her heart sank. ‘It seems Mr Forbes has promised a cargo of timber to be shipped to England as soon as possible.’
‘So when will you be going?’ she asked with a catch in her voice. Now that they had declared their love for each other, she wondered how she could bear to let him go.
‘The day after tomorrow,’ he said miserably. Forcing a smile, he squeezed her hand. ‘But never mind. I shall write to you just as soon as we dock and if we’re in port long enough I’ll go and see your old neighbour for you and ask her if she’s found out where Amy is. Think of the money I’ll earn, too. The quicker we can save enough, the quicker we can get married.’
She managed a tremulous smile, seeing the sense in what he said, but it didn’t make the thought of parting any easier.
In no time at all they were saying goodbye and Pearl couldn’t hold back the tears. Luckily, Mrs Forbes had asked her to get some things for her in town on the day Nick was due to sail and so she was able to go to the docks to see him off. The ship was loaded with timber and sitting low in the water with the weight as they stood face to face, enjoying their last few precious moments together.
On board sailors were dashing here and there preparing to sail and all too soon someone shouted, ‘Come on, Willis, we’re pulling the gangplank up now and we’ll go wi’out yer if yer don’t get yer arse up ’ere right now!’
Nick gave her one last hasty kiss before making a dash for it. ‘I’ll be back before you know it. Stay safe,’ he shouted across his shoulder, and she stood there, her eyes wet with tears.
Minutes later, the huge ship began to drift away from the quay and she waved and waved until Nick was just a tiny dot in the distance on the deck. It had started to snow again and, pulling her cloak more tightly about her, she turned and headed back to the house feeling bereft. There were few people about. Most of them had chosen to stay by their firesides and Pearl didn’t blame them.
After a time, she left the main street behind and the going got harder, for the snow was much deeper here, and soon she was breathless. She had gone some way when she thought she heard someone behind her and, turning, she was appalled to see Monty limping towards her. Her first instinct was to lift her skirts and run, but common sense took over. She must stand her ground and not let him see that she was afraid of him, so she continued on her way until suddenly he was beside her.
‘Look . . . about the other night. I’m sorry. What I said was out of order.’
Pearl was so shocked that she almost tripped over the sodden hem of her skirt. She had half expected him to try and catch hold of her again, and yet here he was apologising!
‘The thing is I’d had too much to drink,’ he rushed on. ‘And I’m truly sorry.’
Pearl peeped at him out of the corner of her eye, not trusting him an inch. This was just too much of a turnabout for her liking and she didn’t believe a word he was saying.
‘So . . . can we go back to being friends again?’ he wheedled, as he tried to keep pace with her.
She stopped so quickly that he almost collided with her. She stood with her hands on her hips glaring at him.
‘Let’s just get something straight once and for all,’ she said with a grim look on her face. ‘As far as I’m concerned, we have never and will never be friends. You are my employer’s son, so I have to be polite to you, but other than that I want nothing to do with you. Is that quite clear?’
And without waiting for an answer, she strode away, leaving Monty with a scowl on his face.
Once again she had turned him down and he wasn’t used to rejection. Worse still, he now had to go and face his father cap in hand to ask for yet more money. He’d been out all night and had lost a small fortune gambling once more, so he knew his father would not be pleased – again! With a sigh, he moved on.
Within minutes of him entering the house shouting could be heard echoing from the study and Susan, who was on her way to the day room to give it a good polish, raised her eyebrows at Pearl.
‘Sounds like the young ’un is in ’is father’s bad books again,’ she whispered.
Glancing towards the study door, Pearl nodded. She had no sympathy for him whatsoever if the rumours she was hearing were true. He hardly ever ventured into work anymore, apparently, and he had fallen in with a bad crowd, much to his father’s disgust.
‘Did Nick get off all right?’ Susan asked then.
Pearl nodded, her face miserable. ‘Yes, he did, and goodness knows when he’ll be back.’
‘Ah, well, that’s a life on the ocean waves for yer,’ Susan said, and hurried on her way. With the mood the master was in by the sounds of it, it wouldn’t do for him to find her slacking.
Cook was in no better mood when Pearl entered the kitchen. ‘Damn wolves came in close last night and took some more o’ the chickens,’ she told Pearl with a shake of her head. It wasn’t the first time it had happened since Pearl had lived there. They always got hungry in the winter and ventured out of the forests looking for food. She shuddered at the thought. Thankfully, as yet she had never encountered one, although she often heard them howling in the dead of night and it always made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
‘Hardly any eggs at all today, not that they lay well in the cold,’ Cook grumbled. She had made Will build a coop for them and the chickens were her pride and joy. ‘I’ve told Will to bring me a rifle in and if the damn things start howling again tonight, I’ll go out and shoot them meself!’
Pearl stifled a grin. She couldn’t imagine the cook wielding a rifle, but she didn’t say it aloud.
Later that afternoon, Pearl answered a knock on the door to find a man in a smart suit standing there. ‘I wish to see Montague Forbes,’ he said with no preamble and looking none too pleased.
‘I, er . . . I’m not sure that he’s in, sir,’ Pearl told him.
At that moment Mrs Fo
rbes appeared and raised an eyebrow. ‘Why, James, how nice to see you,’ she said moving forwards with her hand outstretched. ‘And how is your mother? Do come in out of the cold.’
Looking uncomfortable, the young man shuffled into the hall and removed his hat. ‘My mother is very well, thank you, Mrs Forbes. But I’m afraid I haven’t come on a social visit. I need to see Monty as a matter of some urgency.’
‘I see.’ Looking slightly disturbed Mrs Forbes lowered her hand. ‘Is it anything I can help you with?’
When he shook his head she told him, ‘In that case, Monty is in the drawing room. Do go through to him.’
As he strode away, Pearl realised that he must have been there before, because he knew where he was going.
‘Oh dear, I do hope Monty hasn’t gone and got himself into bother again,’ Mrs Forbes muttered. Then, with a smile at Pearl, she asked, ‘Would you mind organising a tray of tea and taking it into them, dear? I’m sure James must be cold. His mother is a good friend of mine and he’s just reminded me that I really should go and see her.’
She pottered away as Pearl went to do as she was asked. Minutes later Pearl was back with a tray, but as she tapped on the door and entered the room, she found Monty and the young man having a furious row.
‘I’m telling you now, Forbes, if I don’t have that money back before ten o’clock this evening, I’ll bloody kill you! If my father finds out I’ve been gambling again, my life won’t be worth living and I owe him what I won off you!’ The visitor had hold of Monty’s cravat and was shaking him like a rat, and Pearl gasped as she wondered whether to go in or not.
The two men became aware of her standing there and, hurriedly letting go of Monty, the visitor growled threateningly, ‘Remember . . . ten o’clock tonight, or else!’
He barged past Pearl, his face purple with rage as he almost knocked the tray from her hands. Monty barked at her, ‘Well, don’t just stand there! Take the bloody tray away, can’t you!’
Pearl turned so quickly that she almost tripped over her skirts and ended up sloshing tea all over the tray as she fled from the room just in time to hear the front door slam behind Monty’s visitor.
I wouldn’t like to be in Monty’s shoes, she thought as she went back to the kitchen, although from where she was standing it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if someone were to take Monty down a peg or two. He was far too cocky by half!
Chapter Thirty-One
T
he atmosphere was decidedly frosty when Pearl served breakfast to the family the next morning, and she had a funny idea that the swollen black eye Monty was sporting was something to do with it. No doubt the visitor of the previous day had caught up with him and fulfilled his threat.
Unfortunately, that morning both Cook and Susan had been confined to bed with nasty chills and so until they were better, Pearl, Freda and Eliza were going to have to muddle through as best they could. It had been decided that Pearl would take over the cooking and waiting on table and Eliza and Freda would do the rest of the chores. It was far from ideal, especially as Pearl wasn’t a particularly good cook, but it was the best they could do.
‘I’m sorry there isn’t the selection there usually is,’ Pearl said as she brought in the breakfast.
Mrs Forbes waved her apologies aside. ‘Bacon, eggs and porridge is quite sufficient,’ she assured her. ‘Just do the best you can, dear. I’m sure we won’t starve. Oh, and by the way, I’ve just seen Will and asked him to go into town to fetch the doctor to take a look at Cook and Susan.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’ Pearl placed the rest of the dishes down and quickly took her leave, glad to escape the atmosphere.
Freda was throwing logs on to the fire and Eliza was washing pots in the sink when Pearl went back into the kitchen and told them casually, ‘Master Monty has got a right shiner on him. Someone must have landed a punch on him last night.’
Instantly, both girls stared at her in horror.
‘But he’s all right, ain’t he?’ Freda asked worriedly,
Eliza glared at her. ‘And what’s it to do with you?’
‘Everythin’, ’cause if yer must know ’e still loves me an’ when we’re older ’e’s goin’ to tell ’is parents about us!’ Freda spat.
‘I know you’re lyin’ ’cause it’s me he loves,’ Eliza shot back.
Pearl looked in amazement from one to the other of them. ‘Girls! Stop it this instant – do you hear me?’ Her voice shot across the room to them as they eyed each other threateningly. ‘It’s bad enough having two members of staff ill without having to listen to you two arguing like a pair of fishwives!’
They were so unused to hearing Pearl raise her voice that for a moment the two girls were silent – but then Eliza muttered sullenly, ‘You’re only angry ’cause you want him for yourself!’
‘Me, want Monty Forbes?’ Pearl’s eyebrows rose in astonishment. ‘I can assure you I wouldn’t touch him with a barge-pole if he was the last man on earth. I love Nick, so stop this silly nonsense immediately and get on with your work. We have a lunch and a dinner to prepare for the family.’
But despite her harsh words, Pearl was gravely concerned. She knew that for some time after the girls had fought over him, he had pointedly ignored them both, but now she could only assume that he was once more playing one off against the other, and the thought of it made her feel physically sick. Eliza was so vulnerable, who knew what he might persuade her to do? I shall just have to watch her more closely from now on, she promised herself and, hurrying to the larder, she began to try and find something suitable for lunch. Their stocks were sadly depleted, as due to the weather it wasn’t so easy to get into town for provisions. Unlike Cook, who seemed able to produce a meal from almost nothing, Pearl was limited in her cooking abilities, but even so she liked a challenge and she got started on trying to produce something tasty.
The mood in the kitchen did not improve throughout the morning, and Freda and Eliza ignored each other, but Pearl supposed that was better than having them argue, so she left them to get on with it.
Just before lunchtime she went to set the table in the dining room and almost bumped into the cause of all the trouble in the hallway.
‘Ah, Pearl, I was just coming to find you,’ he told her with a charming smile. ‘I’m afraid this eye of mine is giving me some gyp, and I wondered if you might have something I could put on it to soothe it?’
‘No I don’t,’ she replied bluntly as she strode past him.
As he watched her go, the smile slipped away and he frowned. He had tried wooing her, frightening her and treating her as an equal, but still she was holding him at arm’s length and he wasn’t used to that. He had only to click his fingers and Freda or Eliza would come running to please him, but it was Pearl he really wanted and now he was sick of her rejections. So, no more being nice, he told himself. It was time Pearl learned her place in the house and he would teach her the first chance he got!
As it happened, the chance came much sooner than he’d expected. That evening, because Cook and Susan were ill in bed, it fell to Pearl to make sure that everything in the kitchen was safe and the doors locked before retiring, and she was doing just that when Monty strolled into the room to join her.
‘Ah, still up, are you?’ he said rather unnecessarily. ‘I was just coming for a drink of water before turning in.’
Pearl stared at him suspiciously. She always ensured there were fresh jugs of water on the family’s bedside tables each evening, so his words didn’t quite ring true. Even so she continued with what she was doing, uncomfortably aware that he was watching her every move. Both girls, Will and the family had retired to bed some long time ago, which meant she and Monty were quite alone. She continued to go about the room, dousing the flames in the oil lamps until there was only the glow from the fire – and that was when he lunged at her, taking her completely by surprise and bearing her to the floor.
She landed heavily on her back, knocking the wind from her lungs and ren
dering her unable to do anything more than gasp for a few moments. Within that short time, he was astride her and when she opened her mouth to squeal, his hand clamped across it.
‘Don’t even think of it,’ he warned her menacingly. ‘Other-wise I shall tell my mother you seduced me and she’ll believe me over you any day of the week. And where will you be then, if you and Eliza get kicked out into the snow on your pretty little arses, eh? Not only that – you would never feel safe again, because I have a way of getting rid of people who upset me. Like my awful little sister, for instance. Mother was always fawning over her. I may as well not have been here once Elizabeth arrived, for all the notice she took of me. It’s a shame she ended up in the river when we went for a little stroll, don’t you think!’
As the full implication of what he was saying sunk in, Pearl shuddered with horror. He had killed his little sister, but how could she ever tell anyone? As he had pointed out, it would be her word against his and who would believe her?
Her head wagged from side to side as he started to drag her skirt up her legs and, terrified, all she could do was pummel him ineffectively with her fists.
Yet even as she fought him, she knew it was useless. He was so strong and with his heavy weight pinning her to the ground she stood no chance. His hand was tearing at her blouse and appalled she felt the buttons pop and roll across the floor. And then she heard the sound of her chemise tear and suddenly his wet mouth was licking and biting at her tender nipples, making her whimper and buck with pain. Next she felt his hand on her drawers and as they too ripped he dragged them to one side and began to fumble with the buttons on his flies. And then she shuddered as she felt his hot throbbing penis rest against her thigh before he plunged it into her, making her feel dizzy with pain. She could feel the vomit rising in her throat as she lay there wishing for death, but he seemed totally oblivious to her distress as he bucked up and down gasping and grunting, his breath hot on her cheek. When she was convinced she could bear the pain no longer, he suddenly went rigid and with a cry collapsed on top of her, knocking the air from her lungs once more.
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