‘You are greatly changed since you and Timothy have been successful in intimacy,’ Kelynen chided.
Livvy giggled wantonly. ‘I know you’re pleased for me. I only wish I’d discovered the joys of the act of love much earlier. Well? Is the pale and enigmatic Gabriel Tremayne a delight or a bother to you? Has he the strength and vigour to please you?’
‘Livvy! You go too far.’
At last Livvy was chastened. ‘I’m sorry. He’s much different in physique and manner to Rafe. Forgive me for being indelicate.’
Kelynen was quiet for a while. She pushed her plate away. Livvy resumed eating. She ate well now she was happy in her marriage. Gradually the sisters’ eyes met. They had always confided a good deal in each other. Kelynen needed someone to talk to and she felt she couldn’t mention this to her mother. Livvy finished her wine, knowing she was about to hear something delicately confidential, and she applied a suitable discreet expression. ‘What is it? You know it will remain locked in my head forever.’
Kelynen sipped from her water glass and cleared her throat. She glanced at all the doors. ‘You’ve guessed correctly. Gabriel and I are now fully man and wife. He’s gentle and understanding, but also… what I’m trying to say is… well, I was quite prepared to do my duty, but… I find it quite alarming that I enjoyed it so much with him.’
Livvy’s head was bent close to hers. ‘I’m pleased for you. Why are you alarmed? He had a lover. He’s probably known several women in that way. It would be awful to face a lifetime of being unfulfilled in marital relations, don’t you think?’
‘Yes, I suppose so, but…’ Tears brimming behind Kelynen’s eyes began to flow and she left them unchecked.
Livvy got up and hugged her. ‘But what, beloved?’
‘It’s made me feel disloyal to Rafe,’ she sobbed. ‘If it had been awful, or something to endure, I’d see it as a necessary act in gaining a kind father and rightful position for Rafe’s baby. But I didn’t mind at all, Livvy, and I found myself a willing participant. Since then I can hardly bring myself to look at Gabriel. He’s been quieter than usual. Either I’ve troubled him or he’s feeling the same as I am, in concern of Caterina. Oh, Livvy, I’m so unhappy.’
Livvy laid her head on top of Kelynen’s. ‘Don’t distress yourself. What you and Gabriel need to do is to give each other a little time and then talk about your feelings.’
Livvy got the horrid, cold feeling of being watched by hostile eyes. She glanced up and saw Sophie in the doorway. No one in the family liked this cool, detached woman, whose rapid social climb had turned her into an insufferable grande dame. Sophie stayed put and stared, and Livvy grew angrier by the second. Didn’t she realize she was intruding on moments that should be private? Was she insensitive or uncaring? Or both!
‘Kelynen, my dear.’ Sophie stepped quickly towards her. ‘Can I send for someone?’
Livvy shushed her sister-in-law with an impatient flick of her hand. Offended, Sophie turned and marched back outside. Her arrival here had been delayed by an attack of queasy stomach. Hating to be unpunctual, she had fretted at first. Then, wondering if this was a sign that her hopes of giving Luke an heir were to be realized, she had made the journey here in a state of anticipation at sharing the news. Her intention had been spitefully ruined. She was aware that she was not accepted as readily by the superior Pengarrons as Sir Gabriel was, but then she did not have land or a title. She was a lowly widow, with an illegitimate niece to rear. Who did this upstart family think they were? They had far more scandal in their history. Not just a single skeleton in a cupboard, but a whole cryptful of them! One of Sir Rafe’s cats pressed itself against her skirt and mewed for attention. She kicked it, sending it squealing across the cobbles of the court.
‘I’ve always felt the same about those loathsome creatures.’ It was Josiah Tremayne who had witnessed her cruelty.
‘This house is full of such!’
Josiah advanced so quickly it took her by surprise. She shrieked as he pinned her against the arched door. ‘I take it I am included in that observation. How is my little girl, Mrs Pengarron?’
Sophie struggled but he was too powerful. He squeezed her arms, hurting her. His strong cologne filled her nostrils, as did the uncommon sweetness of his breath. She felt herself weakening, growing dizzy, but clung on to her determination to protect her niece. ‘Are you interested in Elizabeth?’
‘I wish the little bitch the same fate as her mother.’
‘Get your hands off me!’
‘With pleasure.’ He let her go abruptly. Dazed and nauseous, Sophie fell to the doorstep. Josiah bent and hissed in her ear. ‘I’m sure Luke Pengarron doesn’t get the same pleasure out of you as I did from your whore of a sister. You and he deserve one another.’
Once inside the house, aware of what his act of brutality could mean in terms of reprimand from his half-brother and retibution from Luke Pengarron, Josiah hurried up to his aunt’s room. He had a particular reason to visit her. He came face to face with Gabriel.
‘Ah! Brother! We are well met. I was looking for help. Mrs Luke Pengarron is outside. She has fainted.’
‘Why did you not carry her inside?’ Gabriel rushed past him towards the stairs.
After Sophie had rested and was safely on her way home under the care of Livvy, Kelynen went to Gabriel in the music room. ‘We need to talk about Josiah.’
‘I’ve remonstrated with Josiah,’ Gabriel said, rising respectfully from the pianoforte and score sheets. He sat down again at once, his attention on his work. ‘He intends to write a letter of apology to Sophie.’
‘You should have ordered him out of the house at once, Gabriel.’
‘I could hardly refuse his request to visit Aunt Portia. Josiah’s behaviour was that of a spiteful child. You must know how that can occur, coming as you do from a large family.’ He carried on writing down the melody that was racing through his head, but was conscious of Kelynen’s unyielding demeanour. ‘The situation is over. It must be kept in proportion.’
‘I’m pleased you’re aware of how vile Josiah is. Goodness knows why he wanted to see your aunt. He’s never bothered with her before, and she can’t bear him. Gabriel, will you please leave that and attend to me. I’m trying to have a serious discussion with you.’
‘Kelynen?’ She now had his undivided attention. It struck him that until the consummation of their marriage a few nights ago she would have come close to him, perhaps putting a hand on his shoulder, or tidying back a strand of his hair. He preferred that she stay where she was. He liked having her close. He liked it a little too much. It saddened him that the unexpected loving experience had put a barrier between them.
‘Gabriel, I don’t trust Josiah in any way. I think you should look urgently into all the estate business. I shouldn’t be surprised to learn that he’s cheating the estate. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that the way he was clearing those things out of the library points to him having something to hide. He’s also taken a great many things from the house. How do you know they are rightfully his? You should consult the inventories.’
Gabriel did not welcome this complication. ‘Surely not.’ He glanced down at the music sheets.
Kelynen swept them away. ‘You must forget this for now and put your mind to where your priority lies.’
‘In your opinion, Chenhalls is my priority?’
‘You may not care for it but there are hundreds of people relying on the house, the land and the mine for their livelihood. The anthem for the King is finished; your duty now lies first with your people.’
‘My people?’ He frowned. ‘I have not thought of them as that before.’
‘That is what they are to you.’
‘And I’m neglecting them, is that what you’re saying?’
‘Gabriel, how many of the servants do you know?’ she asked, not unkindly, nor in challenge.
He got up and paced the length of the room, his hand up to the back of his neck. ‘Ja
cob. Mrs Barton, the housekeeper. I believe your maid is called… Hettie.’
‘And the chef?’
A long, strained pause, then, ‘Damn it, Kelynen!’
She raised her brows.
‘Oh, very well, you’ve made your point.’ He shrugged. ‘I’ll ensure I get to know all the servants. Tomorrow I’ll ride to Marazion and consult Uncle Rafe’s lawyers, and thereafter I’ll go to the Wheal Lowen. I’ll take a look at the papers in the library now. See what Josiah has left behind.’
‘May I come with you?’ Kelynen would try persuasion if he refused.
‘I expected that question.’
‘And?’
‘Of course you may,’ he said with a responsive smile.
While pleased that he was not to shut her out of estate affairs, Kelynen did not miss his note of uncertainty. ‘With my help you’ll soon realize what is necessary and then you’ll be able to find as much time as you need for your music.’
On the way to the library, she said, ‘I’ll meet you at the Wheal Lowen tomorrow and then go on to Trewarras.’
‘I’d rather you did not, Kelynen.’
‘Why?’ She tucked her arm through his, quite forgetting she’d been feeling troubled about him only a short time earlier. ‘We’ve been there together before, to offer comfort over our mutual bereavement.’
With ease, he took hold of her hand. ‘There are dangers on the mine face and danger from disease in the village. There is the child to consider.’
‘I promise to take the greatest care. It’s our duty to ascertain exactly how the miners live so we may improve their lot. I have many ideas. I’ve noticed a lot of redundant stone lying about; they could use it to rebuild or strengthen their homes, make them less like shanties. We could give each family some hens, or a pig or a goat. And seedlings to encourage those who haven’t already done so to clear a little ground for a vegetable garden. And we could supply a beast and ale for an ox roast in belated celebration of our marriage. It will lift their spirits and there will be benefits for everyone.’
He studied her enthusiasm with admiration. ‘As you please then, but you must swear to me you will always take care. I’ll order the Home Farm manager to procure what’s necessary from the farms and markets. I also have an idea. I shall arrange with Luke to have a performance of one his plays somewhere here in the grounds. The Arthurian one would do us well. And we shall also have music and dancing. At the end of the summer will be appropriate, after the grieving period is over.’
‘That’s a wonderful idea, Gabriel.’ Kelynen didn’t like the thought of his last sentence. She couldn’t envisage a time when she didn’t grieve for Rafe, but she squeezed his arm. ‘I’d like to start a school for the children. Have a little building put up where the tenant farmers’ children may also attend. And I think the mine surgeon should be encouraged to hold regular clinics. I don’t like the man currently employed. He’s lazy and uncaring. Could we ask Dr Menheniott if he’d consider taking over the position? There’s no end of the things we could do, Gabriel.’
Gabriel halted and gazed at her. ‘I see you know much about the life of Chenhalls. You are amazing. You humble me. Let us get busy then and find out more about our people.’ Two housemaids, hanging back with cleaning materials at a respectable distance, exchanged contented glances. Their worries about the future after Sir Rafe’s death were gone and they, like all the servants of the great house, were enjoying the peaceful atmosphere, now quite used to their new master and mistress’s affectionate ways.
In the library, after drawing back some of the heavy curtains and opening a window to dispel the dry, musty air, Kelynen and Gabriel took everything out of the desk drawers and laid it out on one of the long display tables, which they had cleared of a miscellany of books. Papers and documents were few but there was an interesting bottle of spirit. Gabriel pulled the cork and sniffed the contents. ‘Ah. A very nice canary. Would you care for a drop, my dear?’
‘Just a sip. Josiah hasn’t left anything relating to recent transactions – I find that very suspicious. Perhaps he doesn’t want comparisons made with earlier figures. I don’t expect we’ll find all the books and papers we need to see in the mine office either.’
‘Nor do I now. Josiah wasn’t at all keen for me to become involved in the running of the estate and mines. I fear my brother isn’t going to like these investigations.’ He added, ‘I intend to go underground tomorrow.’
‘Gabriel, surely you don’t mean it?’ To Kelynen’s horror it seemed that he did, for suddenly he was enervated, his blue eyes dazzling and eager.
‘Oh, but I do, my dear. Darkness and confined spaces do not bother me. I want to see how everything works.’
Kelynen was filled with a strange, gut-reeling panic. ‘You will be careful?’
‘I promise. I’m sure I’ll be reasonably safe. I understand Uncle Rafe did not stint on protective measures.’ Gabriel was now at his most lively, and once again Kelynen was reminded how much like Rafe he was. Rafe had also sought new experiences, shunning risk and danger.
‘How can you bear to? The very thought makes me shudder. I’d feel locked away, as if I’d never see daylight again, as if I was dying. You surprise me, Gabriel.’
‘I know.’
‘You do?’
‘You’ve always thought me soft, Kelynen, haven’t you? But I’ve done many a daring feat. I’ve climbed church spires. Ridden unbroken horses. I’ve walked barefoot on hot coals. I’ve walked across a lake on thin ice as a wager. I enjoy a challenge. I suppose it’s why I was attracted to Caterina.’
‘Do you see taking control of Chenhalls as a challenge?’
‘Yes.’
‘Am I?’
‘Are you what?’
‘A challenge.’ She blushed fiercely. What had made her ask that?
Gabriel was staring at her. ‘I’m beginning to think so.’
She pulled a group of papers out of a cupboard and plopped them down on the rest. ‘Let us see if there are any inventories among this lot,’ she said briskly.
‘Must we?’
She felt his fingers threading through her hair. His touch made her skin tingle at the neck. She didn’t have to look at him to know what he’d meant. The atmosphere in the dark margins of the room was charged with sensual warmth, an intoxicating energy. She wet her bottom lip. ‘We’ve a lot to get through.’
He leaned around her until he was gazing into her eyes. ‘It can wait for a while.’
She tried to sound firm, as if uninterested in him, but it was far from the truth. ‘And what you have on your mind can wait until tonight, in our chamber.’
‘Why then? Why there? Have you no sense of adventure, Kelynen?’
His smile, usually kind and easy, was marked by challenge and wickedness. Kelynen found it – she found him – mesmerizing, enticing, irresistible. She made one last attempt at propriety and rightness by taking a step away, but he thwarted this by putting his hands on her. And something, which she could not define, broke inside her, something slipped away, and eagerness, want and need flamed in her for him and she couldn’t hold back.
While keeping mindful of her condition, he took her to the exquisite edges of every pleasure, and beyond them. In a blaze of abandon veering on recklessness, he caused her to climb peaks and ride crests and soar to altitudes that left her burning in delight, enthralled and mystified.
Twenty-Five
The lawyer’s office was airless, dark and dusty, as if in affinity with the mine workings that Gabriel had come to discuss. Pinpricks of light were dotted in the heavy moth-eaten curtains of some indeterminate cloth, and he mused that it must be the first tiny speck of daylight or lantern light the miners looked for when making the tiring, arduous climb to the surface – the first sign of fresh air and life and some form of hope. He was under no illusion how hard and often wretched the miners’ lives were.
Mr Penwood Leggo, a bespectacled, clumsy, creaking presence, wore a faded horsehair wig and smelle
d alarmingly of menthol and drains, making Gabriel wish the windows were thrown open. Mr Leggo shot off an officious smile every few seconds while he waited for a clerk to bring the particulars of the Tremayne holdings. Gabriel downed the last of the fine-quality port served him, keeping his nose near the pleasingly large glass to offset the ripeness of the aging lawyer.
‘Another, Sir Gabriel?’ Mr Leggo proffered the crystal decanter in a brownish bony hand. He placed a penetrating gaze on the pale young baronet, whom he had never thought to meet. His persistent requests for an audience about the late Sir Rafe’s will had been met with equally persistent indifference. Not understanding why anyone shunned interest in a considerable inheritance, Mr Leggo felt honoured to have this reclusive Tremayne actually in his office. He was also curious about him, as were all the gentry of Mount’s Bay. Rumour had it that Sir Gabriel Tremayne had been about to return to Vienna; his uncle’s tragic demise had not been expected to prevent this. But then he had suddenly taken himself a bride, the highly favoured Miss Kelynen Pengarron, and more rumours were circulating that he had anticipated the wedding night and already had an heir in the womb. Rumour also had it that Sir Rafe may have even precipitated his nephew on that pleasure and the child was in fact his. Mr Leggo thought not. Miss Pengarron was too sagacious to fall for the wiles of a handsome adventurer. His granddaughters had begged to differ and, in descriptions the staid Mr Leggo did not approve of, had exclaimed Sir Rafe Tremayne had been wholly irresistable. ‘I’d be delighted. It has a rich, smooth taste.’
Mr Leggo winked. ‘Sir Rafe saw me well. Can I hope that you will be taking up that particular occupation before too long?’
‘I haven’t thought about it.’ Jacob Glynn had recently asked him the same question, pointing out that the ordinary workmen relied on smuggling to supplement their earnings. His uncle’s death had brought the regular runs on Tremayne land to an abrupt end. The prospect of participating in a run was exciting but he had Kelynen’s feelings to consider. She wouldn’t want him risking his life in the same sort of venture that had so recently cost his uncle his. Perhaps when things were more settled… In the meantime there was no reason why he should refuse permission for the coves and inlets and hides to be used by others. ‘Expect to hear good news in that direction shortly, Mr Leggo.’
Pengarron Rivalry Page 21