Pengarron's Children

by Pengarron's Children (retail) (epub)

  After she went home, Catherine sometimes forgot some of her possessions and Kerris would find them lying carelessly about the farmhouse – a fan, her purse, her hat if she’d been wearing one of Jessica’s sunhats. It didn’t occur to Kerris that they might have been left deliberately to mark the lady’s territory and keep her in Clem’s mind. But the thing Kerris came across in the parlour that day was nearly her undoing. A tiny bottle of perfume had been left on the table. She picked it up, the glass cool in her rough palm, and gently touched the stopper at the top. Then, as if the thing had come to life on its own, the stopper fell off and the scent spilled over onto her hands and dropped on her apron. It was a soft, subtle fragrance but with so much of it released in the warm muggy air, it was very strong and terrible memories of an earlier time this year, when she had smelled another overpowering fragrance, flooded her mind in warped, fast-moving pictures. She didn’t want those memories. She panicked. Dropping the bottle, she ran screaming from the room.

  Kenver, who was resting in his bedroom-cum-workshop next door, hauled himself up on his bed to a sitting position and shouted to her, ‘Kerris! Kerris! What is it? Come here to me!’

  His words didn’t break through her hysteria but she was running to him anyway. She flew through the door and flung herself onto the bed. She’d stopped screaming now and had gone white and rigid. Kenver eased her body closer until she was lying down beside him. She burrowed herself into his arms like a mouse in a nest and he held her tight, saying soothing words.

  Kerris stayed rigid until she noticed the beat of Kenver’s heart in her ear. The steady rhythm helped to calm her and she slowly allowed herself to relax. She moved away to loosen her tight muscles then snuggled back in and put her arm round his waist.

  ‘What happened, Kerris? What made you panic?’ he asked softly.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered.

  ‘There’s no need to be sorry. I’m only interested in why you were so frightened and whether I can help you.’

  ‘You are so kind to me,’ she said into his shirt.

  ‘Well, I like you.’

  ‘Do you mean it? I must be a worry to your family, coining from nowhere and not knowing anything about me.’

  ‘I’ve got no reason to lie to you, Kerris. Do you trust me?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You’re perfectly safe here with me. Nothing can hurt you. Now, my dear, tell me what happened.’

  Kerris gripped his shirt with both hands and put her face against his warm chest. ‘I… I… picked up a bottle of perfume belonging to Miss Catherine. The stopper came out the top and suddenly there was perfume all over me. The smell was so strong and it terrified me for some reason… I… don’t want to think about it, Kenver. Please don’t make me remember.’

  Kenver pulled one of her hands away and sniffed it. ‘You smell lovely. Is it frightening you now?’

  ‘No, not when I’m with you. I hope Miss Catherine won’t be angry with me.’

  ‘I’m sure Miss Catherine won’t mind at all. She seems a very reasonable person.’

  ‘Do you think so? So do I. I think it’ll be good having her around the house. I didn’t mean to spill her perfume. I’m afraid I dropped the bottle on the parlour floor. I’d better go and pick it up.’

  ‘It can wait for a minute, can’t it?’ They were chatting in the way they usually did on a quiet afternoon but with the big difference that she was lying in his arms. Kenver didn’t want to let her go yet. If he was comforting her, it was having a similar effect on him.

  ‘I s’pose not,’ she whispered back shyly, and snuggled down again.

  After several peaceful minutes he said, ‘I’ve never held a woman in my arms before. I’m thirty-eight years old and this is the first time I’ve been close to someone like this. It’s wonderful. I had no idea someone could feel so soft and warm and alive.’

  Kerris thought about this, then said softly, ‘Nor did I.’

  Kenver gently pulled off her cap and caressed her hair. He was reluctant to spoil the moment, but he had to ask, ‘How do you know, Kerris? How can you know for sure that you haven’t lain in a man’s arms before? You might be married, have had children.’

  She shivered and moved in closer. ‘I like children. I’ve been quite happy playing with the little ones belonging to they working in the fields. I’ve thought about that and I’m sure if I had any children I would never forget them. I don’t think I’ve been married either.’ She looked him in the face and smiled shyly. ‘This feels like a new experience for me too.’

  ‘Does it?’ Kenver said, much pleased. ‘One you’re liking?’

  ‘Yes, very much,’ she said at once.

  He hugged her tight then laid his head on the pillow, smiling at her. ‘I don’t care who you are. I’m glad that it was someone from my family who found you and brought you here.’

  Her pale grey eyes lit up and gave roundness to her square face. ‘Your brother is chased after by lots of women, did you know that. It’s not surprising the beautiful lady I’ve heard about, Cap’n Pengarron’s mother, was in love with him. She probably still is. And that Miss Catherine wanted him before he asked her to marry him. But did you know that you are as good-looking as he is? I reckon if you left the farm, a woman like me would get killed in the rush.’

  ‘What do you mean, a woman like you? You’re beautiful.’

  Kerris made a face. ‘I said you were a kind man.’

  ‘I mean it!’ Kenver protested.

  She smiled and lifted the long white-blond hair, so soft and silky, that he never tied back. He gathered her in tight and bringing his face close, gave her a tentative kiss on the lips. ‘Do you mind?’ he murmured.

  ‘No,’ she replied huskily, tears of emotion sprinkling her eyelids.

  They kissed tenderly and there was no indication that she was experienced in this either.

  * * *

  Clem found them asleep in each other’s arms. He frowned heavily. What had been going on between these two while they’d been spending so much time alone? He thought it possible that the initial reason for them lying together like this was Kerris seeking comfort. He’d noticed Catherine’s perfume bottle lying on the parlour floor. But what had happened after that? The look on Kenver’s face was one of pure contentment. Was he falling in love with this mysterious little woman he was cuddling so tightly? It would be wonderful if his disabled brother could find romance, love and happiness. But what did Kerris feel for Kenver? With her unknown circumstances, Clem was nervous of Kenver getting hurt.

  He walked silently from the room and closed the door on them. He didn’t want to embarrass them and was glad he had come back from the fields before the others who had stayed to watch a friendly wrestling match between Philip and the Barvah Giant. But before he got married in just over six weeks’ time, with everything hopefully settling down for Jessica’s sake, he vowed he would find out just exactly who the mysterious Kerris was.

  * * *

  Luke Pengarron eased his aching left arm and leaned back heavily from the oak desk in Ker-an-Mor’s farmhouse parlour. He hated harvest time, when Matthias Renfree got to work outside all the time and he was expected to pore over the accounts and paperwork in this dingy small room. He had little time to see Sebastian Beswetherick and enjoy their usual gambling and carnal pursuits. This year was even worse. Luke had looked forward to spending some good times with Kane but all he wanted to do was work like a common labourer in the fields. He had added insult to injury by going over to Trecath-en Farm. Well, he’d better not have any ideas about the comely Jessica Trenchard! She would be his in the fullness of time – but then his elder brother had not returned to Trecath-en Farm the following day. Luke grinned. Had Kane tried his luck and been sent away with a flea in his ear by the wild young minx?

  A small boy toddled into the room followed by his mother carrying a tray of tea. ‘Here you are, Master Luke. Have a nice cup of tea. You’ve been busy at those papers all afternoon,’ Rosie Renfree s
aid in her motherly fashion.

  ‘You are good to me, Rosie,’ Luke replied, turning and stretching out his long legs. He watched her set the tray down and pour him a cup from a china teapot. She was thirty-four years old and looked much younger. Being a wife and mother suited her and she exuded contentment and health. He liked her golden hair, the same colour as Jessica’s. What is it about you Trenchard women? he thought. You know how to stir a man’s loins without realising it, yet are expert at keeping him at arm’s length. He moved over to the tea tray rubbing his stiff arm.

  ‘Thank you, Rosie,’ he said, then bending down to her son, ‘and how are you today, young man?’ He looked enquiringly at Rosie. ‘James, isn’t it?’

  ‘That’s right, sir,’ she answered proudly, but going red in the face. ‘Our next to youngest, the one who’s most like his father.’

  Luke looked at the child’s face closely. ‘Yes, he is rather like Matthias, isn’t he?’ Luke suddenly had an idea how to make the tediousness of the harvest time a lot more interesting for himself. He made a face and rubbed vigorously at his right arm and let out a small grunt of pain, then returned to the subject of children. ‘You are to be congratulated on a fine healthy family, Rosie.’

  ‘Thank you, sir,’ Rosie said, rearranging the things on the tea tray so she wouldn’t have to see his dark face. She didn’t like the way Luke Pengarron looked at her at times.

  ‘I don’t know much about children,’ Luke said, touching James cautiously, who didn’t seem to mind and was intent on watching the tall man’s pocket-watch chain glinting on his waistcoat.

  ‘You aren’t expected to, sir,’ his mother replied shyly, clearing her throat, wanting to go. ‘You’re a gentleman.’

  Luke made a show of rubbing his bad arm again. ‘But I’ve noticed Matthias playing with your older children and I remember my own father giving my brother and sisters and me lots of attention. He and Miss Kelynen are practically inseparable.’

  ‘Be different when you have your own children, I expect, sir,’ Rosie said.

  ‘I suppose it will.’ He stepped closer to Rosie and, as he expected, she moved away. He grasped his arm and made a face.

  ‘Are you in pain, sir?’ she asked, alarmed.

  ‘Agony would be a better description. I suppose I ought to ask Beatrice for a liniment to ease the tight muscles. You make up her concoctions, do you not? Do you have something here I could use? The pain is almost unbearable.’

  It sent Rosie into a fluster. He fastened his eyes on her burning face and knew she could not easily deny the master’s son. ‘I… I’ll see what I can find, sir.’ She held out her hand to her son. ‘Come along, James.’

  ‘No, he’s all right with me. I’ll watch over him while you look for the liniment.’

  Rosie stared a moment at the young gentleman, the heir to the property on which her husband worked. If it had been Master Kane who had made the request, she wouldn’t have thought twice about it. But she didn’t trust the motives of his spoiled younger brother who could be spiteful and vengeful if he didn’t get his own way. She felt as though he was keeping her son a prisoner. She had a good idea why and her heart sank but her anger was rising.

  ‘I shall be back shortly, sir,’ she said curtly, bobbing a curtsey and looking uncertainly at James as if he might be in danger.

  Rosie would have made up a coriander seed poultice to ease Master Luke’s painful joints but she wasn’t in the mood to provide him with comfort. She rushed out to the stables and returned with a bottle of horse liniment to find James sitting on Luke’s lap, holding a biscuit in his fist and trying to clutch at the watch chain.

  ‘I’m afraid it doesn’t smell very nice, sir,’ she said coldly, putting the bottle down on the table. ‘Come along, James, you’ll get Master Luke’s clothes covered in crumbs.’ She reached for her son but Luke held him.

  ‘Crumbs won’t hurt,’ Luke said softly, glancing at James and receiving a sunny smile in return. ‘See, he likes me. How is the liniment used?’

  ‘Just rub it into your arm and shoulder, sir, wherever it hurts.’

  Luke eyed her in a way that dared her to challenge him. ‘You do it for me.’

  Rosie looked about helplessly. ‘I’d rather not, sir. I have work to do.’

  He raised a black brow into a dangerous arch. ‘More important than relieving me from my agonising pain?’

  ‘It wouldn’t be seemly.’

  ‘What could anyone possibly construe but the innocent truth, with us in the office and with me holding your child on my lap?’

  There was harshness in his voice now and he was taunting her. Then it occurred to him that if he upset this woman and she told her husband and her brother, there would be an unpleasant scene, especially from the uncouth farmer who cared so much for his wretched womenfolk, and then his desire to seduce Jessica Trenchard would never bear fruit. He wanted her, and he wanted her willing and eager, not spitting fury. He changed tack. The aunt could wait till a later date.

  Forcing a look of contrition, he said quietly, ‘I’m sorry, Rosie. Forgive me. I wasn’t thinking clearly about how it would seem from your point of view. I hope I haven’t offended you. Take James with you, I’ll see to my arm myself.’

  He released the hold he had on James and made a show of looking humbly at the floor as she lifted the child away from him. He glanced up and repeated that he was sorry.

  Rosie hurried out feeling relieved but not fooled for one minute. If he couldn’t have got round her by his charms, he would have had no conscience about trying to ‘blackmail’ her into an affair by threatening to say that things had gone further than her rubbing liniment into his arm with his shirt off. Luke Pengarron was a ruthless swine! She would tell Matthias what had happened and they would ensure a dairy maid would always be about the farm in future when Master Luke was likely to be there. And Rosie would have to look out for the dairy maid’s virtue and safety too. It worried her why he had suddenly changed his mind about what he had obviously been set on. It wouldn’t have been because he was afraid of Matthias. Luke Pengarron had faced angry cuckolded husbands before without blinking an eyelid. Could it be fear of his father? Sir Oliver would be furious if Matthias upped and left the farm steward position. Renfrees had worked for Pengarrons going back centuries. Rosie prayed that her narrow escape didn’t mean trouble for some other poor maid.

  Chapter 15

  On the last day of the harvesting, Jessica was up before the dawn. She left Kerris to get the men’s breakfasts and taking Gracie with her set off to walk the riverside at the bottom of the valley. A fine fairy-tale mist hung low and chilled her bones and she wished she’d brought her shawl. She hoped the coldness of the early hour and the loneliness would help to clear her mind.

  Until a few months ago everything in her life had been steady and predictable. She’d known whom she liked and whom she despised. She’d despised Luke Pengarron. But now she had seen another side of him in Trelynne Cove. When he wasn’t being superior and demanding his own way, he seemed kind enough and she felt sympathy for the continual pain he suffered. She had been flattered by his appreciation of her looks; he’d said she was a ‘most beautiful creature’ and had the ‘loveliest hair in the world’. He had asked her if she would like to see the doll he was having made for Cordelia and give her opinion of it before he presented it to his cousin. Jessica had felt honoured and said so. When the pain from his useless arm had eased, he had smiled lazily at her in a way that made her heart give a wild somersault. She would never trust Luke Pengarron but now she didn’t know if she could still despise him; she wanted to, it was easier not to have futile maidenly dreams about a handsome man not of your class if you hated him.

  Other things had happened this year that had unsettled her greatly. Simon Peter had gone away preaching and David was secretly planning to join him. Cordelia was refusing to come to the farm because of something Philip had done to upset her. Kane Pengarron had left the army and come home to the parish for good a
nd for some reason she found this unsettling. Worst of all, her father was planning to marry again.

  Jessica knew the sole reason for Clem’s matrimonial plan was her own behaviour. Of course it wasn’t improbable that he might want to marry again one day. He was still young and handsome and probably missed the comforts only a wife could provide him with. There were many women who would have made a good choice as a wife for him, widows and daughters reared on a farm, used to long hours and hard work, someone of their own class. But to ask a lady, someone he barely knew, was ridiculous. Clem thought it would take a lady to teach her the much-needed manners and refined ways he thought she should have. It was only a little while ago that her behaviour wouldn’t have been seen as unladylike and unacceptable.

  It wasn’t that Jessica disliked Catherine Lanyon. But even with the efforts she had made during the harvest period and her unassuming manner, Jessica couldn’t see how Catherine could possibly be happy living on a farm. She would soon find the farmhouse too small, the yard dirty and muddy, the long hours frustratingly lonely when Clem worked or went off on his own, their way of life rough and common. Philip would drop his gentlemanly behaviour and start swearing again and walk into the house without his shirt on. If David didn’t leave he would upset her with his ardent Methodist talk. And Jessica didn’t think she could ever change that much, not even to suit the father she adored, and the marriage would be all for nothing.