‘Next week!’ Cordelia hissed excitedly. She couldn’t help moving and Olivia was too excited herself to care. The three young women got in a huddle in the centre of the room.
‘We’re to go to Trelynne Cove and wait there until well after dark. He’s going to row into the cove himself first, carrying no contraband. He’ll meet up with us and check for himself that there’s no Revenue men about. He’ll then signal to the smuggling ship and another rowing boat will bring in tea, coffee, spices, all broken down in small containers. There won’t be much because it’s a trial ran. If it’s successful, we can receive more the next time. He said it’s up to us to make contacts for the “hides” but he can help us with buyers if need be. I didn’t tell him about your great-grandfather’s hidey-hole, Livvy. I thought it would be better to keep that to ourselves. It might come in handy for us to hide in if anything went wrong.’
‘You did the right thing. I don’t trust this Zack Maynard and I expect his gang are just as bad,’ Cordelia commented.
‘We’ll have no problems with hiding the goods. Jack is in charge of the stables and we can put some things in there. The rest can go in the corner of the wine cellar. No Revenue men will dare to ask to look around the Manor, and if Father finds out, he might be very angry but we’ll just have to promise we won’t do it again. But we still have the problem with Jack. He absolutely refuses to come with us.’
‘Surely you can talk him round,’ Jessica said impatiently. ‘He’s always adored you, should be easy enough.’
Olivia shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t succeeded so far. And if he won’t go then Cordelia won’t be able to ride and we can’t have her walking across the cliffs. Apart from the time it will take, it wouldn’t be any good if we have to make a quick getaway. She’s got just about enough courage to ride behind Jack.’
‘You don’t have to worry about me,’ Cordelia said brightly. ‘Your brother Philip helped me to get over the worst of my fears about horses, Jessie, and Luke has been helping me to rid myself of the rest of them. Uncle Oliver says I can choose a pony from the stud and I shall have my own mount by next week.’
‘Bravo!’ cried Olivia.
‘So Philip did you some good as well as offending you,’ Jessica said, looking pleased. She hated it when someone had something against one of her family. ‘It’s just up to you now, Olivia, to work on Jack.’
The rumbling noise came again, the unmistakable voice of thunder.
‘You can’t breathe in this air,’ Jessica said irritably, pulling at her tucker.
‘I hope it doesn’t come to anything,’ Olivia muttered, shooting an anxious look at Cordelia.
Chapter 17
When Kane got back from Tolwithrick he found Olivia and Cordelia in the parlour looking anxiously out of the windows. They asked after the Beswethericks and when Kerensa and Oliver were coming home, then returned to their stations, apparently scanning the heavy skies.
‘What’s the matter with you two?’ Kane asked grumpily, flopping down in a chair. ‘Don’t you like the idea of Mama and Father staying away for a few days? Is the failing light hampering your precious painting too much?’
‘We’re not in the least bit concerned with that,’ Olivia replied tartly, feeling in no mood for her brother’s bad humour.
‘There’s going to be a storm,’ Cordelia said, without turning round.
‘That much is obvious. The air has been getting heavier and the thunder closer all afternoon,’ Kane said, drumming his fingers restlessly on the arm of the chair.
‘I’m going after her,’ Olivia said to Cordelia. ‘She’ll never arrive at the farm in time before the thunder gets really loud and if there’s lightning as well I hate to think what she’ll do. We should have insisted she stay here until the storm had passed over.’
‘I’d come with you but I’m not that confident on a horse yet. If the thunder makes it jumpy I might panic and then you’ll have two terrified females on your hands. Why don’t you take Jack with you in case she gets the hysterics?’
Kane was all ears at this. ‘Where are you going? Who are you talking about?’
‘Never you mind, Mr Crosspatch,’ Olivia said, flouncing past him.
He sprang up and took her arm. ‘What’s going on? With Father and Mama staying at Tolwithrick, I am in charge.’
‘It’s Jessica,’ Cordelia said, from behind him. ‘She left to go home a short time ago and she’s terrified of thunder and lightning. We’re afraid she won’t get home in time.’
‘Jessica is that frightened of storms?’
‘She won’t admit it,’ Olivia said, ‘but her Aunt Rosie told us about her fear. She made it sound as though her terror at that huge spider you brought back from the Caribbean was very small compared to the way she’s frightened of a storm.’
‘I’ll go,’ Kane said, and he would have none of his sister’s protests. ‘I’m dressed for riding and Jack won’t have unsaddled my horse yet.’
* * *
Jessica ran over the ground of Ker-an-Mor Farm telling herself the reason she was running was because she had stayed too long at the Manor and was late getting home, that it had nothing to do with the rumbles of thunder which were growing louder and more frequent. She kept her head down, eyes fixed to the ground rushing under her feet. If she saw just one streak of lightning dash across the sky, she knew she would panic. The sound of her heart thudded in her ears as she ran through the fields and she didn’t slow down until she reached the top of Ker-an-Mor valley. She could see the gate that divided Pengarron and Trenchard land and kept her eyes rooted on it. If she could just get through the gate and on to her side of the valley, it would take only a few minutes more to reach the safety of home.
Rain started to fall and quickly picked up momentum. With no wind, it came down straight and heavy and before she’d run another hundred yards she was soaked through to the skin. She wished she’d brought her shawl with her now, then she could put it over her head and narrow her field of vision, hide away in it.
There had been no rumbles for several moments and she was hopeful the storm was passing away. Then a sudden and deafening clap of thunder, which seemed to be right at her back, made her jerk rigidly to a standstill. Her heart leapt painfully and every nerve in her body was tense: she whirled round in fright and backed away, staring wide-eyed as if some horrible monster was there and about to devour her. She turned again and tried to run on but her feet skidded out from under her and she fell down on the wet, slippery ground. Then through the torrential rain she saw the sky light up in a long, jagged streak of lightning.
Without realising it she was screaming. She leapt to her feet and ran on wildly towards the gate, holding her hands to her ears. She lost her footing again and fell heavily forward, slipping on her hands and knees. She scrambled to regain her feet. Another clap of thunder reduced her senses to those of a desperate trapped animal. She shrieked and pounded the ground with her fists. A brilliant flash of lightning made her scream hysterically and somehow she was on her feet but instead of running for home and safety she danced round in a frenzied circle.
Kane saw her hysteria. Leaping off his horse he ran towards her, calling her name. She didn’t hear or see him and began to run again, her arms thrashing in the air, her long wet curls sticking to her face and back. Kane kept calling to her; even with his long legs he was having trouble catching up with her at the speed she was running. Then she fell. She hit the muddy ground with a sickening thump. Her frantic movements caused her to slide and she began to roll over and over down the valley. Hurtling after her at breakneck speed, he managed to reach her. He made a grab at her shoulder and gained a handful of her dress. Not realising help was at hand, she fought him off like someone demented.
‘Jessie! Jessie! Keep still! It’s me, Kane! I’ve come to help you!’
His shouts could not penetrate the terror engulfing her brain and he lost his footing too and slid with her further down the valley. He fought their crazy slide
and managed to get his buttocks on the ground and dig his boots in hard to bring them to a halt. Then forcing her flailing arms behind her back and pinning them down, he put his free arm under her knees. With a struggle he got to his feet with the terrified girl in his arms. He held her tight until she went still, her eyes clamped shut. The rain poured down their faces and dripped off their clothes.
‘Jessica, can you hear me? Open your eyes and look at me. It’s Kane. I’ve got hold of you and you’re quite safe now.’
She was whimpering, her face screwed up in fear.
‘Jessica, look at me,’ Kane said loudly, glancing around, desperate to get her away somewhere before the next round of thunder and lightning reverberated through the valley. ‘We can’t stay here like this.’
She opened one eye, then the other. When she looked into those large soulful brown eyes of his she gave a cry and buried her face in his neck. There was a flash of lightning and a roll of thunder. She cried and went rigid in his arms and cried out again.
‘You’re safe now,’ he said into her ear. ‘The nearest place is Ricketty Jim’s. I’m going to take you there until the storm’s over.’
He carried her up the valley, walking with care so as not to slip and precipitate another downward plunge. He pushed through the gate bordering the farmlands without bothering to shut it after him, talking to her all the while to calm her fears.
‘We’ll soon be warm and dry. Jim’s usually got a cheerful fire going and his shack is cosy and watertight. He’ll make us a nice mug of hot tea. You’ll be safe there. I’ll find my horse or walk to Trecath-en and tell them you’ll be home when it’s all quiet again. Don’t worry, Jessica, I won’t let anything harm you.’
Still carrying Jessica, Kane pushed his way through Ricketty Jim’s door and found that although there was a cosy fire burning under his makeshift chimney, there was no sign of the farm hand. It was smoky inside the little shack and it made them both cough. Kane stood Jessica in front of the fire but still held her, afraid she was too weak to stand. She kept her head pressed to his chest and gripped his shirt at the back with taut fingers.
‘Jessica.’
‘Mmmm?’
‘Ricketty Jim isn’t here.’
Her head shot up to look at him in fresh panic. ‘You’re not going to leave me here alone?’
‘No, I promise I won’t leave you.’ He rubbed her arms gently in reassurance. ‘We’re soaked through to the skin. We’d better get out of some of these wet clothes, then I’ll make us some tea. Jim won’t mind, I’m sure, and I’ll replace the tea.’
It was dark in the shack and the lightning couldn’t be seen. Another clap of thunder came. Its sound was muffled in the small but thick-walled shack, as was the rain pounding down on the roof. Jessica felt safer but still shuddered in Kane’s arms.
She became aware of her wet and muddy condition and shivered. She moved away from Kane and looked down at her dress and shoes. ‘I didn’t realise I’d got into such a mess. Look at you, you’re just as wet and muddy. I’m sorry, Kane. I fought against you and you were trying to help me.’
‘That doesn’t matter. You fell very heavily down the valley. Are you hurt?’
‘I feel a bit skinned and bruised,’ she managed a small smile, ‘all over.’
He swept a shabby blanket off Ricketty Jim’s low bed. ‘Here, put this round you.’
He began to pull his clinging shirt out from his breeches and she turned away. Putting the blanket over her shoulders, she eased all her wet clothes, except for her shift, down to her feet and stepped out of them. She felt a tug on them and allowed Kane to take them from her. He hung her dress, tucker and petticoat over the line strung up close to the fire next to his shirt. Jessica stared at him as he stood back from the fire in his breeches and boots, noting the scars on his torso, and the scratches and bruises from their fall.
‘Just a few war wounds,’ he smiled, noticing her scrutiny.
‘Well, you certainly have been through the wars, so to speak,’ she replied. She sat on Ricketty Jim’s bed. ‘I don’t want any tea, ’tis better not to touch Jim’s things. He likes them just so.’
‘As you please, Jessie. Are you hurt much?’
‘I don’t think so,’ she said, peeping inside the blanket at the areas where her flesh was tender. There was thunder again and she shook, murmuring, ‘I wish it would go away.’
He sat beside her and took her hand. ‘Listen for the next clap of thunder. You’ll notice they’re getting fewer and lower. The storm’s passing over. I wouldn’t be surprised if Clem or one of the twins appears up here looking for you.’
Jessica made a rueful face. ‘They’ll probably think I had the sense to stay at the Manor until it’s all over. It was obvious there was going to be a storm. Cordelia and Olivia begged me to stay but I was too stubborn as usual. Did they send you after me?’
‘Olivia was going to come. I said I would.’
‘I’m glad you found me. I would have gone mad out there.’ She thought about how she must have looked to him. ‘I feel a bit of a fool now.’
‘There’s no need to feel like that, and at least I’ve made up for frightening you with the spider. You’re a strange mixture, Jessica Trenchard. So fearless one minute, you’re afraid of no man seemingly, and yet you can be so frightened of some things.’ She glanced at him, looking very vulnerable. ‘Would you like me to hold you?’ he asked softly.
‘Yes, please,’ she replied, shivering. ‘If you’re cold you can share this blanket. I’m sure my honour is quite safe with you, ’tisn’t as if you’re your brother.’
Kane took the blanket from her and swept it round them both and held her in his arms. She placed her face against his bare chest, liking the feel of it there, and put her arms round him.
‘Is that what he was doing earlier today when I saw you together? Propositioning you?’ he asked with a note of anger in his voice.
‘He told me he loved me.’
‘I’ll break his neck!’
‘Why?’ She looked at him in surprise. ‘I can handle Luke, he doesn’t bother me. In fact we get on quite well these days, in our own way.’
‘Do you now?’ he asked rather bitterly.
‘Look, I really am sorry about being rude to you since you’ve got back home. My apology came out all wrong in the fields. I’m sorry for upsetting you. Say you’ll forgive me.’ She put on an appealing face.
‘Oh, very well, Miss Curlylocks,’ he said, moving a mass of her wet hair from his skin. ‘So, what is it you like about Luke? I’d be most curious to know.’
‘Well, I know what his reasons are behind him being nice to me but he pays me some lovely compliments.’
He tilted her chin and looked into her eyes, then studied her lips. ‘You like flattery, do you?’
‘A maid has no objections to being told she’s beautiful.’
‘Would you be flattered if I said you’ve got lips like rose petals?’
‘Don’t make fun of me!’
But he was looking at her steadily and his eyes glowed with a raw strength that seemed to come from deep within him. She felt she could be drawn into their very depths and wanted to make that journey there to its end, and then to draw back the same from him and enshrine it in her soul.
Bending his head, he briefly kissed her trembling lips, then asked huskily, ‘And what if I said your lips taste like ripe strawberries, Jessica?’ He was no longer teasing her.
And Jessica was just as serious as she replied in the softest whisper, ‘I’d say do it again.’
They kissed with an intense longing, wrapping their arms round each other tighter and tighter, giving more and more of themselves until they were lost in a tide of passion. Then when they were quite out of breath, they drew apart and sat still, listening to the rain.
Kane looked around Ricketty Jim’s shack. He was feeling wonderfully alive, yet quiet inside at the way Jessica had yielded and taken from him. He had never felt like that before with any other w
omen he had held in his arms. ‘Who would have thought when we were children playing around Jim’s makeshift home that we would end up one day sitting and kissing inside it?’ he said, brushing his lips over her closed eyelids.
‘I wish I had known,’ she said dreamily. ‘I would have had all those years to look forward to it.’
She was running her hand slowly down his back, finding the narrow scar that ran all the way down from his neck. He shivered and knew she didn’t realise all the feelings she was sending coursing through his body, and when she brought her hand round and touched the deeper, wider scar on his stomach, he took it away and held it.
‘I know how you got the scar down your back,’ Jessica said softly. ‘It comes from the beatings you received in your childhood.’ She looked again at the scar on his stomach which showed above his breeches. ‘But how did this happen, Kane? It’s like a pit.’
‘It happened when I was overseas,’ he explained, touching it gingerly. ‘I was thrust into by a sword which was twisted round inside me. I very nearly died. The surgeon removed part of my insides; he said some of the bits didn’t matter anyway. It still hurts at times.’
‘That’s terrible! Oh, you poor thing. All the suffering you’ve had to put up with in your life and I’ve been so horrible to you.’ She touched a bruise on his shoulder. ‘And now you’re bruised and battered all over again because of my fear of thunderstorms.’
‘It’s not that bad.’ He grinned at her intensity.
She kissed the bruised area on his shoulder and it made him shiver again.
‘Well, perhaps it is quite serious,’ he said with a twinkle in his eye. ‘All my injuries are serious.’
She raised herself up and kissed him possessively. ‘I don’t think I will be afraid of thunder and lightning storms from now on. I know I’m very grateful to this one.’
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