Lucas sipped his coffee as he read Samuel Havenham's carefully penned letter. This was it. This was the moment he had anticipated for so many years, the chance for revenge, and to make sure Samuel Havenham knew just why he was doing this. He sent a note back, advising Havenham that he would call upon him at four o'clock. Lucas told himself he needed time to visit Morwood first and see the progress there. If part of him wanted to put off the visit to Oakenroyd, he would not acknowledge it.
He arrived promptly, the longcase clock in the hall chiming the hour as Gibson led him across to the drawing room where Annabelle was sitting with her father.
'Mr Blackstone.' Samuel rose to meet him. 'So good of you to call. Do sit down.'
Lucas hesitated. 'I think perhaps we should go to your study, sir. We have business to discuss.'
'There is nothing that cannot be discussed in front of my daughter, sir.'
The knot in Lucas's gut tightened. Annabelle was regarding him with those clear grey eyes and he had to remind himself that she was the enemy. He could not spare her.
'Very well.' He stripped off his gloves. 'You have received the letter from my lawyers, I take it.'
'I have, sir. It arrived yesterday. That is what I wish to discuss with you.'
'I thought I had made my instructions perfectly clear to Mr Powell. The mortgage on Oakenroyd is to be terminated at Michaelmas.'
'That is less than six months, Mr … Blackstone,' said Annabelle.
He noted how she stumbled over his name. 'I am aware of that.'
'You must know that to settle with you we will have to borrow money from elsewhere,' explained Samuel. 'It is very difficult at present.'
'Impossible for you, I should imagine, when all of Stanton knows your situation.'
His callous tone brought Annabelle's eyes upon him. He dared not look at her, but could imagine the reproach in them only too well.
'Did you spread the rumours, then, about our financial troubles?' she asked quietly.
'Let us say I have made no effort to deny them.'
He set his jaw. That made him sound like a scoundrel, but this was what he had worked for. It was a war and there was no room for sentiment. He must concentrate. Samuel was speaking again.
'Mr Blackstone, I do not think you quite understand. It is unlikely that I shall have the funds to pay you back by the end of September. If we could come to some arrangement, say a partpayment?'
'No. I must be paid in full, sir. I will not take a penny less than I am owed.'
Annabelle spread her hands. 'But if we cannot pay … '
Now he turned his head, forced himself to meet her eyes and kept his own countenance impassive. 'Then you must leave Oakenroyd.'
Annabelle put her hands to her cheeks. Surely this could not be happening? The passionate lover, the gently teasing dance partner was gone, replaced by a harsh, implacable stranger.
'But why?' she whispered. 'Why are you doing this?'
'Morwood will not be habitable until the spring. I need somewhere else to live.'
'And for that you would take our home?'
'A mortgage is a business arrangement, Miss Havenham, nothing more, nothing less.'
'No.' She jumped up. It did not make sense. 'There must be more to it than that. If it were merely business, it would not matter to you where we found the money to repay you, but you have deliberately made it impossible for us to find any help in Stanton. Why should that be, Mr Blackwood?'
His lips thinned. She saw the muscle working in his jaw, as if he was struggling to control his temper.
'Miss Havenham, I suggest you retire and allow me to discuss this with your father.'
'Do you think I would leave Papa to face this alone?' She crossed to the sofa and sat down beside her father, slipping her hand through his arm. 'If you are so determined to take Oakenroyd, I think we have a right to know the reason for it.'
His eyes were hard and black as jet beneath the lowering brows.
'Very well, Miss Havenham,' he said at last, his voice as harsh as his countenance. 'You shall have the reason. When I was ten years old I learned what it was to lose not only my home, but my parents, too.'
'Yes, I am aware of that, but-'
'Are you also aware that it was your father's doing?' he broke in roughly. 'He killed them.'
Chapter Eight
Annabelle thought she might faint. There was a rushing sound in her ears and a pain in her head, behind her eyes. She was looking at Lucas, but it was as if he was at the end of a long, black tunnel. She leaned against her father's arm and when she spoke her voice seemed to come from a great distance.
'That cannot be true.'
'Oh, it is true,' growled Lucas. 'Your father came to Morwood for dinner that evening. He had a row with my father, who threw him out, but he came back at midnight and set fire to Morwood. I escaped unharmed, but my mother perished, and my father died soon after, horribly burned from his attempts to save her. Well, Havenham, do you deny it?'
Belle looked at her father. His eyes were full of tears.
'I have blamed myself often for your mother's death, my boy, but you must believe I had nothing to do with the fire.'
'Don't lie to me,' snarled Lucas. 'I saw you! My bedroom window was open and when I heard a noise I looked out. The fire had taken hold by then and I saw you running away from the house.'
'No, no, it was not I,' said Samuel. 'A poacher or an intruder, perhaps.'
'In white stockings and knee breeches?' His lip curled. 'No one believed me. The magistrate ruled it was an accident, but I have lived with the memory of that night for five-and-twenty years. I know what I saw.' He walked to the door. 'I always planned to make you pay for your crimes, Havenham, and now you shall do so.' He stopped, his fingers curled around the door handle. 'And by the way, I have acquired certain vowels of yours, Mr Havenham, from a gentleman in Harrogate. Your IOUs for three thousand pounds. Those too must be paid by Michaelmas.'
He went out, leaving only a horrified silence behind him.
Annabelle listened to his footsteps retreating across the hall, heard the soft thud of the main door as he left the building.
'Papa?' She gently squeezed her father's arm. 'Papa, tell me what this is all about.'
He shook his head, his eyes still bright with unshed tears.
'Please, Papa.'
He took a long, shuddering breath. 'I will, my love, but you must remember this all happened so long ago. Years before I met your mother.'
She nodded and waited patiently until he began to speak.
'Jonas Blackstone and I had been neighbours, if not close friends, for many years. When he brought Maria to England she was already his wife and he had forced her to give up all connection with her past. All we knew was that she was from Spain-that is why I never recognised the Monserrat name.
'My father had just died and I returned from the Grand Tour to take up residence at Oakenroyd. Maria and I met occasionally and found ourselves falling in love. Perhaps it was inevitable. She was a sensitive, intelligent woman and I was much more of a scholar than Jonas, who was impatient of learning and preferred to be active. Maria bore Jonas one child, a son.'
'Lucas?'
'Yes.' He turned and gripped Belle's hand. 'Let me tell you now, my love, Maria was never unfaithful to her husband. Never. I loved her- worshipped her-and she, I believe, loved me. It was implied in a look, a gesture, but we never spoke of it. She gave me the picture, you see. The watercolour of Morwood. I treasured it, knowing she had painted it herself. But I never did more than kiss her fingers. We existed thus for years, until Lucas was ten years old. By then life for Maria was becoming intolerable. Jonas had always been a hard man, but as he grew older he became a cruel one, prone to jealousy and fits of drunken rage, when he would become violent. I urged Maria to bring Lucas and run away with me. We could fly to the Continent and live as man and wife. Maria loved me, I am sure of it, but she was very loyal to Jonas and reluctant to break her marriage vows, so all I could do was watch and wait and assure her I was there if she needed me.
'On the night of the fire I called at Morwood. Lucas and his cousin had been out hunting and one of their dogs had got lost and ended up at Oakenroyd. I could have sent him back with a servant, but to tell you the truth I wanted an excuse to call and see Maria, so I put the dog in my gig and drove over. I had been about to sit down to my dinner, so I was already dressed for it and Maria invited me to stay and dine with them. Blackstone was in one of his black moods. She told me he had been drinking all day and she was nervous of him. When the meal did not meet with his approval he flew into a rage.' Samuel rubbed a hand across his eyes. 'There were others there-Jonas's widowed sister and her son, who is a few years older than Lucas, I think. Maria sent the boys to bed, and her sister, too, but I remained, because I was anxious for her safety. When Jonas threatened to take a horsewhip to her I stopped him, knocked him down. It was a fluke, he was so much stronger than I, but he was drunk, I suppose …