Marriage Made in Hope(34)

The hoot of an owl from a line of trees to one side of the driveway had the edges of his mouth turning upwards. ‘It is said that when you hear a bird calling from the west, good luck will follow.’

‘Is that west?’ she asked and was pleased when he nodded. ‘How many would come here if they had the mind to?’

‘Only a few. The Free Trade is a communal business, you understand, and there are many in it who wouldn’t be there were the government less greedy. Good men, honest men, men who just want to feed their families. Still, every endeavour has those who are less inclined to follow the law and take it into their own hands. Especially with the lure of gold.’ He breathed out and looked at her directly. ‘I had a letter today.’

The words made her stiffen. ‘Unsigned, of course?’

‘The missive threatens further retribution to my family should I continue to hunt for the one who hurt Anna.’

‘So we shall not be safe until he is caught?’

‘Daniel will be here on the morrow. Luce is in Hastings listening to what is being said and Gabe is making a list of the pubs Sherborne supplied in London. We will find them.’

‘That is why you were in that fight at Kew, wasn’t it? For Anna’s sake?’

‘Yes.’

‘And everyone called you reckless and dissolute.’

‘I was never a person to worry about what anybody else thought.’

‘But if you are hurt or...’ She could not even finish.

‘I won’t be. There are only a few hours of darkness left until the morning and no one will come when it’s light.’

He kissed her then quickly, the warmth of his lips across hers demanding and rough as one hand cupped the swell of her breast. Like a promise. She felt him draw in breath as he let her go, watching again and vigilant.

Outside through the windows the gardens of Colmeade House looked magical, mystical and quiet.

‘It is beautiful,’ she whispered, snuggling in, the blanket warm but his body warmer.

‘It is a fortress,’ he returned, ‘and none will harm us here. I swear it, on my life.’

‘I believe you.’

She wondered where the frightened woman of a few weeks ago had disappeared to, for if anyone was to come and hurt Francis or Anna she would kill them with her own bare hands. She swore to the heavens that she would.

And so they sat there until the morning, sometimes speaking, oft-times not, and the old stray joined them just before the dawn, like a guard dog, his ears pinned back as he listened in wariness.

She smiled to herself as the sun rose across the hills bathing the land in pink and yellow. She would never have seen the birth of a new day as the wife of a duke. She would never have lain in the arms of half slumber as she was doing now, the blankets warm and Francis’s body strong around her own.

She loved him. She had known that for a long while now, but if she had instructed him not to give her the words then she could hardly whisper them herself. But she did inside, as an aria and a melody, her fingers threaded through his and the breath he took mingling with her own.

This was life as it was supposed to have been lived, fearless, brave and uncompromised. The diamonds in her wedding ring winked in the light of the morning and she liked the promise of warmth in the air.





Chapter Thirteen

Sephora watched Anna the next morning as the girl came down the stairs, the dog Hopeful back on her heels and Timothy not far behind.

She was thin and the lines of worry still marked her brow, but she seemed happier nonetheless, more childlike as she giggled watching Timothy attempt a cartwheel and failing. Here at Colmeade House Francis had insisted the son of Mrs Billinghurst be given a position of companion for his ward. The idea had seemed to be working well and the two of them were becoming good friends.

‘What had you planned to do today, Anna?’ she asked from her place at the table. Francis had not come down to breakfast yet and she imagined he would be trying to catch up on at least a few hours of sleep before their visitors turned up.

‘We are building a fort in the attic with all the old furniture left there. Uncle Francis said that we may,’ she continued, ‘as long as we do our lessons in the afternoon.’

Another day indoors then, Sephora thought. The child never ventured outside either, unless they were with her, and she started each time she heard the noise of a horse arriving at the house. Mrs Billinghurst had also made it known that Anna wet her bed frequently and that she still enjoyed reading in a wardrobe with the doors closed.

Complications and complexities.

Timothy Billinghurst was watching her intently and she smiled, the boy blushing so that the skin on his skull showed red under the fairness of his hair; another child who needed careful handling, lost between the death of his father and the brittle poverty of a genteel mother who had been left with very little on the death of her husband.

‘The earl’s friends Lord and Lady Montcliffe will be coming today. Perhaps they would be interested in seeing the fort you construct when it is finished. I know I’d like to.’

A little smile from Anna was her reward, but Sephora had started to treasure these tiny gifts, her heart warming in response.

‘There is some silk in my room you might like to use for the windows. If you want to come and get it after breakfast I would be happy to lend it to you.’

‘Mrs Wilson already found some velvet,’ Timothy replied, ‘so we can use that for the walls.’

‘A communal endeavour, then.’

Sephora only wished that she might spend the morning tucked up with her husband, in the safe warmth of his arms.

* * *

Daniel and Amethyst Wylde arrived after lunch, but the smiling Earl of Montcliffe whom she had met at the wedding looked a lot more serious now and went almost immediately off with Francis to his library, leaving her alone with Amethyst.

‘Would you like to walk in the garden with me?’ Lady Montcliffe asked, giving Sephora the distinct impression that Amethyst Wylde wanted a place to talk where they could not be overheard or listened upon.

A few moments later out on the pathways Daniel’s wife halted in her observation of the formal gardens and turned to face her.

‘I hope you don’t mind my asking, but are you aware that the Duke of Winbury has named the date of his wedding to Miss Julia Bingham?’

Surprise was the only emotion Sephora felt at the news. And relief perhaps too, that Richard might have found a woman whom he could love in her stead.

‘I didn’t know that, but I am happy for him.’

Amethyst stooped to pick a sprig of lavender, twirling it in her fingers so that the scent wafted in the air between them. ‘My father used to say that the world is like a pack of cards. Take one away and the rest fall into new patterns. Perhaps this is exactly what is happening here.’

‘He sounds wise.’

‘Papa passed away a year ago, but at least he saw my children born and he loved them.’

‘You did not bring them today?’

‘No. We left them with their grandmother because...’ She stopped.

‘Because they are safer there?’

‘Then you know?’

‘About Anna and the smuggling ring? Yes.’

‘Did you also know that Francis received a medal in the Peninsular Campaign under Moore for his skills in shooting? He kept a whole regiment from being wiped out by allowing them safe access across a dangerous pass whilst he gave them cover. I should imagine these men will be child’s play for him. Besides he has Daniel, Gabriel and Lucien to help him now. He is not alone.’

‘Thank you.’

‘And you are not alone either, Sephora. If you ever need advice or help you only need ask.’

‘I think in the last few weeks I have become a different person to be honest. I used to think I was less than I am now and that it was normal for a man to tell a woman what to do. Richard did that to me and I accepted it, but Francis doesn’t and yet...’ She stopped.

‘Yet?’

‘The stakes are so much higher because of it and if I lost him I think I might simply fall to pieces. I am sick to my stomach with the fear of it.’

She had not meant to say as much, but under the gaze of kind dark eyes she found herself pouring out her heart and with little censure.

But Amethyst Wylde only smiled. ‘Every wife who loves her husband feels the same, Sephora. In great love there also resides great loss and who cannot dismiss that.’

‘You feel this with your husband?’

‘I do, but these men of ours are warriors, and to clip the wings of a hawk is to destroy it. Better to fly alongside them, I always thought, for in knowledge there is less worry.’

‘And that is why you came today?’

‘It was a part of it although Adelaide also sent me to deliver a stone.’ Rummaging in her bag she came out with a sphere of shining crystal. ‘She said I was to give it to you for Anna. It is black tourmaline and used to calm fear in a child. She said to tell the girl its protective property will reflect all the bad thoughts of others away from her, like a magical mirror, and that it is the most powerful of the protectors. She also said that the one who owns it must lay the tourmaline in the sunshine every month to ensure its properties stay full and perfect and it is at its most fierce when placed under the user’s pillow at night.’

For a moment Sephora could almost hear the unusual Adelaide Wesley saying this, her words blowing on the wind in an echo, and although she had never truly believed in the dark arts she was suddenly touched by the power and the beauty of a gift delivered just when she was most in need of it.