Shattered Vows(81)

She ignored the pull on her hand. ‘Do you know why it’s Angel Falls?’

‘Tell me later.’

‘I’ll tell you now,’ she said, wrenching free.

His lips tightened. ‘Rosamund?’

‘I’d like to tell you now. A beautiful lady with the face of an angel once lived at the top of the falls. She fell in love-’

‘Mon Dieu, this is no time for telling tales!’ He took her wrist and hauled her towards the pool. ‘Where’s that ledge?’

She hung back and the words tumbled out. ‘The lady fell in love with a humble suitor, but their love was doomed because her father was very ambitious. He separated the lovers and forced the lady to marry a wealthy merchant from Scarborough.’

Oliver made a movement of exasperation.

‘I’m nearly done. Please, Oliver?’

He crossed his arms. ‘Lord, if you must tell this tale, hurry up. We need to be on our way.’

‘Thank you. The lovers couldn’t bear to be parted. They met secretly at the base of the falls. The merchant found out. He swore to kill the lady’s penniless lover. He laid a trap, and concealed himself over there.’ She pointed. ‘The lovers agreed to meet at noon to say a last farewell. The merchant waited.’ She glanced at him from under her lashes, he was listening despite himself.

‘Go on.’

‘The tryst went ahead only this time they met at the top.’

Oliver looked up the frothing cascade to the summit. Then he glanced back at her, frowning. ‘Rosamund?’

She smiled. ‘Eventually the merchant found them at the bottom of the pool. Their bodies were entwined together so tightly they couldn’t be separated. That’s why at noon on a hot and sunny day, like the one on which they died, it’s said that you can see angel’s wings shining through the spray. Angel Falls. It’s God’s memorial to true love.’

His frown deepened. ‘What are you trying to say?’

‘Why nothing, Sir Oliver,’ she made her voice light. ‘It is but a pretty story, I thought you should hear it.’

Shaking his head, he hustled her towards the ledge.

‘I like the story of Angel Falls,’ she said, lifting her voice over the rush of the water. ‘Aren’t you moved by the thought that two people might prefer to die together rather than live apart?’

‘I’ve never heard anything more ridiculous in my life. I swear you made it up.’ He gave her a little push. ‘Get along with you. Heaven help me that I am forced to put my trust in you!’

‘But you do trust me?’

‘What alternative do I have?’ he said, with devastating frankness.

A lump formed in her throat.

He huffed out a breath. ‘I have a hazy recollection of meeting a young maid on a beach. It was like a dream, a fevered imagining I had while I was out of my head. Allow me to tell it to you. You can judge whether it’s true or not.’ He picked up a strand of her hair and weighed it idly in his palm. His eyes were as cold as the water in the pool behind them. ‘She was most comely, the maid on the beach. Her robe was pink, like yours. She had rich honey brown hair which flowed like silk and the body of an angel. But it was her eyes which lingered in the mind.’ He looked deep into the eyes in question and lowered his voice. ‘Huge blue eyes, bright as jewels, but lovelier than any gem.’ He released her hair and scowled at the churning water in the pool. ‘Those eyes lie.’

She swallowed. ‘They lie?’

‘Aye. Most prettily, but they lie. For although the maid had all the beauty a woman could wish for, most of it lay in those honest, smiling eyes.’ He whirled round and hard fingers bit into her shoulders. ‘In my dream, I had given up hope of finding a woman I might trust. Until then I had seen many things in women’s eyes – scorn, calculation, greed, indifference – but never such honesty. Coupled with your innocence, you all but unmanned me.’

‘You do remember,’ she said, speaking through stiff lips. His anger confused her.

‘I remember the beach. And you. Your eyes and your innocence. I wanted to keep you by me.’ He took a breath. ‘I don’t want to find that you’re no different from the rest. Rosamund, would you lie and cheat to gain your ends?’

Her heart sank like a stone. ‘Didn’t you hear me tell Lufu I would be honest with you? Didn’t you?’

He watched her with eyes that seemed a million miles away. ‘That was when you thought yourself married to the stone-cutter. You changed your tune as soon as you thought you had a chance of snaring a knight.’

‘No, no! That was Lufu’s thought, not mine.’